We had a choice to make immediately as we disembarked. We could try heading further north and take our chance with the wayward opening and closing times of the Cape Tribulation road. We could go in entirely the opposite direction and attempt to make Proserpine for nightfall, in order to be there for the Rodeo the following day. Or we could go to the Peace Expo at Atherton, an event we’d only just got to hear about and which promised two whole days of tree planting, folk dancing, ethnic food eating, book and pamphlet browsing, Tropical North Tai Chi and Eurythmics watching, madrigals, Welsh singing, Caribbean music, fancy dress, to say nothing of workshops, forums and plenary discussion sessions, speakers for which included the actress Diane Cilento who now lived, directed plays and ran a restaurant in these parts. The advantage of the Atherton option was the positioning of Atherton itself – no more than an easy two-and-a-half-hour drive from Daintree across the Tablelands. Though what made us settle for it in the end, I like to think, was stringency not softness. We needed a break from coastal pleasures. Something called A Peace Exposition, taking place somewhere called the Tablelands, sounded like serious endeavour all round. The stuffed Polish cucumbers and the Sri Lankan sambal were mere incidentals. We pointed the car in the direction of Atherton, lowered our voices, furrowed our brows, and felt like mature students off to a university conference.

‘This looks good, rich dairy country,’ I said to Ros, once we hit the Tablelands proper. ‘The cows are happy and fat but the price paid is patently an excessive deforestation.’

‘Yes, well, I’m worried about pastoralists,’ Ros said.

I couldn’t have agreed more. ‘Me too,’ I said. I was rusty, but I could feel it coming back.

‘When you think of their record in Australia,’ she went on, ‘what have they ever done except push people around, chop down trees, spread Irish-Catholic puritanism, shoot Aborigines, stuff chemicals into everything, and ask for special fiscal consideration?’

What else had they done? I couldn’t think of anything.