Funny, personal and completely unexpected, Mango Country explores the notion that the further you venture from a nation's capital, the likelier you are to encounter its culture in the raw.

Journeying around North Queensland, jungle tour guide turned gonzo-journalist John van Tiggelen lingers in places that tourists are ill-advised, disinclined or simply unable to visit. He goes crocodile hunting, shoots a nude calendar for charity, joins the world's wildest cricket carnival, attends the opening of the Big Mango and flits around the Torres Strait on a wing and a prayer.

En route he is harassed by cassowaries, bush poets, thong collectors, falling coconuts, Bob Katter, and the alien commander of 18 million spaceships, among others. But he also harasses them.

Mango Country goes beyond the travel brochures to offer an irreverent profile of a province, and an insight into Australian life away from the big city lights.