Mareeba boring?? No! ;D
A wheel coming off is scary - coming off a trailer must be far worse. Super lucky you didn't jackknife.
I have never seen anyone drive on the west of there and have the mountains on the right of them. Are you going to stop by in the Daintree at all? When I was in highschool, one of the best trips I did was to the Daintree Eco Lodge (or something like that). Fireflies filled the trees and there was glowing moss - but the best part was (being from the city), was the lights went out at midnight and then there were just the stars above.
Heading north towards Cape York so the hills or mountains were on our right for awhile and in front too. Yes very happy we didn't jack-knife and no other cars were coming towards us. Did the Daintree some years ago so will do them on our return. Those fire flies are magnificent aren't they!