Cairns to Cooktown to Cairns (via Mareeba)

Monday 13th June 2011

Rode 75 km to Port Douglas via the Captain Cook Highway. We thought that being the last day of the long weekend everyone would be heading the opposite direction or already back home, but the road was still busy and full of dicks (increasingly so as the day went on). Leaving Cairns, you first go through the usual industrial outskirts before you start getting to some sugarcane and rural land with the ranges as a backdrop. At Smithtown, a kind of outer suburb of Cairns we stopped to visit the Woolworths. Here you can see the Kuranda 'bubbles on string' of the Skyrail. It costs over $100 to do the trip on the cable lift and the train through the Kuranda range. Continuing on the road, more rural landscapes with mountainous backdrop until you end up riding right along the coast of the side of the mountains. Close to Cairns you have a dedicated bike lane, and somewhat separated bike lane on the roadabouts. As you get closer to the coast, past the roundabouts, this disappears and you either have a narrow shoulder or a white line to ride on.

Unfortunately, according to a sign on the side of the road, I had missed the "Festival of the Knob" at Yorkeys Knob which was the previous Saturday.  

The Captain Cook Highway has some hills as it goes along the coast, sometimes quite close, for much of it. We stopped at Rex's lookout for lunch where there were a few paragliders to watch. They take off from Rex's lookout, which is pretty much a rocky cliff face over the beach. They then have to land on the beach and pack up, then climb up the cliff.

The view from Rex's lookout

The Captain Cook highway to the Port Douglas turn off is interesting as you come around corners to overlook beaches or you can peer through the trees to the water ahead around Trinity Bay. The shoulder wasn't always great along this road.

We spotted two saltwater crocodiles of medium size on a muddy bank as we rode across the Mowbray bridge, and there were some people trying to catch mudcrabs on the old bridge there.

Two salties in the Mowbray River

We rode down the road to Port Douglas. We looked at camping at Dougies backpackers for $11 each but the place was packed - it was basically 10 cm between each tent. It was what you'd imagine living in a cramped tent city would be like, except with more bad guitars. Wanting to actually get some sleep, we checked into the caravan park next door for $32, set up tents and then headed to the waterfront to watch the sun go down.

Port Douglas dusk

Port Douglas dusk

Port Douglas dusk

Tuesday 14th June 2011

We left Port Douglas at about 10 am after watching sunrise, and also Adam had to do some Skype-ing. 

Port Douglas first light

Port Douglas sunrise

Port Douglas first light

We got into Mossman around 11 and headed to the Mossman Gorge down a glorious windy rainforest road. After doing a short walk to the swing bridge we visited the beach for a wade in the cold water. There were plenty of fish to see in the clear water. We had lunch in a picnic area and eventually we headed back to Mossman to visit the Woolworths there. 

Heading towards Mossman

Mossman Gorge

Mossman Gorge

Mossman Gorge

Mossman Gorge

Then we rode to Wonga Beach. The road was terrible as there was no shoulder and plenty of dickheads in a rush giving us no room in the afternoon. We tried the (cheaper) Wonga Beach caravan park but it was full so we rode another two or three kay to the Pinnacle caravan park which was $32 a night unpowered. It was very nice though - we camped in an area that was quiet, right next to the empty beach, and the camp kitchen was great with plenty of burners and a large screen tv.

Wonga Beach

Wonga Beach

Wonga Beach

Wonga Beach

Wednesday 15th June 2011

Watched sunrise at Wonga Beach.

Sunrise at Wonga Beach

Sunrise at Wonga Beach

Sunrise at Wonga Beach

Sunrise at Wonga Beach

Sunrise at Wonga Beach

Rode the short distance to Daintree where there is a small village by the Daintree river and where you can camp for $10 per person per night. The ride into Daintree was through a mix of tropical rainforest and rural cattle or sugar cane land. I had expected Daintree village to be more national park than rural land. There were crocodile and birdlife spotting boat tours available for around $25. After setting up tent under a curtain fig tree, we went to the restaurant for lunch. In the village there is only a convenience store slash bar slash café, a restaurant, a tour booking office and a information centre. The convenience store doesn't stock much, and of course it is expensive. I rode a little part of the scenic drive to a bridge. There was a sign to say the CREBB track was closed.

We watched sunset over the Daintree River.

It was State of Origin game two this night. The café served up $7 curries but there were just a small serving in a plastic bowl so we were disappointed. We were watching the ABC news on a TV in the camp kitchen while cooking up some pancakes for desert and a local told us we'd be wanting to switch over to the football soon. Not sure what would become of us if we didn't do this. I tricked someone into thinking I knew something about the game by talking about how long whathisfaces career has been. I can't even remember his name now. Adam kept asking me questions about how the game worked and I fumbled my way through answers, dropping a few passes. I'm pretty sure its just if no one loses the ball before hand, you get tackled five times and then kick the ball in the air and maybe you'll get to slide in the grass with the ball over a chalk line and get points. As a spectator it is your job to pretend you could play the game better, to wait in hope for some biffo, and regardless of which side you are going for, to speak your desires to want to murder the ref at regular intervals. 

Thursday 16th June 2011

Woke up to heavy frost.

We found a Blue Quandong tree near the river. There is a similar tree nearby with giant egg-shaped fruit. I believe they're both edible, but not very nutritious. We tried some of the smaller fruit. The inside is a thin layer of slightly sour green flesh with a massive knobby seed.

Rode back out of Daintree and took the turn off to Cape Tribulaton. You take a ferry over the Daintree River here. 

Fog clearing over Daintree River

Captain Cook Highway, riding to the Cape Trib turn off

Captain Cook Highway, riding to the Cape Trib turn off

No need to consider swimming across to save money. Bicycles cost $1 to cross.

The road to Cape Trib is a b-road with not much shoulder, but it does go through the wonderful Daintree rainforest. There is a decent range crossing involved around the 12 or 15% mark, and a few other hills, and there were roadworks to wait for. Many of the roads are affected by landslips and they're trying to patch them up. We stopped for a much needed rest and lunch at the Mt Alexandra lookout after the big climb. 

A tea plantation

Noah's Beach

We made it to Cape Trib and stopped at the information centre to buy some maps for the Bloomfield track and to read the Bloomfield track condition report. We still weren't completely sure we wanted to do the Bloomfield track but I guess we were both too stubborn to say no. We checked into PKs after being bombarded with some questions by a Melbourne "gym-type" who mixed bicycle naivity with bicycle advice in a curious manner. He wanted us to try getting away free camping next to his van but I just wanted to get away from his questions and "advice" so paid for a site, which ended up being next to a motorhome who had camped near us at Daintree village.

PK's at Cape trip is a dodgy backpackers with live in residents who have to meet everyone. There was 70s haircut guy who would laugh at himself at the end of every sentence, like Bevis and Butthead but a touch more mental, and there was Mrs Hippie who was a blokey lady in her 40s who just wanted to hang with the kids, but also be a mother figure.

We took some sunset pictures at the beach and cooked a meal, reading through the trip notes supplied with the map about the feat ahead, with gathering dread. As we had a big day ahead of us, we hit the hay pretty early.

Friday 17th June 2011

Woke up for sunrise.

Leaving the last of the seal road out of Cape Tribulation, we find some gravelly or packed clay roads north through the Daintree jungle. There are plenty of signs asking us to look out of cassowaries. The road is very up and down, only a nice flat ride in some parts. About six or seven kilometres in you meet the giant strangler fig. 

500 metres further on you see your first creek crossing at Emmagen Creek. The water was about mid shin-deep in parts but mostly ankle deep and you have to push your bike through it as it is too rocky to try riding on through. The water is cold and clear and now you have cold wet shoes and socks. Another two kilometres and theres another creek crossing at Tachalbadga creek.

Another kilometre on and you're at the base of Donovans range, and so the pain begins. This is a very steep 20% windy climb (1 metre rise in every 5 metres), which I have to push the bike up. The climb goes for about half a kilometre. Adam helped me push the bike up the last bit as I was taking forever. I should point out here that my back brakes aren't working properly. One of the levers has seized up so the brakes are stuck on all the time on one side of the rim so I have taken off that brake shoe. So my front brakes are taking it all, which means my right hand takes it all, which means don't try having a thumb wrestle with me any time soon. I've tried to unseize this thing but it just needs to be replaced. Too much salty air and not enough maintenance. Of course after you do the ascent, you need to do the descent. This would be a lot more fun if I had a back brake working. Adam said his brakes were on full to descend it. My front brakes alone couldn't keep me at a speed I was comfortable with so I had to walk my bike down, which took forever and was very tiring.

Back to normal sized hills and dirt track, with another few dry creek crossings, and about four kays after you made it over the last range you are facing the ridiculous 33% (one metre climb in three metres) Cowie Range which goes for over one kilometre. You really have to see this road to understand how fecking steep it is. Every 50 metres is an eternity. Again, Adam came to the rescue to help me get the bike up there. I think I only made it 300 metres by the time he was walking back to see if I hadn't just quit. There is every possibility I would still be climbing this hill as you read this. I was in a bad headspace, wanting to just quit this stupid touring business. The hill made me want to cry. You start thinking what's the point. If you've got weak arms like me, you just about almost lose the will. The worst thing is you can't just lay your bike down for a rest. Your bike will just slide down the hill in a heap if you do anything but keep it upright and pointing straight up and down. Resting between climbs is basically you holding however many kilos upright so it does fall sideways, and stationary so it doesn't slip down, on the side of a stupid mountain while squeezing a brake lever for dear life even with a foot jammed under a tyre. And you still have to deal with four-wheel drives screaming past you so they can make it up the incline without stalling or slipping, and covering you in dust as a bonus. Everytime your bike slips backwards or your shoe slips on a rock you yell out a years worth of fucks and shits.

Another creek crossing while you're up at the top, this one the Woobadda River which was at least ankledeep and very rocky. On the other side of this a guy in a hired 4WD stops us to tell us we're awesome and ask a bunch of questions and tries to take our photo. I'm telling him it's bloody hard work and my bikes bloody heavy and Adam's saying its fine and manageable. The greatest challenge is how much of a battering your ego and willpower takes as you try to counter gravity and conquer terrain.

Next up is the Cowie Range descent which is also 33% so a real test for brakes and again I have to walk my bike down without dropping the thing. It just wants to fly be free and commit suicide off the side of a mountain. I'm starting to agree with it. There is one part of the descent which is thankfully concrete with ridges across it for grip, but it is also a crazy godamn motherfucking hairpin. So you're got your scaletrix slot car tracks and you go crazy with the curvy bits and put a turn in on an angle that is only ever going to make the car fly off and hit a wall. Now make this for real in the middle of a forest. And then try to ride a bicycle down it. A bicycle with kilograms of junk tied on it. With drop handlebars. With no rear brakes. No don't. Instead walk your bike down it and still shit yourself. Anyway, how fucking good is it to know those ranges are behind us?

As scary as it looks, maybe more so

Next the road follows the Woobadda river for a few kilometres. The road is still hilly. At Pearces lookout, which is high up right on the edge of a cliff looking over the crocodile filled Bloomfield river, we stop and see a few ominous bubbles over near a muddy bank. It's getting on in the day, the sun is going down. We need to find a camp that doesn't involve crocodiles. The options are try to find somewhere to wild camp, or try to push on another 13 k to Ayton. A local tells us we could try make it to Wujal Wujal and camp at the boat ramp as the crocodiles don't make it up the boat ramp. We spot a stack site just outside Wujal Wujal that looks safe enough despite being not far from the Bloomfield River, as it was probably one and a half metres of rise from high tide mark and surrounded by gravel mounds. And as the sun is low and I'm exhausted we make camp there. I'm so exhausted I can't eat anything but a muesli bar.

Saturday 18th June 2011

We get up at sunrise, pack up and eat breakfast. Again all I eat is a muesli bar which is stupid. We make our way over the Bloomfield River causeway (which they are working to rebuild as it has been washed away before) before the tide has come up to so its dry (low tide was around 4am that day). One of the roadworkers tells us its a nice day for a bit of a ride. A nice day to not have to ride over those damn ranges again, I'm thinking.

We take the side trip to the Bloomfield Falls. Despite there being signs everywhere saying there are crocodiles in the river, there are some complete idiots camping on a sandy bank about 5metres from the water. We didn't see anybody at the camp - only tents and four wheel drive, so maybe the crocs weren't eating muesli bars for breakfast that morning? Bloomfield Falls are 40 metres high and well worth the side trip.

We visit the Wujal Wujal Aboriginal Community's shop to buy some chocolate and softdrink and refill a waterbottle each. One of the older residents is sitting on a chair out of the front of a house and tells us its a beautiful morning.

We ride on and I stop at the Bloomfield Inn (actually a shop and a petrol station) for a much needed sandwich. There are a bunch more dirt hills to climb and I'm really tired and have no will power so take forever.

Adam manages to catch up with Martin who's riding to Cape York on a $50 Kmart bicycle (he's carrying a spare wheel).

At Rossville Adam stops to wait for me and he's greeted by two Jehovah's Witnesses who ask him "Terrorism? What is the cause?" and Adam replies with "Hmm, religion?". They leave him with some reading material.

We ride on to Lions Den which is a historical hotel at Helensvale. It's about 120 years old and covered in nikko graffiti from visitors. I think the earliest scribblings we could find was 1960s. It's $10 per person to camp here overnight. The Little Annan river is at the back which you can apparently swim in. We met up with Martin here and had a chat. We all had a drink and cheers to making it over the Bloomfield track.

Sunday 19th June 2011

Packed up and rode to Cooktown. 4 kay on dirt to the highway, then 28 down Black Mountain and up Mt Cook. Got there around 10 am. Visited the tourist info centre (which was tucked away, not in town as such) and then the IGA to pick up something for lunch. Went to the waterfront to eat with Captain Cook.

Rode back to Lions Den the same way, which involves a 10% climb over Black Mountain near the end, as as it is riding south, a headwind. The road is through cattle country and is quite parched.

Camped at Lions Den again. They have large $20 counter meals, just the right size for us bicycle tourists.

There was a bunch of tools in four wheel drives who set up their camp right next to us. We get no respect in tents. They were noisy and one guy had a terrible husky voice like an ex-footballer and a more terrible laugh. He was the type of person who laughs at his own jokes, and boy was he a comedian. They woke us up about 11pm when they got back from the pub with this guys horrible voice and laugh which continued on til midnight. Then, sweet silence. We needed rest as we had lots more riding to do to get back to Cairns by the 23rd, as Adam needed to meet his mate on the 24th. This meant no rest days til then.

Monday 20th June 2011

Left Lions Den again, 4 k to get back onto the highway. Then on the Mulligan south. Riding south means riding into headwinds, and we had three days of it. Gah. First we rode into Lakeland where I had to wait about 30minutes for a sandwich. The place was full of dreadlocks and/or the pepetually shirtless from people making their way out of the Laura dance festival. We rode 86 k to Palmer River roadhouse, which involves crossing a stupid long range where it was dry and 40 degrees. After you cross the range you do get a descent to Palmer River which was nice.

Palmer River roadhouse is a bar with petrol station, counter meals, basic camp kitchen (roof, picnic table, animal fat covered bbq), dongas and safari tents and powered sites. The unpowered sites are a patch of gravelly grass over by the diesel genset, on from 6am til 10pm. An argument for installing solar PV is strong amongst the campers. Unpowered site for two people is $15.

After cooking, eating, and then eating a burger from the bar, I managed to get a decent sleep despite the genset. I didn't hear it turn off. I was up before it turned on.

Tuesday 21st June 2011

Rode 85 k to Mt Carbine. There was a bit of a climb near Mt Elephant, to get to Bob's Lookout (great view, there was backburning happening) and then an excellent 9% windy descent which was great fun, followed by having to ride very close to some flames at the end of the downhill, but the road into Mount Carbine was mostly flat. There wasn't a great shoulder and there were a few idiots in trucks and utes to share the road with.

At Mt Carbine we stayed at the Mt Carbine Caravan Park which was $12 for two. Here a bunch of country folk befriended us and fed us corn, sausages, vegetables in gravy and plum pudding in custard, all after we had already eaten our own meals. They even gave us half a plum pudding to share for the next day. They were very nice people and chatted to us for a while about the big supermarkets destroying farms and horticulture and about their trip up to Cape York.

Wednesday  22nd June 2011

Leaving Mt Carbine, we rode the climb into Mt Molloy for a very expensive but very large sandwich, visited the convenience store, and continued south down the Mulligan (or Penninsula Development highway) to Mareeba. The road into Mareeba got increasingly filled with traffic, and there wasn't a decent shoulder so we had another battle with idiots in F500s, utes and also the occassional truckie who wouldn't move over. Lake Mitchell was very picturesque.

Lake Mitchell from Maree BikeTourOz on Vimeo.

Mareeba is very bogan. The Riverside caravan park is cheap at $8 per person per night but there wasn't a lot of spare space for tents, and we ended up camped next to a walkway to the camp kitchen and toilets/showers.

After setting up the tent and having a shower, I visited the library to catch up on the newspapers. I didn't miss much. Apparently the ash cloud hadn't delayed down its own round the world flight, and then a bunch of state of origin related news. Ah, Queensland.

When I was getting into my swag that night someone came up to me and asked "Am I going to sleep in that? In THAT?" I was hoping to. Later I was woken up by some bogans who walked right next to my tent and said "Hey someone's sleeping in that swag!". I WAS. Seriously, its not that facinating, people. You'd think out 'west' in Mareeba you'd have seen a fucking swag before. The walkway was less trafficked soon enough and sleep was had. Or I slept through it if anything else happened.

That's the Mareeba spelling

Thursday 23rd June 2011

Leaving Mareeba we took the turn off for Kuranda. The road had no decent shoulder until about Koah, and it was peak morning traffic to be had. This road into Cairns starts off as dry savannah like the rest of the west but as soon as you cross the Barron River its tropical rainforest and another damn range crossing. The road was shoulderless and a long winding climb. About 1 kilometre before the end of the climb I was pulled off the road onto a narrow bit of dirt on the drop off side of the range to take a breather and as I was catching my breath an oversize truck carrying a trailer with a tractor on the back locked up, jack knifed and nearly hit me. I think he was taking the corner too fast, probably maintaining a speed to make it up the range, had another truck behind him also right on his tail, and something must have come around the corner the other way "unexpectedly". He sweared and gesticulated at me, like I could do anything. If I moved any further over it would have been off the side of the range, and there was no shoulder. I wasn't just around a bend. You could see me in my hi-vis 50 metres back around the bend. Why the guy didn't have a pilot vehicle I don't know. Well I do know. Money. There were other cyclists on the range too, so its not like there isn't anyone else rides this thing. Anyway, after catching my breath again and riding a bit further to a less edgy spot, I switched on the CB, finished the climb to make it to the lookout over Cairns and Smithtown. Next was the descent that lasts about 5 kilometres and is very windy. I got on the CB, told them two pushbikes going down the Kuranda range, and zoomed down the other side, taking the lane whenever possible. It's very curvy and tight so you have to use your brakes a bit. Top speed was only 55km/h. There were a few bits where cars were impatient despite me doing the speed limit and you pretty much had to share the white line with their wheels. Despite those times, it was awesome fun and at the bottom you just want to do it again. Catching up with Adam I said "Well that was 'To die for'" refering to my earlier near-death experience on the climb.

Mitchell River

We went to the cable-ski part to watch some of the skiiers for a while and then, after a visit to McDonalds for lunch (three burgers later) rode into Cairns against a very strong headwind.

On the way I clicked over 8000 kilometres.

Alligator Creek to Cairns

Sunday 29th May 2011


Rode the 25 kay from Alligator Creek roadhouse to Townsville. As you approach Townsville you see the red rock of Castle Hill and shabby mountain towering over the city. After eventually finding the informattion centre (don't bother following the directional arrows, they've moved the place) in the mall (being redeveloped so its sporting some detention centre-like fencing) we head in the direction of a caravan park but find a cheaper one on the way right next to the showgrounds. Here we are checked in by a guy who could not look any more like Dave Grohl if he was wearing a guitar, and surrounded by the other members of the Foo Fighters. We didn't get up the courage to call him Dave. (Whether this is unrelated to Adam's unconfirmed sighting of Kurt Cobain on a greyhound bus to Brisbane we will never know.)


The caravan park on the inside looks really dodgy. There are a bunch of battered caravans there permanently, with boarded up windows. I'm not sure if this is a consequence of the bad weather of the Queensland summer or if it always looks like this.


We found a spot to pitch tents and headed to the nearby Woolworths to get supplies. This was followed by lounging around at the caravan park. In the camp kitchen, which was pretty grotty (the rock and roll lifestyle does not allow one to clean kitchens) we managed to cook some food and catch the repeat of Doctor Who, the ending we had missed the day before due to roadhouse television politics. We didn't get to watch this alone however, with one of the dumbest guys on earth sitting with us making comments along the way like "do you think this is real" and "its only a tv show isn't it". (Earlier he said, while watching a promo about chimps, "Do you really think we're related to them?" - In your case mate, not so distantly - and "Imagine what we'll have evolved into in the next one thousand years". This guy was originally from Tasmania, which is of course unrelated to his stoopid and I don't know why I mention it here.)


Monday 30th May 2011


Got up at around sunrise to ride down to the Strand. Then I rode a fair way around Townsville looking for this other caravan park that was meant to be the same price (it wasn't) but I gave up finding it because Ingham Rd has a bike lane for most of the way but the last block is a hostille stretch of shoulder-less truck-filled road and it was early morning peak time hell. On the way back stumbled across a bike shop which was open so went inside to ask after Schwalbe tyres. They didn't stock any but had a Vittoria Randonneur in stock, but only in 700x35. The other bike shop in town only had Maxxis tyres when I rang them later so I ended up getting the Vittoria. (My rear Schwalbe Extreme had worn out after 5000 kilometres from northern Victoria to the point where the kevlar was cracking and puncturing my tube every day).

The guy who works at the Townsville caravan park

Headed back to the caravan park. Checked in another night with Dave Grohl... I mean at his caravan park. Adam was catching up with a friend for a few days in Townsville so I had to put up with Mr Dumb on my ownsome.

Townsville

Townsville

Townsville

Townsville

Townsville

Townsville

Townsville

Tuesday 31st May 2011


Packed up and checked into the other caravan park as the one beside the showgrounds was getting noisy with consttruction of a stage and tents for some children singing spectacular right next door. This other caravan park is seven or eight kilometres out of town and was $25 unpowered (the other one by the showgrounds was $22.50 and not so far out of town). I was trying to talk the lady behind the counter down to a discounted price as I was on my own in a tent (the price is for two adults in a caravan) but she wouldn't have it. She even said "this is already the discounted price" which was bullshit. Anyway, I booked in for two nights and set up my tiny camp.


Eventually I headed back into the city to search for the library (it's a bit hidden, being up a set of elevators inside an alcove on the fenced off mall - no signs saying beware of the leopard though). Public libraries differ in their friendliness to visitors. Canberra state library was the nicest with unlimited use to their many computers. Some give you unlimited free wi-fi once you have obtained a free guest username and password; others its for an hour or two. Some give you two hours free on a computer if there is one available that is not already booked. Others charge you a small fee by the hour. The main library in Townsville only lets visitors use the 15 minute 'stand-up' computers which don't even have USB slots so are pretty useless for my requirements (updating the blog I need to transfer files off SD cards).


I visited the gallery where there was an exhibition on called "In the Japanese Manner" in which Australian artwork was displayed experimenting with the japanese technique of making prints with multiple carved wooden blocks overlayed to make up the various colours (you've probably seen this technique when used on Japanese-style wall hangings). My favourites were Paul Haefliger's "Lyrebird", Margaret Preston's "The Banksia tree", and Murray Griffin's "Burning Mountain".


Wednesday 1st June 2011


Today I caught the 10.30 ferry over the Magnetic Island (20 minute trip, $29 return, bikes free) and first up headed to West Point via Picnic Point. To get to Picnic point there is one hill you need to ride up. Some of the way there is a shared path separated from the road, but most of it isn't. At Picnic Point (four kilometres from the ferry terminal) there is a jetty which has been fenced off. Not sure if it's because of Cyclone Yasi. Riding on to West Point (twelve kilometres from the ferry terminal) there is four kilometres at the end of gravel/dirt/sand road with a few creek crossings, and at the end a secluded beach where I had lunch. The road to west point features granite rocks, tropical wetlands, mangroves and also melaleuca scrub all taking turns to display themselves to you so its pretty interesting to ride. I had some lunch at West Point after dragging my bike through some sand. There was no one else there except a decomposing sea turtle which looked to have come to its death with the help of a biodegradable plastic shopping bag. Its shell was 35 cm long so it wasn't a baby. It was a very sad scene.


While eating lunch at West Point I could see fish jumping, dark blue crabs scuttering about and Brahminy Kites flying overhead.


Heading back to Picnic Point, and then back up the hill to Nelly Bay where the ferry terminal is, it was now about 1.30 in the afternoon. I rode the 4 k to Arcadia (one dirty big hill on the way), had a quick look at the beach there, and then rode up two other dirty big hills to the Forts carpark. I wanted to go see Horseshoe Bay but that would have been a really nice downhill into Horseshoe but a big climb back out. I didn't have my bike lights with me, stupidly, so I needed to get back to Townsville and the caravan park out amounst the barren wasteland industrial area before sundown. I walked to the water tank on the forts walk (theres a lookout to Radical Bay on the way to that), but tyurned back as it was about four so no time to do the full forts walk. I rode back up and down the hills to get to Nelly Bay and caught the 4.25 ferry back to Townsville. It had been a wonderful day on the island, despite the hill climbs that I found difficult even without all the gear.


I got back to my tent to find some motorhome bus with car and boat towed behind it had almost driven over it, settling for parking their juggernaut right next to it so where my head goes is about 20 centimetres from their bus tyre. This is what you get for $25 per night. So I moved my tent making as much noise as possible (there was much throwing of tent pegs and mild cursing) to another camping spot.


Thursday 2nd June 2011


I had had an email from Adam saying he was staying on Magnetic Island Friday-Sunday to do a PADI (diving) course. He let me know there was cheap camping over on the island at the Bungalow Bay YHA. We planned to ride together into Cairns and up to the Daintree so I said I'd meet him over on Maggie on Sunday night and we could head further north on Monday.


I wanted to spend another day in Townsville before heading over to Maggie on Friday. The plan was to visit the museum ($13.50) and climb Castle Hill (free) and also write and upload a blog post. Due to a case of extreme laziness and how long it takes me to write a damn blog post, all I ended up doing all day was writing the blog post on the beach at Townsville (maybe I was distracted a little) and using the internet at the internet café for almost three hours to upload the blog post, upload pictures, watch a little Hungry Beast and use internet banking to pay people I owed money to (THANK YOU TONY FOR SENDING ME MY SCHWALBE DUREME TYRE).


Friday 3rd June 2011
Packed up the tent and bike and headed back into the city. Parked my bike at the cemetary under Castle Hill and climbed up the first big rock part to look over Townsville. Climbed (crawled) back down and as I rode back out of the road with the cemetary a "Jesus saves" street van (the type that gather and diseminate food for those living on the street) pulled up beside me and asked if I needed a drink. I replied with no thanks and they asked again. No thanks again. Jesus is trying to convert me to homelessness?. I grabbed some ingredients for lunch at the shops and sat at the pier behind the museum eating and feeding the stripped tropical fish below my crumbs. Caught the ferry around 1.30pm back to Magnetic Island.


Climbed the three big hills with no shoulder to Horseshoe Bay fully loaded and with much cursing. The island is covered in rental mini motes, scooters and Suzuki mini 4x4s and everyone likes a horn in a rental. Oh look there's a person on a bike riding up a steep hill - toot toot tooooot. One car full of 20 year old males honked ten times in a row. I'm pretty sure its the law to yell out fuck you when this happens.


Made it to Horseshoe Bay eventually (the downhill into Horseshoe is very very nice after all the climbing) and checked into the Bungalow Bay YHA camping area for three nights ($12.50 per night). I just chilled out and stuffed my face for a few hours before putting up my tent. I was having a quiet chuckle at the wicked van kids who were eating meals like a tin of spaghetti with a microwaved potato because they'd blown budget on petrol and barge fares.


The Bungalow Bay YHA is right next to the Koala Park. There is some serious koala prostitution going on here, but they know how to overcharge. It's $12 just for a cuddle!


There was a mother and a daughter from the States in the camp kitchen talking to an Aussie couple. The Americans, who said they were from New York and had a strong accent, were bitching about the price of petrol over in the States. The daughter was saying things like "Minimum wage covers only half my gas". The mum said "US gas has gone up four dollars a gallon, which is three litres. It was one dollar." The funniest bit was when the mum said "McDonalds is a lot more expensive here, but we get by".


Saturday 4th June 2011


Walked 15 kays today over the island in thongs. From Horseshoe Bay walked the track to Balding Bay (nudist, but funnily enough the only nudes there are bald men), Florence Bay with its rare littoral vegetation, Alfred Bay, Radical Bay (the most populous one) and then continued on to do the Forts walk which leads you up to a high point on the island where there is concrete forts and command post and cannon mounts camoflaged amongst the granite and trees. There are some great views here and I highly recommend this walk. Along the walk I met Kingston the heavily stoned koala with a yellow ear tag and the scrub you walk through to get to the forts is very nice.


Walked the 20 minute downhill path along the road from Forts carpark to Horseshoe bay to make it a circuit.






Sunday 5th June 2011


Hired a snorkel, mask and flippers for $15 and walked to Alfred Bay but it was really choppy so walked on to Florence Bay where it was slightly less choppy. Did a spot of snorkelling but didn't go too far out (where there is a reef) as there was no one around and I tend to get cramps when wearing flippers and didn't want to risk getting a bad cramp in deep water with no one around as I'm not the greatest swimmer and I'm overly cautious. Instead I swam around in the not so deeps chasing fish and swimming up to granite rocks, being freaked out and then realising its just a rock and laughing at myself through a snorkel.

Where I went for a snorkel

After drying out on the beach and heading back to camp for lunch, I went down to the beach at Horseshoe Bay. I collected a bunch of dead coral to do my own little "Say Yes" (for a price on pollution) message. Lets hope with a bit of action to mitigate climate change we won't end up with all dead corals.

I then proceeded to eat a second lunch - a fishburger from the fish and chip shop and sit on the beach watching backpackers run in and out of the water with complaints about it being cold.


Adam checked into the YHA campsite after completing the PADI course.



Monday 6th June 2011


We rode the seven kilometres with three hills back to the ferry terminal at Nelly Bay. On the way this old guy at the Forts carpark was yelling stuff at us like "nearly there" and "need a push". I really wanted to d-lock him as he wouldn't shut up. At the ferry terminal we had to wait about 20 to board and I think we got back to Townsville about 12. After visiting the woolies to restock and then accidently stopping at the McDonalds for lunch, we were back on the highway around 1.30pm with a 45k ride ahead of us.


About 20 kay out of Townsville we passed the Blue Water rest area which was full of caravans, motorhomes and tents. We kept going.


The road was pretty good but we missed the turn off for Toomulla Beach where we planned to free camp, so we ended up riding on to Balgal Beach. Balgal Beach has a site for caravans and motorhomes but a completely different site for tents only. A guy, presumably a local, gave us directions to the tent site, but we misunderstood and he drove up to us and retold us the instructions.


On the way we saw three blue-winged kookaburras. I hadn't seen any alive ones up until now - in fact I had seen three dead ones on the road. Their wings have brilliant blue feathers.


Eventually we made it to the Balgal Beach tent camping area. I had a fast slow flat (I had to pump it up every three kilometres) so the extra distance to the tent site was annoying me, but when we got there there was no one else camping so we had the place to ourselves which was great. We ended up riding about 70 km that day, 60 of which was after lunch.


There was a sign at the tent site that said there had been a recent sighting of a crocodile in the area and to stay away from the water. There was a muddy creek about 5 metres from the campsite and the high-tide mark for the beach was another 5 metres on the other side. This makes it difficult to stay any distance away from water. I looked up the croc watch site and it said the croc had been sighted about a month earlier, which I guess was a reasonable window to rest easy. We just camped under a shelter as it was probably going to rain and that means the beach sand gets stuck to everything making the tent hard to pack up in the morning.


This campsite has two shelters with three picnic tables, free electric barbeque, a toilet block and town water.
At night we were surrounded by Bush Stone Curlews playing war games - sneaking up with quick, short maneouvers. They act very much like Jurassic Park raptors, and apparently raptors were just big chickens so they are probably related.


We've been seeing Bush Stone Curlews in Airlie Beach, Townsville, Magnetic Island and further north. Apparently they are endangered in Victoria (due to foxes) but they seem quite plentiful up here. They look like birds on stilts and have huge eyes like a hawks. They make haunting calls at night that sound like someone trying to kill a baby but they also make other noises like a grumpy steam engine if your path to the camp kitchen or toilet block is their declared insect catching territory. The signature move of this bird is to walk a few paces and then stand perfectly still for minutes on end. They camoflage well with the bark on trees or bark leaf litter, but not so well in grass. When I was on Magnetic Island there were five resident curlews who'd be sitting or standing perfectly still near a small stand of trees near my tent for hours. When I first got to Magnetic Island's YHA I had my blue tent fly layed out to dry and one of them attacked it with its pointy beak - I think it thought it was water? Anyway it looked like it could do some damage to the fly so I had to have a word with it.


Tuesday 7th June 2011


It was raining in the morning and it didn't really want to stop. We packed up our gear after breakfast but still didn't feel like moving on. A local came up to us and said he was a ex-truckie. We asked him about the conditions of the Gulf Development Road which we plan to ride to head west. He said it had been sealed for a good seven years now and was a good road.


We didn't get on the road until about 11.30 at least. We rode back out of Balgal to the highway. We went down the road to Paluma Range about 20 metres to have some lunch. There was a sign up ahead saying "steep climb" so we were easily justified in not taking this side trip. There are a few waterfalls and camping areas in this national park.


We thought about doing the 12 k side trip to Jourama Falls but decided not to.


After fifty-five kilometres we made it to Frances Creek rest area where we grabbed the sheltered table furtherest from the highway. Despite the camping guide claiming it has drinkable water and mobile reception at this rest area, I found neither. We were only 11 k south of Ingham so the lack of water wasn't a big issue.


I set the hammock up between two poles of the picnic table shelter shed to read for the remaining afternoon daylight hours (I'm still making my way through 'On The Road').


There was a couple of Brahminy kites in the paddock behind the rest area, building a nest in a tree. Some cattle also walked through the paddock on dusk - one looked like it was checking out Adam when he wasn't looking.


Wednesday 8th June 2011


We got on the road about 9.30 am and got into Ingham where I picked up the Schwalbe Marathon Dureme (folding) tyre Tony was kind enough to send post restante for me.

Replacing the Marathon Extreme that served me well since Mildura

At Ingham we also managed to find a McDonalds where I added two packets of jam and two packets of honey to hotcakes. I highly recommend this if McDonalds is silly enough to leave the little jam packets out for you to take. I also managed to use the tap key on one of Macca's garden taps to get some water for our depleated water bottles.


Not far out of Ingham is a 8% and 12% range to climb up for about 2 km. There was also roadworks going on to add to the struggle. At the top of the 12% grade is a great view over a sandy inlet and a fun little drop into a stop and go roadworks.


The road after the range was great. Flat as a pancake and through the wet tropics which is full of cyclone devastated tropical forest, cyclone devasted pine forest, but lots of interesting creeks that probably harbour crocodiles, platypus, turtles, snakes. We pulled off the road into a stack site for some lunch at some time, I'm guessing lunch time.


Next stop was Cardwell where we rode past the devastated esplanade (all that remains in some palm trees and the brick toilet block) and many of the houses have tarps on the roof or are completely blown apart. We stopped at the info centre and also at the IGA for necessities (soft drink and chocolate). Adam has this Jedi Mind trick where whatever chocolate bar he is after, it will be found for 99c when he arrives at the store.


Leaving Cardwell Adam is stopped on the road by a local who asks him if he is aware that there is another cyclist travelling behind him (i.e. me ). Amazingly Adam didn't reply with "oh I know I've been trying to shake her for weeks now". The local told Adam about how the cyclone had blown every leaf off every tree and knocked down all the banana plants. The new bananas plants are only now starting to get fruit. The trees have leaves growing back in weird places, so the mountains look like they have stubble with a bit of green at the top.


About 11 k out of Cardwell you can camp at a roadhouse on Kennedy Road as long as you purchase something from the store. We got there and considered it, couldn't decide. Flipped a coin, best of three. Finally we decided to ride on so we didn't have as far to ride the next day. Another 11 kay on, and after 88 k that day, we make it to the Bilyana rest area and secure a sheltered picnic table. There is texta all over the inside, many are touring cyclists stating where and when they are riding. I wrote "mareebiketouroz.blogspot.com Melbourne to Melbourne 2011". I believe Adam wrote "Around Australia by Wheelbarrow" with his URL.


Soon after arriving we are approach by some rude bloke saying "Riding a bike. To hell with that". What a tool. Another guy came up to us to ask a bunch of questions. We were doing our usual making up funny things to reply or funny ways to detract people from asking us questions - these include asking them "so how far you drivin'" in exaggerated Aussie accent, asking them directly for money, asking a fixed price per question answered, playing the ukelale while dancing a jig, saying Che a lot, pretending to not know any english, running away screaming. One guy was walking up to us so we pretended to have a married couple quarrel over how to put up Adam's tent.(Yes, this works.)


As far as we can tell this rest area has no drinkable water.


We saw a Cassowary walking near the railway line and took some photos. Some guy in boardshorts was running around like a mad man, asking everyone if they had any bread. No one did. I thought he just had a "I want some toast" emergency but turns out he wanted to feed the cassowary, which is just daft. We named this guy "Mr Cassowary" as we would see him again at another rest area the next night, along with a few other caravans or vans.


Apart from the freight trains going past every three hours or so it was a pretty quiet area.


The "f**k that for a joke" guy came back to tell us he'd heard we were riding across to Darwin (van people have nothing better to do than talk about us it seems) and he told us the road to Normanton was all dirt and we couldn't ride it. I asked him if he meant the Burke Development Road (which is dirt) or the Gulf Development Road (which is not) and he replied "It's all dirt." I said that was strange because a truckie told us the Gulf Development Road was sealed; had been for years. He reckoned he was up there a few months ago and it was dirt. I asked him if he meant the Burke Development Road. No clear answer. He walked away annoyed at me for knowing the names of roads better than him or something. There are two roads going to Normanton. One is sealed; one is not. This guy apparently preferred to feed us misinformation or dissuade us from riding any further rather than admit he might be wrong about the road. It's interesting the reaction of narrow minded idiots. If its something that is out of their understanding of possibility - like simply riding a road that is ridden by at least fifty people a year - is to carry on like we're the ones who are misinformed wackjobs. You just want to tell them to piss off and annoy someone else.

Graffiti from earlier this year, just outside of Cardwell

Thursday 9th June 2011


Today was about 80 k to Fred Drew Park, four kay north of Innisfail. We started off around 9.30 and made it to Innisfail around 3pm. We found the woolies to stock up and stayed there about an hour having a rest and using a power point we found there. At four we rode the short distance to the rest area, secured a sheltered picnic table and nice grassy spot for the tents. This rest area had toilets and water, but the free electric bbq doesn't work. It is situated between a banana farm and a sugar cane farm. I layed down ont he grass looking up at the clouds; the grass looked really nice. A grey nomad couple from Adelaide who saw me hobo-style lying on the grass gave us cooked corn and potatoes, and later shared biscuits with us with a chat.


Friday 10th June 2011

85 km into Cairns. The Adelaide couple made us egg and bacon and toast for breakfast! We got going about 9.30am, but not until after some rats-tail sporting bogans who had a flat battery asked us where to where from and one guy ran around saying "that's insane" to all his mates. FNQ wankers. We really do hope they managed to jump start their car and didn't have a collapsed battery which would require a tow; that would be too bad for the tools. Sniff sniff. They were just the type of wankers who yell shit out of cars at us. We stopped for a chocolate break at Babinda. We rode on to Gordonvale where we got to a McDonalds for lunch (60 km in) at about 1.30 pm. Another 25 k and we were in the big bad city, Cairns. We found a caravan park tent site for $26. While setting up our tents we had two different people yell "how far you ridin'" at the same time. Annoying questions, now available in stereo.