DAY 170: Lync Haven (Daintree NP) to Cape Tribulation

Fri 11th April 2008
22 km at 14.9 km/hr
Distance to date 10094 km (6309 miles)

The sun was struggling to get past 25m of green canopy again this morning, but it filtered through in places where there was a gap. There are quite a few gaps after the March 2006 cyclone where big trees were blown down, but this area is incredibly productive and there are lots of small trees and bushes waiting to capitalise on the new opportunity. A couple from Lancashire were making breakfast too so I had company once more.
Saying my goodbyes to them and Michel I set off for Cape Tribulation ("...where the rainforest meets the reef"). This was of course named by Captain Cook whose ship Endeavour struck the GB reef after passing by here. The road was very quiet as usual and the ride was perfect - quiet, green, shady under a blue sky and approx 27 deg C. What a fantastic place - all I imagined I would find in Oz! I stopped to have a look at the beautiful Thornton Beach for a while and it felt pretty hot out in the open, away from the forest shade. There is a pretty steep hill again, after about 12km, as the road passes over Noah Ranges; around 6 to 10% for 1km or so, but the downhill is very fast, although I was more wary than usual after yesterday’s crash.
The settlement of Cape Trib is strung out over a couple of km with a few cafes and shops, mostly advertising the many tours available here - Barrier Reef snorkelling, sea kayaking, night wildlife walks in the ‘jungle’ and posh and budget rainforest lodges. There are 2 caravan parks, and I chose the one nearest the ‘centre’ which is PK’s Jungle Village. I got a nice shady site close to everything including the IGA store for only $10/night. I will probably stay here until at least Monday so as to take in a few tours and activities. There are several nice boardwalks through the rainforest too which I fancy. I might as well make the most of all the stuff here because once in the Outback there will be some long days, even weeks, just getting the miles, er, km, in.
And I might as well get on with that I thought as I booked a reef snorkelling tour for this afternoon; I had just over an hour to get the tent up and get ready.

Lyn and I went onto the reef from Cairns in 2006 but it wasn’t a good day - weather wet and windy - but this afternoon looked almost perfect, hence my rush to do this, with Odyssey H2O. Around 15 of us waded out to knee-deep to get on the large ribbed vessel that would whisk us out to the Mackay Reef in around half an hour thanks to 2 x 8-cylinder 350 Yamaha HP motors. We mostly wore stinger suits just in case of jellyfish, though these are unlikely 20km out on the reef apparently. We were all soon in the water - I felt a little apprehensive as it was quite choppy - but unlike last time there was a guy in the water towing a rubber ring around over the best bits of the reef so that the less confident like me can hang on to if necassary. Again unlike last time, there was lots to see with amazing displays of coral, every shape, size and colour of fish that can be imagined; large turtles swimming right underneath us, Giant Clams about 2 feet across etc. etc. Most of the coral was between a metre and 3 metres below, and the water was pretty clear, so all the detail could be observed - sea cucumbers inching along; thousands of tiny fish fleeing to the shelter of the coral as we approached, giant Clams closing with the lightest of touches, and good ol’ Nemos (Clown Fish) feeding inside the coral structures. It’s a weird and wonderful world down there, and it was a privelege to observe it. I can thoroughly recommend this company - they are very professional, very safety-conscious, supportive, and they go to a lot of trouble to explain how the reef ‘works’ and what we are seeing in it. On the way back, with a rising tailwind, the boat shot along at around 35 knots, twisting and turning to avoid the big waves and making for an exhilirating ride that had us all grinning like Cheshire cats..
Follow that! Well, I just set myself up at a nearby table and typed out yeterdays diary which I didn’t have time to do last night, then cooked a decent pasta supper eaten at a happy, chatty table with Carla and friends.
I’ve booked an night wildlife walk for tomorrow, and I’m going to check out the kayaking too - I may get to do this at last. I thought I would see Michel again tonight as he was coming to Cape Trib, but I think he must be in the other caravan park, shame.

This area is the kind of place one could linger and linger - it's so beautiful; so easy going; everything you need is here; and everyone is so happy and friendly it makes you feel good too. It's as near as I've been to paradise!

ing casual

DAY 169: Day off Lync Haven (Daintree NP)

Thurs 10th April 2008
Distance to date 10072 km (6295 miles)

Good sleep last night in this quiet little caravan park, except for the drone of the generator some distance off which I was vaguely aware of. Good company for brekkie in the form of an articulate Dutch couple who spoke perfect English, and who are working in Singapore for a few years. A nice lazy start to the day by gently cycling unencumbered by baggage up to the Daintree Discovery Centre. Yes, it’s $33 entry, but having spent an interesting 2 or 3 hours there I would say it’s good value, I’m sure I learnt a lot of stuff I didn’t know before, such as how to deal with a leech if it attatches itself to your leg - let it feed and then it will just drop off and you’ll be none the worse off! Or if you can’t stand it apply heat or salt to it instead. And if you get stung by a poisonous jellyfish and don’t have any vinegar, apply urine lol. Anyhow there’s loads of info about trees, plants, birds (including audio samples of their call), animals, insects, lizards etc. etc. I was also given a 10% discount, not to mention a free coffee for telling my ‘travel story’ to the gobsmacked girls behind the counter - ah, fame...... but I had to pay for (what was probably the best) Rocky Road ever - it was utterly awesome! I'm definitely going to learn how to make this when I get home.
All the cycling today was through dense green tropical rainforest, and it is simply a breathtaking experiencefor me - and not much traffic either this (north) side of the Daintree River. There are a few hills but who cares - they’re nothing compared to what is to come on the Bloomfield Track up to Cooktown - there’ll be lots of quality pushing the bike, meaning very slow progress indeed - watch the average speed!! The Discovery Centre has a tall tower whereby you get to climb through the rainforest understorey until you’re actually above the trees, and an audio guide explains the differences between the layers, what lives there, and how it all fits together in an amazing complex and closely species-interrelated ecosystem. Think of a complex habitat in Scotland and then multiply by threescore and ten.
Just a hilly km or so east, at the end of the road from the DC is Jindalba Walk, a very nice boardwalk through thick dark richly-scented forest, and as it was so quiet I left the bike locked up and went around the 1km circuit with the binoculars, but the understorey birds were very hard to pick out let alone identify. Scrub fowl roamed around scratching the ground and scootering away when they saw me.
Back onto the ‘main road’ some 3km north is the turning for Crocodylus Village (a YHA cabin / camping / restaurant / bar complex) and I stopped to see if I could get some lunch, but the tuna or cheese sarnies didn’t appeal (I’m becoming a sandwich snob with chicken and avocado etc.) so I just had a beer and chatted for half the afternoon to Jenny, who is staying at the place semi-permanently whilst working up the road somewhere, and the owner guy. They reckoned the food here in the evening was good so we agreed to meet up again this evening and sample same; I fancied eating out for a change. Later in the afternoon with 2 whole beers inside me (unusual for me to drink in the afternoon) I rode down to Cow Bay some 5km east on the same side-road - yet another beach straight out of the Bounty advert of old, and I stopped to chat for a while with a couple from Scotland before riding across the firm sand to the far side of the beach to get a good photo opportunity.
On the way back up this quiet little road disaster struck again. With the dappled sunlight hitting the road in an indistinct way I hit a long, thick branch that lay acrossthe road at an angle, at around 25 km/hr, and the bike catapulted me over the handlebars onto my face. I was acutely aware of those very few seconds when my nose and forehead was scraping the gravel before I overturned and landing on my back in the dry sandy ditch. However my injuries were in hindsight minor compared to what might have been - I think I was very lucky there was nothing sharp or hard in front of me as I fell. A couple travelling behing me saw it all and stopped to help, but I cleaned up some of the blood off my face, thanked them and dragged the bike to the side of the road to check it out. There was minor damage including shifting of the front wheel in the drop out which I managed to mostly twist back, but I couldn’t straighten the bars which had twisted in the clamp. Again, lucky, or testament to this Thorn Raven being one tough bike, but that’s why I chose it. Somewhat shaken I carried on back to camp, where I only had an hour to get showered and changed and to get back the 7km to dine . Worst thing really was the state of my only shirt - I had to wash it in the shower and put it on wet; it would practically dry on the cycle ride back to the venue.
There were lots of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ at dinner at the mess my face was in (see pic) but I felt OK and on relatively good form, having had another good day apart from crashing. Lets hope they don’t come in threes. It was a bit painful drinking the coffee afterwards, but the beef curry and apricot pudding with ice cream, not to mention the bottle of wine, went down very well. It was non-stop but very good conversation that confirmed again the friendliness and absence of generational barriers in Oz (somewhat unlike the UK). Thirty-something Jenny and her friends were very good company.
It was pretty late when I left for home but I enjoyed the midnight whiz on deserted roads through the tropical darkness, and with no moon it was incredibly starry. I heard lots of rustling in the undergrowth as night creatures ran or slithered back into the bush away from this big ‘predator’ but didn’t actually see much despite the great performance of the Lumitech front light with the SON hub dynamo. Only problem was the fact that the light bracket had come a bit loose during the crash so it wasn’t quite pointing in the right direction. I’ll sort all that out tomorrow at Cape Tribulation. I was hungry again when I got back and had to make a thick cheese sarnie to satisfy that.

DAY 168: Mossman to Lync Haven (Daintree NP)

Weds 9th April 2008
56 km @ 14.6 km/hr
Distance to date 10072 km (6295 miles)

As well as another poor nights’ sleep I had backache this morning too - I was pretty stiff and had to shamble around like an old man for a while lol. It eased somewhat during the day though. First thing was a trip to Mossman Gorge, one of the most-visited sites in N.Queensland, however although very beautiful there are similar sites in Derbyshire and Scotland - rocky river running through picturesque valley - that attract little attention. Plus there was a 500m walk in up and down steps, so I had to leave the bike unattended for a while, which usually makes me anxious and today was no exception. I’m still in low spirits I have to say but I’m trying to climb out of it as best I can.
It’s a 12km round trip out to the gorge and back to Mossman, and when passing back through I dropped in at a cafe with internet, to upload. The internet connection was OK but the computer was old and slow, as I felt this morning. However the guy gave me 20 minutes free time to compensate so I got finished within that time.
I finally left Mossman at 1030 with the wind on the right side for a while, and the sun shining brightly, passing through alternating rain forest and then sugar cane fields where the land had been cleared. There wasn’t much traffic and just as well as there is no shoulder on this road.
I pedalled away for a couple of hours of this before arriving at Daintree Township junction, where there is a roadhouse, but a coachload of some 20 people beat me to the counter so I gave up on coffee and a muffin and had a banana instead as hordes of mostly fat tourists leered at me over their burgers. I wasn’t in sociable mode today unfortunately so it’s as much my fault that I didn’t engage with anyone.
I decided to give Daintree Township a miss (it’s a 20km round side trip) since there was nothing special there to do or see that I couldn’t see and do nearer to the highway. Just 1km north of the roadhouse was the mighty Daintree River, and there were 4 or 5 trip operators vying for river cruise "guaranteed to see a croc" business. I chose one and after a home-made cheese and tomato roll I boarded an electric-motored vessel for a cruise up the river (part of Daintree NP) for an hour. It was very nice too, and as you can see we say a few of the great beasts. The big one is some 60 years old it seems and he has a hareem of 5 or 6 ‘wives’ to keep him amused; however they are resident some way up river in their separate hideaways and he visits them in turn. Now there’s a thought! He takes no part in nest-building or baby croc aftercare; he just does the important bit lol. However, it seems he has a rival for the King Croc title, and his reign may be coming to a (violent) close. We saw a couple of smaller saltwater crocs and a Green Tree Snake (common and non-poisonous) too. The boat operator was very knowledgable and interested and answered all 50 or so questions that I threw at him very competently, including "what do I do if a croc gets me?" - "poke his eye or play dead" was the answer. Apparently if you lie doggo he thinks you’re dead and lies back for a rest, which is when you can slip away, presumably taking your severed arm and/or leg with you. For $22 (£9) it was good value.
From here it was a short ride to the Daintree ferry and a 4 minute, $1 punt over to the north bank, where the metalled road continues to wind through the rainforest.
Now it was like cycling through a deep green tunnel with lush rainforest close up to the road - this is all NP so no farmland at all now. After a few km of flat windy road it’s uphill for a short time - surely that isn’t the hill that everyone told me about? No it isn’t - 7km from the ferry the real climbing starts - 200m in under 2km at mostly 10 to 15% incline - killer! Speed was mostly under 5 and often under 4 km/hr and I was ‘on the limit’ at times.
There’s a nice (Alexandra Range) viewpoint to stop and admire and get your breath back at, and we (me and some 4WD'ers) were treated to a graceful, slow,' thermal rising' display by 4 gorgeous big (4" wingspan) colourful butterflies, a bit like the Ulysses but different colours - a fantastic show. From here I plunged downhill through the green tunnel and almost at the bottom there is a turn for the Discovery Centre, an interpretative walk / display, which is reckoned to be very good but which is $33 to get in! I’m camping a few km down the road so I may come back here tomorrow (it was closing in an hour and that’s not enough time to have a good look). 5 km on is an essential stop - the Daintree Ice Cream Company - where they do a 4-scoop medley of bush-plant flavours e.g. wattle seed, and very nice it was too. Although sunny all day it hasn’t been excessively hot at 29 deg C but quite pleasant, good ice cream weather.
The Lync Haven CP is just down the road from here, and at $9.50 with well-fitted campers kitchen it’s a bargain. There are a lot of mozzies though but a good spraying of repellent all over me keeps them away hopefully. The camping area is in dense rainforest and is actually quite dark for that.There’s a French guy staying here - Michel - and we cooked and ate together tonight, both of us testing our knowledge of French and English with the other. I was surprised what French I had remembered from school not having used it since. It was a very dark walk back to the tent as there was no moon.
I’m going to stay another night here before moving on. Although I’m a few days behind ‘schedule’ I’m sure I can make it up on the long outback road across the Top End, where tailwind easterlies should prevail. I have a hard task in a few days when I tackle the 79km Bloomfield 4WD gravel track through to Cooktown, which may be very rough and certainly features some very, very steep hills where I’ll have to get off and push, very slowly. It will be a major challenge, but should help me prepare for the 700km Gibb River Road in the Kimberleys later on.
I may need 2 or 3 days to do the Bloomfield; I’ll have to see how it goes. It is supposed to be very beautiful so 3 days would be worthwhile I expect, There are a few deep river crossings; rivers that are home to Saltwater Crocs waiting for something tasty for dinner, and at least one of these, the Bloomfield River causeway, has to be tackled at low tide, so I need to check tide tables too.

DAY 167: Cairns to Mossman

Tue 8th April 2008
98 km @ 17.0 km/hr
Distance to date 10016 km (6260 miles)

A poor night’s sleep last might due to things going around in my head, but up at 7-ish as usual and got packed up before breakfast. Hugs, photos and goodbyes abounded as I sadly took leave of Renee and Sarah, who are first-class hostesses, lovely people, and are highly recommended! I hope all goes well with the prospective house purchase they are into at the mo - please keep in touch guys...
Getting out of Cairns was easy and painless, quiet roads even in the rush hour, and I was soon onto the Captain Cook Highway. Things went OK for the first 23km i.e. while there was a good shoulder, but thereafter things became pretty pear-shaped.
I popped down to have a look at Palm Cove (only 1.5km off the highway) which is quite nice but a bit yuppified and lacking character I thought. There is a nice beach there but why 'Cove?' A cove is a short beach contained by cliffs, I think, but this beach is about 3km long and encompasses other resorts / villages too. OK, I’m in pedantic and none-too bright mood today for various reasons as you may have guessed.
And my demeanor plumetted once back on the highway with the disappearance of the shoulder for around 40km.

Health Warning: the Captain Cook Highway from Palm Cove to near Port Douglas is dangerous for cyclists.
Although this stretch is not excessively busy, because there are few sharp bends the traffic is going fast at around 100 km/hr, and many drivers don’t like slowing down before passing. I was buzzed closely many times, most significantly by one articulated lorry going like the clappers within a foot or so of me, which made me very angry. There was nothing coming the other way on a clear, straight road. I was so angry that if that lorry had stopped ahead of me I am sure I would have dragged him from his cab and beaten him to a pulp with the strength of 10 men. Yes, I was angry all right. Why don’t the transport authority put lorry drivers through a stringent psychological test before allowing them to drive a 25-ton killing machine? That might weed out the nutters like this one and make the roads a safer place for everyone, not just cyclists. Why don’t the Queensland Roads Department get their fingers out of their arse and add a shoulder to this long-known dangerous road? There are even signs saying it’s an accident blackspot - why don’t they address the issues causing that?
The scenery is very nice with the sea on the right and occasional sandy beaches fringed with palms, but it was totally lost on me due to the anxiety associated with the fast traffic. I can’t decide whether this road is more dangerous for cyclists than the North Road from Gawler to Adelaide or not - it’s a close-run thing. People are dying out there guys! There were no big hills though, just little rises of no more than 40m.
I snapped a few pics occasionally for posterity but was relieved to reach the Port Douglas turn and a 5km detour to have a look around. Although it’s not my kind of place - all marble ‘retreats’ and ‘country clubs’ with people being helicoptered in because they can’t bear the 30 minute drive from Cairns Airport - it has been built quite tastefully with lots of tree cover and smart buildings. I fancied a nice sandwich but the 3 cafes I checked out didn’t have much choice and didn’t look too clean either so I resorted to a ham and pineapple roll at Brumby’s Bakery which was fine, and a good bit cheaper than the ‘posher’ places. I was feeling somewhat tired by this time (1530) so planned to stay in a CP here, but at $25 and $24 respectively for unpowered tent sites for 1 person I decided to move on and try my luck in Mossman, only around 14 km north of here.
The road now had flattened out, was dead straight, and passed through wall to wall sugar cane fields. I still had a slight tailwind but all day it had not been that significant. Mossman is a pleasant little town, for me it has more character than Port Douglas, and the CP is quite good. It has a 50m swimming pool and a well-equipped campers kitchen, although at $20 it is still on the dear side. I treated myself to a decent bottle of wine - that’ll cheer me up lol! In fact there was a Canadian couple in the kitchen so we had a right old blather for a couple of hours, and this made me feel much better. I didn’t feel as hungry as usual so I just had cheese and tomato on some fresh crusty bread I bought today, and a couple of glasses of Cabernet.

DAY 166: Day 2 off in Cairns

Mon 7th April 2008
Distance to date 9918 km (6199 miles)

I slept very well again last night and was up in time to see Renee and Sarah go off to work as I slowly munched my muesli. I then uploaded to the blog and checked e-mails, of which two were of significant interest.
One was notification from Justgiving.com that another donation had been made but the amount leapt out at me - £275!! This was from someone in Perth (WA) who has recently been e-mailing me about his proposed cycle trip around Oz - I was thrilled! That will pay for clean water and sanitation for some 18 people in developing countries. With other, offline, contributions the total is now well over £1000 - many thanks again to everyone so far.
The other e-mail was from Lyn, who I know isn’t too happy with me going away for a year - I can understand that - and the gist of it is that our relationship is probably over now for good. I have thought and hoped that we would ‘be OK’ after I returned but now I’m not so sure, in fact I think it’s very unlikely. I feel very sad and upset about that; we have had some very good times together over the past 5 years, and although I probably didn’t show it very well, I do love and admire her.
Life must go on, in somewhat mundane ways, so I busied myself with getting the chainring and rear sprocket turned around at a local bike shop (I don’t have the tools), and buying a spare chain. The mechanic also changed the rear brake cable, which was very sticky, so I’m glad that’s sorted too. Later on I had a look at the Botanic Gardens some 3km on the other side of the town, but to be honest my heart wasn’t in it and I didn’t stay long. I went to a barber to get both hair and beard cut and this was good fun with the conversation going to and fro around the salon. The owner has hundreds of bank notes from all over the world pasted on the wall that customers have given him, so I added a Hong Kong $20 note which he didn’t have (it’s worth about £1 lol).
Cairns is a very easy place to get around in; it’s easy with the help of a street map to get to where you want to go and I seemed to be able to get there using just 2 streets, which makes planning a journey simple. There are a lot of cyclists around too, suggesting that it feels safe for cyclists. I have felt very safe here, but Sarah says that is can be quite dangerous with some traffic having very little regard for cyclists. Sarah was telling me about her work as an environmental consultant and she says that there is a big need for experienced people here (wonder if they could use a 59-year-old lol). I know that the QEPA were recruiting managers lately....he he...
Renee and Sarah have made me sooo welcome here I shall be very sorry to leave tomorrow, they are great company, great cooks, interesting to talk to, ethically and environmentally supercharged and well, just thoroughly nice people. My kind of people. I shall always remember them, and maybe see them in Bonny Scotland one day - who knows?! I hope so. Sarah cooked a nice stir fry so I was well contented again.

DAY 165: Cairns - Kuranda - Cairns

60 km at 16.0 km/hr

Sun 6th April 2008

Distance to date 9918 km (6161 miles)

I lingered long and luxuriously in a ‘proper’ bed this morning with sun streaming in, though temporarily obliterated by my eye mask. Renee introduced me to Vitasoy with my muesli; delicious soya milk that to me tastes better than real full-cream milk, this stuff is even creamier.

Thus fortified I set about finishing the blog updating and replying to e-mails, the number of which is growing as more people make contact after reading the website. Two or three other people are planning or actually undertaking long trips around Oz and seemingly find the info useful.

Towards the end of the morning I set off for a ride up to Karumba, some 30km away. It is possible to get a train there and then cable car back but I quite fancied a big climb without all the heavy gear. I wasn’t sure how high up the town is but had thought it would be the same elevation as the Tablelands i.e. Around 750m, but I was wrong again.

The first 11km is dead flat along the busy Cook (the main north) Highway but then after turning left onto the Karumba / Mareeba road the climbing starts. Very nice climbing too after the Alpine style, with many switchbacks and occasional views down to the valley through gaps in the dense rainforest. The road was busy but being a Sunday virtually no lorries were on the go, and most of the cars gave a wide berth - there was a little shoulder for most of the way so I didn’t get anxious. There was plenty of shade too on the steady 6-8% incline. I found I could maintain 8 km/hr fairly easily as opposed to (probably) 5-6 km/hr fully laden under similar conditions. It was thoroughly enjoyable getting the old climbing rhythm back but rather than 750m the highest point on this leg proved to be only 450m (the steep bit started from sea level), but then it falls to 350m and then rises and falls to finish up at around 400m at Kuranda.

Kuranda is a somewhat Bohemian town, or village as it likes to be known, with trendy cafes and lots of craft stalls and shops. It proved impossible to get a decent photo of the place though due to the lines of trees in front of all the buildings, but the trees make it more comfortable to get around of course. It wouldn’t be an imposition to spend more time here. I had a good lunch in a pleasant terraced cafe (chicken and avacado sandwich decorated with various fruits, and a tall glass of freshly-crushed pineapple juice with mint if you must know). The lady owners were yet again very interested in my travels and gave me $10 for WaterAid - nice. For the next hour I had a wander around Birdworld - a huge enclosure containing scores of different kinds of bird (the largest in Oz) together with a leaflet showing what type of bird. The birds are ultra-tame after all the close contact with humans and actually got a bit too friendly at times - a parrot taking a keen interest in eating my rucsack and a dove performing a mating ritual on my hand (that’s the best offer I’ve had today lol).

It was nearing 4 so I set off back and after regaining 100m or so in height it was a 450m plunge at 45 km/hr, mostly keeping up with a line of cars, much to their chagrin possibly. Once down at sea level it was a hard slog against the strong SE wind back to Cairns via the western arterial road and a bottle shop for a 6-pack of XXXX Specials for me and mein hostesses.

As I came out of the shower Sarah, whom I hadn’t met yet, arrived home from her 60km mountain bike ride around the Atherton Tablelands, and I must say she looked pretty fresh for all that. I felt quite knackered after my efforts but perked up when the girls’ joint-effort delicious dinner was served. These two are really nice company and very friendly - as have been all of my Warmshowers hosts. I hope they all understand that it’s much appreciated and enjoyed - here’s nothing better than sharing time with like-minded people in this way - all my hosts have, perhaps unexpectedly, had very similar environmental and ethical principles as myself; it goes with the activity I guess? I hope to see some of them back in Scotland so I can return the favours.

As I type this the Curlews are are broadcasting their joint, mournful cries across Cairns; quite an eerie sound.

DAY 164: Lake Eacham to Cairns

70km at 15.2 km/hr

Sat 5th April 2008

Distance to date 9858 km (6161 miles)

A leisurely start to the day since it was a fairly easy ride to Cairns from here, no rush. I went to say goodbye to Liz at the CP office, and as I was about to go she brought out two pieces of date slice for me - what a nice lady! I have had a really happy 3 days here at Lake Easham, and the caravan park has been a real little find - if you’re coming this way do look it up. There’s also a cafe here at the CP too but I didn’t actually use it.

I’d confirmed with Liz the short cut through to the Gillies Highway, as the road to Gordonvale is called, so before long I was plodding up the same long, steep hill that I suffered yesterday, only today I had all the baggage to haul up too. No worries though, and the effort I made this morning to balance the panniers seemed to have paid off. I roughly ‘weighed’ the right and left panniers to try and get them the same - I find this more difficult to do with the rears because the ‘electrical etc’ stuff on the right is a good bit heavier than the depleted food larder in the left, and the food panniers changes weight every day. Anyway today it all felt well-balanced going slowly uphill, which is when balance matters most i.e. a lack of wobble.

I reckon Lake Easham is at about 700m elevation, and today I topped out at 820m before plunging back down to almost sea level over about 12km of twisty switchbacks. This was reminiscent of the French Alps and brought back good memories of my 2006 tour. The descent was entirely tree-lined with the sunlight shining through the green canopy, and with occasional glimpses of the valley far below. The warnings I’d received about the dangers of this road, although well-meant, proved unfounded, mostly due to the speed I was travelling at and the fact that few vehicles even caught me up, and those that did gave me time to get to a decent passing place. No lorries passed me at all, possibly due to the fact that this was a Saturday. I cruised down at around 40 since there was a strong SE headwind; just as well really - this acted as a curb on my enthusiasm because some of the bends were pretty tight and have to be taken carefully fully laden. It’s true that there’s not much room at the left if I was ‘squeezed’ by other traffic but this never happened. I stopped a couple of times to take a photo and admire the view as well as letting traffic pass.

All too soon it was back to normal, gently undulating road and after another 10km I was entering Gordonvale.

I had a pie at the Gordonvale bakery before continuing on the last 24km leg to Cairns, the notional half-way point of my trip. Traffic was heavy as usual on the Bruce Highway but there was a good shoulder, and as I came into the city the cycle lanes were very well-marked. I spotted a camping shop and went in to replace the lightweight camping towel I left at Bundaberg CP; the one I bought to replace it is far too heavy and never seems to dry out in this damp tropical climate. I also got a pair of ‘mosquito-repellent’ shorts, though I don’t know how that works. I’ve been meaning to get shorts for a while to give me some other clothing options, and I plan to wear them sometimes over my cycling shorts. In an attempt to ease the painful effect of the saddle sores I’ve been wearing 2 pairs of shorts for the last week. The Assos shorts had worn out, and finally became unwearable in their own right when they got caught in the rear sprocket and developed a few holes, however they are still fine under my other pair and it is definitely less uncomfortable re the sores.

I had arranged to get to my Warmshowers hosts’ house around 4 so I spent the intervening couple of hours riding around Cairns, eating ice cream and getting info from the VIC. Cairns is teeming with tourists, although this is not yet high season by any means. There is no sandy beach in the town itself unfortunately - it was apparently dredged away during the war to make way for navy ships coming and going, from what I understand anyway. The shore is mud and mangrove, but the esplanade is very nice and has lots of facilities for swimming, picnics, walking etc. The town is very large in area for it’s population of 90,000 or so so the inner streets near where my hostesses live have a wide and empty feel, which makes it feel very uncrowded and peaceful.

I found the place easily enough and Renee welcomed me in and showed me around. Sarah is away for tonight ready for an early bicycle ride tomorrow up on the Atherton Tablelands. Renee is a lawyer who is mostly involved in defending indigenous people in court, and is very ‘switched on’ with regard to environmental and social issues, and we had an intersting chat about all that stuff. Later on she made us spaghetti and then we cycled down into the city and had a pleasant evening over a couple of beers listing to live music from the bar and watching people coming and going. I had expected the city to be bustling, but it was surprisingly quiet for a Saturday night. It was fun cycling through the city at night - I haven’t done that for a while - and it felt quite safe due to the curious lack of other traffic. I was feeling quite shattered after all that, it was past my bedtime and I was out like a light.

Note that Blogger weirdly puts the pics in reverse order; Cairns pics first then...

DAY 163: Day 2 off Lake Eacham

Fri 4th April 2008

Distance to date 9788 km (6117 miles)

Awoke to the resident cock crowing away at dawn, closely followed by an unfamiliar bird call which surprisingly turned out to be a Currawong - they are good mimics like many of the crows though. I’d decided on a practical day today, uploading here in the park office then a good maintenance session on the bike. First I feasted on some new muesli I bought yesterday with macadamia nuts in - very nice.

Uploading was unsuccesful because the computer for camper use is a Mac - drat - there’s no way I can see that I can upload pics without first loading all 800-odd images off the 2GB camera SD card onto the Mac, and I calculated that would take a long time, so I abandoned the task for another day. Come back PC, all is forgiven. However I got lots of e-mailing done and checked stuff out on the internet so it wasn’t totally wasted time. In fact it turned out to be very productive time, because several ladies arrived for a meeting of the local Scrabble club, and the site owner Liz announced to the others that I was riding around Oz for charity, and they had a whip-round and raised $45! Brilliant..and I went onto the Justgiving website and paid it in there and then. Liz’s husband Lionel had seen my website address in the Guest Book that I had signed, and read up on what I was doing, because I think I had forgotten to mention the charity bit. I must say I am a bit reluctant to push it as it sometimes sounds a bit too ‘glorious’, but I should always mention it really. There’s around £600 so far, but I know that a good few Australians have donated directly to the WaterAid Oz website so as to get gift aid here i.e. an extra 20% or so.

Anyway it was a good relaxing day in this beautiful place, so peaceful, and everything that I need is at the caravan park from electric kettle to fridge so it’s very easy living. In the afternoon I set to and cleaned the bike thoroughly, fitted the second new tyre and a thorn-resistant tube onto the rear wheel, lubricated the brake cables, fixed and refitted onto the left bar end the old mirror that fell apart (I have 2 mirrors now I like them so much!) and undid slightly and retightened all the bolts and screws to make sure they weren’t seizing up after all the rain and muck they’ve suffered.

The other guy staying here came over and gave me 2 passion fruit which was nice of him, and they were delicious. He came here for a 2-week stay and finished up staying 5 years, and I can understand why. He is a keen ornithologist and these tropics have more species than any other place in Oz. I didn’t mention that this area is in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Site which stretches in specific patches of land from Townsville to Cooktown.

Around 5 I cycled the 1.5km to Lake Eacham and saw that there were about a dozen folk swimming in there, so I threw my togs off and joined ‘em, it was too tempting with the late afternoon sun burning red onto the flat calm water. The water was cooler than it usually is in the sea, partly due to the altitude of 800m or so and also because of the great depth I suppose - it seemed a bit weird to be swimming in this 70-odd metre depth. Afterwards I put my clothes back on regardless of being wet (they’ll soon dry in this warmth) and cycled the 3km around the densely forested banks of the lake again, stopping occasionally to listen / look for birds. I heard what I believe was a Wompoo Pigeon because it was calling “wwwooom - ppooo” lol - the guide says there are some here. There are lots of small birds but (a) they are hard to see even with binoculars and (b) they don’t stay still long enough. Now I have my new birdie book I’ll stand a better chance of identifying these though. If I was staying here longer I could tag along with the old guy I guess, but I must move on tomorrow - I am expected at Warmshowers hosts Renee and Sarah’s in Cairns.

There are a few more campers here today, among them a German couple who were blown away by the rainforests of Cape Tribulation, where I’ll be next week - can’t wait!! Woohoo!