|
Day: |
023 |
|
Date: |
Saturday, 19 August 2006 |
|
Summary |
Riding from Ravenshoe
to Cairns (Brinsmead). |
|
Start: |
Ravenshoe |
|
Finish: |
Cairns (Brinsmead) |
|
Daily
Kilometres: |
140 |
|
Total
Kilometres: |
3103 |
|
Weather: |
Cool and cloudy in the morning and warm and
sunny for the afternoon with south-easterly winds. |
|
Accommodation: |
Staying with cousin, Phil, and his wife,
Denise, in Brinsmead, a suburb of Cairns ,Queensland . |
|
Nutrition: |
Pastries for breakfast, two pies and a
milkshake for lunch, and for barbecue for dinner. |
|
Encounters: |
There was the drunk who staggered out of
the pub in Gordonvale while I was having lunch outside of the
adjacent bakery in my biking gear who thought I was there (and
dressed for) the annual race up the Pyramid, a nearby mountain,
scheduled for that day. |
|
Highlights: |
Firstly, the ride across the Atherton
Tableland was very enjoyable (apart from the hills). The road wound
around through little rural valleys with dairy farms and occasional
plantations punctuated with patches of dense tropical rainforest,
occasionally climbing over high ridges that gave spectacular views
to the surrounding high mountains. Secondly, arriving at the coast
again was a major milestone in my trip. |
|
Lowlights: |
There were some long and tough hills as I
crossed the Atherton Tableland, and my quads and right knee were
very tired/sore by the time I got to the final descent. Also,
sometime in the first hour, my groundsheet, which I strap on top of
my panniers, somehow slipped out without me noticing and was
lost. Not a critical piece of equipment, but I’ll try and get a
replacement in Cairns . |
|
Journal: |
I got up at 6:30am and was about to leave
at 7:00am when I got a phone call from Aaron from the US. It was
the first time I had spoken to him in a month, so it was a welcome
start to the day to hear about how his Gap Year travels are going
and that he is enjoying himself. He flies out to Europetomorrow.
There were several choices for routes across the Atherton
Tableland to Cairns and I opted for what seemed to be the shortest,
which also used relatively minor roads. It proved to be a good
choice, traffic-wise and scenery-wise, particularly for the first
30km when I had the narrow winding and steeply undulating road
almost to myself. The hills were tough but the scenery was a stark
and welcome contrast to the last few weeks with verdant dairy farms
and lush rainforest. It reminded me a bit of
the Strezlecki Ranges I had crossed back in Victoria at the start of
the trip.
At Malanda, a popular tourist town, which was
buzzing on a market day Saturday morning, I found a bakery for a
late breakfast at around 10:30am and ate a couple of pastries, read
the Saturday paper and watched the world go by, although there was a
coolish wind. I then continued on, up some more massive hills,
which I don’t think I could have ridden up early in the trip, to
the Gillies Range , which marked the crest of the Great Dividing
Range . Several people’s ears had pricked up when I said I was
going this route, which apparently has a long and dangerous
descent. The Gillies Range was crested with beautiful tropical
rainforest and, although the road was very winding, it was quite
easy to ride (it would have been slow and tedious in a car), and
there wasn’t too much traffic. Finally, the long 16km descent began
to the coastal plains and I barely touched the pedals the whole
way. It was great! The road wasn’t so steep that I had to use the
brakes excessively and most of the time I just rolled along at about
30-35km looking at the fabulous scenery below which included sugar
cane and grass farms on the flats and lushly forested mountains all
around. It also got noticeably warmer on the descent and for the
first time in the day I started to warm up.
Once I reached
the bottom I pedalled to Gordonvale, an old sugar town, and found
some lunch, before riding the last 23km to Cairns in warm weather
with a much-appreciated strong tailwind. The journey was capped off
by finding a radio station I could listen to which was broadcasting
theGeelong football game.
As I rode into Cairns I checked a
couple of camping stores I needed to buy a few things, but they were
all closed. I had some time to spare, so rode into the very
touristy city centre and walked around the shops and beach area for
a while and enjoyed a thick-shake at a café.
Then I rode
about 12km out to where my cousin, Phil, and wife, Denise, and
family live at Brinsmead and received a warm welcome. I plan to
have a day off tomorrow to rest up, catch up with the relatives, and
purchase some food and small bits of gear to see me through the last
10-11 days of the trip, which will probably prove to be the most
challenging, logistics-wise. |
|
ADVENTURE LIST
Round Ireland
(2016)
Hume & Hovell Walking Track
(2013)
Via Alpina
(2012)
Australian Alps Walking
Track
(2011)
Land's End to John O'Groats
(2010)
Round Oz Bike Record Attempt
(2009)
Round Oz Bike Record Attempt
(2008)
Round Oz Bike Record Attempt
(2007)
Australia Tip to Top MTB
(2006)
Adelaide to Darwin MTB
(2005)
Sydney to Melbourne MTB
(2004)
Three Peaks Race
(2004)
Appalachian Trail
(1986)
Alpine Track
(1983)
|
