|
Day: |
025 |
|
Date: |
Monday, 21 August 2006 |
|
Summary |
Riding from Cairns (Brinsmead)
to Cape Tribulation . |
|
Start: |
Cairns |
|
Finish: |
Cape Tribulation |
|
Daily
Kilometres: |
133 |
|
Total
Kilometres: |
3236 |
|
Weather: |
Mild and cloudy at first, then warm, sunny
and humid with south-easterly winds. |
|
Accommodation: |
Basic cabin at backpackers resort, Cape
Tribulation , Queensland . |
|
Nutrition: |
Cereal and toast for breakfast, pie and
sausage roll for lunch, and sausages and vegetables for dinner. |
|
Encounters: |
In Mossman I bumped into the New Zealander
who had stopped his car to have a chat with me a week ago when I was
riding from Muttaburra to Hughenden. He was now on his bike (a
recumbent with trailer) following a route recommended by Lonely
Planet. I invited him to give me a call when he came down to
the Sydney area. |
|
Highlights: |
It was a day of highlights. Perhaps the
best was the beautiful sunset stroll I had along the sweeping palm
tree-fringed Myall Beach at Cape Tribulation, freshly showered after
having completed a very satisfactory day’s riding. |
|
Lowlights: |
My bike computer started playing up in the
first few kilometres and, despite changing its batteries, it still
only seems to be working intermittently. It’s not a great problem,
although it does help a bit with navigation and time management. My
right knee was quite painful for most of the day. |
|
Journal: |
I got on the road shortly before 7:00am and
negotiated the early morning peak hour traffic as I headed north. I
noticed my bike computer wasn’t working and changed the batteries,
but it still seemed to be malfunctioning. Not a critical
problem. The early part of the trip was through suburbs and then
cane fields, before the road travelled along the beautiful coast
with a thin strip of sandy beach against a backdrop of steep
jungle-covered mountains that occasionally formed precipitous
headlands. I had a nice following wind, and despite the narrow road
and busy tourist traffic (minibus after minibus heading for the
Daintree) and occasional sharp hills, thoroughly enjoyed the
spectacle.
Near Port Douglas the road swung away from the
coast to Mossman and began passing through cane fields still against
the same mountain backdrop. Some of the cane was being cut and
loaded into the narrow gauge rail wagons that are used for local
transportation to the mills. Around this time, I actually caught a
guy out training on his road bike, so I must have been travelling
OK!
In Mossman I stopped for a break and bumped into the New
Zealander I had met a week earlier in outback Queensland . I
continued on to the Daintree River ferry stopping occasionally to
have a look at some of the very pretty beaches. After the ferry the
road was narrow and winding as it passed through dense tropical
rainforest. Both sides of the road were a chaotic jumble of vines,
leaves and trees and it was very beautiful. I had to negotiate a
couple of steep mountain ranges as I continued north and resorted to
walking at one point when the road became too steep. It was also
quite humid and I was sweating a lot, although the breeze helped
cool me off at my frequent stops to admire the views or beaches.
Around 4:00pm I reached PK’s Jungle Resort where I had earlier
called to book a basic room and checked in. It is the same place
where Barb, Aaron, Alicia and I had camped on our trip
round Australia three years ago. After a quick shower, I went for a
very pleasant walk along the nearby beach before dinner. Although
it’s only 103km to Cooktown tomorrow, I’m quite apprehensive about
some of the very steep hills and rough trail I know I am going to
encounter, particularly for the first 35km. |
|
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)
|
