The concert is stumping….still dark, walls of water hammer the roof… it’s not a decent rain, but it sounds and looks like Armageddon.
Welcome to the Tropics, I guess…
The Travel-Rhythm is, by now, long established…eyes get heavy by 8pm…and out of the fartbag just at the very crack of dawn... or even before.
It keeps bucketing the whole morning, Nev’s got a day off and jams all the “posties” into his car… taking us for some oyster-picking to Daintree Beach Resort at Cape Kimberley!
Aren’t we lucky that the rain didn’t hit a few days before, the last river-crossings would’ve given us some real grief.
Down the beach it’s blowing a gale…the water comes out of the sky horizontally and at 100 miles an hour…the last remaining dry bits of clothing out of our packs barely last 10 secs.
Which still doesn’t deter Rohan and Glen to spent an hour or 2 amongst the rocks while I’m trying to save at least the last pair of jocks by running for the shelter of the resort bar.
The genny is cranked up in the afternoon, the computer arcs up, flights get confirmed… and the picture show is on, it’s the first time we see some of the stuff…
We’ll stay another night and Nev gets the dryer going, nothing dries on the line under the porch outside….and it’s getting that pongy smell.
Nev’s off to work after writing us some ferry-tickets
...
it's a sad Goodbye !!
Rohan packs for home, he’s got to be in Cairns this arvo to drop off his bike with Heath from P+M Couriers in Cairns, then catch a flight tomorrow... Glen and I have another couple of days….
Goodbyes in Mossman!!
Fern covered trees on the main street…
The face says it all:
DISBELIEVE…it’s all over…AND IT FEELS SOOOO BLOODY WRONG!!!
Glen and I turn off the coastal road and enjoy some (sealed) twisties up to Mt. Molloy, even uphill on a screaming in second/third gear- postie they’re a hoot.
A bite to eat at a roadside café, the 10min shopping at a Supermarket in Mareeba makes me dizzy….WAY TOO MANY people, cars, traffic…just the whole circus is too much, let’s stock up and get the hell out of here…
The grey skies of the coast have given way to broken blue skies in the Tablelands above Cairns…
Some frantic calls to organize a camping permit with National Parks and we settle in at Tinaroo Dam…the Camp Area at Fong On Bay holds some great memories, the road in is bumpy as usual and there’s LOADS of space to stretch out…we’re one of only 3 parties sharing the undulated 25acres of foreshore-heaven.
This pond is a bit NIPPY!
What a perfectly peaceful place to spend a day, a week, a….
A totally different character than the Cape…but still…there are some things here that draw you back time and again.
Hey…kick back and enjoy the sunset with us….
Another sparkler the next morning…time for a cruise around the neighbourhood.
Plant life up here is different again…gone are the stunted trees of the dry, arid North…things are green, lush, bursting with life.
Huge ferns in the tree branches, big fig-trees, tropical stuff I’ve never seen before…we do some walks with shorter stints of riding in between. Some touristy stuff, some more out-of-the-way-places…
http://wiki.worldflicks.org/lake_barrine.html
http://wiki.worldflicks.org/lake_eacham.html
A leisurely coffee at Lake Eacham Roadhouse, watching some other bikes come and go….then back onto the dirt towards Fong On Bay.
An old sign points towards a track past a farm house, the gate is closed, but unlocked
The track turns out a surprise….a rollercoaster jungle-track that gets the heart pumping, with a fantastic lookout at the end.
Gilles Lookout, half-overgrown, half-forgotten….
JACKPOT!
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