I camped just outside town and went on a bit of a tourist trail. First I went to the crater lakes east of Atherton, Lake Eacham is a small crater lake with pristine fresh water. It was a bit out of the way but very picturesque and the glossy brochure said it has turtles! What better reason to cycle 40km out of my way. I’d been promised them on Fraser but didn’t see any.

There was a viewing area for looking at turtles about 10 feet above the water – it came with no diving signs too but the days of bombing into the pool in Cairns made it too much to resist so fully clothed I executed a sublime 9.6 power bomb. I’m not sure what it is about it but bombing into water fun

After spluttering my way out of the water – I still swim like a stone – with lots of disapproving stares from the old people, I noticed that no one was willing to meet my challenge, so I sat down to a triumphant lunch on the grass. There were indeed turtles to be seen but I did obey the signs this time not to feed them. Satisfied I’d seen some turtles I went to see the most visited tree in the world!

Curtain Fig

The curtain fig in Yungburra is a tree that started life in between two branches of another tree and sent root down to the ground. Whether due to a storm or the weight of the fig tree growing on it, the host toppled over and died leaving a fig tree with a root syslem starting about 60 feet from the ground. It looks impressive for about 10 minutes and then its time to be somewhere else. I saw a few waterfalls with some water this time and made it to Ravenshoe just before dark.

Ravenshoe is pronounced Ravens-hoe not Raven-shoe, I got an earful for pronouncing it wrong by some tetchy local – it’s not like it’s obvious how to say it, at least not to me. I met the darkest Aboriginal person I’ve met so far that night, a man with a more Irish name that I do – Patrick Kennedy! How that happened I don’t know but because of our ‘Irish connection’ he invited me to a Kupumurra(spelling?) where the local Aboriginals get together to cook goanna, croc, pig, chicken, cassowary (these are endangered) in a firepit in the ground. It sounded good to me but would have meant waiting around for a few days and I’d already done enough of that. Shame really, could have been interesting trying the different foods on offer.

So after a week of faffing about and two aborted attempts to depart Cairns I managed to make it out of the city and north towards the Port Douglas/Daintree region. Cooktown was my target as the turning point up the coast but at Mossman a local said the road was in shocking 4WD only condition after lots of rain and traffic. 65km from Cape Tribulation to Cooktown is gravel and the alternative is a few hundred kilometers around the mountains. I’m not too confident about the strengh of my bike on the really rough stuff, so I turned my pony around and went into the Atherton tablelands instead to begin my journey into the outback.

It was a reasonble climb into the hills, didn’t feel as bad as some of the earlier climbs I’ve done. Maybe it was just easier but I’d like to think it’s because I’m getting fitter. Still not sure about that, I don’t feel and stronger or fitter but the distances I cover are reasonable and my average speed is increasing.

I can’t figure what happened to my pictures from Port Douglas and Mossman so there is nothing to show but there were some pretty ones. Anyway the tableland is a fertile plateau with lots of agriculture and plenty rainfall which I experienced first hand on my way to Atherton. Being the last town of any decent size before I get to Mount Isa near the border with the Northern Territories I stocked up with food and more water bottles. I’m carrying 6 complete days of food and 9 litres of water now.

Today I got my first proper soaking on the bike at a place called El Arish. Is that a bad spelling of the Irish by a Mexican or something? Just as I was getting to my rest area for the night the heavens opened and I was literally only 300m from shelter when it happened. I got completely soaked in seconds. When I pulled into the shelter I was shouting all sorts of obscenities at the sky. I didn’t see any vehicles so I thought I was all alone until I heard some laughing. I peered around the corner of the toilets and there was a guy almost in tears laughing at my little rant to the sky Glad to be an amusement.

If it had happened earlier in the day I wouldn’t have been bothered, at least I’d have a chance to dry out but it was late in the day. To add insult to injury I’d put my sleeping bag on the rack at the back and it not being in a waterproof sack got pretty wet too. Luckily it was warm so I didn’t need it. It rained on and off for the rest of the evening but I was already so I cooked away in it regardless.

This was just outside Tully which I was glad to be past. Not that I’ve aything against Tully but the road goes across a swampy section of land and is elevated on concrete. Nothing wrong with that except there was no shoulder worth talking about and the road dropped away at 45° It made every time a truck came past an adrenaline filled experience trying to keep the bike straight. In the end there was no drama really.