Day 24, 29.9.10, 252km, Karumba

At long last folks. The Gulf of Carpentaria. What a beautiful sight!

A big storm brewing over the gulf





Karumba Sunset 1

Karumba Sunset - How good is this!

Karumba Sunset - I am lucky to be seeing this

Well this is one of the bucket list I can finally say I have ticked off. I failed to make Karumba in 2006, when all the roads were flooded following Cyclone Larry, but this time I made it. I got an early start this morning from Croydon to miss as much of the heat as possible. Yesterday was 38 degrees C. and today is forecast to be as hot, so I was on the road by just after 7am. Had to dodge a few roos, which were still feeding beside the roiad, but no problems really. I got to Normanton, which is still a dingy, unhappy looking place and got another tourist to take a photo of me with a life size replica of the worlds biggest ever crocodile, which was shot by a lady near here in 1957. The size of the thing has to seen to be believed. After that I headed to Karumba and it was quite a thrill to finally be at the Gulf. I have taken a cabin at the local caravan park, which may be a good idea as there is an absolute monster storm heading this way, complete with thunder and lightning. The rain passed to the south of us, but the clouds contributed to the stunning sunset I experienced at Karumba Point. There is a large pub on the beach with outstanding views over the beach to the sunset. Large crowds had all set up to watch it and was it ever worth it. An incredibly beautiful sight. I will treasure these photo's. Tomorrow I will head for Lawn Hill National Park. I hope the road isn't too bad as there is a lot of dirt riding to do. Cheers

Believe or not, this quiet spot is Creen Creek, which nearly drowned me in 2006

Day 23, 28.9.2010, 313km, Croydon



Freshwater Croc at Cobbold Gorge



Cobbold Gorge

Today was baking hot, about 38 degrees C., but what a great day. Wayne and Sue had recommended doing Cobbold Gorge after they had been there last year (thanks guys!), so I phoned througha booking loast night and hoit the road at 7am this morning for the 80km dirt ride. This road was in good condition for north Queensland, so I was able to make good time there. The tour is $65.00 which is actually excellent value. It takes abaout 3 hours involving a 4WD coach ride, a bush walk and the vboat trip up the gorge. The gorge itself would have to be one of the most beautiful trips I have ever taken. The gorge itself has been created up an old fault line, but has been eroded and sculpted by the water and time to create a small area of incredible beauty. The pictures just don't do justice to this natural wonder, but I hope you get the idea. Finishing at 12pm, I had a brief lunch and then hit the road to Croydon, where I am sleeping in the tent again. I hope I sleep alright. Tomorrow, I will head for Korumba to watch the sunset over the gulf before heading for Lawn Hill. Cheers




Day 22, 27.9.10, 494km, Georgetown

Hou Wang Chinese Temple and Museum at Atherton - Closed yet again!

Millstream Falls near Ravenshoe

Another good day today. I left Chillagoe at about 8am. I could have seen some more things, but I am now focussing on getting to Lawn Hill, so I decided to head west today. First thouggh I had to head east back to Mareeba and then south to the Savannah Way. There was a short cut on the map, but after the Cape York debacle, I have become very wary of these north Queensland dirt roads. At a pretty little town called Mutchilba, I stopped for an icecream and to post some postcards to the folks at work to let them know I am still alive. One nice part of todays trip was to visit the Millstream Falls which were very pretty. Apart from that though, I just kept going. Lord it did get hot though. Not far from here it was reported to be 39 degrees C. Wayne and Sue had raved about Cobbold Gorge, so I am off down there tomorrow for the day. I'm in a cabin again tonight which might be just as well as there are huge lightning bolts on the horizon tonight, so we may get some rain. I'll see how the morning looks as to whether I stay here another night, but after that I will head for Karumba. Cheers

Somewhere near Chillagoe

Day 21, 26.9.2010, 422km, Chillagoe,

Capatin Cook statue





Skybury Coffee Plantation - great food coffee, food and atmosphere

Entering Chillagoe Caves

Had a great day today. It was a quiet night last night at Cooktown, just reading and taking it easy and rebuilding after the disappointment of Cape York. Left the lovely Peninsula Caravan Park and had a quiet look around Cooktown before leaving. Fortunately the developers haven't hit the place much yet. It's still a quiet back water, well worth visiting as an alternative to Towensville or Cairns. After that I hit the road back to Mareeba, where I raided the bank, filled the bike and went out to Skybury Coffee Plantation where I had a Mocha and a plate full of pancakes. A nice place and much better than the tacky Coffee World on the other side of town. I then headed inland and rode past countless mango and banana plantations into the Savannah to Chilligoe, where I bought a ticket and did the Chilligoe Caves tour. It was very interestinga nd at two hours quite good value. I'm now in a cheap overnight room at the caravan park. Catch you again tomorrow after I head west and hopefully end up somewhere Cobbold Gorge. Cheers

Cooktown foreshore - paradise indeed

Day 20, 25.9.2010, 217km, Cooktown

Banana plantations at Lakeland

I slept very badly last night; tossing around in my mind whether to persevere or head back. Conversations with the locals indicated that north of Musgrave Roadhouse the road had been graded and was in good condition, but after the Weipa turn off it would be much worse all the way to the top with some very deep sand patches. On the roads, I had been travelling so far, I was only able to maintain 60kph or less and it would take me 4 days to reach the end at that rate, even if I didn't crash again. The condition of the road couln't be improved by the continuous road trains, trucks and 4WD's which rolled past all night. In the end I made what I think was the best decision and decided to head back. Cape York is best managed with a well equipped 4WD and the overloaded BM is just not suited to this type of trip. I'm feeling pretty gutted though as I had my heart set on achieving this objective. Still there are still a lot of other objectives on the list. I took it very carefully going back. The patch of sand that tipped me off was taken in first gear with the feet out. While having a drink at Luara, I had a conversation with a couple from USA, who saiud I was very brave attempting a trip like this on my own; more like dumb, but at least I impressed someone. At Cooktown,I headed to the caravan park I last stayed at in 2006 which is a lovely site, but van prices have risen, so not cheap. Currently watching the AFL final (go Saints!), so there is a positive there. I,ve had a good sleep and tomorrow I will head for Chillagoe Caves. I will catch you then.

Black Mountain near Cooktown

The shop at Laura

Day 19, 24.9.10, 355km, Hann River Roadhouse

Today was one of the toughest I have ever experienced on a motorcycle. Last nights stay was one of the nicest so far. A very luxurious cabin with nice facilities. I managed to get all my washing dry and slept very well. Heading out at about 8am, I stopped off at the Mareeba Coffee Works for a mocha and a cake, then headed north through progressively drier country. Turned off at Lakeland and encountered some dirt to Laura, but nothing I couldn't handle. After Laura however the conditions turned very ugly indeed, with never ending corrugations and enormous quantities of deep sand. About 20km north of Laura, the ineviteble happened and I hit a deep patch of sand at about 60kph and suddenly crashed. I had to take everything off the bike before I could pick it up again. I was okay, but the right pannier had taken a belting. I managed to throw some straps around it and carried on, eventually ending up at Hann River, where I borrowed a large hammer and a log and bashed the pannier back into reasonable shape. It was only 3.30pm, but I was exhausted from the effort and concentration and opted to put up the tent for the night. Probably for the best as over the night my right thumb and shoulder stiffened up and I was feeling pretty down. However there were several campers there and they got me feeling better with the help of several beers. I had a good meal at the Roadhouse and crashed into the tent at 8.30pm

Mount Carbine mine

Look out near Palmer River

Start of the dirt road

My pannier after the crash

Mt Desailly from Bob's look out

Day 18, 23.9.2010, 354km Atherton

Murray Falls

Mausoleums at Ingham Cemetary

Paronella Park

Paronella Park

Elinjaa Falls

A good day thank goodness. The rain continued well into last night and despite having the clotehs on the line for over 18 hours they were still saturated this morning, so I had to pack them into bags and wear the cleanest of the dirty clothes (yuck). Anyway I got going at about 8am. First up I visited the Ingham Cemetary. The cemetary has a high number of ornate mausoleums built by the Italian Catholic population of the area. After that it was on to the Bruce Highway, heading north. Further up the road I saw a sign to Murray Falls, whuich was well worth the 40km side trip. A further turn off saw me visiting 'Paronella' This place is a huge ruined gardens and buildings built last century by a crazy Spanish guy. It is run now as a tourist attraction. Typical of a pivately run tourist attraction the whole objective is to squeeze money from the tourists though. I liked what I saw, but avoided the tour groups and the shops and after half an hour headed off again. After Innisfail, I turned left and rode up into the Tablelands, I visited a number of waterfalls which were fantastic, before stopping here at Atherton. The cabin I have is very nice, but way too expensive. Once I am off the East Coast tourist trail, cheaper accommodation should be easier to find, I hope. Tomorrow it's off on the Cape York Road, so the fun begins

Milaa Milaa Falls near Atherton

Day 17, 22.9.2010, 140km, Forrest Beach

Soggy backpackers - behind them is the Wallaman falls - if only you could see them

Aaaahhh! This bloody weather is driving me crazy. There is a huge tropical low stationary over Queensland at present. The weather report says that it could remain here until next Wednesday and it is bringing huge bucket loads of rain with it. This morning I washed clothes, but they still aren't dry (no sun or wind), so they are hanging on the line under the deck here. Hopefully they might be dry by morning, but I am not holding my breath. I took my time today, waiting for the ever present rain to back off, but by about 11.30am, I gave up out of sheer boredom and frustration and headed into Ingham on the bike. I got some money from the bank and then headed out to Wallaman Falls, which is the highest waterfall in Australia. I had seen this place briefly once on my last trip in 2006 and it is well worth seeing. This year I had plans to do the bushwalk around the falls. As I got higher and higher into the mountains though, the rain and gloom got heavier. On arriving at the falls, I couldn't see a thing. The falls were fair roaring though as there must be a big load of water flowing over them. All I found there were about 10 backpackers, standing around hoping for a break in the gloom to see the falls. We all stood around for about 30 minutes before I gave up and went back to Ingham. I had planned to see the cemetary there, which I have heard is worth seeing, but by then I was drenched, so I gave up and headed back to the apartment, where I have been trying to dry out. I did manage to take a 30 minute walk along the beach, when the rain backed off for a bit. A horrible day. Tomorrow, I head off regardless and hope to end up some where between Mareeba and Laura, before tackling the Cape York track on Thursday.

Wallaman Gorge - this is a good as the view got

Forrest Beach - noice place!

Day 16, 21st Sept 2010, 540km, Forrest Beach

Cane Fields approaching Mount Elliott before Townsville

A good day in contrast to yesterday. The morning started cloudy and looking like rain, but fortunately it held off for the day. I left Mackay at abaout 8.45am and just kept heading north. At Bowen, I went into town to find a Macca's and have a coffee and a muffin. It was enough for me for the day. I considered dropping in to have a better look at Finch Hatton Gorge, but the road was closed.  I skipped dropping in on Airlie Beach as I have seen it before. I want to see new stuff. As I planned to stay in Ingham for a couple of nights, I wanted to get there early to get a van for the night, but I wasn't early enough and the one van park was full. I nded up about 25km out on the beach, where the local pub pointed me at the local real estate agents. Tom Venables is a lovely old guy, who couldn't find his wife to arrange accommodation for me so he sent me on to his house to sit on his deck till he could locate her. We ended up having a home brew as well as being given a papaya for my dinner. What I have ended up with is an apartment near the beach. It is very nice, so I shall stay here for a couple of nights and spend tomorrow doing some washing as well as the bushwalk around Wallaman Falls among others. I have calculated that I am about 5 days ahead of schedule, so I can now take some time to see some of the things I missed last time I was here. One thing I have noticed is the simply enormous number of grey nomads with their camper vans, caravans and camper trailers. There are thousands of them.  It's been great riding along and listening to Pink, Matchbox 20, Paul Kelly and Linkin Park thumping out their music. Great days indeed. It's also getting hot. Today was over 30 degrees. I believe it was 37 degrees in Weipa. The plan is to head for the Cape, Thursday to Sunday

Mount Abbott near Proserpine

Day 15, 20th Sept. 2010, 12km, Mackay

It was a good thing I planned to spend the day in Mackay today. Yesterday, as I was heading towards Mackay, I could see the black clouds building up in the mountains behind the town. Overnight the weather broke big time. It was the heaviest, loudest thunderstorm I can ever remember. Over 200mm of rain was dumped on Mackay over 24 hours. Regardless, I had the BM booked in for a service at the local motorcycle shop, so I rode in to town through the deluge. Dropped the bike off and went into town where I fixed things up at the bank, sorted out the laptop which seized last night, bought some socks and jocks and had a long quiet look around Mackay. Nice town. When the bike was ready, I rode through the rain back to the caravan park, put on the panniers and went out to get some tucker. After that I stipped off (I was soaked) and started to dry things out. That's about it for today.  A quiet one, but the weather has lifted so I will head towards Ingham tomorrow. Catch you then

What a miserable day!!

Day 14, 19th Sept 2010, 568km, Mackay

Mount Morgan gold mine

I slept really badly last night., Time is really catching up with me and I have to accept that I can't sleep on the ground any more. My back was agony and I slept very little. At 5.30am I gave up and went for a shower and shave, before packing up and on the road by 7.30am. It was a bit of a non event day really. The only highlight was visiting Mount Morgan which was once Australia's biggest gold mine. It's closed now and the town is desperately trying to reinvent itself as a tourism site. I stopped for a coffee and a pie. The rest of today was just a matter of keeping on moving. It was still cold and threatening rain until after Rockhampton, when things warmed upo conmsiderably. Had lunch at Marlborough and got to Mackay at abaout 2pm. Accommodation is quite hard to get at present as Queensland has school holidays at present until October 2nd. After several enquiries I ended up in a fully set up cabin at way higher cost than I can afford. Bugger; I will have to see the bank tomorrow about getting some more money. Tomorrow the bike goes in for its 20,000km service, so I will have a quiet day looking around Mackay. Cheers

The road out of Mount Morgan, great corners

Day 13, 18th Sept 2010, 611km, Cania Gorge

Lake Wivenhoe at Sunrise

Cania Gorge, View from trhe walk

View of fern pool from the walk

I had an early start today. Trevor had to catch a plane to Sydney as his mother is very sick, so I decided to leave at the same time making a 4.30am start. It was sad to say goodbye to two such wonderful friends, who have always been so good to me over the years. This meant I could get a free run through the manic Brisbane traffic to the Ipswich Expressway. I took the turn off to Esk and Lake Wivenhoe. I stopped at Nanango for a coffee and a pie and same again at Eisvold, but apart from that kept going. It was bitterly cold with rain threatening, but apart from a few drops reewmained quite dry. A long drive, but because of the early start, I was at Cania Gorge by about 2pm. Cania Gorge was one of the objectives I had set myself for this trip, so it was good to get there. Actually it wasn't all that spectacular, but a nice spot anyway. I put up the tent and went for a 5.2km walk to check out the views. I then cooked a basic dinner before crashing. Couldn't do the blog as there was no reception, so this is actually done a day later. Cheers

Arriving at Cania Gorge

Days 11 & 12, 17 Sept 2010, 76km Brisbane

One of my very favourite places on earth. Margie and Trev's deck



 Friday. I have just had two very relaxing days straying with my very good friends Margie and Trevor. margie is Rob's sister and like Rob and Chris we have been close friends since the early 80's. So good to stay with them to recharge the batteries. I spent the time cleaning the bike, washing clothes, getting a hair cut, geting new tyres fitted to the bike and doing lots of catching up. One thing Tevor has doine with me is to show me the possibilities of YouTube.Awesome, I have to get that organised at home. Anyway with new off road tyres fitted, I am nearly ready for the tough stuff. I will get the BM given a last service in Mackay next monday and then that's it. I'm on my own. Starting bto get concerned about finances though, so may have to throw myself on the banks mercy again soon. Anyway an early start tomorrow to get to Cania Gorge early to do some bush walking. See you then.

Breakfast on the deck with Margie and Trev

Day 10, 15th Sept. 2010 611km

The Japanese gardens at Toowoomba

Roick formations at the Toowoomba Japanese Gardens

A big day today, but ultimately a good time, although it didn't stay that way. Last night the heavens opened up big time. Thunder, lightning and hours of torrential rain, which made me extremely glad I took the motel rather than the tent. Thankfully it blew over by morning, although it was still extremely cold and windy. I wanted an early start, so I left Walcha at 6.30am. At Uralla I was able to buy a pastie and a hot chocolate at the local bakery. Progressively as the day went on and I got further north, it slowly warmed up, although it remained windy all day. By the Queensland border, I was able to shed a few layers. and by Warwick, I was able to shed some more in addition to visiting the bank for some money and having a coffee and cake at Macca's. Then on to Toowoomba where I achieved one of the objectives of the trip and that was to visit the Japanese Garden at the University of SE Queensland. Not the best Japanese garden I have ever seen, But lovely just the same. I have a passion for Japanese gardens and try to visit them wherever I can as I am quietly building an asian style garden at home. After that it was back into Brisbane traffic madness to find my way to Margie and Trevors, where I will spend the next couple of days doing maintenance, getting new tyres fitted, getting a haircut, doing washing and fitting a quiet ride or two with my good mate Trevor. Catch you again soon. PS I am so rapt in the BMW. It sat outside in the rain all last night and started first press of the button this morning, running perfectly all day.

Crossing the Queensland border

Day 9, 14th Sept 2010, 374km

Tuesday 14th
A very mixed day today. I slept very well last night. The caravan I slept in was very comfortable. I awoke to heavy rain and took my time getting going. At about 9am the weather cleared, so I headed out, stopping first to update the mobile phone. I had planned to head up the Thunderbolts Way, but with Tamworth friend Kim in Sydney and mate Craig at Wauchope looking forward to seeing me took the Bucketts Way towards Taree. At Krambach, I took a right turn through beautiful scenery through Wingham. From there I rode some brilliant dirt roads, through Comboyne  and then to Wauchope where I caught up with Craig. Craig used to be one of the Senior Rider Training instructors and is still a great mate. He has a Triumph Tiger. We jumped on the bikes and went into Laurieton where we had a long lunch and a great catch up, before heading to the wharf to see Craigs boat. He's bought an old fishing boat and is slowly doing it up. He and wife Di will eventually spend their retirement cruising around Australia. He seems a very happy man and I wish him all the very best with it. A great bloke. After that I headed west again, riding into the deepening gloom, towards Walcha on the Oxley Highway. It didn't take long, before the wet weathers had to be dragged out again and I had to plough on through increasingly heavy showers, arriving at Walcha at 5pm to find the Caravan Park was fully booked out. I was tempted to take a tent site, but the forecast is for very heavy rain tonight, so lashed out and grabbed a motel room. Way over my budget, but a necessity I think. Tomorrow, I will get to Brisbane via Toowoomba, staying at Margie and Trev's while I get the new tyres fitted

On the Oxley Highway. After this it started to pour rain

View above Gloucester