Month: July 2021

42km. Beer Count 5: After struggling to fit my 15 kg of food that I had collected at the Post Office onto the bike, I decided that something had to go. So I stripped 5kg of equipment that I hadn’t used, or didn’t think I would use, and rode to Coen PO and posted it home. So I didn’t leave until 12:30pm. It was bitumen for 20km, which ended at the biosecurity checkpoint. I had a good talk with one of the guys there and he gave me good information on the road ahead, and a place to camp at Born Creek.He told me it had got up to a maximum of 33C that day, even though it was fairly cloudy, and I was struggling to get much power out of my solar panel. Later on down the dirt road I got offered beer number 5! I stopped at Born Creek which is a fair way off the road and should be quieter. I finished at 5:15pm.

Rest DayI collected my parcels from Corn Post Office at 8:30am. It wasn’t open, I asked at the general store that adjoins. Then I tried to pack 15kg of food onto my bike, and ride the 1km to the bend free campsite, just out of coen. Then it was rest and relax. I looked hard at whether I was going to do my planned detour to Lockhart River, but I have decided against it, and I will spend more time on the telegraph track.

62km. I was sure I would not get to Coen. It was 60km, and if I was going to face the sandy corrugated road I faced yesterday, I couldn’t do it. I walked down the creek and found a couple of pools of water that I could filter water out of. I got about 3l of water, and cooked my breakfast. As a result of filtering water and cooking breakfast, I was not on the road until 9:30am. The road was more up down, and sandy sections in bottom gear, where I was doing only 5kmh. It was early afternoon when a truck slowly went past and stopped. He asked if I wanted any water, and I said no, but then he said what if its cold, and I said you have got me interested. He got out and from the passenger side he gave me half a litre of cold water, which was fantastic. We got talking, truck still sitting in the road, and then he told me the best news I had heard all day. He told be about 8km ahead it was bitumen for 30km all the way to Coen. I knew then I could do it. So I made the bitumen, stopped frequently because of my recurring sore leg, but I got into Coen and camped at the campground at the back of the Exchange Hotel around 5:30pm.

52km. What a day, Long stretches of new bitumen road, versus slow crawls up Bamboo Range, versus slow very hard slogs through sand. I dont think I slept well overnight, as the campground was pretty noisy, and I had spent the last 6 nights camped alone. I cooked breakfast in the very busy campground. I talked to French backpackers who had seen the accident I had heard about already, where someone rolled their camper truck on the very sleep slope on the Bloomfield track. I had my picture taken by other camper who wanted a picture of the crazy bike rider. I didn’t get going until 9:30am, and headed off through the roadworks north of Musgrave. Initially the road was dirt but recently graded, I made a good speed. Then it became new bitumen, and I found myself doing a long 8% climb up the Bamboo range to 291m. Then the road became a nightmare of corrugations or loose sand that sometimes I could only push through. At one stage a 4wd stopped in front of me and two army guys on a drive to fix a broken car got out and gave me a cold can of coke. It was great. I slogged on developing a sore left leg, that I have had before bike riding. It was my 7th straight day riding, and I really need a rest day. However I am running out of food, and need to get to Coen . I made it to the bed of the Lukin River at 5pm. I need some more water, and there might be some the other side of the road, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

51km. I was down to 3l of water, but I thought that would get me to Musgrave Roadhouse. I was on the road by 7am because I didn’t think I could use my woodstove for cooking breakfast at my stealth campsite. After about 15km I finally left Lakefield National Park. Its a big park.

The road was better, sometimes I was speeding along at 15kmh. I stopped for brunch, in the shade, and watched a large tour group of trail bike riders go past. I was going so fast, that I thought I might get to Musgrave by 2pm, and I did. So I put my tent out of the way, but by days end I was surrounded by 4wds, the place got pretty busy. I enjoyed a massively expensive Burger with the lot chips and a drink, $28!

 

50km. No offers of beer today. It was a foggy morning. The tent was very wet from dew. I skipped cooking breakfast because the place I had chosen to camp was infested with mozzies. I got on the road riding through the fog, with no cars about. After 15km I got to Hann Crossing. By this time the fog had lifted and it was sunny and bright. I collected a litre of water from the Hann River, and filtered it to add to my supplies. It was a slog. The road had got worse, it was hard to dodge the corrugations. However about 5 4wds stopped during the day to see if I was OK and offer water. As the afternoon wore on I started to get a head wind, which made my pathetic slow pace even slower, sometimes as slow as 7kmh. About 5pm I got to saltwater creek. I wanted to try to leave Lakefield Park, but it was at least another 15km. I found a little track of to the side that lead to a waterhole, I followed it further to find an out of the way campsite. Tomorrow I have 49km to get me to Musgrave Roadhouse!

57km. 15km east of Hann Crossing. Beer Count 4. New feature of the blog. How many times so far in this trip a 4wd has stopped me in the middle of the road and offered me a cold beer. I always thank them and decline, because beer gives me a headache when I am dehydrated, and out here I am always to some degree dehydrated.

I got up early because I wanted to try and access the mobile service at the rangers to see if it was working properly. I rode back a km in what was a dew laden cool morning, and tried again. I tried sending an email, and got an email, but I couldn’t get anything else to work. I rode 10km up the road to find a place to cook breakfast. I stopped at a campsite that didn’t look like anyone had used it the night before. I was running low on water any knew I would have to pull some water out of somewhere. So I took the 1 km detour to Catfish waterhole, but it looked much to dangerous to haul water out of, it looked like croc heaven. I continued northward, stopped 10km further on near a turnoff to the Mick Fienn campsites. I got my chair out under the tree and had morning tea. I was just thinking about getting moving when a 4wd came out of the campsite road and stopped, and asked me if I wanted any water. He kindly gave me 3 bottles of cold water, but more importantly told me there was water and cold showers at Kalpowar campsite about 13 km north of me, 3km off the track. So I headed there. About 5km north a 4wd tour bus stopped passing me and gave me 3 more bottles of water. I headed to Kalpowar, took the 3km very corrugated detour. I had a wonderful cold shower, lunch , and filtered 8l of water to boost my supplies. Then I headed back to the main road, did another 15km, before finding a dried out waterhole to camp in.

 

51km. A successful stealth camp. I cooked breakfast on my portable wood stove, and was on the road by 8am. The roads are dirt and corrugated. Weaving all over the road to find part of track that I can ride on means I am only averaging 10km an hour.

I entered Lakefield park, and after 20km I got to Laura River Crossing. There I filtered 6 litres of water from the river, and stored it in my water bottles. This section of the river seemed not suitable for crocs, so I wasn’t too worried about collecting the water.

Then I turned north. I rode about 5km and stopped under shady trees for lunch. I had finished lunch when the park rangers turned up. I think they were checking I was OK and properly equipped. I mentioned camping and they said it would be fine if I just camped off the road.

Another 25km up the road to new Laura where there was a tiny mobile service cell. I connected, but could barely get anything because it was overloaded by nearby campers. I had not had the internet for 2 days at that stage. I camped in the scrub about 2km north of new Laura.

 

47km. Camping next to Isabella Falls was not a good idea. The falls were never endingly loud, and I didn’t sleep well.

I was going to go for a swim in the falls waterhole in the morning, but it was just too cold. I must have been up here in far northern Queensland too long, and got used to the warmth. I filtered water out of the falls. Cooked my barley for breakfast, and when I was starting to pack up a tour group rolled up. They were nice, asked the usual questions, and went on their way.

I wasn’t feeling the best, an off day. I started off with a 3km uphill climb. At the top of the hill 3 4wd passed me and stopped. They were people I had met at Cooktown Caravan Park a day and a half ago, and they promised if they saw me they could top me up with water. However I was full with water from Isabella Falls.

I continue on through rolling hills until Normanby River crossing. I topped up with water, filtering it. I was wary with the crossing because this was obviously croc country.

 

I got across with the water being about 20 cm deep. I had lunch in the shade on the other side. One last hill and I would have left the hilly country. I plodded on until I hit the edge of the Lakefield National Park around 4:30pm. I decided it would be better to stealth camp outside the park, so I backtracked a km to a grid and a fenceline. I went about 150m along the fence line and camped in the scrub.

 

45km. I rode into Cooktown IGA supermarket early at 7am to get enough supplies for the 375km ride to Coen, where I could get more supplies. I thought I needed 7 days supplies, but hoped I would get to Coen sooner.

I squeezed everything into the panniers, and at the rather late leaving time of 10:00am I left Cooktown. There was a fair bit of traffic until I left the turn-off to Hope Vale. Then it has hilly country until I got to Isabella Falls. I wanted to get further than the falls, but it was 4:20pm, and the next camping site was 22km away, so I made the decision to stay at the free camping at Isabella Falls. I was told it would be busy, but there was no one there. Someone came later to look at the falls, but I camped alone