Time For Some of the Good Stuff (4-5th June)
Leaving Cairns without seeing much of it was a bit of a sore point for me, but the ride up the coast to Port Douglas was something special. Winding roads along some magnificent coastline topped off with clear blue water. A real highlight!
From there we headed up to the Daintree River to board the ferry, here we were charged a $3.50 for the service, far better value than the crossing up at the Jardine River which is apparently about $30 for a motorcycle and $80 for a car, and it's less of a distance across!
With misty rain and muddy dirt roads through the dense rainforest, it really was starting to feel like we were getting into the adventure. I started my hard run through to PK's Jungle Village where we were to meet the others, we were running late so I went for it.
When I arrived Lee and Banger were just pulling on the helmets, so we very nearly missed the moving target again! They were happy to see us and were keen to head off.
Within minutes of going through the rainforest, we came to a semi-deep creek crossing, Lee and Banger went through, but Scott's attempt was a little flawed and he had his first swim of the trip. Banger raced to his aid and helped him right his bike. I think he just wasn't ready to take on creek crossings as every one since then has been fine.
I've definitely decided that the steering damper was money well spent as the creek crossings were made a lot easier without the front wheel deflecting all over the place.
Onwards to Cooktown! On the way we came across Black Mountain which has some Aboriginal significance I think. It is a weird place with the whole mountain being made up of small black boulders, as the plaque says, "Is there anywhere in the world like it?"
We arrived at Cooktown and Lee and Banger went off to do some repairs on Lee's bike. Scott and I headed up to the lookout and admired the view out over the water and the town. We spoke to a few other tourists and a tradition of the trip began...."Who owns the blue bike? You've left your lights on". Since then just about everywhere we've stopped people have told Scott his lights are on, even if we are just getting fuel or stopping for a stretch of the legs. I could understand it if we were going in to get dinner or stopping at a shopping centre, but when you're standing right next to the bike? Good samaritism gone MAD! Since then every time someone on the team notices it...."Scott, you've left your lights on". He's definitely sick of hearing it.
Cooktown is basically the place where Cook beached the Endeavour and thought he was screwed due to the reefs in every direction, he managed to repair his ship and continue on, but I understand that he was pretty concerned at the time.
Another funny story relating to Cooktown is the local mayor in 1883, I think, believing that the Russians were going to invade, wrote to the Premier of Queensland in Brisbane asking for some arms and an Officer or small army. The Premier answered his call by sending one Scottish 1803 cast cannon, which is on display in the town, three cannon balls, two rifles and one officer. I hardly think that these token armaments were going to stop an invasion from the Russians!
We also had a funny night with a local publican who regaled us with many stories about the area, most of them about the threat of crocodile attacks. He told us that a lady had been taken getting into her boat and the jaws of the croc squeezed her body so hard her eyes popped out! He then went on to tell us that he'd had a bottle of red and quite a few rums...you be the judge! He also had a pretty tainted view on women and how they're all out to take advantage, and he made no effort to quiet his concerns whilst his partner was only the in the next room. Poor lady, she cooked us a lovely tea, and seemed really nice, but who knows what it's like behind closed doors I guess.
At the moment it's starting to sound as though Sam's bike will be a write off. This could be good news as we know there are two new ones sitting in Dalby about 500kms from Rockhampton.
From there we headed up to the Daintree River to board the ferry, here we were charged a $3.50 for the service, far better value than the crossing up at the Jardine River which is apparently about $30 for a motorcycle and $80 for a car, and it's less of a distance across!
With misty rain and muddy dirt roads through the dense rainforest, it really was starting to feel like we were getting into the adventure. I started my hard run through to PK's Jungle Village where we were to meet the others, we were running late so I went for it.
When I arrived Lee and Banger were just pulling on the helmets, so we very nearly missed the moving target again! They were happy to see us and were keen to head off.
Within minutes of going through the rainforest, we came to a semi-deep creek crossing, Lee and Banger went through, but Scott's attempt was a little flawed and he had his first swim of the trip. Banger raced to his aid and helped him right his bike. I think he just wasn't ready to take on creek crossings as every one since then has been fine.
I've definitely decided that the steering damper was money well spent as the creek crossings were made a lot easier without the front wheel deflecting all over the place.
Onwards to Cooktown! On the way we came across Black Mountain which has some Aboriginal significance I think. It is a weird place with the whole mountain being made up of small black boulders, as the plaque says, "Is there anywhere in the world like it?"
We arrived at Cooktown and Lee and Banger went off to do some repairs on Lee's bike. Scott and I headed up to the lookout and admired the view out over the water and the town. We spoke to a few other tourists and a tradition of the trip began...."Who owns the blue bike? You've left your lights on". Since then just about everywhere we've stopped people have told Scott his lights are on, even if we are just getting fuel or stopping for a stretch of the legs. I could understand it if we were going in to get dinner or stopping at a shopping centre, but when you're standing right next to the bike? Good samaritism gone MAD! Since then every time someone on the team notices it...."Scott, you've left your lights on". He's definitely sick of hearing it.
Cooktown is basically the place where Cook beached the Endeavour and thought he was screwed due to the reefs in every direction, he managed to repair his ship and continue on, but I understand that he was pretty concerned at the time.
Another funny story relating to Cooktown is the local mayor in 1883, I think, believing that the Russians were going to invade, wrote to the Premier of Queensland in Brisbane asking for some arms and an Officer or small army. The Premier answered his call by sending one Scottish 1803 cast cannon, which is on display in the town, three cannon balls, two rifles and one officer. I hardly think that these token armaments were going to stop an invasion from the Russians!
We also had a funny night with a local publican who regaled us with many stories about the area, most of them about the threat of crocodile attacks. He told us that a lady had been taken getting into her boat and the jaws of the croc squeezed her body so hard her eyes popped out! He then went on to tell us that he'd had a bottle of red and quite a few rums...you be the judge! He also had a pretty tainted view on women and how they're all out to take advantage, and he made no effort to quiet his concerns whilst his partner was only the in the next room. Poor lady, she cooked us a lovely tea, and seemed really nice, but who knows what it's like behind closed doors I guess.
At the moment it's starting to sound as though Sam's bike will be a write off. This could be good news as we know there are two new ones sitting in Dalby about 500kms from Rockhampton.
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