We've made it!!!!! We are in Cairns, it was with mixed feelings that we rode into Cairns last Wednesday (23rd). Sad that it was the last part of the 'western' leg of the trip and slightly apprehensive about our next port of call....Bangkok and Indochina.
Innisfail was the last big town before Cairns, we stopped at a campsite by the side of the river which I was assured had no crocodiles, however the locals said they wouldn't swim across 'just in case', great one restless night for me! we woke early to rain which we ignored and when back to sleep, but it kept on coming and as we did not want to spend another night by the river (more to do with noisy neighbours..... 2am they went in to their van but carried on until 3!) we made the oh so wise decision to make a break for it and head off. Luckily we had a fierce tail wind with which we flew along at around 16-17 mph, however it was raining for the majority of the day. As we may have mentioned before we are fair weathered cyclists so upon arriving at the campsite at Fishery Falls we promptly booked into a cabin.
The following day with a late start but the wind still behind us we arrived in Cairns around lunch time, found the campsite, threw up the tent and hightailed it straight to town. The following day having worked out our plan of attack we had a frenzy of bookings and car hire in the morning then I yet again Rich dragged me off to the shops to look at the ipad..... they look lovely. Rich on the other hand had another agenda for luring me into the shop with the ipad. He had decided that actually a small notebook computer was a good idea and that we should buy one! I on the other hand had ipad eyes!! they look so nice and shiny. For the rest of the day we debated the practicalities of it and of course went and bought one!! So we are now the proud owners of a snazzy little white Samsung notebook and bag! hopefully this will mean more blogging....
The highlight of Cairns (aside from the shopping) so far has been our trip to Hartley's Croc farm, I am so glad we did not see any Croc's on the way up as we would have been breakfast, lunch and dinner! On the way to the Farm we saw a sight that we did not think we would see..... a couple on a tandem with the exact same trailer as us, we think it was the same bike, she even had a pale blue top on like I have..... we have twins out there.... we could not stop and chat as we were zooming along in the hirecar and they were on a hill, shame it would have been good to swap stories.
Tomorrow it's off to The Great Barrier Reef.......
Sunday 27 June 2010
Saturday 19 June 2010
Townsville to Tully...
We only have 3 more days of cycling left in Australia. I can barely believe it. I think we are both looking forward to an extended time off the bike once we roll into Cairns.
The other day, we spent on Magnetic Island, driving around in a mini moke (like in this piccy, and by the way, the mini game was suspended for the day to save us getting distracted). Our bright orange moke was based on a mini with drum brakes, and all I can say is that thank god the island had a 60kph speed limit. You have to virtually stand on the brakes to get them to slow the car in any manner. In case we had needed to stop suddenly, I told Den that she would have to stick her flip flop over the door sill and onto the tyre, BMX style.
Now we are in Tully, centre for banana growing and sugar production and as a result full of fruitpicking backpackers, all waiting to party hard at the camp tonight. We're supposed to be here for two nights.... can't wait.
Anyhow, still some work to do before we get there, and A-team movie rants aside, I thought I'd better tell you what we've been up to. We spent a couple of days off the bike in Townsville. One day, we took a bus to have a look around the shops, (Townsville has that American feeling of being designed around the car and as such, having no real town centre for shopping), discovered a great Greek takeaway and downed a few beers in the sunshine.
The other day, we spent on Magnetic Island, driving around in a mini moke (like in this piccy, and by the way, the mini game was suspended for the day to save us getting distracted). Our bright orange moke was based on a mini with drum brakes, and all I can say is that thank god the island had a 60kph speed limit. You have to virtually stand on the brakes to get them to slow the car in any manner. In case we had needed to stop suddenly, I told Den that she would have to stick her flip flop over the door sill and onto the tyre, BMX style.Back on the bike, we made our way to Rollingstone. We stayed at a lovely caravan park on the sea and apart from getting plied with tea and biscuits from a very nice pair of Aussie caravaners, there was not much to report.
Next day we found our way to Ingham. The dodgy planet wrote a rather disparaging paragraph on the place, but in my eyes the fact it's not a 24hr party town, makes it heaven. Stayed out the back of a lovely 1920's Italian style hotel, which was idyllic. Absolutely the best campsite we have stayed in while we have been in Aus.
From there it was onto Cardwell. A quiet sea front town on the main highway, and arrived just in time for free tea and scones and cake at the campsite. How lovely...
Now we are in Tully, centre for banana growing and sugar production and as a result full of fruitpicking backpackers, all waiting to party hard at the camp tonight. We're supposed to be here for two nights.... can't wait.
Now I'm off to watch Wales get hurt by the All Blacks.... anything less that NZ by 40 points is a moral victory for us.
Tuesday 15 June 2010
DO NOT WATCH THE NEW A-TEAM MOVIE!!!!!
....I would quite honestly have rather have watched that new Sex and the City movie. Plot was absolutely awful. Dialogue was appalling. Continuity was shot and the special effects were average. It is officially worse that Transformers 2, which up unlit yesterday was my previous worst movie ever. Anyone associated with that film should be ashamed. If you want a fix of A-Team action, spend your money on a series box set of the eighties original instead.
I'm so angry with having paid money to waste my time watching it that I can't bring myself to write any more.
I'm so angry with having paid money to waste my time watching it that I can't bring myself to write any more.
Thursday 10 June 2010
Hiya, I'm back, fully rested and recuperated. God I hate being ill, but being ill away from home is the pits. Rich was a star and very attentive but suffered from cabin fever after 4-5 days of either being in the cabin or walking to the supermarket, I was contemplating sending him out on the tandem but the rain put paid to that.
The cheat extraordinaire was from Brisbane to Rockhampton which was a distance of some 600 miles, slightly more than we would have covered in the days that I was ill, but hey if you are going to cheat you may as well do it properly. 'Rocky' as it is known to the locals is the self proclaimed beef capital of Oz, we did not see to much of this as we rode through the deserted town centre at 8pm but it was kind of eerie so we high tailed it out of there as soon as we could. A pub and a roadhouse were what made up our first nights resting place of Yammba, the pub garden was the campsite which suited Rich just fine.
We awoke to the gentle pitter patter of rain, rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but try as we might we could not look past the fact that we would have to spend a day in the pub or the roadhouse and while Rich may have been happy with this I was not, so between rain spells we packed up and made a run for it. The good weather ie no rain lasted a good two hours before the inevitable happened and the heavens opened. 2-3 hours later we rolled up in Marlborough another town with not a lot to it except a pub with rooms! well I was recuperating and Rich seemed to be coming down with what I had so it was in the best interests of all concerned that we have a proper bed for the night. At Yammba we had got chatting (as is the norm) to 2 couples who are travelling around in a caravan and winnibego. Well they invited us over to their van for supper! thay had passed us on the way and had felt sorry for the drowned rats they passed! anyhow we had a great time squished in to a delux campervan which has a double bed that you put away by electrically zooming it up to the celing......I want one!!! the winnibego not just the bed.
After the boozy night and struggling to get in for breakfast (no unlocked door) we set off late the next day. If the day before was wet this day in contrast was an absolute scorcher! We were heading for St Lawerence 45 miles down the road. The road was long.........hot.........and had no roadhouse, torture. We finally arrived and fell on to the only shop with abandon! The following day was along similar lines.... hot and long although the campsite was great as it was free and on a beach, we also met up with our friends (by design) from Yammba, which was great. Although the howling of the dingos at 2.30am and 3.30am was not so great, laying there thinking I was going to be eaten alive by wild dogs ala Bridget Jones!!
The following nights accommodation in Sarina however was poles away from a beach with howling dogs. By this time Rich had suffered enough with his cold and wanted to be some where warm. We hired another cabin for two nights and spent a relaxing day looking round a mini sugar cane mill. This seemed to sort his cold and a renewed Rich and I set off towards the Whitsundays. We were having such a good time on the bike that I have concocted a charity bike ride that goes from Lands End to John O'Groats with the 3 peaks in as well, we have set ourselves the target of 10,000 pounds to raise for Maggie's centre, this all may change when we hit hills/mountains and things start to ache and the riding is not so pleasant but I don't think so!
So today has been a very relaxing day spent cruising the Whitsundays, having a beach barbie on the 2nd best beach in the world and Rich's first time snorkling alll in all a very good day, finished off by a meal cooked by some else and a few drinks....bliss.
The cheat extraordinaire was from Brisbane to Rockhampton which was a distance of some 600 miles, slightly more than we would have covered in the days that I was ill, but hey if you are going to cheat you may as well do it properly. 'Rocky' as it is known to the locals is the self proclaimed beef capital of Oz, we did not see to much of this as we rode through the deserted town centre at 8pm but it was kind of eerie so we high tailed it out of there as soon as we could. A pub and a roadhouse were what made up our first nights resting place of Yammba, the pub garden was the campsite which suited Rich just fine.
We awoke to the gentle pitter patter of rain, rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but try as we might we could not look past the fact that we would have to spend a day in the pub or the roadhouse and while Rich may have been happy with this I was not, so between rain spells we packed up and made a run for it. The good weather ie no rain lasted a good two hours before the inevitable happened and the heavens opened. 2-3 hours later we rolled up in Marlborough another town with not a lot to it except a pub with rooms! well I was recuperating and Rich seemed to be coming down with what I had so it was in the best interests of all concerned that we have a proper bed for the night. At Yammba we had got chatting (as is the norm) to 2 couples who are travelling around in a caravan and winnibego. Well they invited us over to their van for supper! thay had passed us on the way and had felt sorry for the drowned rats they passed! anyhow we had a great time squished in to a delux campervan which has a double bed that you put away by electrically zooming it up to the celing......I want one!!! the winnibego not just the bed.
After the boozy night and struggling to get in for breakfast (no unlocked door) we set off late the next day. If the day before was wet this day in contrast was an absolute scorcher! We were heading for St Lawerence 45 miles down the road. The road was long.........hot.........and had no roadhouse, torture. We finally arrived and fell on to the only shop with abandon! The following day was along similar lines.... hot and long although the campsite was great as it was free and on a beach, we also met up with our friends (by design) from Yammba, which was great. Although the howling of the dingos at 2.30am and 3.30am was not so great, laying there thinking I was going to be eaten alive by wild dogs ala Bridget Jones!!
The following nights accommodation in Sarina however was poles away from a beach with howling dogs. By this time Rich had suffered enough with his cold and wanted to be some where warm. We hired another cabin for two nights and spent a relaxing day looking round a mini sugar cane mill. This seemed to sort his cold and a renewed Rich and I set off towards the Whitsundays. We were having such a good time on the bike that I have concocted a charity bike ride that goes from Lands End to John O'Groats with the 3 peaks in as well, we have set ourselves the target of 10,000 pounds to raise for Maggie's centre, this all may change when we hit hills/mountains and things start to ache and the riding is not so pleasant but I don't think so!
So today has been a very relaxing day spent cruising the Whitsundays, having a beach barbie on the 2nd best beach in the world and Rich's first time snorkling alll in all a very good day, finished off by a meal cooked by some else and a few drinks....bliss.
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