Distance Travelled 300 kms
Distance to Date 14,251 kms
We woke with the birds. Colin was sure one of them sounded like Neddy Seagoon from the Goon Show. There was a heavy dew and that was an indication that the humidity was increasing as we approached the coast. We packed up quickly and headed for Mount Garnet for brekky. It was a sunny morning but cool and there were clouds on the eastern horizon. We reached the Kennedy Hwy and turned north and the weather turned for the worst. Soon we were in thick fog and the temperature dropped to 17 degrees, our chilliest of the trip so far. By the time we reached Mt Garnet it had started to lift as did the temp.
The countryside was changing into farms instead of cattle stations and after Ravenshoe we were riding through rain forest on the edge of the dividing range. Colin had texted Morag to find out the name of the crater they had visited in 1981 as it was much better than Mt Kalkani.
It was called Mt Hypipamee and was a gas vent with clean vertical sides as there was no blast debris. The rain forest grew right up to the edge and even down the sides and there was a water at the bottom that lead into an underground cave system. It was very pretty and we also stopped to have a look at Dinner Falls on the way back to the car park. 
Distance to Date 14,251 kms
We woke with the birds. Colin was sure one of them sounded like Neddy Seagoon from the Goon Show. There was a heavy dew and that was an indication that the humidity was increasing as we approached the coast. We packed up quickly and headed for Mount Garnet for brekky. It was a sunny morning but cool and there were clouds on the eastern horizon. We reached the Kennedy Hwy and turned north and the weather turned for the worst. Soon we were in thick fog and the temperature dropped to 17 degrees, our chilliest of the trip so far. By the time we reached Mt Garnet it had started to lift as did the temp.
The countryside was changing into farms instead of cattle stations and after Ravenshoe we were riding through rain forest on the edge of the dividing range. Colin had texted Morag to find out the name of the crater they had visited in 1981 as it was much better than Mt Kalkani.
It was called Mt Hypipamee and was a gas vent with clean vertical sides as there was no blast debris. The rain forest grew right up to the edge and even down the sides and there was a water at the bottom that lead into an underground cave system. It was very pretty and we also stopped to have a look at Dinner Falls on the way back to the car park. 
At Back at the car park as we approached the bikes a German gentleman hopped out of his van and asked who owned the BMW and Alan and he went into the now familiar sycophantic rubbish about how good Beemers were even though Colin tried to point out the features of his Honda VFR.
The country now opened up and we were riding through a wide valley with mountains on all sides. Our aim was to get to Kuranda for lunch and then to Alan's friends Keith and Wendy in the afternoon. Kuranda was very commercial with lots of shops and Colin selected a cafe that served pizza for lunch over looking the valley. We then walked down to the railway station and it was much the same as 1981 with flowers and plants growing all over it.
The steam trains had gone though. As we left the station a man came up to us and asked if we were from N. Ireland and struck up a conversation. He then started to ask Colin where he went to uni and what he studied and asked out of the blue "are you Sam Bateman". He turned out to be Jim Stewart. Colin went through Queens University with him in 1970-1973 and he had recognised Colin. It took a while for Colin to piece together in his mind who Jim was but he had actually been talking about him after our Coral Bay snorkelling debacle as Jim was a very keen scuba diver at Queens. Jim and his wife Marion were sailing around the world in a 40ft steel sloop which was moored in the Cairns marina. He had managed to retire at 50 on a full pension. Alan and Colin were green at this news and said they would contact them with a view to meeting up the day after next.
We then visited the Barron Falls which are probably one the most spectacular falls in Australia even when not in flood and then took off for Cairns. We had to ride a twisting road down the escarpment onto the costal plain and this was quite a challenge as we hadn't seen a twisty road since Albany. Keith was out walking his two huge dogs Roger and Ruby when we arrived but soon arrived to let us in. Alan knew Keith and Wendy in the Bahamas and later in Sydney. They are both artists and their house was festooned with their work. The evening was spent reminiscing about the Bahamas and other amusing events.
We plan to ride tomorrow to Cape Tribulation and then go on a reef cruise the day after. Its nice to enjoy home comforts which we haven't had since Broome.
The country now opened up and we were riding through a wide valley with mountains on all sides. Our aim was to get to Kuranda for lunch and then to Alan's friends Keith and Wendy in the afternoon. Kuranda was very commercial with lots of shops and Colin selected a cafe that served pizza for lunch over looking the valley. We then walked down to the railway station and it was much the same as 1981 with flowers and plants growing all over it.
The steam trains had gone though. As we left the station a man came up to us and asked if we were from N. Ireland and struck up a conversation. He then started to ask Colin where he went to uni and what he studied and asked out of the blue "are you Sam Bateman". He turned out to be Jim Stewart. Colin went through Queens University with him in 1970-1973 and he had recognised Colin. It took a while for Colin to piece together in his mind who Jim was but he had actually been talking about him after our Coral Bay snorkelling debacle as Jim was a very keen scuba diver at Queens. Jim and his wife Marion were sailing around the world in a 40ft steel sloop which was moored in the Cairns marina. He had managed to retire at 50 on a full pension. Alan and Colin were green at this news and said they would contact them with a view to meeting up the day after next.
We then visited the Barron Falls which are probably one the most spectacular falls in Australia even when not in flood and then took off for Cairns. We had to ride a twisting road down the escarpment onto the costal plain and this was quite a challenge as we hadn't seen a twisty road since Albany. Keith was out walking his two huge dogs Roger and Ruby when we arrived but soon arrived to let us in. Alan knew Keith and Wendy in the Bahamas and later in Sydney. They are both artists and their house was festooned with their work. The evening was spent reminiscing about the Bahamas and other amusing events.We plan to ride tomorrow to Cape Tribulation and then go on a reef cruise the day after. Its nice to enjoy home comforts which we haven't had since Broome.
Enjoying your blog Allan. Greetings from the GONB mob. Henri
ReplyDelete