Bowen to Proserpine

Bowen to Prosperpine = 64km

Cummulative total = 5261km

Woo hoo! we did have a headwind today - it was more of a cross wind and in the end it became a tailwind as we got closer to Proserpine.

But we woke today and it was a very warm sultry morning almost humid but with no rain. Although there was forecasted rain none came in the end. But that was okay. Looking at the surrounding area it does look like they need rain as it is very dry.

We were actually away before 8am this morning and next door to the information center which is about 5km on the Bruce Highway before Bowen there was a giant mango.

Crikey look at the tan line on my arm! I don't know why they have a giant mango as I saw no mango farm trees ... but there are heaps of tomato farms so maybe a fiant tomato is more appropriate for Bowen ... actually a giant mango is more suited to Ayr as they have heaps of Mango farms up there.

It was a cloudy and muggy day to ride today but with a cross or tail wind it was far better than what we have been getting. I would say the first 30km is rolling - there are lots of creeks so the road goes down to them and then up from them.

The traffic was quite heavy but we had a fair shoulder nearly all day and although it was a little bumpy in places it did give us a fair bit of protection from the traffic. At one point a cop car overtook us and then pulled over and I thought oh he is going to growl at us as at that point the highway had very little shoulder and we were riding out on the road, but he didn't he turned around and went back from where he came from ... I blew a sigh of relief and I don't know why!!!

We took a cuppa alongside some truck pull over and just watching the traffic we saw a huge truck following behind an 'L' plater and he was about 1.5m behind her - tail gating trying to intimidate her but looking at her I don't think she worried as she was a more mature aged 'L' plater and I suppose she knows what truckies are like ... basically they have a very bad attitude to ALL drivers on the Bruce highway - it is unbelievable to watch what some of them do and the speeds they go at. We chatted to one at the rest area at Guthalungra the other day and we have to say his attitude to driving on the Bruce highway was just terrible and dangerous for all on the roads.

As we passed one of the turnoffs to Airlie Beach we came across this sign ... I don't know why it is there as I am sure all drivers just ignore it and are not cautious!

And just around the corner from this photo you can see the huge smoke plume coming from the sugar refinery at Proserpine.

In the town itself you can smell the sickly sweet smell of the sugar refinery and at first it made my tummy churn but I have become use to it now!

Proserpine itself seems to have grown and has a supa IGA and a small woolies - the IGA is really expensive so we will get our supplies from woolies. We are at the council caravan park again and the last 2 times I/we were here we stayed here - they have moved the unpowered section to behind the swimming pool (which is free for us) it is expensive to camp $23 but I suppose they get alot of campers/caravaners who opt to stay here instead of the expensive Airlie Beach. We won't be going to Airlie Beach - I went there 15 years ago and it was pretty touristy and looking at the huge billboards along the roadside today it looks like even more development has gone on and it just looks to crowded for us!

We will stay here tomorrow and we have decided to go inland from Calen which is 70km south of here - we kept getting conflicting information about whether the road was sealed between Collinsvale and Elphinstone so rather than run the risk of getting there and it is not sealed and having to back track 130km! we decided to go in from Calen!

Home Hill to Bowen

Home Hill to Bowen = 112km (Home Hill to Guthalungra Rest Area = 57km, Gurthalungra RA to Bowen = 55km)
Cummulative total = 5197km

Normally when you cycle from Bowen to Home Hill you do it in one day as there is ALWAYS a tailwind but since we have got a headwind we did it in 2 days!!!
We left Home Hill on Sunday hoping that the traffic (especially the truck traffic) wouldn't be so heavy and lucky for us it wasn't. Home Hill was a nice little place and the campground was small and nice. About 150m behind the campground was a sugar cane field and each night you could see the smoke from where they burnt the fields well on Saturday night they burnt the one not far behind the campground and you could hear the roar of the crackle and heaps of black bits floated in the air and the ground and tent were covered in them in the morning. We didn't do much on the rest day but Neil did brave the cool wind and went for a dip in the local swimming pool. For dinner we decided that we are sick of bbq and roast chicken so for a change we got a 2 litre tub of chocolate icecream and had that instead for tea ... and boy did I have a bad case of wind later on that night ... I thought Neil was going to leave me!!! Now I know that too much Icrecream gives me wind!!! A lady in the caravan opposite us gave us a red capsicum - I think she works as a picker and so had some left over and thought we would like one so that was nice.

Home Hill to Guthalungra -
On to the ride on Sunday - like I said the traffic was relatively quiet today and we had a shoulder and a pretty good one but unfortunately we had strong head winds and so the going was very slow. We stopped frequently. At our first rest stop there was a grey plastic shopping bag hanging where a bin would be and Neil being the nosey parker had a look and found there was 6 large potatoes in it so we took them and will have them for dinner at Bowen! Gosh people love leaving us stuff along the way!

We met a French cyclist going to Home Hill to pick up his weekly shopping (as he was working on a farm at Gumlu) so his round trip to get food shopping is a 90km cycle!!!
We did stop at Gumlu only because there was free tea and coffee at the fruit stall - we did pick up bananas and tomatoes and no one was helping themselves to tea and coffee but we did!

This is the fruit stall and when we turned up it was crowded but within 15mins there was no one around! To the right of it was a field of mango trees and cattle were roaming around it and every now and then they would throw a rock melon to the cattle and there would be this almighty charge for this 1 rock melon and survival of the fittest it was - it was funny watching the lucky cattle that go it as the melon was just a bit to big for its mouth and had to coax it down almost whole!
We got to Guthalungra rest area and it is very basic with the toilets being at the local gas station next to it but the toilets stayed open all night so that was lucky! Another cyclist travelling north turned up after us and he was attacked by a bird and fell of his bike and has grazed his arm and his wrist is a little swollen and sore.

The scenery along the Bruce highway is not too bad - there are quite a few mountains or hills popping up every now and then and unfortunately I don't know the name of the range that is in the above photo but it was impressive to look at from the highway!

Neil bought some honey at the Gumlu fruit stall - it was quite cheap $3 for 500g and it is very dark and almost like molasses - I had a try but it is too tart for me!
Like I said earlier the shoulder along the highway wasn't too bad - most of the time it was wide enough for us but they don't look after it - sometimes grass is encroaching on it and so that narrows it for us or like the photo below they sometimes have huge cracks in them and have not filled them in properly.

You had to be careful that you didn't go into one of these cracks as they would have buckled our wheels completely!

Guthalungra to Bowen -

We woke nice and early to try and get some km's in before the wind picked up but alas the wind was up before us and I had yet another flat front tyre! so we mended that and was happy to be away by 8am.

Again it was an even stronger headwind than yesterday and the shoulder was just as wide as yesterday. Since it is Monday today we wondered how the truck traffic would be and the trucks hit us at 11am (these trucks come from Townsville) - for the first 30km we had 20 trucks pass us, in the final 15km alone we had another 20 trucks pass us in only half the distance! And unfortunately in the last 15km true to form 15km out from Bowen the shoulder almost disappeared and just when the bulk of the trucks were passing us!

We pulled up alongside the road in some driveway and had a cuppa - I think Neil and I are a novelty to some drivers as we sit there on our chairs like we are sunning ourselves drinking our cuppas!!! Most will turn and stare at us ... but what got Neils attention was the gate behind us - the use of expensive padlocks as chain links!

I had to listen to Neil go on and on about just how expensive the use of these padlocks are compared to buying a chain ring!!!
When we got to Melinda just out from Bowen we started to encounter the vegetable fields - in particular tomato and capsicum fields. I think they have finished the capsicum picking and as we passed we saw some tomato picking happening and stopped to take a photo of how they pick the round tomatoes.

They use a machine that slowly crawls along for the round tomatoes and a few fields over they were doing back breaking picking of roma tomatoes (I am assuming they are roma as the plants were like small bushes and not like the round tomato where they grow on sort of trees) where they just pick into 20 litre buckets and lift them up onto the ute when finished - ah almost as bad as strawberry picking! ... and no I am not going out in them there fields!

We turned off to Bowen to pick up food for tonight for our potatoes - baked potatoes and mince!!!

We are at the Top Tourist park and it is okay - I had trouble with the shower - I can't stand it when you go to a shower and there are all these complicated instructions on how to get hot water. I went to the new communal ensuite ones as they are closest to the camping area and I got all confused and had to keep reading the instructions and I saw that it was timed but it didn't say how long and by the time I got into the shower I think half my time was passed and I was right as 1 shaven leg and my hair all full of suds later the hot water cut out ... so I continued with just cold only and then I noticed the water going brown so I turned it off and had to rinse out in the sink!!! I was cursing and I found out later there is a note to say that Bowen over the pass few days sometimes have had water the colour of black coffee and that is due to the corrosive water pipes from Bowen Water so there is nothing the campground can do so we have to be careful when getting drinking water!
Did I mention that I am beginning to dislike Queensland? LOL!!!

Giru to Home Hill

Giru to Home Hill = 57km
Cummulative total = 5085km

Crikey today was another nightmare day on the roads, so much so that I promptly stopped on the side of the road about 5km into the ride and said to Neil that I am turning inland at Bowen and he can follow me if he wants!!! I think by the time we got to Home Hill even Neil was saying that we will be turning ... fingers crossed the road is sealed all the way! so tomorrow is a day of rearranging our route through Queensland!
We just aren't sure if the shoulders are going to be there further down the Bruce Highway - we had no shoulder for the first 10km and if we did it was very narrow and the traffic and trucks zoom past us very close at 110km per hour and today we had a very strong cross headwind (26-30km per hour) and it was coming at us from the right which is also where the traffic was so when a truck going north bound passed we stopped dead on the road, when a truck passed us going south bound (same as us) they dragged us in towards them and the air disturbance behind the truck tended to drag you in even more and then when the air disturbance finished the strong cross wind pushed you back and off the road completely!!! I was having a hell of a time trying to control the bike! to make matters worse sometimes there was no side of the road and just a sheer drop of about 1/2m ! There was even a bridge and it could only be like it in Queensland and fortunately for us there was no trucks overtaking us when we crossed the bridge - it was about 40-50m long and no shoulder on it and the sides of the bridge only came up about 20cm from the road - so any car that lost control would go right over the edge and into the river ... only in regulation free Queensland!!

The above photo is of the traffic on the Bruce highway and the ranges in the back ground is Bowling Green National Park.
After about 10km the shoulder became very wide almost as wide as the driving lane! so that made cycling alot easier but that disappeared 15km from Ayr - I have noticed along this highway, even north of Townsville, that at least 15km either side of a regional town the shoulder disappears - it happened at Ingham, Innisfail, Babinda, Gordonvale, Ayr etc. So I am thinking that that section of the highway is looked after by the regional town shire council and so they just don't bother with a wide shoulder.
So we struggled yet again until just before Brandon where we stopped at a rest area for a badly needed cuppa and decided to take the back roads to Home Hill - basically we took the quiet road heading to a place called Clare but diverted off when closer to Home Hill ... and off course once on the road the signage was non existent so we really had no idea if we were on the right road or not! It was a rabbit warren of roads that pass cane field after cane field so it was very easy to become disorientated! but it was pleasant cycling despite being lost as there was no traffic! We had to ask for directions and one cane farmer gave us excellent directions and told us to head towards the smoking chimney which has something to do with the sugar cane crushing plant?

Here I am on the quiet cane field roads at this point we weren't lost and knew where we were!

Once on the Bruce Highway again for the final 5km we had to cross the Burdekin River and the bridge is for traffic and trains hence why it is such an imposing structure. Now that was difficult going across - we thought there was a pedestrian path so we went on it and then it stopped and went down a flight of stairs and continued along below the traffic line - when we looked down the stairs we could see a guy in the middle of the pedestrian path holding some ropes and hose so we assumed we couldn't go through so we waited for traffic to go through and went back on the road in which we ended up holding up traffic as they couldn't overtake because of traffic coming the opposite way but fortunate for us there was a sign before the bridge saying that trucks and buses must decrease their speed to 50km per hour while crossing the bridge so it didn't matter if the traffic got stuck behind us as everyone was going slow anyway!

You know I am really disliking Queensland at the moment ... I think it is such dangerous and awful cycling at the moment that I would do anything to go inland at the moment! So hopefully only another 100km of the Bruce Highway and then we can head inland.

We got to Home Hill and came to the small council campground and got the last site available -it is a powered site at $22 so that actually is quite a good price. Home Hill does have a comfort stop where you can stay for free which is in the middle of town and has a flash toilet and shower block with an electric bbq and sink and tables with power points but they don't allow tents only vehicles. So we couldn't stay there. Being at the council park we get into the local swimming pool free and that is next door to the campground.

Homehill is a small town around 3000 people but it is nice and I decided to get a badly needed hair cut and I have sort off gone back to really short hair again - basically it is a 'wash and wear' style and I am happy with it, although I did say to Neil lets count how many times I get called 'mate', 'guy' 'boy' etc while we are cycling!!!

I heard you say "eeeeeww" mum!!! You never like any hair cut I get! It will do and remember most of the day it is under a helmet!

It is quite late now around 7pm and the cane field growers have started to burn their sugar cane (i am not sure why) and it makes the sunset spectacular and right now you can see the red glow in the night sky and there is a field about 300m behind us and you can hear the crackle of the fire!

We are here tomorrow to try and sort out a new and safer route to get through Queensland.

Townsville to Giru

Townsville to Giru = 53km
Cummulative total = 5028km

Woo hoo! we cracked the 5000km mark!
We said farewell to our pet cabin and below are photos of Koutas' enclosure.

I think Kouta was glad to be rid of the place as for a while last night he kept looking into the cabin while we were watching TV and off course Neil is immune to Koutas' pleading eyes whereas I am not and said to Neil that we won't stay in cabins again as it hurts my conscience to see Kouta looking in with pleading eyes at me!

On to todays ride - the morning traffic was exceptionally busy I suppose because it was peak hour traffic and Townsville has alot of roundabouts at major intersections in which we are just too slow for so we had to just go down a bit and use the refuge islands while crossing!

Otherwise the roads were good - they have bike paths on all the major roads and once at the Bruce highway it was plain sailing as the shoulder was very wide for us. We even passed the army barracks and the road is good until Alligator creek except for going over the first small range at around the 20km mark the shoulder becomes very narrow and crosses a bridge and Neil and I nearly collided - he didn't here me say that I am stopping as there was a convoy coming up behind us and we had no more shoulder - I stopped turned around and could see Neil was nearly having a heart attack! so I assumed that he nearly crashed into me - he didn't hear me so I have made a rule that he is not to tail gate me and to keep a minimum of 10m behind me so that he can see in front of me and I can see behind him so if I choose to stop he has plenty of time to stop as well!

After Alligator creek the shoulder disappears for 2-3km and the road is very dangerous as the truck traffic is just phenomenal - we are hoping the trucks ease off as we get further south. They have also resealed the road and they have painted the middle lane marking but have not painted a shoulder - so the cars tend to not give us much room. We are hoping the ride tomorrow is not so harrowing as today!

The campground is an eco one about 6km north of the Giru turnoff - It is a little primative but has heaps of Kangaroos, birds and mossies!!! It does have a camp kitchen and there is a brother and sister also camping and Neil is chatting to them at the moment in the kitchen.

Here is our new tent and you will see it is exactly like our last one - well it is exactly the same!

here is the camp kitchen - doesn't have hot water but has gas burners, bbq and fridge.

Tomorrow we will be at Home Hill and are not sure if we will be at the free town comfort stop or at the campground.

Innisfail to Townsville

Innisfail to Townsville = 253km (Innisfail to Bilyana Rest Area = 72km, Bilyana Rest Area to Ingham = 78km, Ingham to Rollingstone Rest Area = 56km, Rollingstone Rest Area to Townsville = 47km)
Cummulative total = 4975km

I know it has been a while but we haven't actually had powere for the computer lately! so I will start from our ride from Innisfail to Bilyana rest area - we had light rain the night before and I thought that the day would be the same but it wasn't and it only remained cloudy which was nice rather than the hot muggy sun ... we only had the mugginess! So it was a very humid day around 27 degrees and last night only got to a low of 21 degrees. We had bit of a head wind and the road was busy in the morning and then it eased off a bit. Felt a bit lethargic but a cuppa at the rest area in El Arish soon picked me up. Just before we got to Tully we began to see the cycle groups coming up from Townsville to Cairns (in 3 days) as part of the charity fun ride for childhood cancer. There were about 10 groups in all (around 250 riders) all supported and had a support vehicle front and back of each group. So they were waving away to us yelling at us to turn around and tag along! When we got to Tully we went to pick up supplies and would you believe it we got to town and it was yet another public holiday in the region for their damn show days!!! I tell you those show days are following us! the problem is they all have a public holiday with it so you don't really know if when you get to town if they are having a show day or what!!!
We found the supa IGA was opened so that was lucky and as we left Tully we saw the last of the cycle groups coming in to have there lunch and they must have ridden from Ingham to Innisfail today - that is nearly 150km! and by the look of some of them they looked knackered!
I felt okay leaving Tully with 21km to go but died around the 15km mark - I think the heat is beginning to get to me! but I bought a packet of cherry slices at the IGA and the thought of those with my cuppa at the end is what got me through the final 15km!!!
But would you believe it 500m from our Bilyana Rest Area I got a flat front tyre!!! So I got off and walked to the rest area while Neil rode ahead dumped his gear and came back to off load all my gear so it was easier to push the bike.

... and I am still smiling away after a hot tough day!

It went down pretty fast and when we went to fix it it was only the seal around an old patch that came unstuck (must not have fixed it properly before!), so we fixed the patch.

We stayed at this rest area on our way up and it was full and again it was full tonight.

Bilyana rest area to Ingham -

It was a sleepless night last night it was sooooooooooo hot in fact tooooooooooooo hot to sleep!!! It was only a short ride to Cardwell to pick up some water (the water at Bilyana is not the best - okay to wash in but not drink and it is advisable not to drink it so we carried enough for drinking).

The traffic today going south is really light (compared to going North) and I suppose because it is a Saturday so it is really pleasant riding - the shoulder is okay and wide enough for us but the road is alot smoother so we rode on it! It is a very hot muggy day and quite hot to cycle in the sweat is pouring off me and only trickling off Neil! We knew around 20km before Ingham we had a range to go over - it is a hill around 1.5km long but very steep and narrow but this side is alot easier to go over - it has a series of 10% bumps and in between are what I call recovery slopes where you get a breather before the next bump! and fortunately for us there was no trucks as we were going up - as being in Queensland there are no regulations let alone regulations for the roads so the fact that there are sheer drops down from the edge of the road didn't worry us when there was no trucks! At the top I was leaking like a tap with regards to sweat whereas Neil was only slightly sweaty! At this point I was absolutely buggered and I crawled into Ingham!

I was very relieved to get to the campground and the sweating has caused alot of chaffing so it is very tender to sit on the bike seat!

Innisfail to Rollingstone Rest area -

Oh the legs felt a little stiff this morning even Neil said his were a little tight! but it is only a short ride to Rollingstone so we slept in a bit.

I slept better last night as the night was cooler and you can feel the air is drier and not so humid so it looks like we are nearly out of the rainy area!

It was a beautiful sunny day and our washing last night didn't dry at all so we had to hang it from the front panniers and that looked like a funny sight and I forgot to take a photo of it!

Today is Sunday and still not much traffic going South and again everyone is going North. From here to Townsville the road is the best along this coastline it has a wide shoulder all the way (except when you go over bridges).

The terrain is flat and we did stop of at Frosty Mango (37km south of Ingham) for an ice cream for me and a milkshake for Neil - at first Neil didn't want to stop but I think he knew I wanted to since last time we passed it at 9am in the morning when going North we missed the opportunity as it was a little early in the morning for icecream but this time it was around lunchtime and it was a hot day and something cool and refreshing was really nice ... so we stopped!

Here I am enjoying a hazelnut and coconut icecream ... mmmmmmmmmmmmm!

and I got Neil a macadamia milkshake ...

... and Kouta got the bottom of my ice cream where all the coconut ice cream had settled and he really enjoyed that! It cost us $13.00 for both of them way over priced!

We got to Rollingstone and it was crowded as per usual so this time we parked on the outside on along the driveway and that was actually ideal because then everyone left you alone and you didn't have to put up with the caravaners (I would like to point out that although this blog is my thoughts - Neil has just informed me that he is sick of caravaners at rest areas!!! in fact I think he is sick of caravaners full stop!!!)

In the afternoon we went for a swim in the billabong and it was a hot day so that was very refreshing (bugger the crocs!) and that doubled up as our wash!
We stayed here on Monday too and funny enough this morning it nearly completely emptied out and I think the reason why is because around 10am 2 council inspectors came along! They went around to each spot and checked they rego against their records or took down the rego for their records - we were known as yellow tent/pushbikes!!! so maybe that is why there was a mass exodus this morning and only 2 caravans got caught and had to leave - the guy did give us a pamphlet of the council areas around Townsville (all in this area north of Townsville) that is available for staying and how long - but the thing is it is very ambiguous - it allows a 48hour stay at Rollingstone once a week so does that apply to the other areas? Out of the 5 areas can you only stay at any one only once a week or can you stay at one on Mon and Tues and then another Wed and Thurs and another on Fri and Sat but not go back to the one you stayed at on Mon and Tues until later on next week? it is very confusing!!! It doesn't matter to us as we move on! but I think there is alot of abusing this system!

So it was a lovely restfull day and we left it a little late to go to the local general store to get bread and dinner as she had run out of bread and there was very little for dinner in the store so Neil came back with a single tomato ... why he thought the tomato would be enough i don't know!! maybe he thought it would multiply or I could turn it into a spag bol? LOL nah it was to accompany our budgeted bread slices of only 3 each and processed cheese and avocado! In the end it wasn't enough and I polished off half a packet of Nice biscuits, Neil had way too much Dark Fruit Cake (man he stunk the tent out all night!) and we finished it off with 3 weetbix each with fuit and nuts and a drizzle of honey over it! We were quite full in the end!

Went for a walk later on and would you beilieve it last time we were here we found a loaf of bread and Kouta found a sausage and lamb chop for dinner ... well this time we found 2 apples! so we saved them for breaky tomorrow as the local shop didn't even have bananas!

Rollingstone Rest Area to Townsville -

I am glad we stopped at Rollingstone for a rest yesterday as the legs felt good this morning and well rested! Still not much traffic going South so we are hoping this is the norm and the shoulder was good - didn't really hit much traffic until the outskirts of Townsville (just south of Saunders Beach turnoff).

The wind has changed to a west direction but it is still a head wind and it was strong today so we sat on around 15-16km per hour. We had decided to stay in Townsville to get a tent and we were going to stay at the Coral Coast Top Tourist park and we thought it was the first one on the left as you approach Townsiville from the North but it wasn't so we continued along Ingham road which is probably the main industrial area and it was alot better cycling along that road than the main highway! We found the top tourist park and went to book in and Neil said they had no more sites available and the only other caravan park to take dogs was the one we passed at the other end of Ingham road so Neil quickly said - nah we will take the pet cabin for 2 nights ... he got no argument from me!!! Yet again we are blowing this weeks budget! This park has 3 pet cabins where they are normal cabins but they have a fenced enclosure for dogs (the dogs are not allowed in the cabin and no we won't be letting Kouta in this time not like at Millaa Millaa - this park is a weeeeeeeeeeee bit more strict than Millaa Millaa!!!) It costs us $104 each night!!! OMG we are becoming like you dad! lashing out money willy nilly on luxurious accomodations and it is not even raining! I have a feeling that Neil had this in mind all the way along to Townsville - ever since he found out that it has doggy cabins! He asked the owner how they were going as no caravan park we have found has them and he said it has been going for 1 year and they have only had one real mishap with some dickhead and his dog. So he thinks they are a success and are used just as much as the other normal cabins. I think they are great and are so happy to have a normal bed (not a bunk!) and my own shower and toilet and my own power point and fridge and kettle and toaster!!! so bugger the price we are on holiday!

this is me outside the cabin

even Kouta looks happy!

Neil looks right at home in the kitchen ...

and our own table and chairs (there is another set outside!)

and below is the bedroom with the shower and toilet just of it!

It is lovely to be here Neil has just got back from buying a tent and he got a bargain at Kathmandu - our exact same tent again but for $170 - it is normally $459 and Neil mentioned about the poles and zip and she said that we should have bought them back in as it should last the life of the tent but Neil said we were in the middle of no where! so we will send the new aluminium poles back to Colac and continue using our fibreglass ones. So we are happy little campers at the moment ... actually more poor happy little campers!

Millaa Millaa to Innisfail

Millaa Millaa to Innisfail = 65km
Cummulative total 4722km

We all had a good nights sleep last night and even Kouta settled down in the kitchen (we smuggled him in again!). So he was ready for the ride today but first he wanted to go a hunting - he was fascinated by these Bush Bustards that kept roaming around the campground!

If you can't see the bird it is in the top left corner and as you can see Kouta is getting ready to run!
We left our honeymoon suite at Millaa Millaa campground and everything is dry. We knew we would have 3 climbs before a longish down hill - so there was a short climb out of Millaa Millaa itself and another climb about 5km along. At the 8km mark you descend down to around 500m above sea level on a very steep descent (10%) and trucks are warned to descend down in low gears but most don't bother! It is hard on the brakes with the bike and your hands are hurting like hell from squeezing the levers! The down hill is around 5km long and you don't get to see much of the scenery for watching the road in front of you! Although we had a shoulder it was generally covered in a thin layer of mud and had green moss in it - the results of the roads not drying out and constant rain!!! At the bottom of the hill you immediately start on a 3km 8% climb - I thought that I might not make it but we both felt comfortable riding it - not too sure if we could do the 10%!

The above photo is taken on the flatter part of the 8% climb up and you can see Neil. At 16km you reach the top and there is a little scenic drive that is all over grown that you can take but we pulled in there for a small break and to take photos of something which we have never come across but is an excellent idea - they are animal (ie. possum, tree kangaroos, bandicoots etc) crossings!

The first one is an open ladder for the possums ...

and the second one is an enclosed on for the smaller animals ...

they swing across the road for a tree to a pole and if you look around the road there are no dead animals - so I assume they are used! Neat aye!

From the 16km mark you begin to go down, but the down hill is not exactly coasting - it is a series of 8% drops so you have to take it slowly and brake alot.

Some drops were 1.5km and others were 4km long and this continues to Henrietta creek which is at 23km from Millaa Millaa and from there you undulate up and down all the way to Innisfail.

Along the way there are lots of walking tracks and there was one look out and it gave a stunning view of the Johnstone River.

While we were taking the photo we came across this huge butterfly fluttering about and it was about the size of my hand and it wouldn't land to take a photo so Neil just pointed the camera and took photos as it flittered about - so the photo is a little blurry!

the butterfly is in the top left corner and I tried to bring it closer so you can see just how iridiscent the blue is on the butterfly -

sorry it isn't clear enough but it just wouldn't sit still!
After this you begin to hit the valley with heaps of farmland and it even had a tea plantation

Once in the valley the road becomes more rolling and the prevailing wind for here is a south easterly so we had it as a head wind and lately it has been strong so on some downhills we were actually pedalling! This coming weekend Innisfail is meant to have very strong winds - Saturday 35km per hour and Sunday reaching 40km per hour so it would be a good idea to go from Innisfail to Millaa Millaa on these days as the wind will definitely help you up the 10% hills!

Just before you get to Innisfail there is a suburb called O'Briens Hill so naturally I had to get my photo taken!

As you can see it is not raining - the other week when we came through Innisfail is was absolutely pouring with rain and even 15 years ago when I came through it was pouring with rain and even Neil thinks this is the first time he has come through Innisfail and it isn't raining!!!

So I was relieved to get to the campground and have a hot shower to get rid of all the road crap (I don't know how it got on me!) and sweat - you certainly notice the temperature and humidity now we are at sea level - it is about 25 degrees and humid! but I shall not complain because it isn't raining!!!

I am tired and shall sleep well tonight - although we came down hill today the up hills were tough and even the down hills were challenging but it took us 4 hours cycling to got 65km and you may think that isn't bad but when you consider we descended nearly 1000m it is slow!!!

Tomorrow we will make Bilyanna Rest Area which is 20km south of Tully as we need to get out of this area by the weekend to avoid the shocking wind that is meant to be coming and also to get out of the rain area!

Rest day @ Millaa Millaa

We woke this morning and it was heavy rain and the forecast was that it was going to clear in a couple of hours ... but we still decided to stay as usually their forecasts were wrong when it came to clearing of rain.
Below is a photo of a Bush Bustard and it was taken this morning ... you can almost see what it is thinking ... "I'm sick of this rain"

As you can see it was pretty miserable this morning but funny enough it did clear by 10am and we have only had a few showers since then and we even saw the blue sky! But we had already decided to stay and so we managed to get the tent and fly dry as well as the bags. So it was a very productive day for us and everything is now dry!

We did pop into town to pick up some dinner and on our way way back we both nearly had heart attacks - about 3m infront of us was a small black snake with a red belly and Neil said "oh a snake" oh my god it frightened the hell out of us and so we walked around it and it was still alive but it looked like something had run over its' tail. The funny thing was we walked down that road earlier and it wasn't there so it must have come out to warm itself on the road since it wasn't raining and it was sunny!

This afternoon we just chilled out reading books and listening to the radio. Below is a photo of the donga we were in - our door is the one on the left, the room is about 2.5m x 5m but enough for us. Kouta was a little funny last night with sleeping and we did smuggle him in to sleep in the kitchen but even then he was still unsettled but today he seem right a home so hopefully we will all be able to get a good nights sleep.

Tomorrow we head for Innisfail.