Cape York
Day 10, July 20th
Cairns to Cooktown – 248kms
Breakfast in Cairns where Steve commenced training and expectation management for the Bloomfield Track. He suggested Russ get used to getting his boots wet in the river crossings and paddle like a duck where necessary. Russ thought he was over egging it. Steve then pronounced he wasn’t going to drink today, Russ said nothing with a non-comital look.
Russ wanted to ride down the esplanade as he hadn’t seen it in daylight, but Steve was in a hurry and said “just pull a photo from the internet, it’s time to ride”
So up through Mossman and onto the Daintree Ferry. Nice comfortable ride through to Cape Tribulation (all bitumen). Steve took his drone out for a flight on the beach then up to the coffee shop for a ginger beer (our drink of choice) where Steve continued his training lesson for Russ. “If you drop you bike on a river crossing, just remember hit the kill switch so it doesn’t suck in water….otherwise we’ll have to haul it up a tree to drain it”. Russ just stayed quiet.
After the lesson we got back onto the bikes and continued past the “last chance for caravans to turn back sign, then straight on to dirt and first river crossing (no problem), then a couple of minutes until the next crossing, Emmagen Creek, which was quite long. Steve went first and made it over and then said to Russ “I’ll help you with this one if you want” (probably not an offer of assistance you want to reject). So with Steve holding the panniers Russ slowly made his way through to the other side. (No hauling a bike up a tree on this trip for Russ).
Then 30kms of steep inclines and declines over the Donavon and Cowie Ranges. The steepest at 31 degrees.
Back on to bitumen at Wajul Wajul. Stopped at the Lions Den Hotel for the must get photo and had another ginger beer. Then rolled into Cooktown to our digs just out of town and down to the Sovereign hotel for dinner……exhaustion has set in but there is still time for a Chardy before retiring early.
Day 11, July 21st
Cooktown Rest Day
A real day off, no walks, rides, museums, churches….just chilling after a huge day before.
We did a run into town for breakfast and checked out the view at the Grassy Hill and headed back for some R and R at our resort jungle lodge.
Researched what people did in Cooktown and found out over half (500) are involved with health and social services and the rest in construction and retail. Back to the Sovereign Hotel for dinner after checking out the sunset at the Grassy Hill….tick.
Day 12, July 22nd
Cooktown to Musgrave Roadhouse – 284kms
Up early for breakfast at Bektopia down by the harbor. Goto say even in the remotest places in Australia the cafes are a step above other countries .. I’m looking at you France! Steve gave the briefing for the day. “Russ the good news is no more river crossings”. The bad news was there were 3 with one very long one over the Laura River, but the good news was Russ completed all unassisted and then called Steve a Master of Deceit.
So off we went from Cooktown through Lakefield National Park and onto the Peninsular Development Track or the PDR as us professional off roaders call it, along with the above mentioned river crossings. As this was all on dirt, there is an opportunity to add to our Fox Nouns of Kilometage and Curvitage. This trip now introduces Slippage, Gravelage, Dustage and Corrugage and feel free to add Gratuitous to the front of each and they well describes the tour to date.
We pulled into the Musgrave Roadhouse and were greeted by our Argentinian backpacker hosts. Clearly these roadhouses have nationality preferences. We will now note them. Dinner consisted of the biggest rump steak EVER and not too bad Shiraz. Early night as a big day tomorrow.
Day 13, July 23rd
Musgrave Roadhouse to Weipa – 371kms
It was always going to be a big day … but having traversed Lakefield NP the day before including a big crossing of the Laura river (unplanned), we had our tails up and after brekkie at the Musgrave RH catered by our Argentinian friends we set forth for 371 km on the famed PDR (peninsula development road). And it didn’t disappoint .. first 50 km was very sandy and made it hard to maintain much speed. Then we overtook our first truck and then a bunch of 4wds overtook us. Whichever direction they were going they lift the finger to say a country “hi” and then bury you in clouds of dust and a spray of gravel. We anticipated this and donned goggles!
We stopped for fuel at the Archer River Roadhouse which would seem to be famous if you look at Cape internet info … but it’s a case of big fish in a small pond .. and it took 20 minutes before they could log into the cash register to charge our fuel … something about “does anyone know Dean’s password”. We must have established a bond as now we were being called “Bro”. The staff at this roadhouse were Maori.
We continued on and suffice to say we experienced some of the worst corrugage of Cape legend.
At one point Russ remarked through the intercom that he couldn’t technically say he didn’t sign up for this because he didn’t even know what he was signing up for!
It was with some relief we rolled into Weipa and our digs at the Albatross Bay Resort, in the donga village section. The staff are French again here which allows Russ to roll out his best lines making the ladies weak at the knees. A short storm before dinner and then off for a well earned sleep. Russ mentioned this was biggest day so far … and probably ever .. and Steve concurred.
Day14, July 24th
Weipa to Bramwell Tourist Park – 194kms
Up at the usual hour, but only a continental breakfast on offer. Steve has to go carbs in lieu of protein today .. not happy. Russ said he wanted to have a look around Weipa before we hit the road, so we did a quick tour of the Bauxite loader and the Woolies store which was the “shopping centre”. The FIFO plane arrived at the airport and exchanged Rio workers. The place is full of white 4wd utes, that don’t look like they’ve seen a dirt track. After 10 minutes of tooling around Weipa, Steve said “I don’t think there is a town”.
So onward to the Cape. Steve was slightly discombobulated this morning as Google wasn’t recognising the track he wanted to take, that would shave 120kms off today’s trip. So concerned was he that he said we might have to go through Steve Irwin’s property until he saw the river crossing was 1 metre high. So we took the punt. Steve said you’ll be happy with this as it will be before the high corrugage and slippage part of the PDR we’d done on the way into Weipa. In fact, it was just after that bit too we enjoyed it all again .. the hoped for crossroad was open and we turned as did a caravan of caravans and stopped for a break. It was good to hear other people say “FAAARK” so we didn’t think it was just us. Then an easy ride and a “nice” dirt road up to Bramwell Station, the start of the Old Telegraph Rd. Steve says it’s only 5kms to the chutes at Palmer’s Creek crossing .. we should go and have a look at the crazy people in 4WDs trying to do them. In fact, we were two crazy motorcyclists trying to get to the spot. Russ had exhausted his twitch muscles trying to stay upright and in the interests of sanity we turned around. Steve said, “well you’ve tried it now, let’s give it a go when you’re fresh”.
Back to the Bramwell tourist park for the donga check in and the requisite dinner of steak, sausages, potato bake, cottage pie, peas, cold beans, mixed salad. Steve asked for an additional sausage so they had to do a recount to see if they could comply and compromised with a half. Then for the entertainment a guitarist singer with a wicked backing track. While he was in full flight and we had taken one bite of the cold apple crumble and custard we retired to the balcony on our dongas to have a dessert wine.
Day 15, July 25th
Bramwell Tourist Park to Punsand Bay – 273kms
We were well rested from our donga accommodation but thrown off our schedule when we were told there was no breakfast as we had to book it last night. Steve commented “well probably a blessing given the meal last night” so we stopped in again at Bramwell Roadhouse for a toasted sandwich .. We like to vary our breakfasts.
The road to Punsand Bay was sometimes great sometimes good sometimes indifferent and sometimes bloody awful, but Steve rated it on average acceptable.
First stop Fruit Bat Falls, apparently a must do, so Steve took the plunge and Russ took photos. Moved onto Elliott Falls situated on a section of the Old Telegraph Track where there was a difficult chute and river crossing, so Russ said he would be happy for Steve to go on his own take a photo and come back .. with 3 weeks to go Russ wasn’t going to risk a drop. The upside for Russ was that he saw a lot of smart arse 4w drivers stuff the approach up. Steve returned with an audience to cheer him though.
Then off to the Jardine Ferry. Steve and Russ now have correlated time and distance between them. Steve runs at 20km/h faster than Russ on the dirt, therefore the wait time before a Steve considers a sweep is 15 minutes for 50kms .. our standard rest period.
The good thing about this is Steve had time to buy the ferry pass which took the allotted 15 minutes.
Russ rolled in, Steve slapped a sticker on his bike and straight onto the ferry.
The last leg to the tip was full of unexpected boobytraps. At least 7 creek crossings. One 4wD indicated we should pass him on the creek crossing. Steve just yelled “Get out of the creek you idiot”.
Arrived in Punsand and checked into our luxury accommodation. Chilling at the bar and going for the wood fired pizza tonight.
Day 16, July 26th
Riding the Tip of Cape York and Australia; Pajinka – 85kms
Today was about stepping foot on the Tip and to do this we had to ride back through yesterday’s boobytraps and then hang a left for another 11km. Got there early but not early enough to beat the heritage bus group who were in various stages of walking to the tip. Tier 3 were the walking dead (they won’t make the distance) and we passed them in short order. Tier two were the mechanically assisted, all equiped with sticks, boots, hydration jackets and a determination, we also passed them quickly and Tier one were the spritely septuagenarians, who we passed most of but two beat us to the plaque which was good so they could take our photo without anyone else in it. After taking in the significance of our achievement we took advantage of the low tide and walked the sand back to our machines. Steve then said we have to go riding on Somerset Beach and get our photo taken there. Russ asked why? The response was “because that is what everybody does”. So we did. Then back to our resort for an afternoon of R&R
Day 17, July 27th
Punsand Bay to Moreton Telegraph Station – 282kms
We did an early helicopter trip over the tip and then over Possesion Island where Cook claimed Eastern Australia for England. Great morning and great pics. Then onto the bikes for the ride South down the peninsula. Although we have already ridden this road it seemed much harder on the way back. Either the other side of the road was worse or we had turned from Dirt road warriors to Cafe Racing Latte Sippers as a result of a day off. Regardless we pushed forward through the water crossing .. Russ was a master now .. onto some shitty corrugated roads. It was also like Pitt st today so we were getting sprayed with red dust by passing 4wDs, road trains and angry birds. Snuck onto the Jardine Ferry in front of 50 cars coz we could then it was just an intense barrage of corugage and slippage. At one point Russ laid the Tenere down for a rest in a sand pit, but the guy in the car behind said he couldn’t do that and got him up again. Also tonight was the only night that we were supposed to camp in anger (ie pitch a tent and have a sleeping bag). Russ through no selfishness of his own thought that Steve would get enough of that after Darwin so rang the camping ground at Morton Telegraph to see if they had alternative accommodation. They did! Nice safari tents with a real beds. No food though so we had a huge burger for lunch and brought some toasties and chips as well for dinner. We shared the safari tent area with the Batavia Traditional Owners who were doing the cold burns (they slow burn the undergrowth to regenerate the land). Nice people communicating in traditional fashion using laptops and Starlink. As there was nothing more to do after it got dark at 6.30 we went to our safari tents and had an early night.
Day 18, July 28th
Moreton Telegraph Station to Musgrave Roadhouse – 300kms
We woke up in our safari tents to a chorus of birdsong. At least 30 separate species were identified. The dew point was seriously high and everything was wet and washing was wetter than when we hung it out undercover the night before. Despite our modest lodgings we had slept like logs near the banks of the Wenlock river after the prior day on terrible road surfaces.
Wandering around shirtless to try and stay cool while packing multiple mature women were attracted out of the next-door Outback Spirit “wilderness camp” .. proper rooms with air conditioners and a big outdoor eating space with couches. They wanted to know all about our ride.
We waited on the doorstep of the kiosk to get a coffee on opening and Steve had a sausage roll in a plastic bag with sauce. The sauce was excellent.
Back on the road to Musgrave Roadhouse, largely retracing what we did on the way up, both of us swore the road was way worse than some 5 days before .. or maybe it’s just not as much “fun” doing it the second time. We were glad to arrive into our familiar donga lodgings and the staff we knew from the visit 5 days before. We got to bed early as the following day was going to be a monster.
Day 19, July 29th
Musgrave Roadhouse to Karumba – 741kms Steve had been workshopping and wargaming today’s ride for about a week. It was always going to be the longest ride at 500km, 460 of that dirt, but upon discovery of 2 washed out bridges over the Mitchel River and closed roads it grew by 241kms. Steve had called three councils but none could deliver on the road info he required so he reverted to a Facebook post from a Michelle Stock who had traversed the peninsula two days before .. lucky break. The route was now locked and loaded with pins dropped on the GPS to follow Michelle’s route. Next problem was fuel for 750kms. We could between us with our fuel carriers get to 600 but not enough. So Steve at every opportunity was buying fuel containers. Most road houses don’t have any so his mind was working overtime. We struck gold at one service station in Bamaga where we got 15 litres of capacity but Steve burnt the container (empty) on his exhaust pipe; back to square one. Then in Coen, the general store had a twenty litre container. You would have thought Steve had won the lottery by the look on his face. So we fuelled up everything we had and lashed them on to the bikes. Steves bike looked like a Hanoi taxi.
On Steves instructions we left at 6am and rode in the dark until sunrise which coincided with hitting the dirt. We rode through 8 cattle stations (we know that because Steve had to open and close 8 gates). The narrow dirt roads were bliss vs the PDR and it was like floating on foam. We then hit the water at Palmer Creek Crossing. Steve said I think Russ may need some help with this, so he rode over and ran back and kept Russ upright through the crossing and then whinged about his wet feet for the rest of the day. We then hit the Burke Development Road. Steve had said we should be able to make up time on that road……Yeah Nah. Terrible condition .. for 400kms. We stopped for sandwiches which we had packed for the trip. Steve has an OCD condition that means he gets agitated if he is not halfway through the Ks before lunch, so risking indigestion he slams the sambo down. Russ not wanting to go the way of Mumma Cass told him to calm the farm, to not much success. So we plowed down the Ks stopping every 50 for a 2 minute break until we realised that we only had two hours of daylight left, so there goes the breaks ..Russ volunteered this. Just as the sunset we hit bitumen
, but not before having encountered hundreds of wallabies in the low light on the BDR. Had a glorious run into Karumba admiring the sunset. 13 hours on the bikes .. straight to the pub .. we have been here before. Steve was in robotron mode. Dismounted the bike ran to the bar and returned with Chardonnay in hand still not able to speak. Decompressed and ordered dinner. Steve then said “Russ you only had one job and that was to book tonight’s accomodation….where is it?”. Luckily 1 minute away. Suffice to say we slept well.
Day 20, July 30th
Karumba to Burketown – 303kms
Awoke in our family villa at 7 .. a bit later than usual given the flogging from the day before.
Steve declared today a virtual rest day with only 298k to cover and hopefully not all dirt.
Had breakfast at Ash’s Café where they offered a “small” big brekkie. Breakthrough concept. We fueled up the bikes .. Steve has a 20 litre tank and it took 20.75l. It was an easy day and plenty of bitumen at each end with requisite roadworks on the dirt stretch.
Fun fact .. Burketown is the self-proclaimed Barramundi capital of Australia. There is nothing else so it’s a title they fight to hang onto.
Arrived to find our cabin at Savannah Lodge had been mis-logged as the following night.. wtf! Ended up in 2 non-suites at the caravan park. The booking officer at the lodge told us to come back in the evening for a free pizza and drinks but we wanted to put it all behind us so retired to the pub.
Early to bed tonight for another near 500 km tomorrow nearly all dirt. The spacing between towns limits your options when one participant really favors a bed… looking at you Russ!
Silver Foxes Motorcycle Club Australia 