Riding Down Under - Tropical Cairns Australia

[MacDoc]

Re: Down Under on a KLR 650 ...third season

Finally got off the pavement at Mount Lewis up behind one of my fav hangouts the Highlander. Good food and coffee and decently fast wifi and a fantastic outdoor but under shade setting. Too nice.

Just sitting here - bit of a breeze - 28 degrees - fluffly clouds and a big blue sky over the rain forest.

Mount Lewis is a National Park and starts out paved then meanders up and up gradually getting less maintained and then....

Even the KLR looks puzzled.

But that's at the end as far as I could get riding alone ( there was a route but would need two of us to be safe getting around or under that tree and will come back again.

Under to the left should be doable but the KLR650 is tall

for another day

not sure what this little car was doing up there but lucky it was not wet or he'd be there for a while.

It was an easy track going up in the dry ....would be okay on the KLR in the wet - there were some fun whoops but I'd not want to try it in that - no clearance, and street tires. No idea.

It was lovely riding along this

I imagine he was trimming the centre grass the whole way.

Love these ferns ...some are tree sized

There are always the yahoos

A few of the denizens

A very pretty 15 km through the rain forest.

This is the paved section where there are houses

this pretty Kingfisher was harvesting insects all along the area - caught him posing in a big palm

just a stunning day to ride up into the rain forest.

Some curious cattle across the street checking out the action at Highlander.

They are an Indian breed and this area is one of the few tropical dairies in the world.

You can see the droopy ears and classical hump of the Indian breed.

Bit more later - running out of battery and have an hour's ride home

 

[MacDoc]

Re: Down Under on a KLR 650 ...third season

Sometimes the Pacific Ocean takes your breath away

and the plant life

and the bird life

just plain eye candy

Cute kids on the Kuranda Train...

Great ride up through the range - tough to build given terrain and weather - quite a few died.

Forgot about the bats....flying foxes hanging out til sunset.....bwahaha

Why yummy little girls as above stay away from the waters edge in FNQ
Even the kids area on the Esplanade has a croc warning.

GF looking tropical under dinosaur size plant.

 

[MacDoc]

Re: Down Under on a KLR 650 ...third season

Finally a few riding days - come hell or high water....

Heading up to Cooktown and off grid tho not off line for a couple of days.

https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/628680

> Hi David,
> GPS 15.7098 S
> (phone number hidden) E
> 260/ 262 Mungumby road at Helenvale (big signs up for mungumby lodge, ) is the first road left off the Mulligan highway, north end of Shipton's flat road, that is the coast road
> Directions: approx 3 kms down Mungumby Road, turn right at 260/ 262 markers, immediately take left fork, approx 1km down take right fork in the forest, cross mungumby creek take right fork, 300m in is my place, the road is solid, but a dirt track so a bit bumpy, and a couple of creek crossings.
> you can bring bug spray, i don't use it very few mozzies here, early morning mostly, but i guess guests are new blood!
> i supply mozzie nets and use one myself for early morning sleep
> I am about 4 hours from Cairns at your speed
> I am off the grid, there is no power in the caravans, I can lend you a torch and i supply candles, i have wireless internet if you need it and there is solar power at my house,
> looking forward to your stay

hehe - love the ad

No power for two nights but will have internet....do have to keep priorities after all.
Will spend a bit more time in Cooktown - still want to hit the Cook Museum there and some serious birding I hope.

This rascally Butcherbird was stealing food off my plate at Skybury.

who's gonna argue with that beak.

 

[MacDoc]

Cooktown weekend off the grid

lovely easy ride up from Cairns to Cooktown.
Lovely view across the Pacific.

.300 km .got wet, got dry, monster sandwich ( remains for breakfast this am )


at Palmerston River which is famous for the Australian gold rush complete with aboriginals playing cannibal. Great stories to read.
Some relics and got some very good bird pics

Little piggy butcherbird got a nice chunk of bacon fat



Peewee munching on some bread


These cuties are Apostle Birds apparently.

they looked very cute all snuggled up

Knew the AirBnB was in the bush....not quite prepared for how far. Followed directions fine
There were three or four smaller creeks and the usual mud and roots etc of a forest track
Normally would be no problem but I've done no off pavement in 9 months so rusty and a bit fatigued from the ride up.

problem creek is over the lip here. - steepish drop into it.

Glad I had decent tires on.
NOt sure I was on the right road

Walked the rest of the way to Waratah's and of course she was mostly au natural as befits a good wiccan in the wilderness. Good laugh as she did not expect me to walk
in



KLR did NOT like the rocks in the this creek which was about 10 meters across and it's about 2' deep and I didn't get the best line on it
entrance was okay but exit was steep and muddy as well and KLR would kick a rock out then stall - no way to get any speed up plus was not even sure I was on the right road as was 3 km so into the rain forest.

Exit is over on the right and both sides of the creek quite steep
Now I know the best line will be easier getting out. We drove back as it was a hot day and wrestled the KLR across and up on to dry land.
Pretty wet and sweaty by the time it was over. Looks innocent ( which most of these crossings are - it's not due to the rock size, difficult footing and tires squirming every which way)
Easy on 4 wheel drive tho rocks kicking from it as well.

but worth the effort - fantastic setting at the base of the mountains - gravity fed dammed pond and water system



lovely spot off the grid - traded staying for computer services - sold a hard drive that Larry is shipping.
Big sprawling house build from scratch ( timber cut on the property and ripped to planks. )



off grid entirely - solar and battery



but NOT offline...despite the headaches we had yesterday - it's a fully functional online officex ( cept for the ants in the printer )



Waratah my host works online about 2-3 hours a day.
I got the desk on the left - satellite speed was just okay but her computer was dismal so had to work off my backup drive while I fixed hers
dismal speed as a result - multitasking on a 2.26 with 2 gigs of RAM

sorted her computer - fragmented to hell and gone
never did fix the wireless modem - - the satellite was fine but of course the AIr has no ethernet....joy...could not go online directly and her wireless set up was fubar
Used hers off my back up drive while defragging ( as bad as I've seen ) and setting up a better back up.
Took most of the night to do all the backing up and defragging as her drive was stuffed.



totally open - Good dinner of Thai food - mostly grown on the property or got in local market
and learned a lot about Aboriginal arts and local issues



fresh eggs if the dingoes don't get the chucks ( chickens )


my kind of messy sprawly place



house is still a work ing progress but the basics are there



and that is the weekend adventure to Cooktown to date....

Just having a very civilized coffee across Capt Cook Park - where the market is.

Thinking of getting the KLR back across the Creek when we get home so I don't have to deal with it in the morning.
Then I'll be fine riding out from there and staying to left there are small rocks and it's shallower and the exit on the other side is much flatter than going in.

Stay tuned

Took the KLR out past the ornery creek - jeez hard work - no footing for front tire or my boots - foot at a time even taking the better line. Should have just kicked a path through the stones for bike

 

[MacDoc]

Re: Cooktown weekend off the grid

Cruised by Black Mountain ( pics earlier ) is a whole unique ecosystem within the rocks and new species were identified recently.

And it does not involve the remains of european tourists

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/gp...WQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTUyNTtweW9mZj0wO3E9Nz U7dz03Njg-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/0d9678702cd6be4c43531678112715fb2909c5b5.jpg

Sydney (AFP) - An expedition to a remote part of northern Australia has uncovered three new vertebrate species isolated for millions of years, with scientists Monday calling the area a "lost world".

Conrad Hoskin from James Cook University and a National Geographic film crew were dropped by helicopter onto the rugged Cape Melville mountain range on Cape York Peninsula earlier this year and were amazed at what they found.

It included a bizarre looking leaf-tail gecko, a gold-coloured skink -- a type of lizard -- and a brown-spotted, yellow boulder-dwelling frog, none of them ever seen before.

"The top of Cape Melville is a lost world. Finding these new species up there is the discovery of a lifetime -- I'm still amazed and buzzing from it," said Hoskin, a tropical biologist from the Queensland-based university.

http://news.yahoo.com/lost-world-discovered-remote-australia-024127998.html

Few more photos from Cook town

This was a big wallaby just outside a friends house in the middle of town - what a lovely hideaway.

her driveway had the Hercules of strangler figs...

and a noisy friarbird having fun in the bath

Fast ride home - decided to sacrifice a couple mm of knobby , music was good - fueled with a good flat white at Lakeland and poof almost home.

Stopped along a lovely river....

Much Australia's weath was built on iron ore and there are mines of various types in the region I was riding through.

That caught my eye.

This was fun even the KLR with knobbies...there was about 8 km of sweeps with steep ( for a highway ) grades ....9% - sport bike heaven but really any ride would provide fun on the well paved and not slippery road surface.

stunning view from the top

Lazing at Skybury coffee - barramundi for lunch - decided against Mossman as it was wet - Mareeba always sunny. 300 days a year they claim

Feastng eyes on a bevy of long legged 20 something Aussie girls dressed for the weather at the table in front of me...ie skimpy clothes

 

[MacDoc]

Re: Cooktown weekend off the grid

After a couple days break with rain the weather cleared and decided to take the ST for a spin. What a shift from the KLR. Quiet even at 150 kph which we touched a couple times on long run to Chillagoe ( especially on the way home ).
Of course it was drinking fuel with all that frontage.

Had not really anticipated Chillagoe and did not have enough time but now I know the route will leave early on the ST and spend some more time as there are caves and very interesting rock formations.

Stopped at Dimbullah for tea and cookies....I left my pack of Macadamia nut cookies when we left .
Dimbullah is the cutoff to the long and lovely dirt route to the Mitchell River ...not for road bikes tho.
Bruce in his glaring hi-viz helmet.
Very enjoyable chatting on the Scala the whole way. The ST1100 is a notch up from the Burgman in having a quiet bubble behind the screen.

We boogied on the empty highways mindful of unfenced cattle everywhere - tho horses were a first

Lost the high speed runs in a series of dirt sections - 1 km to 6 km long.

The copper and iron is obvious as we neared Chillagoe

Stunning sky all day with temps hitting 33 - just above 90F

Took a break after the last dirt section ....really no issue if you pay attention ...a couple of very minor and paved stream crossings tho one had to watch loose sand covering the pavement.
A week earlier and it all would have been impassable.

Began to hit some interesting rock formations - volcanic which produced the ore and the caves the area is know for.

Happy to pull into town and left the ST1100 snoozing under a tree.

Local town social centre, bar, lunch counter, hotel

served a fine Burger and Coke

some local history and thousands of signed notes from all over the world covering every wall including some other Canadian visitors.

and useful information from some patrons.
We did not have a enough time to get to the caves but some of the rock formations on the way out were lovely. You can see the volcanic upthrust.

This was right along the street.

Typical outback small town store

Fast ride home for Bruce to hit a time point...130-150 indicated once we got past the dirt sections.

SHort break at Dimbullah again which has lots of Ibis about...caught this pair lurking on an aerial

Made friends with the ST again. Covering in a few hours a fair bit of territory and felt okay when I got home tho hand was still sore from the weekend.
At least the ST has a throttle lock.

Will go back up in the area - maybe on the KLR so I can get off road a bit more and poke around.
There is a nice back route to Herbertville - another ex mining town tho given how narrow the road is and a warning about road trains....will tread cautiously.

Road trains are up to 3 trailers - and run up to 36 meters long - 120' or so and they do not go slow. From wiki

Enjoyable day in the AUstralian savannah

 

[MacDoc]

Somthing wicked this way comes......Cat 4

We're on the wrong side of it and they tend to head south...

Well this and adventure

Last one was Yasi and missed to th south at the last minute tho did lots of damage.

and of course - this one is expected to do the same munching along the coast to the south.

 

[MacDoc]

Re: Somthing wicked this way comes......Cat 4

Update - looks like we will dodge this and it will stay north but it's a nasty with 280 kph winds.

There is a good video in this article that shows the various categories of storms...

“People come up here and think it’s a challenge in their 4WDs and these blokes want to ride out a big storm. I’m not sure what turns them on but it’s dangerous.

“They’ll know about it if we get a storm surge and big trees start flying around.’’

A QPWS spokesman said entering these areas at this time of year was dangerous which was why many Cape York camping grounds and parks were closed.

There were no QPWS camping areas at Princess Charlotte Bay. The closest sites were either at Rinyiruu (Lakefield) or Cape Melville National Parks, both of which were closed for the wet season.

Mr Shephard said he believed the men proposed to camp at a hut at the northern end of the bay.

10am: Cyclone Ita is expected to pose a significant threat to Cape York communities, with gales to hit the coast as far south as the holiday centre of Port Douglas.

Gales are expected to start building in 24 to 48 hours and it is expected to cross the coast as a severe category 4, bringing destructive winds to 280km/hr and flood rain.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...nds-up-to-280kmh/story-fnkt21jb-1226878170860

Buddy in Port Douglas gonns get wet...us too...but he'll be in the gale zone.

 

[MacDoc]

Re: Somthing wicked this way comes......Cat 4

okay I lied

We're on watch now and the discussion is cyclone procedures here and for work for everyone.

 

[MacDoc]

Re: Somthing wicked this way comes......Cat 4

ahh er CAT 5 and we're in the warning zone - but worse, we are on the south side of it.....gonna be an interesting 48 hours
Jude is considering evacuation if it swings further south before landfall.

Nasty beast....but the rain is needed.

How's this for end of wet season.....the Barron is normally a huge river especially this time of year....one of those big, bigger, OMG type of rivers.

I can guarantee you the AFTER pics will NOT be taken from the centre of the Barron River which the major hydro river for the region....you gonna be shocked when you see.

 

[MacDoc]

Getting into serious batten down mode....it's Cat 5 and increasing and projected to come ashore at 5 - 285 KPH
Bikes are in hiding

ST1100 peeking out

There is a KLR in the back there...had to crawl out under the mirror :whine:

Vicious

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/que...ace-for-significant-storm-20140410-36fdy.html

BTW this comes with 20" of rain as well.

this is one of Jude's Profs..

[video=youtube;K7kWxUWZQQc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7kWxUWZQQc[/video]

 

[MacDoc]

great todo about not much for us...
rain a bit of wind and an evening without power....

However - where I store my ST a different story

did not quite make storage shed but damn close ...

 

[MacDoc]

from

to

overnight

more tomorrow - extracted the bikes from their hidey hole ( unnecessary but prudent ) but the Kuranda Range road was closed til late in the afternoon
A chopper flew over to catch the newly revived Barron Falls.
Will be fun - might be some water sport as well

 

[MacDoc]

Barron was way down from the day before when that chopper took the pic - still the tourists were happy with this

still looked pretty awesome with the windcurrents

KLR would have been playing submarine at peak at the Myola Road crossing

that debris is a LONG way up that tree.

must have been quite sight in full flood

 

[MacDoc]

Been enjoying a couple of days of local 2-300k on the ST - the difference riding without the panniers is quite marked.
Weather has been not too hot - mid 20's to 30 at warmest and a bit overcast so no glare. With the weight a bit lower I find I'm enjoying the bike more. Looking more and more I'll keep it as I now have a place to store it and he will ride it.
Not so concerned about storing the KLR as it seems to take abuse and has a fancy battery but the ST1100 is an ancient horse and wants riding not sitting there.

Sometimes one gets lucky with the photography

There was this glorious carolling going on just below my lunch spot at Skybury west of Mareeba. Rich singing like I've rarely heard.....very rich and full throated.

Could not spot the source at first then they almost landed on my lap in the tree in front of me.

They were soooo active but managed this lucky shot. Right out of an Audobon painting.

Very pleased ....
Identified as Grey-faced Babblers.....one of the experienced birders here said he could never photograph them as they are so active.

Must have been something in the air ....there was a pair of crested pigeons making whoopee on the lawn below.



Long weekend here....traffic going the other way was brutal - days feel a bit shorter here and I've been getting home near dusk which is fine...I enjoy riding in the evening. Cooler and quieter traffic.

Heading up on a fav forest track loop with friends on Monday....more warm bodies to pick up the KLR if needed.
Same track I dinged my shoulder last year - beware the green moss is etched in my forehead this time.

Least I'm not the only one that falls off a KLR in the mud.

Looks like the same dodgy 50/50 worn tires I was using first year here. Learned a trick with a lifting strap.

Some hotshot on a fast Yamaha went over the bars in the same section. This from the KLR rider.

I was following a friend, a younger chap on a WR450, no hope of ever staying up with him but I was confident I would see him under the trees, just on the other side of the Q road. He's usually there with a tool kit out chasing some electrical gremlin on the Yamaha.Took me a while to pick the pig up, had to check the body (face first into the dirt/clay-why do people still not wear full-face helmets?), get out the camera, walk around the sucker, (hey,amazing,ALL indicators still there!), take off jacket,backpack, etc. and then dig out my "lifting strap". Heavy duty strap from handlebars to rack that makes it easier to lift.
Anyhow,
caught up with the WR guy, was about to tell of my little slide down the road when I notice that his clothing seems to strangely mud coloured. Hmm, the WR is adorned with clay in unusual places, hmm, the pretend indicators are hanging limply and the screen is laying over at an odd angle....

the conversation started with "That patch of mud back there..."

I was lucky, he went over the bars.....

iddy

I suppose makes me feel a tad better....mind you these guys ride far faster than my birdwatching pace but I get the pics

 

[MacDoc]

The wonders of Australia

Swim with the salties

don't swallow tall tales - no Virginia...it's not photoshopped

don't get ticked off ( before and after the paralysis tick bites you )

and many many more

http://diply.com/just-a-dream/30-photos-proving-australia-is-most-insane-place/33811

and if you come to Australia buy a dictionary

hehe ..who's gonna translate

 

[MacDoc]

Hardcore....from the Cairns Riders site...a local to me bushwhacking..
We're planning tomorrows very easy jaunt around Lake Tinaroo..this pops up

So yesterday my mate Chris and I attempted to ride Bakers road which goes on the south side of the Mitchell river from Molloy to the cooktown crossing. This used to be a gazetted road and I had driven it in a 4wd in the mid 90s but hadn't heard of anyone getting through in a long time.
We started at the Malloy servo at 10:30 after riding a few power line tracks through Jullatin. Then headed out along Bakers road which is a pretty decent gravel road untill you get to the station, we had a gps map but we couldn't find the access ouy past the station, luckily we found some locals fishing back up the road and they gave us a bit of info about how to get onto the trail, they also said it wasn't doable in a 4wd but might be worth a look on a bike. So we found the wire gate hidden in the back of a paddock and rode some really fun double track that slowly became a mission of riding through stretches of hundreds of meters of mud and knee deep water then waist high grass but at least the trail was still somewhat defined. Eventually we reached a massive wash away that we had to pick our way around but couldn't find the trail again, going off the gps it seemed like we crossed it several times but in the 2 hours of riding around in shoulder high grass hiding knee high logs and 3 meter deep gullies we couldn't make out the the trail well enough to be confident to continue. Chris' 525exc also developed a electrical issue that rendered all the electrics usless so he had to kick start it each time.
So after pulling the pin and being elated to be in a gear above second we headed back out through the swappy track back for home, in the end we were on the bikes for about 6 hours only covering 160kms, damage included a broken stand, a dented exhaust, a broken mirror, a bent bark buster, a hole in a boot and 10 kgs of grass and weeds being transported back down the coast jamed into every nook and cranny of our bikes.
All up it was a bit of an epic, getting in way over our heads as it would of been impossible to get a vehicle in if we had a major mechanical or injury but still worth it for the experience.

reply from my riding partner who always carries an EPIRB...

Great ride Mixed, bet your shirts were full of speargrass!
The Bicentenial Horse trail is just over the other side of Bakers Blue Mountain and runs parallel to your track all the way to Cooktown crossing.

It is an incredible ride but we never made it all the way, three riders with us got lost and it took a whole day to find them.

 

[MacDoc]

Had a good ride and stayed upright despite a couple of white knuckle moments.

Chatting with Ken on the Scala was a treat and he steered me around a couple gotcha's. It was fun chatting and he's hooked apparently.

Of course I got on the wrong line on one deeper than I thought gutter but gunned it ( a marginal experience on a KLR ) and got the front wheel over and despite a hop sideways the 606 hooked up sufficiently.

Whatever Dean put on the front I'm please withl excellent on the pavement and more and more confidence that it will go where I point it without washing out.

Only once did it fail to climb out and I noticed Ken had the same issue but was a minor issue- some sort of sand that just fell out from under the tire as it tried to climb.

Haven't busted through or gone over so many trees since the trials days....and that was after the clean up ....good practice for me but glad I wasn't on lead.....might have chickened on a couple but the KLR with 21" wheel and long shocks just cruised over them and the front stayed on line.

Couch Kezza and Kenno made it to the meet up ..

The group shot



We let the hotshots have fun for the first time on that track and then we caught up.



Ham and Egg burger at Lake Tinaroo



was a nice break.
I buggered off to Jabiroo to watch some birds and got chased by a curious emu....had to back pedal to keep him in focus.



Good day for me - and Kenno didn't have to pick me out of the mud

Cruised home in a bit of wet..saw a couple of bikes stopped they were looking for something
Then a bit further down another pair of bikes stopped looking back so I stopped and asked,

Guy had his keys fly out of the ignition !!!! WTF

Didn't know that was even possible. Take away - carry spare keys - his were at home....an hour each way away.

 

[RockerGuy]

Seems like wildlife runs around everywhere. Must be a zoo there

Sent from my tablet using my paws

 

[MacDoc]

Lucky it's a big place and not many people so wildlife still rules in most areas.
I was racing a couple of roos coming out of Jabiru but then they left the poor old KLR in the dust as they stretched out and cut across the road in front. I was doing about 50 kph and they had enough left to accelerate and carve a turn. Their top end sprint is around 70 kph

This is pretty similar with more roos and in my case no fence.

[video=youtube;a_BIZMJ6rMs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_BIZMJ6rMs[/video]

I asked my riding partner how many roos he had hit - hundreds he said - every vehicle even school buses have roo/cow bars on the front......called bull bars.

His worst was off road 4wd racing at 200 kph ( these guys regularly ride their off road bikes at freeway speeds in the outback ...sometimes for days ).
The roo came through the windshield between them and out the back window...they kept racing.

It's one reason no rides at night here - just too many critters and of course in many areas there is no stock fencing either on the main highways ( there are some pics I took of stock on the main highway to Cooktown ).

Dead roos are a risk at night as well.
We hit a freshly dead deer at 80 mph in California and it was a huge jolt....a big roo is a solid rond ball of muscle.

•••

Rainy day but enough light to snap a Yellow-bellied Sunbird feeding in the back yard.
He does not sit still much when searching the flowers.
Had a cute shot of him with his head buried but did not quite come out
Still....happy with this on a grey misty day. Noisy from distance and low light level.

Bit tamer this but kites are a problem when they are feeding on a carcass - almost have hit several as they get fat eating then slow to take off.
But then that's true in Ontario as well...have had to duck lumbering Turkey Vultures slow to get aloft.