Day 4

Saturday, December 26, 2015
Cooktown, Queensland, Australia
As I was progressing north from Melbourne, the tropical cyclone in the Gulf of Carpentaria was never forgotten. I was watching out for the weather ahead and noted that although the cyclone slowly started moving out to sea towards Indonesia it was still over the Gulf, to the east of Darwin. 

The cyclone restrictions had been lifted for Cape York but it was possible that the cyclone could, as they often do, change direction and return towards the Cape . Not wanting to run the risk of arriving in Cooktown at the end of this day in tropical cyclone conditions having to find overnight accommodation, I pre-booked accommodation at the Milkwood Lodge in Cooktown before going to bed the night before. Having secured accommodation for the night in Cooktown, took care of one issue but raised another. I had to ride 950km and spent 12 hours on the bike burning fuel, excluding stopping, to make it to Cooktown in-spite of what the weather may have in store along the way. I did not like being pushed to ride a long distance subject to tight time constraints. It is one of the classic high risk motorcycle things which is known to be the cause of many tragedies when not carefully managed.

Early morning with sunrise at Proserpine was hot and humid. A little surprisingly clear skies with no sign yet of monsoon rains always associated with a cyclone in the neighbourhood. With the cyclone threatening up in the north, I expected to see droves of holiday makers high tailing it down south away from the cyclone impacted area . Surprise-surprise. The road leading north towards Mackay was busy with caravans, boats and 4x4s. Holiday makers happily travelling north seemingly with no care in the world about cyclone or other. Very few if any vehicles coming from the front travelling south.

It was soon evident than I have now arrived in the tropical climate zone. Fruit such as mangos, litchies, paw paws, watermelon, bananas and of course suger cane appeared along the road in abundance. The area reminded of northern Zululand coast in South Africa. There is an extensive network of 610mm gauge railway lines in and around the sugar cane fields on which were running some pretty serious long trains. 

Under pressure to complete the distance in the least time, I attempted to combine rehydration stops with toilet stops and fuel stops. To my dismay it came to nothing. There were frequent small servos along the route but virtually all were closed in the spirit of the festive season . I was suddenly facing a similar situation in rural tropical north QLD to the first day of the ride in rural NSW with servos open for business, few and far between. 

 Riding into total unknown territory, knowing about the potential cyclone impact up-ahead and rich with experience from Africa, I concocted a scenario in which, along the way I would run low on fuel with many miles to the next fuel supply, in the face of cyclone weather and having to bid for limited accommodation. The thought was that without options I could easily become rich pickings to the unscrupulous, provider of fuel, accommodation etc. So already running a little low on fuel I found a servo open for business. I bought a 5L fuel can, filled it and tied it to the back of the bike and from thereon kept topping up the tank whenever fuel was available regardless of the amount left in the tank.

Then there was the town of Tully, just south of Cairns. The average rainfall per year is 4800mm per year . The maximum for one year was recorded in 1950 when it rained 7900mm for that year.

I was loosely following the Garmin Zumo 660 GPS without having set a route and went right through Cairns, knew I had to pass through Port Douglas and so on. The 3100km mark from Melbourne came up just north of Cairns on the coastal road to Mossman but not having set a route on the GPS I was not paying much attention to the distance still to go. By then I was relaxing having made rapid progress in reaching Cairns and perceiving the ride for the day whipped.  

The scenery along the coastal road towards Mossman is real tropics. Just before Mossman I turned left up the mountain pass towards Mt Molloy. Dark clouds were building and daylight was fading. I was ambling along enjoying the mountain pass scenery and at a viewpoint stopped to take pictures. I young couple arrived down the pass from Mt Molloy and in the conversation I realised with a shock that Cooktown was still 200km away and not just on the other side of the mountain as I thought . By then thick mist has settled on the pass and it started to rain with darkness approaching.

It was a somewhat tense ride from there up the pass to Mt Molloy. Then from Mt Molloy to Lakeland the mist cleared but the rain continued. There were many stray cattle and roos on the road. 

Between Mt Molloy and Lakeland, several 4x4's passed from the front and I noticed they were well covered from top to bottom in red mud. They were obviously coming out from the road to Weipa at Lakeland. I started to surmise that there was going to be an issue riding that road in these conditions. 

We all know that water and electricity don't belong in the same sentence. Similarly neither mud and heavy touring bikes.  

I made it to Cooktown in heavy rain just as the sun was setting, expected and warmly received. Rarely have I came across business owners so absolutely on top of their game and yet so easy going and down to earth . The hospitality and quality of accommodation at The Milkwood Lodge is second to none in my experience. I was invited to dinner with the owner and his family since it being Boxing Day, all restaurants in town were closed.

From Cooktown to Weipa [Weepa] an easy 650km of which approximately 400km is unpaved was supposed to be the last leg of the ride. According to plan I would have been in Weipa early afternoon the next day.  

 Around dinner table it turned out that the host was a Cape local and no stranger to dirt bikes. When he heard the plan, he became serious and strongly advised against even trying to ride the dirt roads to Weipa following the persisting heavy rains over the last week from the cyclone.   

It is said: "Where there is no council, people fall but in the multitude of councillors there is safety". 

 I listened to him, decided to consider but only to take a decision in the morning. 

Comments

2025-02-11

Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank