After riding my mountain bike from Adelaide to Darwin in 2005, I was keen for another such adventure, but one that returned to the kind of back roads I travelled when riding from Sydney to Melbourne in 2004. I hatched the idea of riding from the southernmost tip to the northernmost tip of mainland Australia, and rather than riding along the main (coastal) highway, try and ride a straight-line route that would necessarily take me on back roads and through a variety of terrains and climates.

Wilsons Promontory to Cape York by bike - Cape Tribulation to Cooktown

Day: 026
Date: Tuesday, 22 August 2006
Summary: Riding from Cape Tribulation to Cooktown.
Start: Cape Tribulation
Finish: Cooktown
Daily Kilometres: 104
Total Kilometres: 3340
Weather: Warm, sunny and humid with south-easterly winds.
Accommodation: Campground in Cooktown , Queensland .
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Peanut butter roll and apple
  Lunch:  Hamburger and chips
  Dinner:  Quiche, salad and chips
Encounters: The Variety Club Bash, a convoy of 180 retro rally cars, were travelling the same route, turning what I expected to be a mostly solitary wilderness experience into a constant stream of blaring horns and dust.  They were very supportive and friendly, but I could have done without them.  I also met a German cyclist travelling southwards.  He was on a trip from Perth to Melbourne around the northern coasts.  We stopped and had a chat for a while.
Highlights: Negotiating the Bloomfield Track successfully.  I was a little apprehensive, knowing that there were some very steep hills.
Lowlights: The Variety Club Bash participants not only spoiled my day a bit, but booked out all accommodation in Cooktown, where I had been hoping to get a motel room before my final push to the Cape .

Journal:
I left at 7:00am and enjoyed the early morning ride through the fantastic rainforest. However, I hadn’t gone far when an SUV passed me and told me that 180 Variety Club Bash cars were also travelling along the Bloomfield Track today.  Great!  Shortly after they began to pass me, always giving me a cheery wave and toot, but also raising plenty of dust.  Around 8:30am I found a nice little perfect secluded palm-fringed beach where I stopped for some breakfast and a stroll.  It was beautiful.

I then continued on and soon reached the massive climb I remembered from our previous trip up here.  The road was concreted over to stop erosion, but the grade must have been about 20-25%.  It was all I could do to make forward progress pushing the bike.  Some entertainment was provided by one of the Variety Bash cars which, despite several attempts, could not make it up the hill and eventually had to be towed.  The hill went on and on, and I made slow progress, stopping every 10 metres or so to get my breath.  I finally reached the top and then had a nerve-wracking descent.  With all of the weight on the bike, it is not very stable and I used the brakes a lot to keep myself at a modest controllable speed.  There were several creeks that I had to wade across along the way.

At the bottom of the hill I reached the scenic Bloomfield River and crossed at the causeway (before the causeway was built, Barb and I had been stranded mid-river in our SUV when the engine stopped in deep water once, but that’s another story!).  I took a break in Wujal Wujal and another shortly after at a roadhouse, letting most of the Variety Bash cars get past me, although it made me later than I had planned.  At the roadhouse I spent quite a while talking to the young owner who was interested in mountain-biking and was shortly embarking on a solo 500km canoe trip down the Mitchell River.  He also ran tours to the Cape .  I called ahead to some accommodation in Cooktown, but everything was booked out except one campground where the owner said he would hold his last spot for me.

I continued on and made good time until the huge climb up to Helenvale.  It was a real grind through the rainforest on a narrow track.  I passed a few broken down Variety Club Bash cars along the way.  After Helenvale the road was sealed and I made good time to Cooktown, arriving about 5:30pm and set up my tent.  I had to queue for a shower, which had run out of hot water.  Cooktown was full of Variety Club Bash participants, in various states of intoxication.  I went for a walk around town in the twilight before getting dinner at a café adjacent to the campground.  Given that the café opened at 7:00am and knowing that I would be bush-camping tomorrow night, I decided to get breakfast there before leaving in the morning and then trying to make it the 166km to Kalpower campground, the only one with facilities in the Lakefield National Park.
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