Wilsons Promontory to Cape York by bike - Hann Crossing to Musgrave

Day: 029
Date: Friday, 25 August 2006
Summary: Riding from Hann Crossing to Musgrave.
Start: Hann Crossing
Finish: Musgrave
Daily Kilometres: 81
Total Kilometres: 3615
Weather: Warm to hot and sunny with easterly winds.
Accommodation: Basic cabin at Musgrave Roadhouse , Queensland.
Nutrition:
  Breakfast:  Scroggin/gorp for snacks
  Lunch:  Two pies
  Dinner:  Hamburger and chips
Encounters: I saw a few kangaroos early on and, one time, saw a kangaroo cross the road at great speed just in front of my followed 30 metres later by a fast-moving dingo who broke off the chase when he saw me.  I also saw a few bustards, which are quite large birds of prey.  At the Musgrave Roadhouse I met the runner, whose name escapes me, who was on his way back to Tasmania having just completed his charity run from the southern tip of Tasmania to Cape York .  He was very humble and friendly and looked extremely fit.  I think he’s in his mid-60s.
Highlights: A very relaxing afternoon spent washing, reading and drinking at the Musgrave Roadhouse with the hard trails of Lakefield National Park behind me.
Lowlights: A large group of trail-bikers (there are a lot of them up here riding to and from the Cape) came from the other direction as I neared the western end of LakefieldNational Park .  So that they wouldn’t have to travel in each other’s dust, they kindly travel about a kilometre apart meaning that, for me, the dust from one trail bike has just about settled when the next arrives.  There were about 20 bikes in all.  They all gave me a cheery wave!

Journal:
I got up at 6:00am after a relatively good and long night’s sleep (although it had got a bit warm at one stage), and left around 7:00am.  The trail, although still rough, wasn’t too bad initially and the early sunlight, cool temperatures and no traffic made riding very pleasant.  There were all manner of animal tracks made in the sandy road overnight, some of which I could identify and others not.  I decided I couldn’t face another bowl of muesli this morning and had snacks of scroggin/gorp at each of my breaks instead.  Progress was not fast, but I was still hopeful of reaching Musgrave by early afternoon.  My mood improved when I reached the Nifold plain, a vast treeless grassland punctuated with huge termite mounds.  The road was hard-packed mud and my speed increased considerably.  It was hard to imagine that I was only about 10km, as the crow flies, from Princess Charlotte Bay and the ocean.

I’m learning not to be too influenced, negatively or positively, by the trail going at any point, and this approach was soon justified as the trail re-entered arid forest and became very sandy.  I’ve decided that sand is even worse than corrugations.  In some sand, by pedalling powerfully and steering deftly, you can keep moving forward, albeit slowly.  However, every so often the sand becomes too soft and if you don’t spot it quickly enough and get your feet out of the toe clips, you fall off.  Not a pleasant experience when you are already sweaty and now become caked in sand.  I cursed very loudly on more than one occasion when I fell off and barely escaped on others.  After a while you start dismounting whenever the sand depth looks a bit ominous, but manhandling the 50kg bike through the soft sand and the constant mounting and dismounting makes you very tired.

The last 20km out of Lakefield National Park was sand most of the way, compounded by the long string of trail bikes coming from the other direction.  By the time I got out of the Park, with about 35km to go, I was exhausted, even though it was only noon. Fortunately, the road from there to Musgrave was mostly wide and well-graded and I made good time in the blazing sun for the last stretch.  I reached Musgrave at 2:00pm and to my transparent delight, got the last cabin they had available.  A welcome shower was followed by lunch, a load of washing and a relaxing afternoon reading and rehydrating.  I also called ahead to Coen, my target for tomorrow (108km) and booked a room at the hotel.  It being Saturday night tomorrow, I didn’t want to leave it too late.  It’s likely to be my last room until I reach the Bamaga (probably on Thursday).

The Musgrave roadhouse is a Mecca for travellers and locals, and has an airstrip in front, in addition to being at a major road junction.  There is a mini tour bus with about 15 elderly tourists on their way back from the Cape, a number of people coming from, or going to, Weipa, and some local station-hands, in addition to individual 4WDs going to or coming from the Cape.  Just before dinner a helicopter from a local station landed to pick up a few things.