Mount Surprise to Karumba


 We togged up and rode 500m up the road to a little cafe that opened at 7. After a quick eggs on toast and a cuppa we hit the road. 

We are heading west on the Savannah highway and this road will give us a glimpse of what we can expect for the next few days. 

It was only 15 degrees when we set off at 7:30 so nice and cool, 

We passed through a couple of little towns, Georgetown and Croydon where we stopped for a drink. By now the temperature was in the late 20’s.

A couple of little things on the road, I had noticed a few times ahead a particular type of bird playing chase with each other. Black and white birds about the size of a blackbird. Anyway one of them decided to play tag with my handlebar and then ricocheted off Robyn’s knee, so that is our first and hopefully last roadkill.

A few km later I spied roadkill on the opposite side of the road, didn’t think anything of it until it moved! As we flew past it, I saw it was a lizard, at least 4 foot long. It was still in my mirrors but by the time we turned around it had slithered into the grass. 

There is not much traffic on this road, mostly caravans and utes and only a couple of road trains. 

We had our first taste of single lane, that is a quite wide road but only a single lane of asphalt on it. There is a sign saying pull over for road trains but we didn’t meet any on these sections. 

I was being very courteous at first and pulling onto the gravel shoulder to let vehicles pass, but it was soon obvious people were more than happy to allow a motorcycle to stay on the tarmac. So happy days. 

We stopped in Normanton, again for gas and then at a shady park for a drink. This park has as it’s main attraction a fibreglass replica of the largest crocodile ever killed. Enormous. I wouldn’t want to meet it or it’s relatives but I’m pleased they don’t shoot these magnificent creatures anymore. 

We then left for Karumba, 75km away, the temp gauge hit 35 so it is warming up .

We are here for the night and have booked a table at the sunset hotel for dinner. The sunset from here over the Gulf of Carpentaria are spectacular. 

We went for a 3/4 hour walk but it’s just too hot really. 

500km trip today, I don’t find the heat too bad but Robyn doesn’t get the same airflow so suffers a bit.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Melbourne

Image
After an uneventful flight we were met at the airport by Siobhan and Alex who have generously offered to accommodate us until we can collect the bike. On Sunday we visited a winery for lunch which was very nice. The weather is very pleasant right now with a real spring feel about it. Then after we returned home we took Kairo the golden retriever for a walk along the banks of the Yarra, then back for a couple of beers and took in the women weightlifters on telly. Monday was time for paperwork and after 2 frustrating hours on the phone trying to arrange the compulsory road insurance I gave up and we took the tram into town to visit Vicroads in person. There was a bit of a queue in front of us but when we got to the desk the girl was very helpful and we were all sorted in 10 minutes. I get the impression they still have a way to go in getting this sort of thing organised online. Anyway only the quarantine inspection to go now and we can hit the road.
Read more

Preparations

Image
After much debate and thinking about where our next major trip will be, we have decided on Australia. The bike is enroute to Melbourne as I write this. We will collect the bike there on about the 12th of August and will circumnavigate the continent in an anticlockwise direction. So watch this space and come along for the ride and enjoy our adventures with us.  A big shout out to BMW Wellington for giving us the transport crate, 360 logistics for making the shipping so easy and to Rob Vandenberg for sharing his experiences and to everyone else who has shared their snake, spider, roadkill stories which have encouraged us no end. 
Read more

Cape Tribulation to Cooktown

Image
The weather was much like yesterday, overcast and threatening rain. There was one big downpour overnight but little evidence of it this morning. The next section of road is known as the Bloomfield track has a 30km section of dirt track with stream crossings and we are told steep ups and downs. Beacause of the amount of rain we have debated about whether to take it on or not with some people saying yes and some no. The first stream crossing was only 5km in so we thought we would at least check it out. The stream is reported to have crocodiles inhabiting it although they are reportedly downstream a bit from the crossing. I did suggest to Robyn that it would make my life easier to get across it if she walked it, but she didnt seem that keen. Anyway the road was good and when we got to the stream Robyn said just go for it. So I did. Now it might not look much, but gunning a 350kg motorbike 2 up through water with the bike moving around underneath us on the shifting stones was interesting. ...
Read more