This is going to take forever to get home…

Friday 5^th of November 2010

Well we have actually made it onto the road at 8:30am, I know you’re probably about as surprised as we are. As we were leaving Cairns Alan copped another spray for his riding by a truck driver, funny I haven’t copped any. We headed out via the Gillies Highway into the mountains again, but this time we could actually see… for one of the first times on this trip it was sunny. So we had a couple of opportunities to get some photos, at this one particular spot the clouds were at the same height as we were and I must admit it looked a little surreal.

It truly is spectacular but it’s difficult to look at the scenery and ride. From there we headed to the Atherton Tablelands which is lush farmland as far you can see. As we headed into the countryside the landscape changed dramatically from farmland to sparse scrubland.

Alan is pushing 50 years old and as such it turns out that he can’t ride for more than 2 hours without having a power nap. So we pulled over at a place called Mount Surprise where Alan had his 30 minute nana nap. But in all seriousness Alan had himself a couple of micro sleeps whilst riding so it was a pretty good idea to pull over. (He’s a bad enough rider as it is, without taking naps as well)  Whilst we were at Mount Surprise I had a beef curry pie, at least that’s what it had on the label, I’m not so sure.

Probably the most interesting thing I saw there was a couple of Dell Laptop boxes a Belkin box and an Ingram Micro box. Once Alan got up he spotted the local train, so he went and played with the train conductor for a while.

There are these signs in Queensland that depict a car crashing into a car, with the car coming of second best, (I tried to get a photo but alas failed) pay attention to these signs there are cows everywhere on the road. “Cows with Guns”

We have now arrived at Normanton on the Gulf of Carpentaria. I’m not sure but I think the place we are staying at is infested with Cane Toads. Now kicking them doesn’t count unless you’re riding your bike.

Cheers

a