My view of Alice Springs quickly disappeared as the plane flew across the vast interior of Australia. It was a strange feeling to know that I would arrive in Cairns in only a few hours after having spent the previous six weeks cycling to the Red Centre from Melbourne. Did this side trip represent an act of betrayal to my expedition? I wrestled with the question whilst also feeling a growing excitement about seeing my family in Port Douglas.
I never set out to be a purist about my adventure – I want to cycle as much of the way to Northern Ireland as I can whilst also acknowledging that there are going to be some places that I simply cannot pass by bike. In fact the first thing most people seem to do when I tell them about my trip is to remind me that there is an ocean between Australia and wherever I plan to go next. That said, I do not want to skip large distances using some other means of transport if I can help it. As I’ve already discovered, this means there’ll be some very long, arduous and at times plain boring sections of the trip.
There are also many things outside of my control such as natural disasters, political unrest or even war. I’ve yet to work out whether there is currently a passable land route from South-East Asia through to the Indian Subcontinent. How will I get from India into Central Asia, what borders will be open and what bureaucratic hoops will I need to jump through? All questions that I will eventually have to answer.
Fortunately, there is a wealth of such information online with countless trip reports from other cycle tourists, forums and websites (Note: If you’re also looking at travelling in Central Asia, check out this awesome resource passed to me by Gennaro back on the Oodnadatta Track: https://caravanistan.com/border-crossings/). For me, part of the joy of doing this bike ride is not knowing exactly where I’m going to go or what route I’ll take. I plan to work it out as I go, talking to locals and fellow travellers about where and what I should visit.
I arrived in Cairns shortly before midnight. The hot, humid air rushed to meet me as I stepped off the plane. It was quite the contrast to the cool, dry air of the Red Centre. I camped in the rainforest – so many sounds, the place was teeming with life. It was a sweaty, broken sleep as I was not used to the humidity. The next morning I awoke to a tropical smorgasbord of lush green ferns, palms and buttress roots. I hiked up a local peak and was treated with great views of the surrounding area. It was amazing to think that I was still in the same country.
About one month before I said goodbye to Melbourne, my folks left home on an adventure of their own – six months towing a caravan up the east coast of Australia. They’d been having a blast and were regularly sharing photos of waterholes and lovely beaches on the family group chat. My sister Shaunagh was also flying up from Melbourne with her two beautiful daughters Grace and Maeve. I was stoked to be spending some time with everyone. Dad and I enjoyed a day of snorkelling out on the Great Barrier Reef and a trip up to Cape Tribulation which is surrounded by the Daintree Rainforest – apparently the oldest in the world!
We stayed at a lovely caravan park near Port Douglas. Before immigrating to Australia my folks used to take us on a family caravan holiday in France each summer. My time in Queensland brought back some great memories and created many new ones. It was also great to spend some time with Mum & Dad’s friends – Janine, Pete, Jenny and Wayne who had been travelling together with my parents and their own caravans. We shared many stories and enjoyed a few drinks with some tasty nibbles.
It would be remiss of me to not mention one of the culinary highlights of my time in Port Douglas. The Glengarry Caravan Park has a woodfired pizza oven that they fire up each Tuesday. Guests bring their own pizzas to be cooked in the oven. I’ve always wanted to try baking my homemade pizza in a woodfired oven and finally the opportunity had presented itself! My co-chef Janine organised some awesome toppings and I made the dough. Suffice to say we had the other guests drooling over our efforts – what a feast!
It wouldn’t be a holiday for me if there wasn’t some sort of type 2 fun. I had organised an extra couple of days to myself at the end of the trip. I hired a mountain bike and headed up into the Mobray & Kuranda National Parks for an overnight camp. Pushing most of the way up the heart thumping Bump Track was seriously hard work but I was rewarded for my efforts with lush tropical scenery, running streams and the amazing Mobray Falls.
I couldn’t help but be blown away by the colours and sounds of the tropical rainforest. On my second day I opted to take a slightly overgrown track and found myself constantly getting snared by the infamous ‘wait-a while vines’. The path eventually turned into a wall of dense foliage and it took a good deal of scouting to find a path around it. I was however rewarded for my efforts coming across a crystal clear stream, deep enough for a swim and the perfect spot to escape the heat of the day.
All in all I had a great couple of weeks in Far North Queensland. What an absolute gift to be able to spend so much quality time with my folks, my beautiful sister and my adorable nieces. Before I knew it I was on a flight back to Alice Springs for the next adventure – ten days or so exploring the desert landscape with my partner Belinda before continuing my journey through the heart of Australia. Exciting times ahead!
