The Misty Mountains and Windin Falls

I'm still around, doing much shorter bicycle tours these days. This was a roughly 100Km (in the end) overnight bike and then then hike in the Misty mountains and Atherton Tablelands with Windin Falls as my final destination.

To be honest, it is hard to tear myself away from my daughter for more than a couple of days, but I am dying for a bit more adventure. That part of me is living vicariously through YouTube videos of bicycle touring. My favourite just recently being Ed Pratt's videos. I'm sure the opportunity for a longer tour will arise at some point.

Anyway, my proposed route on this one was to go on the dirt and 4WD tracks in the Misty Mountains, however things didn't quite go to plan, route-wise, and I ended-up going 20-30Km further than planned and taking a long-cut through the lush farmland of the Atherton Tablelands.

To be honest, this was a nice little error, even though it did take it out of me by the end of the day, especially as I don't do too much cycling anymore. The first half of the day was deep in the forest and I would have stayed in the forest for the whole day if I hadn't messed-up my route slightly.

I didn't realise when I had initially planned the route on Komoot that one of the roads had restricted access. It was likely I may have just been able to cycle it anyway, but then after worrying about it for an hour or so, I just rode right past it anyway. Lucky though, as I got in some road riding and some views over the lush farmland and hills.

As you can see from the map and profile below, this wasn't an especially easy route. I really don't know how I manage to do this to myself. I just seem to have an inability to plan a route that isn't an absolute gut-buster. Still, this was nowhere near as tough as the CREB track last year. Having hardly done any cycling whatsoever on the other hand, nearly 100Km with over 1700m of vertical ascent largely on rough roads wasn't exactly what I had in mind. Good to know at 41 that I can do these kinds of days without any training on the bike at all.

What was a pleasant surprise throughout the day was that it wasn't hot at all. In this part of the world it does tend to be hot rather than cold, but with a bit of a breeze around all day it actually was cool, and even in the sun I never felt hot. This was probably just as well as the day would have taken even more out of me.

Slightly ashamed to say that the last few hills back to Henrietta creek campsite - where I had parked my car at the start of the day - broke me and I had to get off and push. I had done plenty of that throughout the day on the 4WD and dirt tracks, but on the tarmac it always feels a bit lame. I do try not to think like that these days however.

I had decided to see what it was like to camp in the car, instead of the tent, as my car is a Kia Grand Carnival so it is plenty big enough. I have even been tempted to kit it out like a campervan. It was a comfortable enough night in a $6 campsite.

The next day I was planning a couple of hikes, but did just one in the end after the crazy day before (and I wanted to get back to see my daughter). Quite a famous place in these parts is Windin Falls. You don't go to the bottom but hike to the top, where there is an infinity pool, which often features on Instagram posts. 

It is quite a view up there and luckily for me not an especially difficult hike. The trailhead was a bit of a drive to get to, but the hike itself undulated gently most of the way through forest, gradually ascending into the mountains before the falls then laid-out a spectacular view of the valley and Mount Bartle Frere in the background, the highest mountain in Queensland.

Again, these trips pale in comparison with my longer epic rides in Australia and New Zealand, but with the slight change to bikepacking instead of road touring, I'm at least keeping things fresh and have the knowledge that I can still do long days in the saddle and travel to interesting places. This means that when the opportunity arises to go further afield, I'll have some idea about what I can do and keep the skills and equipment up to date. 

Since being in Cairns, I have also focused on repairing some of the damage to my body from playing high level squash for many years, then following it with marathons, ultrmarathons, and ultra long distance bicycle tours. I'll be ready when the opportunity comes along again, as my body has improved a lot. 

If you are interested in what I do in this regard, you can check out my website (link at the top right of this blog) and my Facebook page and YouTube channel "Cairns Gait and Posture Training". My main aim in my training is to keep going well into old age, both for myself and for my clients.

Anyway, enough of the self-promotion. Hope you enjoyed the blog.

 

Around Lake Tinaroo

Far North Queensland in the wet season isn't the best place for bicycle touring/bikepacking. It's hot, humid, and wet, and this in turn brings out the bugs also. Torrential rain showers can also wash-away roads and make creek crossings impassable. With this in mind then, I didn't do much over the past 3 or 4 months since my adventures on the CREB track.

At the end of the wet season in mid-March, I decided for a relatively simple trip around Lake Tinaroo in the Atherton Tablelands. At about 75Km and not too many stiff climbs, I thought it would be a pleasant enough re-introduction to the saddle.

If it wasn't for the fact that I still had a bit of a rotten cold - which had already postponed the trip by one week - it would've been a nice easy ride. However, it was a bit exhausting, and then an unexpected rain shower cut things short and forced me out of an overnight camp, as I and my gear were soaking wet. Along with not feeling particularly well, I thought it prudent just to make it a day trip.

The highlights of the trip were the flora and fauna rather than the scenery, although the fig trees were a kind of scenery in and of themselves. My first stop was to see if I could spot and platypuses in Yungaburra. I had driven through Yungaburra and visited this spot once before, but I didn't manage to find any. I got lucky this time and saw two, and managed to get a nice video of one of them, included in my vlog below.

It is one of the great pleasures about living in Australia to see incredibly unique wildlife, and it doesn't get too much more special than a platypus. Another Australian animal ticked-off the list. Next on my radar is a tree kangaroo, which were supposed to be around in this region, especially near the Curtain Fig Tree - my next stop - but as with most animals that spend most of their time in trees, they are difficult to find.

Kairi was one of only two towns along the way on this trip, and it was pretty tiny. I stopped for a quick snack and headed to Lake Tinaroo, which is on the edge of the rainforest to the north and the farmlands to the south. 

From Lake Barrine the route had been on sealed road, but just past Tinaroo Dam the road turned unsealed, but in very good condition and mostly quite gently undulating all the way around the lake, with regular places to stop. The route is actually a very good beginner ride as an introduction to bikepacking, so perhaps I did the CREB track and this ride the wrong way around.

Wildlife was still plentiful along the way around the lake; butterflies and birds were colourful and numerous, and I was lucky enough to catch site of a large monitor lizard climbing a tree just off the track.

One of the great things about Far North Queensland is that there is always a creek in the mountains to cool-off in, however at this time of year there is always the chance of getting munched by mosquitoes and march flies. A dip or two is needed though in the heat at this time of year, and a little more than halfway through the day with the sun shining, even a soak in the creek didn't keep the heat away for long. That was until an unexpected torrential rain shower came out of nowhere to cut the trip short. All of a sudden I experienced feeling cold for the first time in about 6 months.

This shower really kicked in just as I set-off for a walk, and by the time I got back much of my gear got a soaking. The rain came so unexpectedly that I hadn't even sealed my bags properly. I was only walking for ten minutes, but it was enough for me to reconsider camping overnight. I suppose in the tropics at the back of the wet season I should have known better.

Instead of taking the detour to my planned camping area, I used the fact I was getting cold to get the muscles firing to warm me up and sprint back to the car so I could get home in time for dinner. An interesting day out and a good learning experience about cycling in the tropics.