Wow!  It’s such a strange feeling having no mobile/internet coverage for nearly a week.  We haven’t seen a TV either so have no idea what has been happening in the world (although I did manage to find out who won The Block).  I have so much to catch you up on so instead of messing around with the photos I think I’ll just update you then add in the photos at the end.  Michael has now finished the ride; we had such a wonderful time and made some great friends along the way.  I was really emotional driving into Karumba, I think everyone who rode the charity ride are the most amazing people there is no way that I could ride 780km in a year let alone a week.  I am so proud of Michael and look forward to the next charity ride he participates in.  Anyway I had better make a start as I have a few days to catch up on.

Day 3

This morning started on time as for the first day we didn’t have any fog.  Pack3 (Michael’s pack) headed off at 7:45 on what was supposed to be an flatter day, not sure where they got this information from as there were plenty of long hills for the riders to climb.  We stopped for lunch at the Undara Lava Tubes turnoff where some of the locals put on a fantastic spread for us and there were some speeches so that we could hear a little about distant education.  After lunch the road conditions levelled out and the road made a gradual descent.  We ended the day in Mt Surprise (and for some trivia for everyone the Mt stands for Mining Town not Mount as I always thought).  Mt Surprise sits on the edge of the immense Undara Lava field caused by ancient volcanic eruptions in the McBride Plateau.  It is also a stop for the Savannahlander railway and a designated fossicking area well known for gem quality topaz.  The campsite for the night was on the rail siding grounds and as you couldn’t drive onto the grass Mick and I thought we would check into the local caravan park.  The night’s entertainment started at 7pm with a snake show, fantastic!  Would highly recommend anyone that stops in at Mt Surprise goes and see it, I don’t remember ever holding a snake but they are beautiful creatures and I am so pleased that I did it (I thought if a 3 year old girl could do it, I could J)  After this we had a ‘No talent quest’.  This was hilarious, my cheeks ached from laughing so much.  Most of the acts were pretty good but some were just wrong but it made for some pretty funny stories.   We headed off to bed after the show and at breakfast time we were so pleased we had chosen to stay in the Caravan Park as the campsite was opposite the pub and a lot of the riders didn’t finish partying until 3am.  How they got back on their bikes and rode the next day is beyond me.

Day 4

 Today was a 94km ride between Mt Surprise and Georgetown.  It was a combination of narrow bitumen, rough edges, potholes, cattle grids and plenty of traffic including road trains.  Most of the scenery was dry but as the riders climbed up the 15km Newcastle Range it was pretty spectacular.   Michael took out the king of the range, as he was the first one up to the top.  He is fairly modest about it but when he passed me about ¾ of the way up he still had a few riders in front of him so he must have put in the hard yards to pass them.  The riders stopped for lunch at the top then after about a 2 hour wait…in the sun, they were able to go down the other side.  It was a great ride down for them and most used it as a bit of a race.  After having to pass through a heap of road works we ended up in Georgetown.  Georgetown is renowned for its semi-precious stones including topaz, quartzl, garnet and sapphires.  The show grounds where we stayed the night were pretty dry but covered in quartz crystals, it was incredible no matter where you looked the ground was glistening in the sun.  It was so hot, which turned out to be a stroke of luck as the showers were cold and I’m talking take your breath away cold!  We all headed for the pub at about 3:30 where an auction was held to bid for a rider to participate in the Calcutta race.  Two riders from each pack were auctioned then they raced a 1km track around the block.  The field was full of experienced riders including an ex Australian Champion but a 16ish year old boy from pack 6 took the first place followed by a Japanese rider who normally sits back in pack 5.  Bet that dented a few prides!  After the race the locals put on a parade for us, which was a bit of fun, lots of lollies thrown off the back of trucks.  Early night again as tomorrow is the longest leg so far.

Day 5

Riders departed on time again today, they have a 146km day ahead off them and it was already warm first thing in the morning.  By the time the riders stopped by the Gilbert River for lunch they all looked exhausted, so pleased that I am driving in the air conditioning.  I spend so much time sitting on the side of the road waiting for riders to pass, the packs are pretty spread out and if I wait for all 6 packs to pass I’m often sitting there for an hour or more.  I’ve rigged up some pretty wild looking shelters just to be able to sit outside of the car.  After lunch the riders rode onto Croydon, what a beautiful town this is, so much history.  When it first settled in the 1880’s it was a large pastoral holding covering an area of approximately 5,000 km².  Gold was discovered in 1885 and by 1887 the town’s population had reached 7,000.  One of the highlights was visiting the Croydon General Store which has continuously traded since 1894, it is still set out like an old store and has a great museum to wander around.  It’s just a sleepy little place but everyone was so nice and it’s all so clean and well kept.  We checked into a caravan park so that we could do some laundry, it was a great little park and for the first time in all the caravan parks I have ever stayed in there was free washing machines!  The management are fantastic and I would definitely recommend them if you are heading this way. 

Day 6

Today is the longest day of the ride, the riders are riding 151kms but luckly for them it was fairly flat.  Today has been the hardest day for Michael, he’s had a rash on the back of his legs which we think is a reaction to the sunscreen used on all the drink trucks.  He decided to take a Phenergan last night, so this morning he’s legs look so much better but he has a bit of a ‘Phenergan hangover’.  The riders rode straight past the campsite and into town to have a beer at the Purple Pub in Normanton.  The story goes that when the new owners were renovating the pub they ran out of money.  Someone had some spare purple paint so thus it ended up painted purple.  We were so excited when we finally made it to the Rodeo grounds as there was power!  Apart from when we stayed in Caravan Parks along the way we have been powerless.  We were also able to camp under trees which really helped with climate control as yet again it was hot and dry.  I went along to the Kid’s club to take some photos this afternoon, Lee who runs it each day does such a wonderful job.  She has heaps of activities for them to do and the kids seem to really love being there.  Tonight is our last official night on the ride and there is a B&S Ball held in town for anyone who wants to kick their heels up.  Mick was just too exhausted so we choose to have an early night.

Day 7

Today is a short ride only 78km to the finish.  We set off a little later than normal and headed into Normanton to have pack photos taken in front of the Crocodile.  Cyrs the Croc is the largest crocodile ever captured in the world.  She was a saltwater croc and measured 8.63 metres.  She was captured by a hunter called Krystina Pawloski in July 1957 in the Norman River.  After the photos were taken the riders set off out of town towards Karumba.  I on the other hand got to ride in the escorting Police car so that I could take some photos from the middle of the road.  What an awesome experience, I won’t go into speeds we reached for you but I’m fairly confident I will never travel at that speed again on the road! So much fun I was like a kid in a candy store!  I haven’t had a chance to check the photos out yet but hopefully they are good.  I was dropped off at the second drink stop so the Dirty Boys photographer could have a ride so after taking a few more shots on the roadside headed straight into Karumba.  I met up with Michael’s parents and his twin brother and his wife at the pub whom had driving up to Karumba to see Mick finish.  It was so lovely to see them all, especially Geoff and Georgie as we haven’t seen them for a couple of years.  We had about an hour’s wait but it was a great sight to see all the 170ish riders riding into town in one pack with the police car in front.  Karumba is a spectacular place to finish the ride, the beach looked picture perfect and a lot of the riders carried their bikes down to the sand to have photos taken.  We finished the evening at the Sunset Tavern, Karumba turned on a fantastic sunset for us and everyone was able to let down their hair knowing that they didn’t have to get up the next morning and ride, or in my case take photos. 

The rest of our time off will be spent heading home.  We are having a day off in Karumba with Dick, Sjaan, Geoff, Georgie, Jack and Diesel (the dogs) then a night in Cloncurry, two nights in Longreach so we can see The Hall of Fame, a night in Charleville and then home.

We would like to thank everyone who has supported us on the ride, Michael’s official total was $1187.00 and to date the ride itself raised a staggering $72 756.85.  As I said before we have met some wonderful people and hopefully will keep in touch with them.  Thank you too for reading our blog and I am sorry that it’s taken a while to update it.  I hope you enjoy the photos that I am attaching to the bottom of the blog, I have taken thousands so have only sorted out a few for you to see.   Will see you all soon, love always Bec and Mick xxx

P.S. Having issues downloading photos so will publish these and try again soon

Kid's club

All the riders

Croydon General Store

A snake at the show

Michael from the police car

The winning skit for 'No talent quest'

The Purple Pub in Normanton

Michael's pack

Coming down the Newcastle Range

 

Michael at the start line

Just found some of my 'missing' photos so thought I'd post them
before I lost them again!

Heading over the start line

Heading off on the 2nd leg of the ride

At the top of the Kuranda Range



At lunch

Colourful people





 

So when I said that I would blog everyday I guess I didn't take into consideration the fact that we would be exhausted by the end of the day and that I would have limited internet access at some of the places we were staying.  I will apologise now for the lack of photos but for some reason the blog won't allow me to download them and after spending about a hour sorting the photos and downloading them earlier the whole thing crashed and I lost all the work...not happy Jan!!!  Anyway I thought I'd quickly write something and have another go tomorrow at getting the photos on.

Day one:

We had to assemble at the start line at 6am on Sunday morning, we had an interesting time packing up the campsite in the dark but after having a couple of days on the ride now we realise that by the end of the ride we will be very good at it.

Everyone was remarkable fresh looking for this early hour in the morning and didn't seem to mind that I was sticking a camera in their face.  Micheal headed off at 6:45 as he was doing the Kuranda Range and the rest of the riders left at 7:15am.  Michael did the range no problem at all but it isn't as steep as the Toowoomba Range and since that is were he's been training I guess you can understand why.  At the top of the range everyone regrouped and broke off into their packs for the ride.  Michael started in the 5th pack but has since moved up to the 3rd pack as he was finding the 5th pack a little too slow for him.  He seems to have found his niche now as his pack keep a fairly constant speed and are very well organised.  From the top of the range they rode onto Mareeba, where they stopped for lunch.  After lunch, which is about an hour, they headed for Atherton where we spent the night.  There wasn't much organised for this night as everyone was too exhausted after riding all day.  The food is amazing I don't know how the cooks continue to come up with such delicious food with only limited cooking facilities.

Day two:

Today started off wet and foggy, not much fun when you're packing up a canvas camper...in the dark!  The riders got delayed in getting away as the escorting police officer wanted to wait until the fog lifted slightly off the range they had to climb up.  Once going, it was up hill nearly all day.  The fog soon lifted as we got over the first range and the day ended up being beautiful.  Some of the scenery was amazing especially when we climbed up to Misty Mountain.  Once I can post the photos you'll see that it really does live up to it's name.  We ended up at Ravenshoe for lunch, which is the highest town above sea level in Queensland.  From there they rode towards Mt Garnet where we will be spending the night at the racecourse. Some of the lucky people managed to get powered to their sites but neither of us managed to get here early enough so I am typing at the moment but laptop light while Michael is fast asleep.  We had yet another lovely meal followed by some lighthearted entertainment and it has started raining again, oh well as long as we get fine afternoons we soon dry out.  Well it is way past my bed time as we have a 5am start again in the morning so I'll sign off.  Fingers crossed I can get the photos on for you tomorrow.  Love Bec and Mick xx



Sunset in Townsville

Hi again, since our last blog we've had a few really busy days
sightseeing and driving.  After I signed off from Townsville we
 headed into town and enjoyed fish and chips while watching the
 sun go down from the Esplanade then headed over to see our friends Todd and Antonia and their two kids.   In the morning we headed up the coast towards Cairns stopping at Cardwell for a look around.  It's a sleepy little place but I can imagine the beach would get busy during the summer.  From there we continued up the coast and

Cardwell Beach

called into Paronella Park.  I wasn't keen mainly because it was
going to cost us $38 each to get in but Michael really wanted
to see it so we took the 23km detour off the highway.  Paronella
Park for anyone who isn't familiar with it's story is a heritage
listed site on acres beside Mena Creek Falls. A man called
Joe Paronella came out to Australia from Spain to cut sugar cane.  He had a dream to build a castle so spent 11 years buying farms
improving them and then selling them for a profit.  It was during
this time that he came across the perfect location for his dream

The castle at Paronella Park

alongside the falls. Joe first built a cottage for his family to live in while he created the rest of the property.  He then built a 47 step
grand staircase to gain access to the riverbed where he got the gravel for the concrete that he made all the buildings out of. Joe also built picnic areas, tennis courts, tunnels and bridges all of which he surrounded
with about 7000 tropical plants and trees.   You can see his fingerprints in the cement on all the building as he did about 80% of the work himself. It's a truly amazing place and I am so pleased that we went and would love to return one day and do the night tour as I can imagine how beautiful all the
old buildings would look lit up at night.

We arrived in Cairns quite late in the afternoon so checked into the first
caravan park that we came across.  It happened to be a Big 4 park called
Coconut Resort.  An fantastic park for families as there is so much for

Gravity feed water feature
at Paronella Park

young children to do but it was a bit too noisy for us so in the morning
we checked out and set down camp in a lovely park near Lake Placid. 
It is so nice to be in the one place for a few days we even managed to
get the annex up.  We then had to head into Cairns and pick up a few
items that we realised would make life easier while we are camping.  I always imagined Cairns would have a beautiful sandy beach along the Esplanade but it's more like mudflats and all the people you who would usually be sun baking on the beach are on the grassy area instead. 

On Wednesday we headed up the coast to Port Douglas, it was
spectacular scenery all the way up the coast so there was lots of
stopping to check out the look outs.  Port Douglas is much
bigger than I thought it would be and I can see why it was
such a busy place as it would be a beautiful area to spend a

Us at Port Douglas

holiday.  On the way back down the coast we took the inland
route so that we could call into Mossman gorge.  There were
several tours which we could have done but we didn't really
have the time so decided to take the shuttle bus into the gorge
and have a walk around ourselves.  It was a magical place, we
would have loved to have done the longer trek but unfortunately
the walkway was closed due to damage.  Oh well next time...
We then started heading back to Cairns stopping in at Coffee
Works for some yummy coffee and chocolate and then at Kuranda
to have a look at the Barron Falls lookout before heading back to the camper for the night

Mossman Gorge

And that brings us to today.  We decided to take the Skyrail up to
Kuranda again.  Once again I wasn't keen as I am petrified of heights
but Michael managed to convince me it would be safe.  I was so relieved
when we got onto number 11 car (it's my lucky number) but this didn't
help my sweaty palms or my stomach doing flips for the first half of the
trip.  Once I relaxed a little bit and was able to actually turn my head to
look out it was a pretty amazing view but I still don't think I would be in
any big hurry to go on it again.  Kuranda itself was really disappointing,
I guess I thought it would be a little bit like Montville but it was just full
of tacky souvenir shops.  We did have a lovely lunch in one of the original pubs, which helped make up for the disappointment.  We then managed to get our tickets changed and caught the 2pm train back down the hill.  I loved the train trip (wasn't scary at all)

Barron Falls

it took about an hour and a half to wind it's way down the hill and there
were plenty of photo opportunities along the way.  We also had a
commentary along the way telling us all about the history of the train track
so this made it all the more interesting. 

Well sorry it was such a long blog, I will try and get on everyday so that
it isn't quite as much reading in the future.  Michael is still training hard
and has been getting up early everyday since we have been here going
for about 2 hour rides.  He was going to head up the Kuranda range as
a training ride but after coming down it in the car it would be a little too
dangerous to attempt on his own so that one will have to wait until
Sunday when the ride begins. 

Soooo high!!!

Tomorrow we are just heading back into Cairns, Michael needs to put
the bike into the shop to get something fixed and I want to grab a few
things so I won't have anything interesting to say so therefore won't
be blogging.  So until next time, keep happy love Bec and Mick xxx

P.S. Sorry about the arrangement of the photos, I so need a lesson
on this blogging business can't for the life of me figure out how to
arrange them!!

Thank you, we made it there alive!



View out of the Skyrail






Kuranda Railway Station

Michael inside our train

One of the bridges

The Big Rig!!



















Sunday 17/6/2012

Hi everyone, well after a few 'teething problems' which delayed our get away until Friday we hit the road.  We stopped in and had a visit with Toni Renee and her three gorgeous boys then made it as far as Injune where we stopped for the night.  Beautiful caravan park but as our site was next to a massive generator we didn't manage to get much sleep.  On Saturday morning we packed up, which took way longer than we thought...note to self set the alarm for earlier in the morning!  We then ended up in Clermont for the night, there was a campdraft on in the showgrounds nearby which meant we were unable to get a powered site in the caravan park so due to lack of lighting we got to bed early.  Unfortunately there was a concert on for the campdraft and even though the band were pretty awesome, they played until well after midnight so yet again we only had a few hours sleep.  Today we got up really early and somehow managed to pack up by torchlight which meant we have made it to Townsville at about 2:30.  It was so good to unpack and settle in before afternoon tea and as we have internet access here be able to post our first offical blog.  We are going to head up to Cairns tomorrow, Mick is really keen to get back on his bike as he hasn't been able to ride for about a week now (his bike was in the shop getting the brakes fixed).  Haven't got any interesting photos to share with you all yet but they will come eventually.  Anyway until our next post, take care love Bec and Mick x

Hi everyone, under a week to go before we head off, I'm on my last day at work and Mick has one more day left, then it all begin...packing that is.  Will try and post everyday while we are away and attach some photos to keep everyone up to date.  Bec