Days 42, 43 & 44 Townsville, Ingham & Cardwell

 Day 42 Charters Towers to Townsville 134 km

I was on the bike at 7:00 am riding on the Flinders Highway towards Townsville. Earlier I chatted with Lisa who was on her way to work and had coffee and muesli.

I had set myself to ride 130 km to Townsville, a big day to be sure but I was confident. I knew from 5 years ago that I had the benefit of dropping down to sea level and I expected some wind assistance closer to the finish.

Burdekin River

After an hour I arrived at the Burdekin river. I went into the Burdekin Duck roadhouse and bought some toasted sandwiches.

An hour further on I climbed the pass near Mingela and began to descend. The Easterly wind slowed my descent but it was still the best downhill to date on this trip.

I stopped at Reid River roadhouse for lunch at 12:30 pm having ridden 80 km. With 50 km still to pedal I was looking forward to the wind assistance I should get when the road turned North. I didn’t get any benefit though until I was on the outskirts of Townsville.

Mt Stuart overlooks Townsville

Arriving in town I went to the Gateway caravan park. All booked up  so I was directed to another caravan park back into the wind for 5 km. This time no problem. I enquired about food sources and discovered there was nothing near.

I set up my tent and went looking for a grocery store. I found a Star Mart and selected some items only to have their EFTPOS reject my payment on the my phone. I gave up and went back to the caravan park empty handed.

I made dinner from my food bag which is running low on choices . I’m also getting low on fuel for my stove. It is a conundrum, I only need a small amount to cover 3 or 4 days. I have used less than 2 litres on this trip. Usually I can only find 1 litre bottles.

Mosquitoes were getting stuck into me while I was cooking so I ate my dinner in the tent.

Day 43 Townsville to Ingham 114 km

It was a noisy night with trucks on University Rd nearby using engine brakes to slow down as the speed limit dropped. University Rd becomes the Townsville Motorway so it carries a lot of traffic.

Destination for today Ingham

With another big day ahead I got on the bike early. I exited Townsville via the motorway. Plenty of shoulder to ride in so I felt pretty safe. 

I was concerned about the amount of debris in shoulder though. Lots of potential to damage my tyres. It was also very noisy as the concert barriers seem to echo the truck noise. I was very glad when the motorway ended and I was on the Bruce Highway. 

For once the wind was helping me nearly all day. I was able to pedal in excess of 20 kph most of the time. My bike was feeling lighter as there is very little left in the food bag and I was only carrying a couple of litres of water. From now on I can easily access supplies on route so I don’t need to carry much.

I did have to stop twice to purchase drinks. I was sweating profusely and had salty sweat running down my face. At one stage sweat was running down on my knees as I pedalled. 

I probably sweated as much on other days but didn’t notice because the headwind/crosswind dried it up. It is also quite humid as I have entered the wet tropics. Another sign of my arrival in the tropics were the fields of sugarcane and pineapple plantations.

With Frosty Mango - zinc cream running from my bottom lip

At 1:00 pm I had ridden 80 km and arrived at the Frosty Mango. I had been motivating myself with the promise of a mango smoothie. It was magnificent.

I also had a 3 cup pot of tea. Although I am addicted to Diet Coke there is nothing as satisfying as a good cup of tea when you are thirsty. I rejected the temptation to indulge in the tropical fruit ice cream that was on offer.

Refreshed I got back on the bike to ride the remaining 33 km to Ingham. While I was at the Frosty Mango I had booked a campsite at the Ingham Tourist Park. Annoyingly this park is 3 km before Ingham so I was not close to food sources again. I was kicking myself for not checking earlier.

Sugarcane behind the sign

A fellow camper came over for a chat after I set up camp and had showered. He had some interesting/crackers ideas that I didn’t agree with and I was a captive audience. Being polite I listened for some time then made an excuse that I needed to get some dinner sorted.

Fortunately there was a takeaway joint 500 metres away and a delightful lady cooked me a beautiful steak sandwich. I was so hungry I was salivating at the aroma while it was cooking.

I brought my dinner back to caravan park and ate in the camp kitchen. While I was there another chap came to watch television. He is on 7 week golfing trip playing golf courses between Cairns and Rockhampton. He does this every year. He said there used to more players on this circuit but numbers dropped away during Covid.

Cairns is now only 200 km away. I have to make some decisions about how I proceed from here. 

Day 44 Ingham to Cardwell 50 km

I headed out the gate and onto the highway just before 7:00 am. I found a cafe in the shopping strip and ordered coffee and scrambled eggs. The lady who served me commented that I am 24 hours ahead of the big Ingham to Cairns bike ride. 

The cafe is supplying 200 breakfasts for bike ride participants tomorrow morning. They will overtake me tomorrow afternoon. (I did wonder later if the ride was actually 48 hours away rather than 24, Saturday rather than Friday).

It was very humid this morning and the heavy air seemed to slow me down. I had a long uphill to Hinchinbrook Lookout at the top of Cardwell Gap. 

The road surface was chipseal for most of the morning. Chipseal has high rolling resistance which means you have to work harder to get the same speed as smoother surfaces.

My legs are very tired as I haven’t had a day off the bike since Longreach 10 days ago. In that time I have ridden 950 km. I can keep up a reasonable speed on the flat but any uphill is very hard going.

Turn off to Lucinda

Just before the Cardwell Gap there was a turn off toward Lucinda. Tony and I went to Lucinda in 2012 on the promise of a bucket of prawns (which didn’t eventuate). The promise was made in good faith however the weather had prevented boats from putting to sea so no prawns. It is a beautiful spot well worth visiting.

15% gradient - I walked 

At the Hinchinbrook Lookout it was very overcast so the views were obscured. I stopped there 5 years ago and had my picture taken by some other people who were checking out the view at the time. On this occasion there was no one else there.

The view from the lookout 

The downhill from the lookout was great, I got up to 50 kph. I have been a lot faster on occasions but I am reluctant on the fully loaded touring bike. There isn’t much rubber left on my rear brakes and the rear wheel has done 40,000 km. Definitely time for an overhaul before any more long trips.

I got to Cardwell at 11:00 am and had another mango smoothie and a toasted sandwich. I chatted with Lisa and decided to have a short day. I got a budget room in a caravan park and had a lazy afternoon. I did go for a long walk along the foreshore and I visited the supermarket.