Gordonvale - The fifteenth step ... Four months in Australia - CycleBlaze

July 3, 2024

Gordonvale

These last few days have been heavily influenced by the weather forecast but we enjoyed a far better day weather wise than we were expecting.  Although rain had been forecast at Bramston Bay by early this morning it was still dry by the time we left at about eight thirty.   Happiness is a dry tent!

By the time we got to Babinda it was still dry.  Babinda was suppost to be pretty wet today so this was better than we were expecting.   The rain in Gordonvale is expected to only start later this evening.   Apart from a few isolated drops, it has been dry all day so far!

The ride itself was shared equally between the Bruce and quiet country roads,  the first nine kilometers of which were through beautiful coastal rain forest as we made our way back to the Bruce from Bramston Bay.  The Bruce had a few patches without any shoulder but we survived and now have only twenty odd kilometers to Cairns,  most of which is supposed to be on cycle paths. 

Walsh's Pyramid was impossible to miss as we approached Gordonvale.
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Reaching nine hundred and twenty two meters above sea level, it hosts an annual foot race to its summit.
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We arrived at the free campground outside Gordonvale at around one o'clock.  It was pretty full already and,  as I type up this journal entry at around seven in the evening, hopeful campers continue to pour in.  Most of the late arrivals are young Europeans traveling in rental vehicles.  Quite a different mix to the families with school kids that we have had over the past ten days and the Grey Nomads before that.

One of the unique retail experiences in Australia is drive through liquor stores. Leigh asked me to capture a picture of one of them. I thought the Bottle-O chain had a sufficiently Aussie ring to it.
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Graham SmithInteresting observation. It’s a retail business we take as normal and acceptable, but we shouldn’t.

There was a time when grog was even sold at petrol stations. At least here in Canberra. I don’t know if it was also a thing in other states. Eventually, our gormless legislators worked out that alcohol and driving wasn’t the safest mix, and stopped servos selling it.

But somehow these drive-through bottle shops seem to be exempt from the realisation that drink-driving still kills a lot of Australians. But far less nowadays than when I was a youth. Pre random breath testing, pre-seatbelts and back when it was almost considered unAustralian if you didn’t drink and drive.
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5 months ago

We have booked a cabin at a caravan park on the outskirts of Cairns for tomorrow night.  

Today's ride: 66 km (41 miles)
Total: 4,697 km (2,917 miles)

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