When I was first planning this trip I had a goal to minimize the amount of travel on the same roads. So, I’d always been keen on traveling to Karumba then east, rather than up and down the cost to the Daintree. I’d done my research and while I was concerned at first for the road between Karumba and Cairns, I had satisfied myself that the road was sealed (although possibly only 1 lane for a bit) from end to end. I had not expected what I experienced on the Cloncurry-Kurumba road.
There were about 10 stretches, totaling around 40km that were single lane. Most of them had a nice hard and flat gravel edge, but some were like the Gibb River Road if I veered off the black stuff. I was lucky that I’d only had to negotiate passing just 1 other vehicle (4WD) on one of these sections – we both slowed to a crawl to pass, then we were fine. I did pass 2 road-trains on a double-lane section in the middle – lucky me.
Adding to the excitement was another encounter with a kangaroo – much larger this time. I didn’t notice it until it was on the road but it was far enough away that I was pretty safe. I’d noticed a lot of road kill on this road. While most likely caused during dawn/dusk, this was a reminder that it can happen anytime:
Here’s the YouTube video of the event: here
Not much further down the road I noticed this thing crossing the road… I’m thinking WTF Is a crocodile doing this far inland and so far from water?!?!?!? As I got closer it turned out to be a Monitor Lizard (I think) around 4’ long. There was no other traffic so I could park the bike on the road right next to it:
Again, here’s YouTube video: here
I arrived at the caravan park in the early afternoon and decided to treat myself to a cabin… it had air conditioning (good for some heat rash I’ve now got on my right foot), wads of electricity to charge the devices, and was insect free throughout the evening.
A couple of dips in the pool, a tour around Karumba for a look, and then back to the park for another swim and dinner:
No swimming here though!
Tomorrow – I head east, stopping just short of Cairns for the night.