Day 5 - Wednesday, 13th September 2006 - Malanda Rest Day

Last night was the Rest Day Party, it was a bush dance that was on the camp site, so it was convenient. Despite being in the tropics, it was a cool evening, and every one was pulling out the warm gear. Some people hadn't packed much though so they went hunting at the local op shop. I went to the dance which was run by the local community, the band were excellent and really got the crowd going. They were running a raffle, and the prizes were pretty simple. I took out one of the more major ones and won a toy Tree Kangaroo.

I had a bit of a restless night, and part way through the wind, which had died down at sunset, picked up again with a vengeance, and it brought the rain with it. It was on and off so I was hoping it wouldn't hang around. As it was the Rest Day, breakfast was later, so after eating I grabbed the bike and headed out a bit after 8am. I was originally going to go to Gordonvale, but with this weather I knew it could be a real problem and make the ride a lot harder. I was heading back up yesterdays route towards Yangaburra, I noticed that my front tyre didn't look the best. I stopped and checked it out, sure enough it was going soft, so I pulled into a Road House to change it.

The didn't have a compressor that worked, so I had to pump it up by hand. by this stage the wind was still going strong, and a few showers had come through, so I pulled the pin on riding to Gordonvale. Instead, I revised my plan to go to Heales Lookout, the Cathedral Fig, and Lake Barrine. I hit some road works, but they let me through against the traffic as I could stay out of the traffic flow. I got to the top of the Gillies Range, and started descending down.

I got to Heales Lookout a few k's on. Someone had told me that there were 260 corners or so on the hill, I could well believe it. You pretty much came out of one corner to enter the next, there was very little straight road. While at Heales Lookout, a small tour group of Motorcyclists pulled in. I could see that a Motorbike rider could have a lot of fun on a climb like that.

I headed back up the hill and noticed that the corners were numbered, even this far from the top, maybe 5km (probably less), I was at about corner 50. I found the climb not too bad, and quite easy to find a rhythm. Once over the top, I headed back up the road to the Cathedral Fig. Like the Curtain Fig it was pretty amazing. After that, I headed back to Lake Barrine, another crater lake like Lake Eacham. I wandered up the track to the Twin Kauri Pines, these trees are giants and approx 6m in diameter, this means they are 700-1000 years old!

I stopped off there and had some morning tea with some other cyclists who had driven down. Then it was a return to Malanda. After a nice warm shower (as opposed to the cold showers I was getting on the road), I wandered into the local Bakery for some lunch. I spoke to a couple there who were on their first Cycle Queensland. I had to do some washing and some minor adjustment to the bike. Even now (4pm) it is quite cool, the wind is still blowing and the showers are still coming. I have no idea what to expect weather wise tomorrow, but it is likely to be another tough day.

Distance	70.75 km
Average	28.60 km/hr
Time	2:28:26
Maximum	69.25 km/hr

Images

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