Cairns
It was another bright and sunny day as I wheeled out of Cardwell. I could feel the lattitude change truly now. The previous night the temperature had dropped no lower than 75. Talk about a change from the mountains four weeks before. During the day at least, the heat was broken by wind coming off the cooler hills west, and the final stretch of road was right near the coast and its breezes.
The start of the day was, I admit, slow going. By this point I was well and truly tired. The last day to Cairns was slated to be 190km, around 120 miles, the last of a string of centuries as I'd been making up time since Brisbane.
The last 120 miles, however, was fantastic. Nature had put some true texture in the landscape for this stretch and the cane fields gave way to proper rainforest, broken by occassional banana plantations and those now oh-so-welcome hills. I stopped several times to fill water bottles in the heat, which reached around 90F at midday, and took time to savor these last few bits of cross-country cycling with as much daylight as was available.
By the time I approached the signs marking the last 40km to Cairns it was starting to feel like the end of a trip probably should. I had had a certain share of rough spots and a certain share of high points. Australia had shown off its legendary sunshine and along the way I got to see a fantastic region of the world, slowly, with time to savor it. I even regained some fitness and learned to appreciate the rhythm of life on the road: waking early, cycling late, eating, sleeping, and living off the bike, never covering the same stretch of road twice.
This will be my last entry. In total, the trip covered 1,770 miles and passed more cows, cane fields, and coasts than my chip-seal numbed brain can recall. Tomorrow I begin a PADI class and preparations to see the Great Coral Reef. In a future update to this entry, I'll add an Ofoto link with a photojournal of the trip including pictures and captions for things that don't appear here.
Thanks for coming along for the ride.
P.S. Added 9/24/06, the link to Ofoto is: http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?&mode=fromsite&collid=48011918106.219102792206.1161724310299&conn_speed=1
The start of the day was, I admit, slow going. By this point I was well and truly tired. The last day to Cairns was slated to be 190km, around 120 miles, the last of a string of centuries as I'd been making up time since Brisbane.
The last 120 miles, however, was fantastic. Nature had put some true texture in the landscape for this stretch and the cane fields gave way to proper rainforest, broken by occassional banana plantations and those now oh-so-welcome hills. I stopped several times to fill water bottles in the heat, which reached around 90F at midday, and took time to savor these last few bits of cross-country cycling with as much daylight as was available.
By the time I approached the signs marking the last 40km to Cairns it was starting to feel like the end of a trip probably should. I had had a certain share of rough spots and a certain share of high points. Australia had shown off its legendary sunshine and along the way I got to see a fantastic region of the world, slowly, with time to savor it. I even regained some fitness and learned to appreciate the rhythm of life on the road: waking early, cycling late, eating, sleeping, and living off the bike, never covering the same stretch of road twice.
This will be my last entry. In total, the trip covered 1,770 miles and passed more cows, cane fields, and coasts than my chip-seal numbed brain can recall. Tomorrow I begin a PADI class and preparations to see the Great Coral Reef. In a future update to this entry, I'll add an Ofoto link with a photojournal of the trip including pictures and captions for things that don't appear here.
Thanks for coming along for the ride.
P.S. Added 9/24/06, the link to Ofoto is: http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?&mode=fromsite&collid=48011918106.219102792206.1161724310299&conn_speed=1
posted by eric at
4:34 AM
1 Comments:
woohoo! congrats on a successful trip, and thanks for letting me tag along.
By
Isaac, at 6:20 AM
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