Day 26 - Karumba to Cairns - 822km

Our plan was to get to Cairns today which was about 800km so we headed off early just as the sun was coming up. Had to dodge a lot of suicidal birds along the way and at one stage was so busy avoiding them that a kangaroo suddenly appeared in front of us however with some heavy breaking and swerving managed to avoid him. 

Back in Normanton is this replica of the largest crocodile ever captured in the world. It is more than 8metres long and weighed over 2 tonnes. It was shot by a lady in the Norman River at Karumba back in 1956 and is listed in the Guiness Book of Records.

We popped back into the Railway Station for a closer look at the Gulflander which as it turned out is  leaving today on its first trip of the dry season after the tracks have been repaired and cleared. It takes 5 hours for the trip to Croydon...we will take about 1.5 hours for the same trip on the bike.

Passing through Croydon snapped this shot of the Club Hotel which was built in 1887. Every country town in Australia seems to have a Club Hotel.

Along the way we saw a lot of birdlife including several large groups of Black Cockatoos.

Despite the tourist info places telling us about all the one lane roads it turned out there was very little of it. About 100km in total out of about a 800km stretch so we had no real problems.

We came across the occasional obstacle on the narrow roads but it was no real problem just to slow down, move over and let them past.

Eventually we made it to the Tablelands area and the scenery changed quite dramatically to very green hilly country.

And even better the end of the long straight stretches and the beginning of the windy sections including down the range from Kuranda into Smithfield north of Cairns. Only problem is that the new tyres fitted way back in Perth were now quite worn and flattened off again so it made for a little bit of hardwork around these roads. Seems I will have to replace the tyres again when we get back home. We ended the day in Cairns and now just have the run down the Queensland Coast left to do. It seems a little weird now thinking that Cairns to home is a short quick run...not that long ago it would have been a major effort to ride it but now...piece of cake to us seasoned travellers!! Down side though is that means the adventure is nearly over..hhmm...maybe we could just turn around and go back the other way!!!