Triumphrat

Old Scratcher

I had this posted in the Bonnie forum, but was asked to move it here. So here it is.
Here in tropical far north Queensland, we're fortunate to have four incredible range roads, which connect the coastal plain to the Atherton Tablelands, all within 150klms of each other. These allow for many interesting loop combo's when planning a day's ride.
There are two range roads within 20klms of Cairns city, The Kuranda & The Gillies. The Kuranda Range, 10klms north of Cairns CBD, is 12klms of tight but well cambered curves, which can be an excellent ride, but is usally ruined by the huge ammount of traffic on it (especially trucks) & is conseqiently heavilly policed. However The Gillies Range, 20klms south of the CBD, is 19klms of peg-scratching bliss, with over 270 bends to negotiate, before breaking out from underneath the jungle's canopy & into the wide open dairylands of the tablelands. There's still a bit of traffic to cope with, & the cops run anti-bike ops on all the ranges (usually on weekends). but it's a lot better than Kuranda. I've been totally obssessed with it for the last 35 years, & that shows no sign of abating soon.
Of the other two ranges. The Palmerston Hwy, 60klms south of Cairns, is the main truck route out of the tablelands, so it has long sweeping bends & lots of overtaking lanes on the many steep sections, to let you blast around the trucks. It's best (fastest) section is the climb out of Millaa-Millaa to Ravenshoe, which is just mind blowing!
The Rex Range, 80kms nth of Cairns, is the shortest of the range roads (8klms). But due to some badly cambered bends at the bottom of it (the engineer was sacked) it's the most dangerous of all, & has killed a lot of riders. So it's quite a buzz to get it right.
There's a fifth road to the coast that was illegally built through a national park by a real estate developer in the 1990's, & has been closed by the govt ever since. This can only acsessed by going down 20klms of bush tracks, to get around the locked gates at either end (having a Scrambler helps here), but once there, you've got a 25klms unused (& unpoliced) four lane highway to nowhere. The surface is starting to suffer from 15-16 wet seasons & no maintanance, & you have to stay alert for trees down & wildlife, as it's beyond mobile phone coverage. So you're really out there on your own. But it sure is a lot of fun!
The coast road from Cairns to Pt Douglas is one of Australia's most famous scenic drives. So it's chocka's with tourist coaches, rent-a-cars & coppers. But there's 35klms of really sweet bends to be enjoyed, if you judge your times right (early mornings on weekdays are best) & are prepared to do the over-taking. It's also the quickest way to the Rex Range & the Daintree River. So it's unavoidable, if you're heading up that way. The tablelands are also criss-crossed with many connecting roads, of many differing standards, from heavily-policed highways to barely policed farm roads (usually single lane bitumin), that are a lot of fun on a sunny day.
Oh yeah, all the roads have stunning views back out over the coastal sugarcane fields, with the Coral Sea beyond, as a backdrop, & the Great Barrier Reef gleaming in the Sun, with lots of places to pull over & enjoy the scenery (if that's your thing).
So, I hope to see you up here sometime. & give us a hoy if you do, as I'm always keen to show my favourite roads to another Triumph Tragic.
P.S There's pics of both the nthn & sthn loops further down this thread
PPS There are video's of the ranges at the bottom of P.2 of this thread

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"They told me I was goin to have to work for my living, & all I wanna do is ride." Jackson Browne (the Road & The Sky)