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Scrambler Heaven

3K views 23 replies 12 participants last post by  Old Scratcher 
#1 · (Edited)
Well this is how I spent my day
First I went to visit some friends on the tablelands, in their little piece of paradise.


On the way home I stopped at the Cathederal Fig, in the Danbulla State Forest


I called in at a bush lookout over the Gillies Hwy


This was first put in by the Cairns Hangliding Club, & they used it to launch themselves from this slope

But I don't think they're allowed to do it anymore, as it's now considered to be too dangerous.
I know you had to have a lot of experience (& guts) to do it, as once you stepped off the ledge, the nearest landing ground was 8klms away & 3500 ft down! I knew a guy in the club who'd jumped it, & he said it caught the best thermals in Nth Qld, & you could get high enough from there to need oxygen. But not for this little black duck.
There you go. That's what I did today. What did you do?
& as I've stayed away from all controversial opinions, please try to tell me without getting this thread closed.
Ride Happy
Scratch
 
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#3 ·
Any more plans for the bike?[/quote]


Yep, I'm planing on taking it up the coast road to Cooktown tomorrow. lol
Sorry about the bad joke. No I think I'm pretty happy with it right now. I'd like a bigger tank, but haven't found anything I'm happy with yet. & when this motor gets tired I'll probably put a 904 kit in (still deciding which one).
Our weather has been too hot & humid to be really enjoyable riding weather. But a cooling Sth Easterly breeze, has made the last few days a lot more bearable, & it looks like this should continue, until at least Xmas.
So I probably will take the coast road to Cooktown tomorrow, as I want to try the 50klms of dirt from Cape Tribulation to Rossville, before the road gets closed for the Wet. It has a very tricky range to cross (Donovans) & a croc-infested river that can only be forded at low tide (The Bloomfield). So my next thread should be interesting (let's hope it's not too interesting)
 
#4 ·
Again Scratch, thanks for keeping our spirits up. :)
 
#6 ·
Nice pics, Scratch. Little by little I'm getting over my jealousy and looking forward to receiving them. As I go scrape the ice off my cage on this 15 degree F day I will keep reminding myself that in a few days the days get longer and Spring can't be held back forever. At least your pics remind me that soon us northern types will get to do something similar to what you are experiencing now.

Thanks for the pics.

Monte :)
 
#7 ·
Great pics, thanks for sharing them! Can't wait to see/hear about the next one...don't get eaten or anything. I've never lived in an area with dangerous stuff - no crocs, poisonous spiders/snakes or anything here for the most part...can't imagine riding places where falling over in the water may mean the end (other than drowning under my bike, which I do worry about when alone).

We're having a good old fashion pre-global-warming winter here...thanks to Monte, that is...sending all his nasty weather our way...
 
#8 ·
I try to do my best for the environment, and your state's reputation for "beautiful winter scenes." :D But you guys really got pounded mercilessly with these last two storms, didn't you. I lucked out and missed a lot of the snow which fell as rain here. Up around Cleveland and along the lake they got upwards of 10 inches from the last one. This year they seem to be generating in the southwest, pulling in some gulf moisture and heading our, and your, way. Humbug! Personally I prefer the Alberta Clippers that dump a couple inches of very light weight fluff and move on. Haven't had that pattern this year tho.

Don't envy Maine weather any year, but it certainly proves you guys up there are tough.:eek:

MOnte;)
 
#9 ·
Thanks Monte. I was wondering which state ME abreiviated. It gets confusing for us non-US members, as there are so many states to remember, & the abreviations don't always lend themselves to immediate recognition.
& Maine does sound like tough territory for a motorcyclist. It's further north than most Canadians. So they must really cop it in winter. Looks stunning in Summer though (in photo's at least)
 
#10 ·
I've never lived in an area with dangerous stuff - no crocs, poisonous spiders/snakes or anything here for the most part...can't imagine riding places where falling over in the water may mean the end (other than drowning under my bike, which I do worry about when alone).



The worse part is, the crocs have more rights than humans do, since they're now fully protected.
Three Cairns teenagers have just been hauled through the courts & fined thousands, for killing a croc that was living in an open drain behind their house (in the middle of the subburbs!) which had just killed & eaten their pet dog. & from the tone of the letters in the paper, it's lucky they weren't given over to mob justice, as many people thought they should've been flogged!
I liked it better when we turned them into shoes & handbags, & you could swim where you liked. But it does keep me on my toes when I'm around the water. & I do most of my swimming in a pool (though I know lots of croc free creeks to swim in too)
Well, I'm off to Cooktown now. I'll be outside of the phone network for most of the ride (which I plan to do over 2 days). But I'll take my laptop, so I can post my progress, when I get to Cooktown. If you don't hear from me again. A croc got me! (the bstd)
 
#11 ·
Hey Scratcher. If you are worried about the crocs, my ex mother-in-law lives in Brisbane. Take her with you and no croc will dare come within 100 yards of you. Mind you, upset her and you'll be better off tangling with the croc.
Ride safe.
 
#13 ·
The Story So Far

I had to retrace Sunday's ride as far as Cape Tribulation, which meant another ride on the Daintree Ferry



The bitumen ends at Cape Tribulation, & the tracks 4x4 only after Immogen Creek



I had no trouble crossing that creek, but almost came to grief crossing the next one, when I took the wrong line & ended up wedged between two rocks. I had to dismount (& get my boots wet) to dislodge the bike (still didn't drop it though). & then the road got really steep & tricky.



Until at last I reached the beautiful, but dangerous, Bloomfield River



Thankfully, in the 15 years since I've last been down this road, the river crossing is now a concrete causeway. So there was a safe distance between me & the crocs, which I carefully maintained.
More to come
Scratch
 
#14 · (Edited)
There was actually quite a bit of new tar around Bloomfield, & for about 15klms on the otherside of town. But by the time I reached the Rossville Range, it was back to the old goat track that I'm familiar with.



This was actually the roughest part of the ride, as the concrete wheel tracks are over 50 yeras old, & falling apart. So there's just a mess of broken concrete & rusty reo to negotiate. I was sure I was going to get a flat.
I really needed a bit of refreshment when I finally got to the Lions Den Hotel in Helensvale (Nth Qld's oldest pub)



It's only a few Klms from the pub to the new Cooktown Hwy, & I stopped to celebrate surviving the dirt, with some quiet contemplation of the Black Mountains



These are steeped in dreamtime legends, & have lots of cave art on them (as well as lots of snakes)
The trip took about 3 hrs, & I arrived in Cooktown about 1.00PM. I considered having a quick lunch & heading straight back to Cairns via the inland hwy. But my back's a bit sore, & I know how it'd be screaming if I pushed it that hard.
So I scored this self-contained cabin on the outskirts of town, for $110 for the night, which is pretty good.



So I can check out Cooktown a bit more.
Which I'll show you in my next post.
Scratch
 
#15 · (Edited)
Cooktown

On the banks of the Endeavour River, Cooktown is one of Australia's most unique towns.




It's first white settler was Capt. Cook, who spent 6 mths here fixing his ship, The Endeavour, which he'd holed on a reef off Cape Tribulation (how it got its name).
The next white people came 100 years later, when Nth Qld's first gold rush happened a few miles inland, & Cooktown became a booming port of almost 100,000 people (mainly Chinese). But after the gold ran out, at the start of the 20thC, the town became a sleepy fishing village of 1000 folk, or so. But with all these grand old buildings.

The old Catholic Convent is now an excellent museum

The bitumen hwy only got here 3 years ago, & previous to that, there was 250klms of corrugations to endure, to get here.
Needless to say, real estate has boomed since the road got sealed, & the time to buy was a decade ago. although I think this place has more potential than Pt Douglas, & I still think it's undervalued.


The Endeavour River Cooktown

Capt Cook beached the Endeavour here, & spent the next six months supervising her repairs. this was the longest he spent in any one place in Australia, & Banks did most of his work here, even though Botany Bay is more famous. Many marsupial names like Kangaroo & Wallaby are actually corruptions of the local Aboriginal dialect for those animals.
Cook spent most of his time on top of this hill, looking out to sea.

Trying to find a safe passage through the Great Barrier Reef.
& it's a measure of the man, that he not only found it, but that it's still used today (Navigator Passage) & is the only safe passage through the reef for hundreds of miles.
I had such fun riding up through the bush, I'm tempted to go back that way tomorrow. But the one casualty of the trip, is my luggage system, which has taken quite a battering, & the underseat area is feeling very squishy. So I think I'll take the boring old hwy home, & do some more seat strengthening when I get home.
It gives me a chance to finally try my Shu-Roo out properly, as that road is roo city. & there's plenty of good photo ops down that road too. so it shouldn't be too boring.
Hope your liking this adventure, as much as I am
Ride On
Scratch
 
#16 · (Edited)
I think I might have been missing my own bed. But I had a restless night, dispite the tranquil surrounds. & I woke up as tired & sore as I went to bed.
It took three panadols to get me on board the Scram again, & finally wave goodbye to Cooktown's grand old buidings.



& head off into the vast wilderness of central Cape York



This used to be one of NQ's worst roads, but is now it's best. The drainage system to stop wet season erosion, is an engeneering masterpiece. I was looking to take a pic, but couldn't get the right shot. & who wants to look at drains anyway?

I stopped for a fried beakfast at the Palmer River Roadhouse, which is steeped in old school red-neck charm



I asked around in Cooktown, & apparently there's been some new roadhouses open up on the Cape Rd. & the longest stretch between fuel is now only 180klms, which I can do.
So this is my next challenge.



Though I may have to wait until the end of the Wet, as it's too easy to get stranded up there for the duration, right now.

This is going to be the last of these kind of threads that I'm going to post for a while. I'm running out of interesting places, & if the lack of responses are anything to go by, I think everyone else is finding them a little stale too.
So I'll only post now if I come across something really good, while I'm out & about. Or if I go somewhere special, like the Cape Rd.
Keep Ridin'
Scratch
 
#17 ·
Bored? Hardly. Winter isn't for two more days up here and then we'll really start getting stir crazy.

Great pics as usual, Sweat.

Monte :)

PS: you can't go by the replies. Look at the views count. People can only say "great pics" so many times. If the count doesn't grow then you have lost your viewers. Hasn't happened yet with this thread.
 
#18 ·
Thanks Monte.
We start our seasons early in Oz, & it's been officially Summer here since Dec 1. But I know the rest of the world uses the solistices & equinoxes to change seasons. So you're still staring down the barrel of Winter, but at least the days start getting longer, which means they will eventually get warmer too.
So a Happy Solistice & a Merry Christmas to all you Nthn Hemispherians doing it tough right now.
Scratch
P.S. I'm waiting for the Wet now. So I can get some good mud-plugging shots of my bike. That'll probably be my next pic post. So bring on the rain!
 
#19 ·
Home again

I thought I'd finish with one last shot, of the afternoon storms gathering over Cairns, taken a couple of minutes ago, from my front balcony.



They say the best thing about travel is that it makes you appreciate your home more. & I don't have to travel too far, for too long, to start missing this vista.
It's good to be home.
Merry Xmas
Scratch
 
#21 ·
Great pictures to drool over while I'm chained to a keyboard, it's freezing cold outside and my bike is thousands of km away in any case.

BTW, if you want to know anything about hanggliding in Australia, check out the OzReport. I'm a fanatical paraglider pilot btw. And yes, we probably are all slightly mad. ;)
 
#22 ·
This is going to be the last of these kind of threads that I'm going to post for a while. I'm running out of interesting places, & if the lack of responses are anything to go by, I think everyone else is finding them a little stale too.
So I'll only post now if I come across something really good, while I'm out & about. Or if I go somewhere special, like the Cape Rd.
Keep Ridin'
Scratch
Scratch, if you think we find them a little stale, you have no idea what effect they really have! I've been posting on this site for the last couple of years, and I've seen some great bikes, received superb advice, and had a lot of fun. But IMHO your pics and adventures have been on a different plane altogether. Fantastic pix of a stunning country, and a beautiful bike somehow finding its way into all of the shots. Keep them coming!!
 
#24 ·
Thanks for the input everyone.
I'm not fishing for compliments. But as an old muso I'm schooled in the "always leave 'em wanting more" philosophy of entertainment. & I've always guaged this by measuring the applause. So if I don't get feedback, I just assume that it's time to ease back a bit. Before my stuff gets boring. But if it's still providing entertainment, & winter solice, for you guys. I'll continue to seek out the good photo ops, while I'm out riding.
My initial reason for posting these pics, was to stop all this pseudo-dirt bike rubbish, being spruiked about Scramblers (mainly by folk who'd never ridden one) & show just what kind of country these bikes can conquer.
So here's another pic of the most challenging hill I've taken it down so far.

& it should be noted that not only did the Scram do it comfortably. I felt relaxed enough to stop here, on the steepest section, to take these pics.
So the next time some Bozo's telling you that Bonnie's are fake Triumph's, & Scrambler's are just two-wheeled soft-roaders. Show 'em this pic.
Merry Xmas
Scratch
 
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