12 November 2012

Eclipse Journey


The alarm sounded early Saturday morning - very early - 3 am early. The car was packed the night before. There were a few bits and pieces, gadgets really to gather into the car. After a heart starter coffee, we were underway. Our target destination Bowen, NQ.

We had decided on travelling the Bruce Highway. The last few times we have ridden to Townsville or Eungella via the back roads through Gayndah and the like. The Bruce isn't a favourite road, but it is the shorter of the two routes.

Its light early these days, the night driving got us past the Sunshine Coast. It was relatively easy travel through to Childers with only one person who wanted to have more than his share of the road. In Childers we stopped for fuel for the car and breakfast for us. It was still early and the only place open was the bakery.

We were making good time using the GPSes to monitor our speed. Yes, plural. Clint is beta testing a GPS. That means we are running two - our old faithful and the test unit. They have different characteristics and the new one needed to be reset a couple of times to get it to behave. We were on an A to B run up the highway. The new device was set to take all the good motorcycling roads, a sweet feature but not what we wanted this time.

After the events of 2010 cyclones and flooding the Bruce Highway has been in a state of repair. Our timing was being eaten into by the constant drop from 100 or 110 in some case to 80 then 60 then 40. Some were controlled by traffic lights, others by people. Some stops were long, others we managed to be the last car through. The interruptions to the flow of travel was wearing, we were losing our rhythm.


The car when it's running on the highway, has a range around 900km per tank. It's us who require the stops for refreshment. Rockhampton was our next stop.

Social media (Facebook) can be useful at times. On checking the Qld Police postings, we found out about the devastating fire at North Mackay. The highway was closed and the only way around was the back way. We know the back way and it would have been very unpleasant sharing the tight winding minor roads with trucks, vans and others who would have been in a hurry.

We'd been travelling for over twelve hours and the thought of a back roads run wasn't appealing. We were at Sarina when we made the decision to pull up for the night. Sarina Beach is somewhere we have wanted to visit. This was our opportunity. Pull up early and relax ready for another early start in the morning.

Accommodation on the beach front, a walk along the beach and dinner at the local restaurant. A very relaxing way to end the day.

Another early alarm, a quick cuppa and we're on our way again. Daylight by the time we were through Mackay, past the site of the fire. It looked really bad. No wonder the highway was closed the afternoon before.

Bowen was our breakfast stop. We decided to make it a highway stop rather than head into Bowen proper. We worked out that we could have spent a lot of time doing laps of the town known as Sleepy Hollow looking for somewhere to eat early as it was before 9am on Sunday morning. So a big plate of bacon and eggs and mugs of coffee later our bellies were feeling really full.

The sugar mills' stacks were billowing out plumes of steam. Cane trains were parked, full of the harvest. Cane was being burned off in the distance. We experienced a little Burdekin snow.


We opted to not follow the heavy vehicle bypass around Ayr as we were having a little trip down memory lane. We had worked out that around this time of year 30 years ago, we had our first holiday together and it was a road trip north to Port Douglas. Clint had worked in Ayr but was back in Brisbane by the time of our holiday.

Townsville was ahead, but rather than drive through, we used the ring road. The amount of development, the roofs of houses stretched for acres. We knew this was a growth area, but didn't realise the extent.

Next stop was Cardwell for fuel and a break to walk out onto the jetty. Cardwell was really given a beating by cyclone Yasi and the little town is still recovering.

The trees are coming back, but they looked like ones we are used to seeing after a hail storm. The leaves had been shredded, leaving the trees bare. Only now there was the soft green fuzz of new growth. Some trees had fallen to the pressures of the storm, others had limbs twisted and broken.


We started the count down to Cairns, not far now. The twin GPSes were issuing instructions, not always in harmony. It created some amusement for us while we negotiated the thickening traffic.

Finally, we arrived at our abode for the next three nights. This is the first time we are staying in a B&B. We were greeted at the gate by two beagles who were keen to make sure we knew who was boss. Soon we were welcomed by our hosts Steve and Linda. A quick tour of the facilities and a chat over a coffee was a convivial way of finding out about each other. Our ensuite room is very comfortable and relatively private.

After unpacking, we set about finding out what was in the local area. We're not too far from Smithfield for major shops and we're within walking distance of the local shops. The boat club is a bit far to walk in the steamy tropical heat.

We settled in back at the house on the back patio with our tech toys. We had writings to catch up with.

All too soon it was dark and we headed off to the local fish and chips takeaway for a light meal. MotoGP's final races for the season were on tonight so we had our fill, headed back to our room and settled in to watch some amazing racing in all three classes. All too soon it was midnight and we'd been awake for too long, our pillows were beckoning.

Even though we could have had a sleep in we were keen to work out where we would be setting ourselves up to watch the eclipse. After waking early, we decided that it wasn't really necessary to get out just yet. Not too long after that, a shower of rain reinforced our decision to stay in bed that little bit longer.

After a carb-loaded breakfast, we walked to through the little forest at the end of the street trying to work out how to access the beach. Our first attempt was blocked by a swampy remnant of a creek. Eventually we worked our way through, onto an adjoining street and out to the beach. The sand here is brown and so was the water. The small waves looked muddy and not at all inviting. The sun was obscured by cloud, there was light rain and thoughts from us that hopefully this will have all cleared by Wednesday morning. We checked our bearings to make sure we knew where to look East. A bit more of wandering around the parkland and we headed back to the house.

Today's drive was up into the Atherton Tableland. We took the road up to Kuranda in the rain. We were heading to Mareeba to experience their coffee. We called into Jacques Coffee. We were intrigued by the advertising that showed "coffee, tours and T.I Flights". Naturally, we had to sample their coffee. It's good! The flights were in ultralights. No thanks. We like a bit of adventure but this is one method of transport that doesn't sit well with us. There was quite a stiff breeze blowing so that was another reason for us not to be keen.

Next was a drive through Mareeba township. Here we found an oddity that made us stop for a picture. Whoever was in charge of the town design must have had strong female influence. Here was a public toilet that was signposted as the Women's Rest Rooms and the facilities for men were a small arrangement down the back of the building.

Our next target was a place we had seen signposted on the highway. It was Gallo's Chocolate and Cheese. Here they make their own cheeses and handmade chocolates. The Gallo family have diversified from just being a dairy farm to including the manufacture and sale of their own varieties of cheese. They have a factory display of the cheese making process. It wasn't working today. There is also an eatery which served a cheese platter of five of their cheeses. What a great way to experience the product. We also came away with a small block of 72% chocolate - yum :-)

Our final planned destination was The Gem Gallery in Yungaburra. This is a family run establishment that works in opals and fine gems. Here you can talk with the artisan about how best to display an opal or gem in a setting and have it created. We didn't follow that path, but found a cute little pendant that is a reminder of the eclipse.

No trip through here is complete without a visit to a curtain fig.


Rather than double back we headed down the Gillies Highway. What a cracker of a road! It's well known to the local motorcyclists and with good reason.

Back to base and it's time for a drink and catch up with our writings. Tonight we've planned to have dinner at the Boat Club and an early night.

2 comments:

  1. IIRC there is a place north of Cairns and east of the highway where people go swimming in a mountain stream and ponds. The road is narrow and almost non existent when cars are parked on both sides. Are you familiar with it? Linda and I went there in 94. I wanted to find it in 2007 but Deane wanted a 2 day break from riding.

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  2. Probably you are thinking of Mossman Gorge. We went there today. It is 70km north and 4km west of the highway.
    There is no public vehicular access to the narrow road as from June 2012. You must park in the visitor centre and take a shuttle bus. A little like Zion but on a much smaller scale.
    The local aboriginal community runs the visitor centre and shuttles and takes care of the area. It includes their homes.
    So now they have peace in the evenings and jobs during the day.

    The mountain streams are still good for swimming.

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