The First Weekend

We were sat outside at 8am on Saturday, having a coffee and wondering what to do with the day. So many options, so little time. A month seems like an age when you’re working your notice to leave your job, but must disappear in a heartbeat if you’re sat on death row. That’s my perception anyway – and I hope never to prove the second bit!

Anyway, by the time the brews were finished we had a plan, and after a quick shower  we started putting it into action.

Cue the A-Team music, or just move on if you’re too young to know what that is!

Conor and I fitted the cameras to the bikes, after which he took the Speed Triple with Kerry and I following on the Bonneville, and we headed for Daintree Village which according to Wikipedia is a rural town which in the 2021 census had a population of ninety-three people. It doesn’t seem to have grown, but has a charm reminiscent of yesteryear.

For the ride there and back we kept swapping road position to get good views of both bikes from the onboard cameras. Hopefully it worked, and once viewed and edited we can post some still pictures as well as maybe a video clip or two. I’d really like to be able to share some of the scenery, especially the road sandwiched between the rainforest and the sea.

We’d decided to spend a night away at Maryfarms, a campground in the bush in FNQ (Far North Queensland). It’s less than an hour from Port Douglas, but you drive through the rainforest and out into the bush to get there. Kerry and Conor go there regularly, and having now been I can see why. We loaded up the Ute (Ford Ranger) and set off, stopping along the way for fish and chips and a beer at the Julatten Hotel. Going back to nature’s great as long as you can eat well, and the barramundi in place of cod hit the spot. Good chips and beer too, although no mushy peas or curry sauce. Australians tend to have theirs with ketchup or tartare sauce, with a bit of salad being optional.

Along the way we stopped in the bush to collect wood for the campfire later. It’s dead wood so it’s permitted, well-seasoned and cheaper than buying it. Much easier to cut up with a reciprocating saw as it’s dense hardwood, and it burns well with little smoke.

The campground was busy when we got there. It’s Labour Day on Monday which is a Bank holiday in Australia, and definitely not to be confused with anything to do with Keir and the criminals. Could be a name there for a band, rather than bandits!

Anyway we found a good spot and struck camp, before grabbing a beer and going up the hill to watch the sunset. The pictures below will give you some idea of what and where, including the campfire.

More beers, etc, and quesadillas, make the fire safe and collapse into bed. I bunked down in the roof tent, with Kerry and Conor sleeping on the ground in a swag, which is basically an Australian bedroll with flyscreen sides to keep the bugs out. I was told there’s nothing up there that can kill you, but then Conor told me how to spot huntsman spiders in the dark and promptly demonstrated by quickly finding a couple. They were only babies, so perhaps more worrying is how close mummy is to you at that point! If you leave your sleeping area at any point during the night you switch your head torch to red light, as the bugs can’t see it so don’t know you’ve given them a way in. If you then use one of the nighttime toilet facilities, aka a tree, a good plan is to switch the light off completely for the duration!

I slept well during my first night in the bush, then went and had a shower which ran nice and warm right up to the point I was covered in lather. Then it didn’t! Woke me up though.

We all had a brew, then Kerry and I went to the creek to try panning for gold. We got some flakes, but not quite enough to give up work yet. We’ll be trying again in other locations during my stay, so I might still be flying back business class at the end of the month!

On our drive home one of their friends, Gav, messaged to see if anyone was up for a ride to the Mount Molloy Hotel. Established in 1900 it’s one of Queensland’s oldest pubs and serves delicious food and great beer at good prices. It’s also a bikers hangout, and just generally a nice place for a stop after negotiating the seemingly endless bends on the ride up through the rainforest on the Mossman Mount Molloy Road also known locally as The Range. We went with him, and I can recommend the fish and chips (no salad this time). And the beer which they brew themselves.

After the ride back we decided to chill, so spent the time sat outside or in the pool until it was time for a walk along Four Mile Beach. Which begs the question: When every other distance in Australia is measured in kilometres, including the sign that states ‘5 km to Four Mile Beach’ why is it called Four Mile Beach? The reason is that it was named after a local family with the name ‘Fourmile’. It’s also actually only four km long, which is still about four km further than I can run!

Stopping only for a quick aperitif at the Beach Shack we headed home where I took charge of cooking tea, after which we checked the footage from the bike cameras. Conor’s had provided some useful shots, but mine had run out of memory so didn’t give us anything except a lesson learned. It’s now got a much bigger memory card fitted and I’ll be selective about what I record as there are some bits I want to capture and share. Then chill time, a bit of telly and bed. It had been another busy and full two days.

How was your weekend?

Pictures show bikes at Daintree Village, stopping to collect firewood, long straight road through the bush, our camp, the sunset and us sat watching it, at night with the campfire, me gold panning, our camp and the campground, me stood by the Ute at the end of the airstrip which is a requirement for the Flying Doctor service, me riding the Bonneville with Kerry pillion, Mount Molloy hotel