Balgal Beach to Longpocket to Wallaman Falls to Bingil Bay.

This photo is supposed to go down below but it refuses to, so here it is, at the start. It is of some kookaburra looking bird on the pole but I inadvertently captured the moonrise in the background. 

I was out of service yesterday so here is what I wrote yesterday.


Last night I met a couple who were camped next to me. They were setting up late so I gave them some of the enormous amount of wood I was hoarding. The guy was an Italian that lives in Mission Beach and his girlfriend was an international student from East Timor. I didn't expect that.

She told me Timor means East in her language so her country is called East East to her. I pointed out that I thought it was actually called Timor Leste so really the name of the country is East East with the East's reversed. She seemed confused. I sat up pretty late with them.

They had basically no gear. No chairs, no cooker. It made me think I should probably consider getting rid of some of my stuff. I've been giving the stink eye to the frying pan.

I slept in today, packed up slowly and headed a little bit north. I'm camped at the Ashton Hotel in a town called Longpocket . It is near Wallaman Falls, although not as close as I thought.

When I arrived a man in a caravan came over to make a nuisance of himself. He told me it was very dewy this morning and he has a tarp for me that will cover the tent and the bike and save me from the dew. He was trying to be helpful but I told him I wasn't really bothered. Completely oblivious to my hint, he went and got the tarp for me anyway. I had to get up and stuff around with it. Everyone seems to think the waterproofing of a tent is directly linked to its size. My tent hasn't leaked a drop so far.

The tarp doesn't fit over the tent, nor does it completely cover the bike. It is about the same size as my own tarp that is in my bag. It looks completely ridiculous. I'm protecting a bike that I have ridden through streams and in downpours, from a low lying cloud that might develop in the morning.

Anyway, I'm probably going to pack up and head up to the waterfall tomorrow morning then head north again.
Here are some photos.

Sunrise at Balgal Beach

Today, meaning the day after what I wrote above, I woke up and lo and behold there was an almighty dew. My tent was soaked and I do so wish I had a tarp over it. But alas I did not so I packed it up wet and now it smells a bit.

I rode up to Wallaman Falls. It was 50km at least. There was 40km of very steep twisty hills. I had all my luggage on but the bike performed admirably. I seem to have balanced the weight.

The waterfall is the tallest in Australia at 268 metres. It was quite a sight. BUT! To all the old people who constantly say they don't understand why young people go overseas when there is much to see here (and there are many of you and you are tedious, boring and small minded)... That waterfall is less than half the height of the 36th tallest waterfall in the world. So I don't really know why people who like to look at waterfalls don't go overseas. 

Not taking anything away from it, it was cool.

After the waterfall I rode back down the hill. It was later in the morning and there was a bit more traffic coming up. One guy was towing a camper trailer up (something you aren't supposed to do because the road is too steep, narrow and windy) and he cut the corner I was about to go around, totally blocking off any path I had so I had to go heavy on the brakes. I was expecting people to be on the wrong side of the road on every corner so it wasn't a big deal. It's great being on a bike because the drivers can hear you swearing at them and I reckon he would've agreed with what I called him.

It was a really nice day today so I headed up the coast. I stopped for lunch at Cardwell then continued on. I probably should've got petrol. My bike doesn't have a fuel gauge so I use the trip metre. 

I hit reserve along the highway after 285km since my previous fill up. Usually I hit reserve around 360km. My highest was 416km. So 285 is really low, but it has been windy and I went up and down that big hill with luggage on so it wasn't that low. I switched to reserve which is supposed to be good for another 60-100km. I made it 11km more before I ran out. I rolled into a town but couldn't roll the last 100 metres to the petrol station. 

I did the walk of shame, got a petrol can etc etc. The bike took 17 litres to fill. It is a 22 litre tank. So I'm running out of petrol with petrol in the tank. Will have to get that sorted. 

I'm now at Bingil Bay. I went for a ride into Mission Beach. The ride is amazing. Right along the water.

I'm camped towards the right of this photo. 

From out the front of the camp. 

The camp ground here is cheap for vans ($29 a night) and therefore very popular and therefore full. I was worried I'd be charged van rates but because they're full and I take up no space they've squeezed me in for free.

The only other thing of note is that there are supposedly cassowaries everywhere here. I'm terrified of meeting one. The signs say to stay in your vehicle if one is on the road. Not much help for me. For those that are unfamiliar, cassowaries are basically dinosaurs. They are a flightless bird that grow up to 6 and a half feet tall, have a blue head, and have a 5 inch knife for a toe. They are very aggressive.

We went on a school excursion to the zoo and one of my students had a prolonged meltdown. I took him for a walk and as we went past the cassowary enclosure this cassowary paced along side trying to get through the fence to attack the student. It was my height.

Having said that, the signs look like this:

I find them really funny for some reason. 

Also, I've started seeing crocodile warning signs everywhere. Including about 10 metres from my tent!