CooKToWN TRiP

By Michael Ahlberg, Member #4331

After several years without a decent road trip, we were invited to a 50th birthday party for Nik in Mackay. We left Thursday morning 28/7, Ann on her Royal Enfield 650 Interceptor and me on the R1200 GS. I chose the GS for fuel economy, luggage space, a great ABS and superb suspension, given there could be pot holes after all the autumn flooding. The Burnett Highway was a clear choice with much less traffic and roadworks than the Bruce. Sure, the Goomeri bakery also had a bearing on our road choice. We picked up a friend in Colinton and headed north. After a Curry pie in Goomeri, we took the alternate road to Mundubbera from Gayndah. Instead of turning right on the A3 in Gayndah, go straight ahead. Then 11 km later, you can turn left for the low road or keep going straight for the high road. Either road will take you to Mundubbera. It’s not longer than the A3 and a much nicer MC road. Last we were up that way, we took both the low and the high road. Night quarters on Thursday was at Biloela Centre Motel, where next day another friend joined us. I used to work for Ergon in Rockhampton and had planned for a stop at Dululu Pub for nostalgic reasons. It was closed and it’s for sale, if anyone is interested.

In Rockhampton we checked the investment house we used to have on Kent Street. It still looked the same. We arrived in Mackay Friday evening having travelled on the Bruce Hwy. The 50th birthday party on Saturday was at the club house of the Southern Cross SMC. Sunday was a rest day and sightseeing day with Nik guiding us on various routes in Mackay including a stop at the Eimeo Hotel Pub by the ocean. We kept heading north on Monday, with another six friends joining us and we arrived in Cardwell by early afternoon. There is a café not to miss, that serves tasty crab burgers.

I was up early at sunrise for a photo of Hinchinbrook Islands. It was nice and quiet but an overcast sky blocked the rising sun. The last bit of Bruce Highway, towards Cairns with 7 other bikes was scenic but uneventful, but the last bit was special. We rode The Gillis highway up to the Atherton Highlands with a never ending number of curves, a favourite whenever in Cairns and not to be missed. It’s probably the road with the most number of closely placed curves in Australia. The lunch stop at Barron Valley Hotel pub was well timed. Entering Cooktown is only by coming in on the inside of the range and not by a coastal road. Just before Cooktown there’s a very iconic pub “Lions Den” and well worth a visit. We all stayed at the Cooktown Hotel, where Ann and I had the high veranda and sunset view. There was no mistaking that we were in the tropics, as we turned on the AC in our room. I was amused by the firestairs off the veranda. First you’d have to climb the railing, then was a steel ladder which was bolted with a chain, you’d need a shifter to free it. On the way down one would lose the family jewellery