Pooped! Cardwell to Ingham - 56kms

A 6.30am start this morning. Hot and humid - and the usual head wind!
Virtually no shoulder on the road which meant keeping a wary eye on traffic approaching from behind.

As expected, had a lengthy walk over the Cardwell Range - if you can call it a "walk" pushing a bike and 30kg trailer up a steep hill! Had to stop every 100m for a breather!

Arrived at Ingham hot and pooped. Bought food at Coles before heading for Palm Tree Caravan Park and a cabin for the night.

Good to get out of those hot cycle shoes and into a shower!

Sunshine at last! Tully to Cardwell - 42kms

Slept heavily last night. Off at 8.00am- into the usual tiring headwind!
Conditions so much better today though.

Stopped regularly for water and a break from the seats. Bodies still adjusting to the constant, heavy workload. 

Average daytime temperature is around 27 degrees. Perspiring constantly, with salty sweat running into our eyes and off the ends of our noses.

Sugar cane everywhere as well as the odd banana farm.

Croc country, too, with warnings by creeks and rivers.

Staying in beautiful Cardwell - by the sea.

Locals warn us that we have a steep range to cross tomorrow! 54 kms to Ingham!
I foresee LOTS of WALKING!!!!!!! 

We may need a donation or two to spur us on!! 

➽ TO DONATE to our chosen charity, the Neurological Foundation of NZ via our GiveALittle Page

Cassowary Country! Innisfail to Tully- 50kms

Heavy rain during the night. Delayed our start till 8.30am.

Sprayed with dirty water and grit from passing trucks etc. Dangerous road conditions, narrow, uneven shoulders and a head wind made for slow progress. 

Hectares of sugar cane flank the highway, with train lines running alongside the fields and crossing the road. Harvest begins in June. 

Tully is the sugar capital of the region with the smoke stacks of the sugar mill dominating the area. 

The town holds the record for the highest rainfall in Queensland, signified by the statue of an enormous gumboot with a tree frog! 

With another wet night forecast, took a room at the Tully Motel. Then washed our dirty clothes before walking into town to buy stores.

Drenched! Babinda to Innisfail - 32kms

A wet, wild night in sleepy Babinda - the silence punctuated with the roar of trains passing nearby!

Today heavy rain and traffic on the Bruce Highway.

Arrived in Innisfail soaked to the skin! Very helpful folk at the "i" centre. Received two donations within minutes of arriving.

More wet weather forecast, so took a cabin at the August Moon caravan park. 

Washing and drying our clothes is a priority- that is, after our delicious strawberries and yogurt lunch!

 

➽ TO DONATE to our chosen charity, the Neurological Foundation of NZ via our GiveALittle Page

 

Off At Last! Cairns to Babinda - 60kms

Left Cairns at 6.30am on a wide cycleway. Overcast and a light headwind.
Increasing rain and headwind, and a few slopes slowed us down. Del really feeling it in his thighs with his weighty trailer.

Arrived in Babinda by 12.30pm. Everything closed except for a small cafe where we had lunch, and ordered sandwiches for tonight's dinner.

The free camping area was waterlogged, so settled on a basic room in the one and only motel. Thankful, as very heavy rain set in.

 

➽ TO DONATE to our chosen charity, the Neurological Foundation of NZ via our GiveALittle Page

 

Going Batty in Cairns!

Did a trial trailer pack and went on a short ride, trailers attached, to test the weights.
Heavy - but do-able.

We'll take off from Cairns 6.30am tomorrow, before the southerly wind (a headwind) gets up.

Cairns has a large colony of bats - flying foxes. They squawk loudly, like birds, and take off in their thousands at dusk, heading for their favourite feeding spots.

 

➽ TO DONATE to our chosen charity, the Neurological Foundation of NZ via our GiveALittle Page 

Trying Time!

Our new SIM cards created a few problems today, but managed to get around them. I had lots of walking and waiting in long queues!
Hot and humid.
Meanwhile, Del assembled the bikes ready to go.

Shopped for emergency food ( dehydrated meals, peanut butter, sardines, baked beans, dried fruit and nuts etc) and gas bottles.
Our trailers are going to be chokka!

 

➽ TO DONATE to our chosen charity, the Neurological Foundation of NZ via our GiveALittle Page

An Early Start!

All ready for a 4.30am pick up this morning.

A faultless trip and we arrived in Cairn's sunshine at 12.30pm.

Activated our bank account and bought Australian SIM cards.

Then back to the motel to start reassembling the trailers.

We'll sleep like babies tonight!

➽ TO DONATE to our chosen charity, the Neurological Foundation of NZ via our GiveALittle Page

Happy Birthday to Me!

Just one day to go!
My darling husband presented me with this birthday card this morning.
Says it all!

Everything's packed and checklists checked!
An early start tomorrow (3.00am) so early bed tonight - though I don't think there'll be much sleep!

Cairns calling!

With just one more day to go, it was an exciting day today!

Our cycle ride is front page news in oversixty.co.nz
And - we received a call from a reporter from the Cairns Post to arrange an interview and photos soon after we arrive.

We've eaten some unusual food combinations over the last few days and at last our fridge is bare.

Tomorrow is our last day - and my birthday - so in spite of the 101 things we have to do, we'll take time out to celebrate with a tasty meal somewhere before we're back to our basic cycling diet.

 

➽ TO DONATE to our chosen charity, the Neurological Foundation of NZ via our GiveALittle Page 

Putting on Weight!

3 days to go - and time to pack the trailers. 

The bathroom scales got a thumping today as Del patiently hauled the heavy trailers on and off repeatedly until we got the weights right.

  

Managed to get ALL our clothes into our fluorescent back packs, too!

The back packs and the clothes will go into the trailers once they're reassembled in Cairns.

 

 

➽ TO DONATE to our chosen charity, the Neurological Foundation of NZ via our GiveALittle Page

Weighing up the Situation!

No more training runs!

4 days to go and time to dismantle the bikes.

The 23gm limit per bike box leaves very little room for the addition of extras.

After several weigh ins, we managed to add the 2 trailer wheels and a spare tyre.
Boxes now good to go! Hope the scales were accurate!

 

➽ TO DONATE to our chosen charity, the Neurological Foundation of NZ via our GiveALittle Page

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

With under a week before we fly to Cairns to begin our Cairns-to-Perth cycle challenge, we'd like to give a HUGE heartfelt thanks to EVERYONE who has donated via our Give-A-Little page for the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand. 100% of all funds go directly towards brain research. We have raised more than $1,000 already...and we are so grateful for the encouragement and support, from friends, family and virtual strangers. 

It is  very much appreciated. 

➽ TO DONATE to our chosen charity, the Neurological Foundation of NZ via our GiveALittle Page

We're on "GrownUps"!

The story of our ride appeared online at "grownups.co.nz" today.

To read it click here:  http://grownups.co.nz/interests/sport-recreation/7000-km-hill-bike 

Del's motto is "Everything's impossible - until it's done". He's proved his theory many times.

When I first heard his suggestion of a cycle from Cairns to Perth - I was horrified!

But bit by bit we broke up the route into do-able pieces and eventually I realised that it COULD be done - albeit with a few rather difficult sections!

In just 6 days, we put our planning to the test!

➽ TO DONATE to our chosen charity, the Neurological Foundation of NZ via our GiveALittle Page 

Rain or Shine - the Rubber Hits the Road!

                           

With 7 days to go, rain is not allowed to interfere with the few training runs we have left.

Got absolutely saturated today in several very heavy showers. We'll have to clean the bikes and trailers yet again before we leave.

Trucks and cars spray grit and dirty water over everything - including us! 

Fortunately no cattle trucks on the wet road today. 

You get an extremely smelly shower when they pass by!!

News Flash!

Discovered this in the Franklin County News today. Headline news!!!

Now the locals will know who those old ducks are that they've seen so many times pedalling like mad in the traffic, towing their trailers behind them.

9 days to go! - and only a few more training days before we dismantle the  bikes and trailers and pack them up! 

➽ TO DONATE to our chosen charity, the Neurological Foundation of NZ via our GiveALittle Page 

Rain, Rain Go Away!

A wet weekend, so it's back to the gym today to get a sweat up on the bikes!

                                             Well - a sweat for Del and a glow for me!!! 

Counting down!

In just 13 days, we fly to Cairns with our bikes and trailers and begin our challenge.

Thanks heaps to Julie and Jel for putting together this video for us.
And thanks to family and friends who have shared our story to spread the word.

It's getting very exciting now - and we're raring to go!

TO DONATE - please click here:
https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/cairnstoperthcycle

An Empty Space Awaits!

At the bottom of the cabinet door in our garage is a space.

For 2 years we have patiently worked and waited for it to be filled.

For 2 years, life -  health issues - have got in the way.

This year THAT SPACE GETS FILLED, by hook or by crook! 

We've got the sign - all we have to do is complete the job!! 

On May 27th we begin the journey. #CairnstoPerthCycle

TO DONATE to the Neurological Foundation of NZ - please click here:

https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/cairnstoperthcycle

Keeping Fit - with 2 weeks to go!

Spotted this ad in the local paper recently. There's Del (purple tee) at the local gym, on a bike and putting in the mileage.

He'll pedal nonstop for up to an hour, on a high level and sweating profusely. This is pretty well a daily exercise. Don't know how he does it!

He's even talked me into going along for a couple of weeks prior to leaving.
I prefer a much more sedate pace, minimising discomfort and thinking happy thoughts!

I'd much rather be on the road and going somewhere!

#CairnstoPerthCycle

TO DONATE to the Neurological Foundation of NZ - please click here:

https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/cairnstoperthcycle

A Tyreing Activity!

Had both bikes comprehensively serviced by Evo Cycles recently, so time to fit our new Schwalbe Marathon Plus Touring tyres on each. Have never had a puncture in these touring tyres yet - though  have had one enormous blow out!

We'll take the best of the "used" tyres with us as a spare. It'll be twisted into a figure 8 to allow it to be stored at the bottom of Del's trailer.

If you haven't already guessed, Del's the bike mechanic! I do the very important job of holding the tools, and the frame when the wheel is removed or fitted!

Gave both bikes a good clean, set the computers, checked the batteries for the front and back lights and checked the emergency puncture kit that we carry in a small pouch on each bike.

Result - Two very smart looking bikes, ready for some serious outback action!
#CairnstoPerthCycle

Checking the First Aid Kit!

You always hope that you'll never need it, but a comprehensive first aid kit is essential on trips such as this.

Apart from sterile pads, elastic bandage, plain bandage, plasters, and waterproof tape, ours contains:  Paracetamol, Antibiotics, Loperamide (for diarrhoea), Lorafix (for allergy), Metoclopramide (for vomiting), Viaderm cream (for insect bites), scissors, needles, tweezers, scalpel blade, aluminium thermal blanket - and Aquatabs (for water purification).

Re the Aquatabs, we've been advised to use these only when essential as they not only kill off the bugs in non potable water, but also the good bacteria in your gut! Still, when needs must.....!!

On this trip, unlike others we've been on, many of the roadside overnight areas have no water at all, so we'll be carrying more of it than we've ever done before. 

Note to self: Every litre of water ~ 1 extra kg to tow !!!

TO DONATE to the Neurological Foundation of NZ - please click here:
https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/cairnstoperthcycle