Day 7 – 25th August
Posted by TravellingStrom on August 25, 2008
After a cuppa and packing up the road north was beckoning, it was not long before I hit the expected sign
It started off all right, but some sections were very slippery and loose. There was a lot of roadworks, the water trucks made the job real hard going, the back end skating everywhere, but because I was loaded up, the bike kept digging in, not skipping across the top 😦
Another small bitumen section before Laura was the turn off to the Split Rock native rock art gallery
I took the half hour walk up the hill and had a decko
Then back on thrack up to Laura, this is a section of roadworks, very slippery and loose, I was getting tired already!!
Just before Laura a bad section nearly made me come off for the 10th time, front end washout, without the Scotts stabaliser I would have been a goner. I fuelled up at the pub and chatted to the owner there, he said it was just as bad or worse further on.
I made a tactical withdrawal.
Call me a chicken whatever you like, but there was no way I could handle the bike loaded that way it was for another 600km there, just to get to Wiepa, then the return. I had too much travel to accomplish, so I turned around and after some more scary moments, made the bitumen again and headed to Cooktown for the night to rethink.
On the way I stopped at Black Mountain, this is all naturally exploded granite
Then found a great campsite where if you were quick, tucker was around, NOT!!!
Cooktown is where Captain Cook beached his ship when he was exploring, some images
This is a musical ship, you can bang anything and it is in tune and musical
I went up the top for a look, very sharp hairpin turns up here and steep
I had a few beers at a pub and a great meal. Another traveller back at the campsite was on his way home after 5 days here, riding a Yamaha. It was very windy here, blowing a gale, but strangely, not like back home.
A 30knot gust of wind would start, blow for about 15 seconds then stop for a few minutes, then start again, very wierd!!! It did this all night and I was a bit anxious about the gum tree limbs crashing on me.
Anyway, I survived the night
See ya
Day – 208km
Trip – 2298km
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TravellingStrom 
Donunder said
The tactical withdrawal was a wise move mate. You have a long and fascinating trip before you. No sense risking things for such a small return at this early stage. You can go up there another time when you’re not carrying so much gear….and take Saab with you, he thrives on that crap! When did you fit the Scotts stabiliser? Was it on at Cobar? Does it really make a difference? All the best.
travellingstrom said
Hi Donunder, I would like to do it with a smaller bike and gear on a support vehicle. My skills are not good enough yet to try it laden up. Saab probably could. I missed out on seeing Glitch_oz on the posties though 😦 I fitted the Scotts the week prior to leaving, it was late arriving. If I had not had it, I would have been on the ground many times by now. It can stop the front end tank slapping, but it cannot stop the back end jumping around and with too much weight, it was unmanageable for my puny size 🙂
Cheers m8
TS