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Intro

Set on seeing a piece of the Americas while travelling mainly on my touring bike, I am interested in environmental issues & a vegan and it’s an important part of how I will travel. I hope to exchange with a lot of people and help with various projects.

I am nuts about rock-climbing too, and would love to connect with fellow climbers along my route.

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After some decent steep hills (on paved road, this time) and narrow but nice scenic roads with beautiful trees (2) I was happy to make it to the "highest road in Queensland" (1) before sunset. From there (3) it was all downhill to Ravenshoe. ------------------- I camped in town looking forward to volunteer for a few days in the area from the next day- Well, one of my tent poles decided it was exactly the right time to break (4,5) as I packed the tent in the morning. ------------------- Long story short, the place I volunteered at wasn't really what I expected and I had to wait for new poles in the post. So I've been kind of stranded in that remote-ish area for a week now, but am looking forward to get back on the road tomorrow. At least I could still rig my inner tent inside the caravan (6) I was staying at when volunteering- It might seem OTT but there were big holes in the windows and insect meshs and I found a wolf spider bigger than my palm inside. Its not all gloom and doom though, I went to see a beautiful fall (7) and I've stayed at a nice airbnb for the last couple days. #cyclotouringoz #unexpectedtravelsurprises #fnqscenicroads #gearmisshaps #takeitasitcomes

After Mareeba I went to Atherton and then had a rest day in Yungaburra. It's a really pretty little town, which almost reminded me of some quaint countryside English villages, if it hadn't been for the tropical forest nearby. I camped in the backyard of a fantastic little hostel #onthewallaby (3). The back roads on the Atherton Tablelands are great for riding with a loop used by pro cyclists I think. There is so much wildlife to be seen, but mostly at night/dawn/dusk. I didn't see tree kangaroos (pic2) at one of their favorite hideaways at the "Curtain Fig tree" (1) a well-known landmark there, but got lucky when I went platypus (ornithorynx) spotting (5). They're smaller than you'd expect but funny to see as they go under water for 30-140s at a time before coming back up. The area is also home to many possums, bandicots, agile wallabies, kangaroos rats, birds including cormorans, brush turkeys, and so many more. I went kayaking on a night tour organized by the hostel and saw a bunch of impressive possums. I also went around Lake Eacham and saw a lot of tropical forest plants and features, including an impressive fern basket (8). Sometimes animals will nest in them. #offthebike #cyclotouringfnq #cyclotouringoz #cyclotouringaustralia #vegantravel #Aussiewildlife #Curtainfigtree #Athertontablelands #cyclingtheathertontablelands #platypus #vegantravel

9-12 September Cooktown to Mareeba via Lakeland-Highways 40/81 The best treat a #vegancyclist could ever ask for while cycling in the heat. --- Well if the coastal route had certainly been scenic, full of wonders and I had taken my time riding it, I couldn't say the same thing for the way back down... By then I had learnt that the strength of the Far North Queensland sun, even in early Spring here, required me to apply sunscreen every 2-3hours, and that cycling shorts and sunscreen not being enough against thighs sunburns, another pair of shorts on top was needed, and often a long sleeve shirt as well. On that road for the first 3 days there was very little- Absolutely nothing between Cooktown and Lakeland where I camped the first night, a roadhouse (pub/petrol station) 30 kilometers past Lakeland, and that was basically it until Mt Carbine, 200kilometers+ further, where there was a petrol station and a cafe- Now the sun and the lack of shade meant I generally wasn't stopping for lunch and just ate snacks on the go. The landscape changed very little during these 3+ days and it was nice to see some relief and a lake on the approach to Mareeba (pic10). The first day to Lakeland was a bit boring, until I saw a lot of kytes (3) in the afternoon. It was nice to see the banana plantations (4) on the approach into town. The plastic bags on the banana grapes are here to protect it from pests and accelerate their growth. Overall the very small town didn't inspire me too much though. Not much happening. I stayed at the campsite and for once I managed to get a picture of a kookaburra (6), whose laughing-monkey-like call is heard everywhere in Oz. Aussies call them "kookies". I call them Cookies. --- The following morning as I departed the campground for a 2 days bare stretch in the heat and headwinds a very kind local saw me and gave me this (1) best spirit-lifting gift ever: 3/4kg frozen mangoes, from his garden, neatly packaged. Obviously I made a mess of it when I finally opened it, putting mango juice all over myself, but these cold pieces of mango were just the best thing ever in the middle of nowhere! #unexpectedtravelsurprises #cyclotouringfnq #Aussieslang

Cooktown I spent a couple days in Cooktown. It's a surprinsingly little-known town with a huge diversity of plants, fruits and colourful birds and the flora and fauna is markedly different to the Daintree rainforest I had just gone through and which biodiversity is also huge. On pic 4 you can see rainbow lorikeets (they are relatively common accross Australia, but there was an impressive population in Cooktown) frolicking in a mango tree (5). Cooktown is obviously known because of its history which is actually quite complex and certainly not limited to the Cook landings. Amongst other things it became a major town during the 19th century because of a gold rush nearby (8). The museum (7) is quite interesting. (9) and (10) show views from Grassy Hill and the Mt Cook trail respectively but unfortunately the visibility wasn't near its best. #offthebike #cyclotouringfnq #birdwatching #cyclingqueensland #cyclotouringqueensland

7-8 Sept To Cooktown I wasn't even supposed to go up to Cooktown initially. I had sworn I would stay away from tough tracks with the load I am carrying on my bicycle at the moment, and the 4WD Bloomfield track seemed kind of a crazy endeavour with a loaded bike. But well, it only took a conversation with a local on the way to Daintree to make me curious about Cooktown... And while there were 2 very very steep hills I learned they were fairly short (you only gain about 300-400m elevation) and the part of the track who I thought would be Baja Divide-like was only 30 kms long or so. So I went. And pushed and dragged my bike accross the 22-31% gradient 2 gravel hills. This (pic2) is one of the funny faces I pulled at my camera while doing exactly that. The rest was easy. The trail was compact, the river crossings very shallow (6) at that time of the year and I needn't have worried about the crocs. The trail was dusty (5) but peaceful and shaded. Turned out my rear brake caliper (pic4, see on the right side the red disc you see on my normal front caliper on the left is not there!) didn't enjoy the steep descents after the hills as much as I did though. A day later while trying to adjust my brakes I realized one part of my caliper was missing !!! I had a new one fitted recently. It still took me about 7 hours to do those off road 35 kilometers. Past Wujal Wujal (7) the road was paved again and much more flat. Nice scenery all the way to Cooktown, the Black Mountains (10) is only one of the many diverse landscape you encounter on that road. Couldn't help but notice microwaves being used by the locals as mailboxes past Bloomfield... An interesting way to reuse broken appliances maybe but could probably do with some creative DIY for it to lock and so on! #hikealoadedbike #hikeabike #bicycletouring #vegantravel #cyclotouringfnq #repurposed #repurposedontthrow #cyclingthebloomfieldtrack #bloomfieldtrack

Cape Tribulation Turns out in Cape Trib campgrounds come with their own friendly wild peacock... Anyway certainly scenic places to stay. I go on a tropical fruit tasting at a local farm, and I learn that: 1) I can't escape cherry pickers now 2) The huge majority of the tropical fruits grown in FNQ (Far North Queensland) has all been imported from Asia/South America, and for the mainstream ones grown for decades but not native (mangoes, papayas, bananas, dragonfruit, etc, you name it). Apparently most of the native fruits from the rainforest have been/are mostly used by Aboriginals communities for their medicinal properties, and/or eaten but need cooking/a certain preparation to be edible. 3) I get to try fruits from South America such as abiu, yellow sapote, sapotilla, breadfruit chips and now I totally want to eat them again, but most likely will encounter them next in capital cities' markets. I go walking, admiring the landscape and the rainforest, and looking around for wildlife again and see some insects, birds and butterflies (elusive again) but don't see a croc unfortunately. I do see some fishes which seem like perchs in a waterhole I go swimming at, and also learn that apparently Aussies aren't good with walking signs (pic10). #FNQwildlife #Daintreerainforest #cyclotouringFNQ #offthebike #cyclingdaintreerainforest #fruitysnack

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