Day 13, Palm Cove to the Lion's Den Hotel

Thursday 11th August, 2011 Day 13…

Odo start, 5,970 K's

Odo end,  6,223 K's

Distance Travelled.  253 K's

Accommodation, LIons Den Camp Ground, $26/Night for a powered site…

I left Palm Cove nice and early to get to Cairns Post Office as soon as they opened. Luckily my parcel had arrived. I could finally get moving North again. I dropped into the Cairns Cop shop to try and get more info on the condition of theBurke Development Road, they couldn't provide much information but gave me the phone numbers for Chillagoe and Normanton Police Stations.

I rode back to the camp ground so i could pack up and get going ASAP. After sending some cold climate clothes back to Melbourne it was finally time to leave town. I finally got underway at 10:50am. The day was looking glorious, with a predicted temp of 29, but cool sea breezes.

The Captain Cook Hwy was spectacular, following the beach North.

I took the turn to Cape Tribulation looking forward to the Bloomfield Track. After paying the Ferryman $5 for a one way trip i was finally into the Daintree.

As soon as i hit the dirt it seemed i saw the 4WD Only sign then my first river crossing of the day, a very easy one to start. 

The first river crossing…

The road was steep in places and some of the river crossings were littered with large round rocks, but nothing too difficult. I must have passed one of the Cape trail bike tours heading south as i saw about 15 DR-Z and a few Katooms going the other way.

The second river  crossing proved more challenging when i ended up getting caught on a rock, the bike was bottoming out on the bash plate. I made it across after stopping to put my feet down and get off the big rock. I didn't even get wet feet, these gortex sidi's are great…

The road started to widen, i passed through Wujal Wujal, then Bloomfield, i was thinking the Bloomfield Track must start soon, i had been scouring for the big sign, but nothing…. 

After a few small towns i see two white bikes parked up ahead, so i decided to see what they knew about the Bloomfield Track. As i neared the bikes, i saw i was at the Lion's Den Hotel… I had done the Bloomfield Track!! AND the two bikes were white Stroms!!

I met Kev & Clive in the Bar, they were 3/4 of the way through their 3 month clockwise lap. We had a great night at the bar, swapping stories and hearing of Clive's bad run of Luck, while the only problem Kev had was one of his rear chain guard bolts had come loose!

Thanks for a great night guys, have fun on you home leg.