Day 073, Wednesday, 10 June 2009

Distance travelled – 61.9 km
Avg speed – 20.6 kph
Max speed – 37.4 kph

Rollingstone – Ingham

Our initial plan for today was Rollingstone to Cardwell but after such a busy social day yesterday we were slow to get away this morning. By the time we had taken a stop at the Frosty Mango on the highway to Ingham, it was 1.30pm before we rode into Ingham and Cardwell was still 50 km away. So we decided to stay in Ingham.

Shortly after leaving the Fruity Mango, café and ice creamery, we came across a fellow cycling south. We did not stop to talk but as we slowed and passed each other there was enough time to ask why he was carrying a spare rear wheel in his right hand. He told us that he had broken a rim in Innisfail but the bike shop could not remove the cluster so he was taking the wheel to Townsville to get the cluster taken off. Now at this point Innisfail was nearly 190 km to the north so as I rode off I wondered if he had carried the wheel hanging on his handlebar all that way. I came to the conclusion he meant Ingham but that is still 40km of riding with a wheel dangling from his handlebars. I wondered why he had not strapped it on top of his rear panniers. As Denise later said why carry the wheel all that way at all, why not just cut all the spokes and just carry the hub and cluster in a pocket of your pannier.  Perhaps that solution was too simple to consider!

We took the extra time we now had in Ingham to replenish our supplies and do the laundry.

Our unexpected stop in Ingham meant we now needed to find somewhere to stay in Tully tomorrow night. However, there did not seem to be many options and we did not want to ride the 110km and not know where we were going to stay. We were concerned about using the caravan park, as we could not find any information or photos about it using our usual sources on the web. The only motel which we called did not return our calls so after a bit more searching we discovered the Djarawong B&B about 7 km north and booked in for tomorrow night.

Zoom into the map and use the 'Satellite' layer to see our new location.

Faye demonstrates how quick and easy it is to pitch their 3 minute tent.

Faye and Pete supervise our packing up.

The waterhole at "Bushy" Parker Park, Rollingstone

Rest stop on the road to Ingham

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