Another long day, 700 odd kms and hardly a bend to speak of. It gets a bit monotonous, or as the locals say “as boring as bat shit”. I don’t know much about bat shit, but it doesn’t sound too interesting! I can’t wait to get to some nice twisty roads, the bike must think it’s on the dyno!

53 metres is a long truck, given that UK trailers are 42ft Max. (I make that 12.7 metres). They’re not that impressive though, just long snaking beats that look like they’re on the verge of crashing any moment. Best given a very wife berth!

Respect to the drivers though.

Just what I wanted to see on the WIDE OPEN toilet door! I had a good look around but thankfully there were no brown snakes.

I saw a pink one though. It was HUGE 😉

The locals were all telling me this is a life size model of the largest crocodile, killed in the early 1900s. I’m not convinced. It looks petty mean though. It doesn’t matter how big your knife is, if you met one of these in the wild you’d have no chance.

When I was going to Burketown to fly the morning glory a few years ago, I asked the guy in the gun and sports shop what the best thing for defence against crocodiles was. He put a pair of Nikes on the counter. I think he’s probably right!

That road sign is ace! I thought it was a good job I was on a bike, as car eating cows sound quite scary!

Actually I saw a lot of wildlife on the run in to Normanton. The last 150 kms were straight into the sun, which was low in the sky and in my eyes. Just on dusk all the joeys were out. I was glad to make it into the township.

I thought it might be a good idea to capture some of the people I meet along the way. This nice couple were running the roadhouse in Mount Surprise. (I think the surprise is the fact there’s no mountain there!).

Andrea and Marilyn are from Italy and Belgium respectively, doing the woffa thing and travelling around. They do a good feed and are headed for Cairns or the tablelands next. No internet or phone makes it difficult to stay in touch out there, buy otherwise they’re having a grouse time.

On the way through Cairns I just had to call in and see my old mate Joe. The Microlight I restored would never have got airborne if it wasn’t for Joe. A diamond bloke and a good friend.

Wazza had bought the old trike, which Joe is helping him get back in the sky. I couldn’t resist a last sit in the “air chair”, I hope they get her up again.

Nice to meet you Wazza, and great to see you again Joe! What a pity I didn’t have more time….

Meet Mrs Skinny Legs, who kindly kept me company last night. I know you don’t get much of a sense of scale in a photo, but that’s standard ceiling coving she’s sitting on! This is the biggest spider I have ever seen.

I don’t mind spiders particularly, but they do make you jump when they move quickly. Mrs S can really move for a lady of her size! I’ve lived in Australia for a few years and I’m glad I’ve finally seen a big spider! (Hmm, I wonder if there’s a ‘big spider’ I can ride past?).

I stayed with good friends Bob and Tracey last night, who live in the rainforest of Kuranda. (Where big spiders live obviously).Teddy came over for dinner and it was good to talk about flying again. 4 people who’ve flown the morning glory cloud, a rare privilege indeed!

Kev’s mate swung by in this little beauty. I got to take it for a spin, awesome! I’m not into cars but I want one!

Back in Gordonvale at Kev’s shed. It was really great to catch up with old friends Kev and Shaz. I managed to dry out my gear, do an oil and filter change, fit a new spark plug (not easy with that huge tank!), fit the new chain too. The bike seems happy about it, I even gave the old girl a wash too!!

As always the time went all too fast. A last beer in the Guzzbar and I was away to Cairns to catch up with more old friends.

What else could follow the big apple, big orange and big prawn? The big mango was pretty cool, it even had a bug green ant for extra authenticity!

After a couple of big days I’m taking it easy in Cairns for a while. 700kms followed by 950kms is enough riding for now! The last 300kms were in the rain, but not pounding. The waterproof trousers are definitely not waterproof, after just 30 minutes I was soaked. Very disappointing.

But sunshine fixes almost all problems, especially wet trousers!!