Wednesday 5th January 2011 – Ride statistics:

Charters Towers - Atherton
Distance: 502 km
Depart: 6.00am
Arrive: 4.00pm
Total ride duration: 10 hours
Temperature: humid but cooler

So I’m almost there. I left a very humid Charters Towers at 6 am and took the Gregory Development Road up to Ravenshoe. As this goes up into higher ground it was actually quite cool, so this combined with a much better road surface, made for a really lovely ride. I arrived in Ravenshoe by 1pm. This put me in a bit of a quandary as I couldn’t decide if I should go to Cairns to get a new tyre for my bike (the front one has been bald since Cobar!) or continue inland along the Kennedy Highway. So I asked the Tourist Info man and he said I could get the tyre replaced in Ravenshoe. However, when I turned up at the recommended place, it turned out they didn’t stock tyres for road bikes. So the man there said there was a bike shop in Atherton and to try there. So that’s how I came to be in Atherton. I found the bike shop and they have the tyres so I’m going to take it in there in the morning then continue up to Mount Molloy.

So I’m almost there, only another 100km to go!!!