Day 20 – Musgrave to Moreton Telegraph Station (297k)

We woke to find a heavy dew over our swags and everything that had been left out for the night. Packing up was quick as we had not needed to unpack the cooking equipment, the toilet, the shower, only our swags.

We watched channel 7 news as we ate breakfast at the roadhouse and then hit the road. Miles decided to strap his wrist as it was sore from his crash the day before but he was fine to ride.

We headed off North on the Peninsular Development Rd towards Coen through dense open forest. The road was mostly dirt with some short sections sealed for overtaking and a lot of roadworks to repair sections damaged in the wet. Towards Coen the country became much hillier as we headed into the Great Divinding Range and we were soon in mountainous country.

We stopped at Coen for a cuppa and discovered that “Grunters Beastro” had an expresso machine which delivered excellent cappucino’s and expresso coffee. While enjoying this treat Liam discovered that the rear sub-frame on his bike had cracked all the way through. Bruce managed to solve the problem with fencing wire and it was not long before we were off again.
About 70k north of Coen we reached the Archer River Roadhouse were we refuelled and ate lunch surrounded by a busload of grey nomads. From there we rode north through much the same country until we reached the Moreton Telegraph Station our destination for the night. As we were staying in ready made tents we were set up in no time.

It is now our fourth day in FNQ and so far we have avoided any encounters with denge fever carrying mosquito’s or ticks but have been unable to avoid another form of pest which appears to be rapidly increasing in numbers to plague proportions, the GN’s. While one or two GN’s are quite easy to deal with, they are increasing in number at every stop we make, infesting all food places and accommodation. There were dozens of them staying in Moreton and they got a real surprise when “Borat” walked through in his mankini . A few of the ladies got a bit carried away as “Borat” told me later he was manhandled by a couple who whispered in his ear that he was sexy!