Day 375 | Cooktown Caravan Park: but don't expect to use any power, sonny

74 km | zzOz total: 10,303 km

Flat, it’s dead flat, said Charlie, and sealed all the way to Cooktown.

Mervyn, or was it Stanton, pointed out something: The Gap.

Oh yeah, it starts with a hill but it’s just a steady uphill, then it’s flat.

Down at the beach last night, four locals were having a beer, the wind up a bit, I asked if it was OK to camp.

No worries.

That campsite was perfection in Paradise: a steep beach, 3 prawn trawlers off to do their thing in the twilight, a nice rise overlooking the beach, some shelter but how good is camping 20 m from the high tide mark, the outstanding campsite since, well, umm, Rocky Pool near Carnarvon.

As for that flat road, it started with about 20 km of slowly increasing slope, some steep enough to need a push, then a bit down, then some more up. Finally at Rossville it does begin to have more of a preponderance of downhill.

I waited for the gals at the Lions Den Pub, a local institution of national significance, the interior decoration is a one off, every surface, including ceilings covered with inscription, they’d stayed elsewhere at a caravan park last night. But unlike the zany, fun guys Ahn and Chee I biked the Mereenie Loop with, or the irrepressible Sebastien for our shared Tanami adventure, both rollicking, whacky times, the gals are a bit too much of the sensible shoes variety, there’s joy there but like many couples, they ain’t going to share it.

Each to their own, at least I’ve always got the best of company.

I’ve always found conformist social situation the most taxing to my spirit, I need an edge to bounce off, like Charlie. He was easy conversation, asking if I’m travelling alone, yeah, at the moment but there’s a few wild and dangerous women chasing me. Charlie said there were a few women coming down later, well, send one over, I’ll just be over there, actually send two. The boys think this is hilarious, I guess being stuck in paradise ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

I leave the Lions Den, crank up Beck on the iPod, noise and liveliness, the roads now sealed all the way into town and you know what, it’s almost all downhill, with a couple of runs getting close to 50 kph, a frightening experience on the dodgy old bike, crook steering and the trailer not lending to great stability.

I had a blast.