Day 398 | Jackey Jackey Creek campsite: last solitary night for a while

66 km | zzOz total: 11,520 km

In the end I just biked around to the ferry, back through the 2 km slog of sandpit, half ridden in what must be a hilarious high cadence style, then 5 km of sandy uphill on a 4WD track which turned into an OK 4WD track until I hit the main road, 24 km of fast, madcap, dust raising drivers who probably left Cairns yesterday morning before that ferry crossing.

I knew it was $88 for a car and an extra $11 for a trailer. No way that bridge will ever be built.

The sign outlining costs said $33, beggar, that’s a bit steep, oh, but that was for motorcycles, bicycles are way down the list, $11, and that’s return. I can live with that.

The water excursion takes about 2 minutes and may have considerably lengthened my life I’m assured.

It’s before 2 pm I’ve come 42 km of hard yakka and I’m only halfway to a shower. I start pedalling into the full on wind, it’s uphill away from the river and, as these impediments to progress often occur in threes, the road condition deteriorates quite dramatically.

After 6 hours of whirring spokes I check the map, just 3 km from the main road is the last National Park campsite, the little used track, great condition, leads down to one of my favourite ever campsites, near a small swimming hole, the creek upstream 3 m wide, 4 m deep, and you can see each grain of sand on the bottom.

My last night of solitude for a while.

Absolute perfection.