Day 351 | Louisa Lake, Hann Highway: nice
75 km | zzOz total: 9,483 km
After that desolate countryside and headwinds on the road between Winton and Hughenden the last couple of days have been a relief.
That denuded landscape had made me wonder if I had been heading in the right direction. Yesterday was pedalling across similar terrain for the most part, except there were trees, maybe more undulation and the wind, while not a pure tailwind, was not in your face.
Porcupine Gorge is the Northeast Queensland version of the Grand Canyon, I just about choked when I heard that comparison.
But standing on the edge of the gorge at the lookout late in the day I could, sort of, see the point. It’s only 120 m deep but then again it is 120 m deep. It cuts through a recent 2 – 5 million years ago, volcanic lava flow, a white sedimentary layer, then 2 separate, different coloured, sedimentary layers going back about 190 million years. The gorge there is vertically sided and Porcupine Creek even has some flow at the bottom due to the recent precipitation.
I camped at the Pyramid campsite and this morning, with mist coming off the creek, went down to check out the impressive pyramid. It was more the river cutting through the soft sandstone that interested me, so quiet, the early morning light, the place to myself despite a few motorised campers sharing the site.
The ride today was more undulating, some of the steeper bits were sealed, although I found myself pushing up one 15% grade, that’s what the sign at the top announced, no embarrassment at all.
Despite the recent rain the road was reasonable and for once I made good progress. As I got higher the trees became taller. Not much traffic, 20 cars maybe, 5 roadtrains filled with terrified cattle, and for some reason no other cyclists.
Just on cue a lake appeared and a decent track down to find the usual birdlife amongst the trees.
A great ride after all.