Round Australia by bike - Day 009 - Ingham to Cairns

Day:	009
Date:	25 May 2008
Start	Ingham +10km
Finish	Cairns
Daily Distance:	223km
Daily Speed:	25.4kph
Relative to Schedule:	-96km
Daily Podcasts:	n.a.
GPS Track	Here
Journal:	Although I was comfortable enough sleeping on my picnic table, my sleep disturbed by a huge truck which parked next to my table and left his engine idling in my ear.  I eventually got up a little before 4am and quickly packed up and left.  It wasn‘t raining and I listened to the Test Cricket from the West Indies on my radio as I headed north to see how much time I could make up on my schedule.  I passed through the beautiful Cardwell on the ocean just before dawn and continued north.  I was still very tired and was dozing while riding as I approached Tully where I ate a much-needed Big Brekky.  It had been raining for the last hour and now looked to have set in for the day.  This is the wettest part of Australia and looked it.  Dense tropical growth gave way to cane fields and banana plantations in places.  Everything was very green, including the jungle clad mountains nearby, some of which rose to about 1,000m. I decided to make Cairns and a good night’s sleep my target for the day, hoping to arrive early enough to do a load of washing and catch up with my cousin, Phil, and wife, Denise.  There were quite a few hills in the afternoon, but I tried to maintain a good speed despite continuing rain, narrow roads and lots of traffic.  My right Achilles became increasingly painful and I ended up stopping and lowering my seat a centimeter, which seemed to ease the pain a little.  Hopefully that will help resolve what was becoming a worsening problem. I found a motel on the way into the centre of Cairns, got my washing done, and met Phil and family for a hasty early dinner.  I have a solid climb over the Great Dividing Range first thing tomorrow, so it is unlikely I will make up any time on my schedule deficit.