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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Captain Cook Highway starting at Cairns

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
26 km
Riding-time estimate
28 min
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis

The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.

Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.

Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.

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Why this ride

Repeated coastal bends, headlands and frequent viewpoint stops. It also links naturally to Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef.

Access context

Check state road reports, fire, flood, fuel range and unsealed-road suitability. Specific flag: flooding; traffic; ferry.

Seasonal context

May-Oct

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Cairns

    Cairns sits in the tropical far north of Queensland, with the Coral Sea on one side and a wall of rainforest mountains on the other, and the whole town is organised around the idea of being a launch pad. Boats leave daily for the Great Barrier Reef, small planes head for Cape York, and the road north runs up to the Daintree, where the oldest rainforest on earth meets the beach. The town was founded in the 1870s as a port for the goldfields at Hodgkinson River and later became a sugar and tourism centre. It is not especially pretty in the old-town sense, but the Esplanade, with its saltwater lagoon, mudflats full of waders and cheerful backpackers, has a relaxed tropical air.

    Read the complete Cairns write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Cairns sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Palm Cove.

  2. 2. Palm Cove

    Palm Cove is the quiet end of the northern beaches north of Cairns, a village of under four thousand people on a curve of sand with a long jetty and an avenue of old paperbark trees along the beachfront, their bark peeling in soft white layers. The paperbarks, or melaleucas, lean over the footpath and give shade to the cafes and restaurants beneath. It is a resort village, calm and a bit upmarket, but small enough that a rider on a road trip can wander in without feeling out of place.

    Read the complete Palm Cove write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Palm Cove comes up 26 km in.

Recorded source links

Source

More motorcycle rides nearby