Component around Edmund Kennedy and Component around Russell River starting at Cardwell

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Component around Edmund Kennedy

   North Queensland has the oldest rainforest on the planet, and it stands beside the Great Barrier Reef, with the two meeting in a few places where the trees come down to the sea. Edmund Kennedy National Park lies on the coast near Cardwell, between the Bruce Highway and the Coral Sea, and it protects a lowland strip of tropical rainforest, mangroves and swamps. It is named after the explorer Edmund Kennedy, who landed in the nearby Rockingham Bay in 1848 on an expedition to Cape York, and died after months of hardship, speared by Aboriginal men near the northern tip. Only three of his party of thirteen survived, thanks in part to Jackey Jackey, an Aboriginal guide who stayed with him.

   Read the complete Component around Edmund Kennedy write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Component around Edmund Kennedy is where the day begins. Next is Component around Kurrimine Beach.

2. 2. Component around Kurrimine Beach

   Kurrimine Beach is a sleepy stretch of sand and coconut palms on the coast of Far North Queensland, between Innisfail and Mission Beach, and it sits at the meeting point of two World Heritage sites. Behind it, the rainforest-covered hills belong to the Wet Tropics of Queensland, listed by UNESCO in 1988 for their ancient forests, which are among the oldest continuously surviving rainforests on earth. In front of it, the Great Barrier Reef stretches out to sea. At very low tides, King Reef, just offshore, is exposed and you can walk out across the reef flats, one of the few places where the reef comes so close to the mainland.

   Read the complete Component around Kurrimine Beach write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Component around Kurrimine Beach comes up about 65 km into the recorded legs. Next is Component around Russell River.

3. 3. Component around Russell River

   Rain is the first fact of life along the Russell River. The river drains the eastern slopes of the Bellenden Ker Range, south of Cairns in far north Queensland, and these mountains, including Bartle Frere, at 1,622 metres the highest peak in the state, catch the moist trade winds off the Coral Sea and wring out some of the heaviest rainfall in Australia. The result is a dense, steaming tropical rainforest that tumbles down the mountains to the coastal plain, part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area, listed in 1988. It is one of the oldest continuously surviving rainforests on earth.

   Read the complete Component around Russell River write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 132 km into the recorded legs you reach Component around Russell River. Next is back through Component around Kurrimine Beach.

4. 4. back through Component around Kurrimine Beach

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Component around Kurrimine Beach write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Component around Kurrimine Beach, late in the day. Next is Component around Edmund Kennedy.

5. 5. Component around Edmund Kennedy

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Component around Edmund Kennedy write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Component around Edmund Kennedy. That is the ride.