Why this ride
A 345 km round trip from Babinda - roughly 5 h 28 in the saddle. The stops in between: Component around Cowley, Component around Edmund Kennedy and back through Component around Cowley. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Component around Malbon Thompson and Graha and Component around Edmund Kennedy
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 345 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 28
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. 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.
Scenic road chapters
Atherton Tablelands Loop
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 100 km this is Atherton Tablelands Loop, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 100 km
- Named road
- Atherton Tablelands Loop
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Component around Malbon Thompson and Graha
South of Cairns, the coastal plain narrows between the sea and a wall of mountains that includes Bartle Frere, at 1,622 metres the highest peak in Queensland, and its neighbour Bellenden Ker. The ranges here are covered in dense rainforest, among the oldest on earth, and they form part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland, listed by UNESCO in 1988.
Read the complete Component around Malbon Thompson and Graha write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Component around Malbon Thompson and Graha is where the day begins. Next is Component around Cowley.
2. Component around Cowley
The Wet Tropics of Queensland are a long, narrow strip of rainforest between Townsville and Cooktown, and they hold the oldest continuously surviving tropical rainforest on earth, some of it unchanged for well over a hundred million years. The World Heritage listing, from 1988, covers not one block but a patchwork of national parks and other protected land, which is why the label calls this a component around Cowley. Here, the mountains run down almost to the sea, and on the flat, fertile coastal plain around Innisfail, sugar cane and banana plantations stand beside beaches, mangroves and remnants of forest.
Read the complete Component around Cowley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Component around Cowley comes up about 100 km into the recorded legs. Next is Component around Edmund Kennedy.
3. 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
about 173 km into the recorded legs you reach Component around Edmund Kennedy. Next is back through Component around Cowley.
4. back through Component around Cowley
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Component around Cowley 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 Cowley, late in the day. Next is Component around Malbon Thompson and Graha.
5. Component around Malbon Thompson and Graha
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Component around Malbon Thompson and Graha 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 Malbon Thompson and Graha. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Component around Malbon Thompson and Graha to Component around Cowley
Component around Malbon Thompson and Graha → Component around Cowley is 100 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Component around Cowley to Component around Edmund Kennedy
Component around Cowley → Component around Edmund Kennedy is 73 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Component around Edmund Kennedy to back through Component around Cowley
Component around Edmund Kennedy → back through Component around Cowley is 73 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Component around Cowley to Component around Malbon Thompson and Graha
back through Component around Cowley → Component around Malbon Thompson and Graha is 100 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.