Component around Moresby Range and Component around Edmund Kennedy
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
211 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 33
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.
A 211 km round trip from Innisfail Estate - roughly 3 h 33 in the saddle. The stops in between: Component around Kurrimine Beach, Component around Mission Beach, Component around Edmund Kennedy and back through Component around Mission Beach.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Component around Moresby Range
Innisfail had to rebuild itself after a cyclone flattened much of the town in 1918, and it chose to do so in the latest style. As a result, this sugar town on the Johnstone River has one of the finest collections of Art Deco buildings in Australia, with colourful façades, geometric patterns and elegant shopfronts lining the main streets. Just to the east, the Moresby Range runs down to the coast in a band of steep, rainforest-covered hills, part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage area, one of the oldest continuously surviving tropical rainforests on earth.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Component around Moresby Range is where the day begins. Next is Component around Kurrimine Beach.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Component around Kurrimine Beach comes up about 29 km into the recorded legs. Next is Component around Mission Beach.
3. Component around Mission Beach
The cassowary crossing signs around Mission Beach are not a joke, and the bird they warn you about is not a small one. This stretch of coast between Tully and Innisfail is one of the last strongholds of the southern cassowary, a dinosaur-looking creature with a blue head and a horned casque, and the rainforest that runs right down to the sand here is part of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage area. Few places on earth put ancient forest and a palm-fringed beach this close together.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 64 km into the recorded legs you reach Component around Mission Beach. Next is Component around Edmund Kennedy.
4. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Component around Moresby Range closes the day.
Leg by leg
Component around Moresby Range to Component around Kurrimine Beach
Component around Moresby Range → Component around Kurrimine Beach is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Component around Kurrimine Beach to Component around Mission Beach
Component around Kurrimine Beach → Component around Mission Beach is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Component around Mission Beach to Component around Edmund Kennedy
Component around Mission Beach → Component around Edmund Kennedy is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Component around Edmund Kennedy to back through Component around Mission Beach
Component around Edmund Kennedy → back through Component around Mission Beach is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Component around Mission Beach to back through Component around Kurrimine Beach
back through Component around Mission Beach → back through Component around Kurrimine Beach is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Component around Kurrimine Beach to Component around Moresby Range
back through Component around Kurrimine Beach → Component around Moresby Range is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.