Evan flew into Cairns and met us at Palm Cove. We had an afternoon together before Sally flew home and Evan swapped into the pillion seat for the next leg north.

Cape Tribulation was first target, 200km up the coast. The road out of Palm Cove through Port Douglas hugs the water the whole way — beaches and headlands one after another, hard to keep your eyes on the tarmac. We topped up on a fast charger at Craiglie, then rolled into Daintree Village for lunch at the pub, where Evan tried the crocodile wrap. I’d had it before and wasn’t going back for seconds.
 

The ferry across the Daintree River put us onto the last stretch of sealed road before the Bloomfield Track takes over, and we settled into Cape Tribulation Beach House for two nights. Watched the World Cup final on the beach at dawn, laptop set up on a chair, Starlink dish angled at the sky. Hard to beat.
 

Heading back south through Kuranda for a look at Barron Falls, then on to Yungaburra, a spot I’d been through before with Sally and wanted Evan to see for himself. From there to Undara was the hardest day of the section so far — 16 degrees and raining at the start, a headwind for the first 50km that ate into the range and had us crawling along at 60–70km/h to nurse the bike through the 205km leg. About 20km past Ravenshoe the weather broke, the wind dropped, and the road changed direction. Everything went our way after that, but it was the day that taught us to take range management seriously for what was still ahead.
 

The subframe passed its 2,000km check with nothing to report — no cracks, no movement, despite the extra 100kg of pillion and gear.
 

Georgetown was a charging stop on a caravan park’s 15-amp socket, and with two or three hours to fill, we hired a set of clubs and played nine holes on the local outback course. By the time we walked back the bike was topped up — good use of the time.

On to Croydon, then two nights at Karumba on the Gulf. Somewhere in there we discovered the trip computer had been under-reading distance since I’d changed the front sprocket, which meant the range sums were actually more conservative than reality — a handy 0.5kWh/100km buffer we hadn’t known we had.
 

From Karumba we charged at Normanton on a caravan park powerpoint over breakfast, then fought a crosswind down to Burke and Wills Roadhouse, hitting our ten-percent target on the nose. Evan tracked it in five-percent increments in his head to stay occupied; I worked in tens. Overnight charge off a powerpoint, then on to Cloncurry, forty kays of it tucked in behind a road train’s slipstream, pulling 100km/h for the effort of 70. Fast charge over breakfast, then the nicest road of the section — winding hill country into Mount Isa, a proper change after days of flat straight bitumen.
 

Section three done. Next morning, Evan and I did a live interview on ABC Radio Mount Isa, which went well enough that ABC Darwin want a follow-up call when I’m through the middle of section four. Evan flew home to Sydney from Mount Isa, and I carried on alone into section four.

Regards,