The choice of where to ride on an organised tour is many and varied. Once you decide to rent one of our Ducatis, you’ll also consider and plan how much time you have to tour, and weather dependent, where to tour. Our organised tours can be tailored to suit you and the circumstances at the time. Broadly speaking, the tours can be designed to include coastal, rainforest, farmland and ‘dry country’ riding.
Our favourite “riding on the coast” is the picturesque winding road from Cairns to Port Douglas, and return (the road North is not the same as the ride South!). Where the rainforest truly meets the sea – Daintree / Cape Tribulation is an excellent ride from the Tablelands, with coastal and rainforest riding.
Riding on the Atherton Tablelands can mean a ‘day ride’ by cruising for example, the ‘Waterfall circuit’, the Kennedy highway to Ravenshoe, the Atherton-Herberton road, the agricultural / farmland circuits, and riding to the Lake Eacham, Lake Barrine, Lake Tinaroo, with many roads taking you through the magnificent rainforests – the circuits are almost boundless and all are exciting scenic riding.
Slightly to the south west of the Tablelands, you can take a tour from Malanda through Ravenshoe, the highest town in Queensland, to Innot Hot Springs and enjoy a soak in natural hot mineral water, and then even further to Undarra Caves where the overnight outback accommodation choices include railway carriages!
The northern Atherton Tablelands, with towns of Mareeba and Dimbulah, ride through former tobacco growing country which now boasts abundant orchards of mangoes and avocados, fields of pumpkins and acres of sugar cane.
Tours designed to include the superb winding roads from the coast to the Great Dividing Range include the Palmerston Highway to the south, the Gillies highway in the middle, the Kuranda highway near Cairns North, and the Rex range in the North. These can be covered on one long day riding, or better still, allow an overnight to return to base ‘the long way’ round.
The circuit from Malanda to Cooktown return also deserves at least a night away.
All rides have fantastic stops to ‘lookout’, to eat, drink and refresh, and stay …. your main aim is to ride though the walks / climbs / swims / balloon rides / train rides are all here for the experiencing.
It’s really important to be aware of the WILDLIFE – up here in the North we are so fortunate to have an abundance of both rare and more common critters, many of whom are still getting used to the presence of roads, traffic and all the dangers human activity bring to their lives. Take the Lumholtz Tree Kangaroo – it’s only home is the Atherton Tablelands – it’s larger than a possum / smaller than a kangaroo, and it will cross the road which runs through it’s habitat. The local wildlife rescuers do their best – taking care of the injured and the orphaned. And for the motorcyclist – you’d come off second best if you hit one. In the drier areas you may be fortunate to see Black Kites and Wedge Tail Eagles, but take extreme care if they’re feeding on road kill, the time and space needed to take flight upon hearing the music of a Ducati requires you, the rider to slow right down! Riding to Cooktown, you’ll read the signs “Cattle on unfenced roads” but don’t be ‘put off’ by this as the cattle cross slowly are generally predictable, so the rider can avoid a mishap very easily. In Cassowary inhabited areas, near coastal Mission Beach, also on Bruce Highway near Cardwell area you may be charmed by father and chicks on the side of or crossing the road, but do be aware these large birds are very unpredictable in every way, and are best appreciated from a good distance. They have no road sense! So ride vigilantly as we Tablelanders all do – makes life so much easier 🙂
