CAIRNS ESPLANADE KURANDA RANGE ABORIGINAL DANCERS AT KURANDA BARRON FALLS ELLIS BEACH ELLIS BEACH BAR & GRILL REX LOOKOUT

Half Day Tropical North Ride
Your Tropical North Queensland riding routes have been exhaustively road-tested by your host Stephen Rothwell; motorcycling journalist for The Cairns Post newspaper and passionate motorcyclist for over 25 years.
                  
In the course of road-testing all manner of machines from Aprilias to Yamahas, Stephen's coverage of Tropical North Queensland's highways and byways has been relentless. Join Stephen on any of the following hand-picked rides and you will most assuredly enjoy the most involving, varied and scenic motorcycling of your life.

Ideally suited to the rider or passenger on a tight schedule, this half-day Ride departs Cairns twice a day (at 7am and returning by 11.30am, and again at 12.00 and returning at 4pm) and takes in the vibrant, complex beauty of Tropical North Queensland's Rainforest on an ascent of the Kuranda Range Road; a cool and weaving tunnel of richly complex rainforest-enveloped road, delivering a feast for the senses - all the whoops, whistles, sweet aromas and visual feasts the Tropical North is famous for.

After morning/afternoon tea at Kuranda village, we thread north out of Cairns on The Captain Cook Highway - a scenic ribbon of road that bursts with vistas of rainforest-smothered peaks stacked atop lush cane fields. The ride then gets phenomenally involving and scenic as we tackle Australia's most stunning coastal road, drinking in endless Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef vistas.

Just a short drive north of Palm Cove, the highway opens out to reveal sensational views of steep rainforest peaks tumbling down to meet lush strips of sand. One really needs to stop to take in all this riotous beauty, and the best place for this is the Ellis Beach Bar and Grill, a real coastal retreat beside tropic seas sizzling on an ivory carpet beach. A beach that is yours – all yours.

The gogglingly gorgeous views are not over yet though – not by a long shot. Driving north from Ellis Beach to Rex Lookout, the highway really gets into its serpentine and scenic stride – a cliff-hugging, swooping and meandering scribble of road that alternately plunges into tunnels of rainforest and bursts with blinding Coral Sea views. Simply sensational.

The Bikes:
Aprilia Pegaso Strada 650:
Harley-Davidson Sportster:
Honda CB1300:
Aprilia RSV 1000 Tuono R:

What to Bring:
Enclosed footwear
Sunglasses
Long pants
Some cash for refreshments