Last Motorbike Ride Before the Wet Season Arrives
Cairns motorcycle riders rack up some kilometres before the monsoon season kicks in.
GENERALLY, the back-end of November starts to see a number of events wind down in preparation for the onset of the monsoons or ‘wet season’ up north as roads become impassable — hunting lodges start wrapping up, tours start to slow down, and for Cairns’ motorcyclists, the available riding days start to get a little waterlogged.
Sure, Southern States also get flogged like a red-hair-stepson with some heavy weather at this time of year, but the weather up north is torrential at best, cyclonic at worst. It’s not the be-all-and-end-all, mind you, most riders will still get out the wet weather regardless — after all, if you don’t ride in the rain, you really don’t ride at all, right?
Knowing that the heavy rain is just around the corner and those big-kilometre-days-in-the-saddle will be limited, a local Cairns group decided to saddle-up to get one more spin in before things got damp. The destination of choice was some 299 km away at the somewhat-famous Lion’s Den Hotel, around 30 km south of Cook Town.
The Lion’s Den is slowly starting to get back on its feet after it was nearly washed away in the last major flooding event in 2024. Now refurbished with new mine-site-styled Donga accommodation, it is slowly starting to pick itself back up. For decades, the pub has been a popular drop-in spot for travellers of all breeds heading to and from the Cape York Region It’s not uncommon to arrive and find a mix of road riders cheek-by-jowl alongside groups of off-road bike tours, local fishos and hunters all wetting their whistles at the bar.
So, The Lion’s Den it was for the weekend, with the mixed group leaving Cairns at around 9.30 am and rolling up the twisting Kuranda Range. After a short stop to collect another rider and then motoring on toward the heritage-listed Mt Molloy Hotel another 40 minutes away. From Mt Molloy, the ride plan was a simple one — taking the group along the Mulligan Highway to the Palmer River Roadhouse for a bite to eat and a couple of coldies, then on the Lake Lands Roadhouse to fuel up the thirsty bikes. I suspect the grub was better at Palmer River, and the fuel was a little cheaper at Lake Lands Roadhouse.
The temperature was already starting to soar, with searing heat that only Northern Australia can turn on, turning motorcycle seats into two-wheeled George Foreman Grills after only minutes in the sun when dismounting for a break.
Rolling along the Mulligan Highway and through Mt Carbine, the group stopped at Bob’s Look Out to share the sweeping views on top of the Desailly Range. The Look Out has special meaning for members of the Northern Queensland Veteran Community as it is the location of a number of Unit and personal Memorials in honour of those who had fallen. As it happened, travelling with us was a young couple visiting from the UK for the first time who were blown away by the vastness of Northern Queensland when viewed from on top of Bob’s Look Out. Well, as the song says, ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet’.
Time to keep moving, so that was what we did, completing the stop-overs for food and topping up fuel with the riders starting to cop intermittent (yet welcome) sudden down-pours of tropical rain. Well, it was all welcome until the weather God’s thought the riders were not quite wet enough and they needed a lightning display.
Yeah, that’s what they needed — some of that direct, large, forked, sky-to-earth lightning! None of that sooky to-whom-it-may-concern sheet lightning, no sirree. Let’s have some of that tree-shredding shit to make life interesting. Oh, and a heap of rain and thunder to go with all that, eh? The wild display by Mother Nature made the boys earn that cold beer riding the last 56 km to The Lion’s Den Hotel, I can assure you.
The group was finally all back together… with one addition. Seems that while waiting out the storm, one of the riders in our group got yarning with a pig hunter whose dog had given birth to a litter of good-looking pups. Next minute one of them had a new owner with the pup enjoying its first two-wheeled experience onboard a bright yellow Triumph Rocket 3.
My mate’s make me laugh out loud sometimes. While checking-in to the accommodation, the very young, very new British back-packer working at the front reception at The Lion’s Den was handing out the room keys and offered safety advise. She said to my mate, all wide-eyed, “Don’t swim in the creek at the back of the property, there are FOUR crocodiles in there!”
“Four?” he replied. “What happened to the other six?”
After the massive floods, a lot of the interlinked waterways had shifted allowing the big swamp Geckos access to locations they could not normally have reached before. Let’s face it, it’s North Queensland and these snapping handbags are everywhere. My general rule of thumb is simple when it comes to swimming up here. If it does not have tiles, a filter and a pool fence, I’m not swimming in it. Simple as that.
Okay, accommodation and the crocodile question sorted, the afternoon and evening turned to the serious business of knocking back some coldies and enjoying the company of good friends. Which went on for some time into the evening and beyond.
I will say something about the guy who makes the pizzas at The Lion’s Den Hotel. Hands down, the best pizza I have had in ages, and no complaints about the other food ordered I will add.
I have to say that catching up with our mates has been a long time coming as I have been recovering from surgery which gives me the shits. Regardless, knocking back beers and having a laugh with great people always offers strong motivation.
So, is that really the last ride for the year? Not really. I reckon there will be a few sneaky ones taking place before the end of the year.
As for The Lion’s Den, if you are planning a bit of a tour of North Queensland, poke your head in there, grab a beer, order a pizza and stay the night. Just stay out of the creek out the back…
Words and Pics by Pyro
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