Like most, when I think of Cairns, Australia, I picture the golden dust clouds and the heart-sinking moment Loic Bruni dethroned Mick Hannah at the 2017 World Championships. Hell, I was even there. Maybe it was those fleeting memories of world-class trails, beautiful beaches and a warmer climate that planted the seed in my mind for wanting to go back and see what the tropics really had to offer.
Cairns is a special place in the sense that while it’s the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, mountains also rise off the beaches. Those mountains and surrounding hills are as much of a talking point as the reef itself and what we'd gone to explore. Home to the oldest continuously surviving tropical rainforest in the world, thought to be 165 million years old, the Daintree Rainforest provides the perfect setting for some much more current mountain biking trails. With the Daintree Rainforest / Wet Tropics Rainforest spanning some 450km down the coast of Northern Queensland and covering around 1200sq kilometers, the dense, lush rainforest sports a wide variety of settings for the trails to snake through.
Situated just 1850kms from the Equator, the climate in Cairns is nothing short of warm. Coming from New Zealand, Australia shares the same seasons, but with Cairns' tropical nature, the ideal time to escape to the warmer shores is when things are getting cold at home. During their summer is when they also experience their wet season, so while the temps are hanging around the mid 30's, the humidity is also peaking. During the months April and December is when the skies are blue and leaving the comfort of the air conditioning becomes a lot more bearable.
Even from the flight in, you get a bite-sized taste of what awaits.
It all started with a quick message to the lads. "Boys, fancy jumping across the ditch to go riding up in the tropics?" "You mean in Australia?" While the lads sat at home wondering what would await them, I'd already had a little taste of the trails in the tropics during last year's Worlds.
Underneath the dense tree canopy, surrounded by birdsong and more wildlife than what most are comfortable with lay some of the best trails we had yet to lay tyres on.
Stop #1 - the Rex lookout on our way up north.
Smile for the camera. Coming from the low-key shores of NZ, wildlife on the doorstep that you could pick up was quite an excitement.
Meet the locals. Some of whom aren't so friendly...
Your mates aren't the only ones who will laugh at you up here.
Watch out for the dropbears!
Stop number one on our Tour de Tropics. Northward of Cairns lies the picture-perfect postcard town of Port Douglas. White sandy beaches, palm trees, pubs and pools in every backyard. It's lucky we made it to the start of the Bump Track if we are being honest. In the foothills on the back side of the township is a vast array of historic aboriginal access tracks, now repurposed into hiking and biking trails. With a recommendation to check out the infamous Bump Track, we dragged ourselves out of the pool and onto the trail.
Parked up at the bottom gate of the infamous Bump Track, we looked up into the humming bush wondering what awaited us. It wasn't the wildlife that we had to worry about though, rather hydration management, foot placement and our mindset for continuing the arduous push-up and over the continual water bars. Starting down at sea level, the short trail climbs close to 300m within 4 kilometres, so was far from easy going. Once at the top though, the short-term pain was quickly surpassed by sheer amazement as we looked out back across to the coastline near Port Douglas.
The juice was worth the squeeze.
 | Wait, so this is a one-way trail right, the only way out is back down the ski run? |
| How insane was that!? We were just launching the whole way down that trail |
Launch it?
Or manual through it?
The loose tree litter made for many loose moments.
A trip further north of Cairns would not be complete without heading up to the Daintree National Park and into Mossman Gorge. With close to 11% of the Cairns population being aboriginal, it was only right we went and learned more about Australia’s native culture and how their ancestors lived in the rainforest.
Mossman Gorge had all the facilities in place to lead you through the rainforest.
We headed in private Kuku Yalanji land for more cultural enlightenment.
We were shown how many of the plants can be eaten or used for medicinal purposes, including this soap.
Ryan, our tour guide gave Jack a traditional set of ochre paint markings using the likes of coals, dirt and other marking material sourced from within the forest.
Home of the legendary Cairns Worlds Courses, Smithfield was possibly the most anticipated stop on our trip. For me, I knew there was a lot more than just those brutal rock gardens and high-speed chutes to ride, and for the lads, the thought of trying to conquer that Worlds DH track on trail bikes had them giddy.
Only a 20-minute drive from the CBD and surrounded by all the main facilities of a large township, Smithfield is somewhat of the main hub for the local riders. What we came to learn was that Smithfield park is essentially split into two areas, with the DH course being the divider. With access at both ends, it's easy to ride the zone that best tickles your fancy for that ride. Steeper, harder grade trails on the left side and the flowy, more trail bike orientated trails off the right.
Without any hesitation, it was straight up the right side to ride that old WC XC course for ourselves.
And boy was it rad, even if we did ride in the rain. Rock gardens led into rollercoaster-like jump sections.
No corners were harmed in the making of this article.
Dropping into The Generator. Not as easy as the pro's made it look.
Tucking up through the highest speed section with no goggles in the wet: No problem.
What's for lunch?
Keeping the hand/eye coordination sharp over lunch.
As if you were heading up to drop in the world's course, off to the left is local downhill run 'National DH', the highlight trail within the Smithfield park and one of the best trails of the trip. Starting up around the 250m mark, the trail snakes its way down through fast, deep berms before heading into much steeper, rockier and technical terrain all the way back down to sea level.
Playing in a tropical rainforest means you're at the mercy of the weather. On this day, it was in high 20's and raining. Never again will we complain about humidity!
Smithfield showed us how flow trails don't have to be boring. Those epic snaking bends led into steep, nasty rock gardens and wild rooty sections that had us suffering up for more.
Dank Jungle with all the greens.
An accurate depiction of what things felt like. Full noise and rushed.
Finishing back over the left side and at the main carpark was a blessing in disguise. This was how we came to realize the park had multiple entrances and washing facilities to get rid of that red jungle dirt before it got stuck on.
It would be rude to come to the largest banana and other fruit producing regions in Australia and not sample the produce. A quick trip to the Cairns markets saw us merry band of misfits stocked up for the week.
Seeing the jungle from beneath the canopy was one thing, but seeing from above was next level.
Catching the Skyrail up and over into Kuranda for lunch allowed us to stop and take in many of the amazing sites we otherwise wouldn't have been able to reach.
Not a lot of water was rushing over the Barron Falls this day, but in the wet season it really comes alive.
XXXX Gold and a burger, doing Straya properly.
No bikes attached to these gondola carts sadly.
Atherton was one of those places that wasn't even really on our radar, as guilty as I feel saying so. When I thought of riding in the tropics, I'd only thought of the likes of Bump Track, Kuranda and Smithfield. Shame on us. That was, until we got told it was worth a visit. So on our way we went, and boy did it take us back. In the quaint little township of Atherton, high in the tablelands an hour-ish inland from Cairns lay the golden gem within the regions trails centres.
If you think of Cairns like Queenstown, then Atherton would be much like Alexandra; not a place many would know about, but packing some serious trail punch. Atherton sits 750m above sea level and is one of many small townships along the Great Dividing Range. It's a diverse area and isn't clad in the same rainforest as other areas. Instead, the primarily rocky terrain is punctuated with tall gums, deep red dirt and tropical fruit plantations, making the region unlike all others within the greater Cairns riding regions.
A place where the rocky trails are scratched in through green meadows beneath tall gum trees.
The trail network here works brilliantly. They are well thought out so that each trail leads to the next and the climbing trails keep things flowing the right way.
Techy, flowy, rocky, steep, pedally. Atherton has it all.
Maybe it was the deep turns in lush meadows that sold me.
We only got the better part of a day scheduled to ride in the tablelands, but after that first day we had to rise with birds and get a little more.
Tools down.
Avoid crashing, because the hot climate doesn't make healing easy. Luckily we are qualified medical bro-fessionals.
Like any good riding destination, you would be silly if you didn't connect with local riders to show the good stuff and maximize your time. For us, we had heard of a plethora of local knowledge tracks, some of which are amongst the hardest in the region which we just had to try out for ourselves. At the discretion of not giving these spots away, I will say that if you do head to the tropics, talk with a local; be it a rider or shuttle operator and see what they too can show you.
We connected with Berend Boer, a local Cairns legend who showed us around several of his favourite local spots.
It wasn't all smooth sailing though. As the saying goes "Aussies, no surprises there!"
When in Queensland.
| Kuranda is the go-to for me. Anytime that I'm home in Cairns, we will load up the bikes and Dad will shuttle us all day. I have probably done more laps of the Kuranda Track than I have World Cup race runs. |
Get ready for the drop in a few meters down the road from the Henry Ross lookout.
From the moment your tyres touch the dirt on one of the first MTB tracks in Cairns, it's easy to see why it’s such a favorite.
Ripping down through the teeming root networks can be a little unnerving. It's often easy to wonder if that 'root' was really just that...
Berend to the rescue one once more. Playing host, guide and shuttle driver duties.
Golden dirt during golden hour and a trail that's worth its weight in gold.
Kuranda is a must in my books. If you get the chance, shuttling the trail all day long would be a great way to spend the day. Tame the tech and unlock its pace.
Welcome to Nandroya Falls, high in the hinterland southwest of Cairns.
With many of the beaches and rivers a bit of danger zone, hunting out fresh water sources in the form of waterfalls is one of the best ways to cool off. Luckily, many can be found in the hills around the city and further afield into other state parks.
Diving, sunbathing and underwater viewing. Hard work that mountain biking stuff.
Experiencing the wonders of the rainforest is best finished by comparing it to the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef.
After a hot & hectic trip it was time to cool down, Aussie styles.
Until next time Straya.
This trip was kindly supported by Ride Cairns, a division of Tourism Tropical North Queensland.
Where to stay:
During our time in the Tropics we stayed at a variety of different places:
Oaks Lagoon, Port Douglas
Lake Placid Cabins
BIG4 Holiday Park Atherton
Cairns Queenslander Hotel
During our time in the Tropics we stayed at a variety of different places:
Oaks Lagoon, Port Douglas
Lake Placid Cabins
BIG4 Holiday Park Atherton
Cairns Queenslander Hotel
Other Attractions:
For those “off the bike” times:
Skyrail
Hartley's Crocodile Park
Cairns Wakeboarding Park
Mossman Gorge
Great Barrier Reef
For those “off the bike” times:
Skyrail
Hartley's Crocodile Park
Cairns Wakeboarding Park
Mossman Gorge
Great Barrier Reef
For more information visit Ride Cairns or the TNQ Website
Mentions: @cameronmackenzie
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Love that Bryn Atkinson video in Cairns:
youtu.be/bxdAUydK3Z8