Following on from my previous theme of walks around Cairns, I decided to return to one local to me called Earl Hill. This was a track I had used many years ago when training to tackle the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea. At that time, the track was quite steep, with high step ups, which I needed to train for Kokoda. I would go up and down it about 3 times, with my back pack, to strenghten my legs.
Over the last couple of years, the local Council a lot of work on the track, taking out many of the high steps and putting in a more zig zag track. This has made the track much easier and the steps which have been installed are very good.
A surprise on the way up, was that the Council had added a new track called the Bakarra Track. This made the track really worthwhile, an additional, as it turned out 3kms on an undulating track, more steps and finishing at Trinity Beach was a great new addition.
Having got to Trinity Beach, I headed back up the Bakarra Track and rejoined the Earl Hill track and then
back down that to the start. There is no parking at the start of the track, so you have to park a little bit away form the start in a car park by the boat club. My Garmin told me I had done just over 7kms, with a total elevation gain of 395 metres. It took me 1 hour and 46minutes, but would be faster if I hadnt stopped for pictures etc. All in all though a really good workout. The track can sometimes have quite a bit of traffic on it, but thats not a problem with the new track in place.
