Monday, November 12, 2012

Border Loop Ride


Border Loop Ride

 

 
Hi, I’m back on the Australian roads again after a few months absence – having been in Europe for the summer.  I arrived back in Sydney a month ago,  14th October to be precise, after an interesting 3 day stopover in Seoul, where I did manage to do quite a bit of skating around the huge city. Some photos are here:

Anyway after 3 very enjoyable weeks in Sydney, for most of which the weather was dry and warm, I travelled by overnight Greyhound bus up to Surfers Paradise, arriving on Monday 5th November. With me I had my trusty Giant hybrid bike, which has already notched up 10000kms and still going strong, my skates, and a cycle-pannier  full of essential items – a few clothes, bike tools, camera, and  netbook. I like to travel as light as possible when cycle touring and I’ve always found one pannier to be quite adequate – I always stay in hotels/motels so don’t have to carry camping equipment.

I spent 3 days in Surfers and was very pleased that I had my skates with me, it could almost be called Skaters Paradise because there are many kms of lovely smooth flat bikepaths and pavements along the seafront.
 
Although the pavements and malls in the centre of town are very much off limits:

$750 penalty just for skating in the wrong place?  Are skates toy vehicles or just conveyances (or both)?

After pretty much skating the whole Gold Coast over 3 days it was time to get away from the city for some cycling through the mountainous hinterlands.  And as usual  the Lonely Planet Cycling Australia Guide provided a suitable route.

Day 1 – Robina to Murwillumbah

The weather had been warm and dry for the 3 days I spent in Surfers Paradise, however on the night before I set off on the ride it rained heavily. By the morning it had stopped raining but it remained very overcast and it was obvious that more rain was on the way. I set off around 9am heading south along the Gold Coast as far as Miami, then turned east  arriving at the suburb of Robina around 1030. Then it started to rain so I took shelter in a handy McDonalds for about an hour, by which time the rain had stopped and it was brightening up nicely.

Heading out of Robina en route to the Springbrook National Park  the road is part of an Olympic cycle training route, involving a 11km climb. This is the view looking back towards the Gold Coast,  and you can just about make out  the skyscrapers if you zoom in a bit:

BTW – just a reminder – you can zoom in on any photo by simply clicking on it.

The descent into the  scenic Numinbah valley was steep and very fast:




Then another long, steep ascent led to the impressive formation known as Natural Bridge, where a creek plunges into an underground pool:

It’s reached via a short rainforest walk which was deserted and wonderfully peaceful, despite, according to the LP guide, having hundreds of thousands of visitors a year:

 
A bit further on, at the top of the climb there is a sign marking the border crossing into New South Wales:


For some reason I forgot that I was now in a different time zone – NSW has daylight saving and the clocks went forward 2 weeks ago – and neglected to reset my watch. And it was to be another 2 days before I realised this error.

From the border, another thrilling descent led into the small town of Chillingham which had a charming old-fashioned general store and not much else:
 
From here it was another 20 fairly flat kms to Murwillumbah, the day’s destination, lying on the banks of the Tweed River:
 
 

 

Arriving at what I thought was still 5.30 but was in fact 6.30 owing to the time zone change, I found accommodation at the strikingly pink Imperial Hotel:

I’d travelled 98kms, not a great distance but it had certainly involved a lot of climbing – so quite a tough start to the ride.

Day 2 – Murwillumbah to Nimbin

Yesterday’s rain had caused a bit of rust on the brake cables and  the brakes were sticking, so before leaving all the components of the bike received a good lube.

Compared to yesterday’s ride this section was easy. The route began with a gentle climb up the Tweed Valley, dominated by Mount Warning, significant as it’s the first point of the Australian mainland to be struck by the rising sun:
 
 

I reached Nimbin by lunchtime and was immediately accosted by a fat cop. “Where have you cycled from mate?”

“Only from Murwillumbah”

“Blimey, all that way, how did you manage that? It’s very hilly and dangerous”

“It’s only 52kms, that’s nothing – and there was hardly any traffic”

“Well I reckon you’re crazy to ride that distance on these roads. Stay safe anyway”

Pretty much a typical attitude out here in the country.  You hardly ever see anyone cycling outside the major cities.

Anyway  Nimbin is a wild and wacky place if ever there was one. It’s the epicentre of a region of hippy communes, spiritual retreats, and New Age mumbo-jumbo, home to the Hemp Embassy, a lobby centre for cannabis law reform,  and it’s chock full of weird types most of whom were stoned out of their brains.



 
I’d been there about an hour when it started raining very heavily, so I was relieved that it had been such a short day’s ride. The rain persisted through the evening .  I decided to forego the various exotic substances that were on offer everywhere, choosing instead to relax with a pint or several on the balcony of the Nimbin Hotel:
 


Day 3 – Nimbin to Kyogle

It rained throughout the night and was still drizzling when I awoke. I waited a while until the rain subsided and set off on a tough route, with 3 steep climbs in the first 20kms. The scenery was fine, with views of the Tweed Range in the distance, but it was too overcast to get any really good photos.
 
It started raining after about the first 15kms and I spent an hour sheltering at a small roadside café; then at 32kms just as I reached the town of Kyogle it started to rain really hard. There was no point in going on as the next available accommodation (and the intended destination for today) at Grady’s Creek was another  36kms away – so I checked into the  Exchange Hotel which was actually a lot nicer than it looks in this photo:
 

Despite being a very small town, Kyogle has a cinema so at least there would be something to do that evening. I went along to check out what was on, and found they were showing Looper, a film I’d been quite keen to see, at 6.45pm. I bought a ticket – it was then 4.30pm according to my watch – and went back to the hotel and read my book for a couple of hours. Returning to the cinema  2 hours later, the lady who’d sold me the ticket said the film had already started.

“Why? You said it started at 6.45pm, it’s only 6.40 now”

“No sir, it’s 7.40 – are you by any chance still on Queensland time? We often get people forgetting to change their clocks when they cross the border”

So I’d spent the last 2 days thinking that the time was an hour earlier than it actually was!

There weren’t any more performances that evening so I went for a nice meal  nearby  and returned to the hotel. It continued to rain hard into the night.

Kyogle main st has some nice Art Deco buildings -

 

The total distance today was just 32kms, though this had included some tough climbs.

Day 4 – Kyogle to Beaudesert

I left early – around  7.30 am, as I had to make up the distance I had intended to cover yesterday. Although the rain had finally stopped, it remained very overcast. The route from Kyogle is known as the Lions Tourist Rd, having been funded by various Lions Clubs, and was nice and smooth, flat and reasonably free of traffic.
I made a quick refuelling stop at Wiangaree General Store :
 

The road passes through Grady’s Creek valley, said to be a good place to spot platypuses, but the threatening rain was a big incentive to keep moving, after stopping briefly to take some photos:


From Gradys Creek there was a steep 3km climb towards the Queensland border:

Ascending further the weather started to brighten up and the views got better and better:



From the border the descent was very steep:




From here onwards it was flat all the way, and I had a decent tailwind helping me along. The road became quite busy and there wasn’t much of interest, apart from this car hanging from a tree branch:

I reached Beaudesert shortly after 1pm.  Took a brief look around the museum, which wasn’t very interesting,  then found a room at the  Art Deco Beaudesert Hotel:

Total distance covered today was 102kms. Spent the rest of the day enjoying the sunshine on the hotel balcony, and enjoyed a nice steak dinner in the evening.

Day 5 – Beaudesert to Surfers Paradise

The start of today’s ride was delayed half an hour by the first puncture of the journey, which happened on the way out of Beaudesert.  Weather was warm but still overcast and not very conducive to taking photos.

The route back towards the coast involved a 500 metre climb over Mt Tamborine. Winding up the ascent, through a canopy of rainforest, I met a couple of other cyclists, the first I’d seen on this tour. Rode with them up to the summit.  At the top is the pretty village on North Tamborine, which has several wineries. I restricted myself to just visiting 2 of them as I wanted to keep a clear head for the steep descent ahead.

The views from Mt Tamborine were fantastic:


At this point the bike started making some strange noises and on checking I found that a spoke had broken in the rear wheel. Not entirely surprising, given the amount of steep climbing I’d been doing, with a fairly heavy load.  The wheel was still running reasonably true so I knew it would see out the rest of the journey, as long as I took it fairly easy.

The descent was via the one-way road known as the “goat track” which runs past an army firing range:

Then it was another 30kms back to the coast, along a fairly busy road. The last 10kms was through suburbs,  with the coastal skyscrapers continually in view:

I arrived back in Surfers Paradise around 4.30pm, having covered 88kms today. Total for the 5 day trip was 372kms, which had included a lot of climbing! Certainly an interesting route and good road surfaces, the weather was a bit disappointing but it was nonetheless an enjoyable tour.

I’m planning on spending a couple more weeks here then may head up to the Sunshine Coast for another ride detailed in the LP guide – updates will be posted here in due course. Meanwhile the bike is having a rest while I get the rear wheel  repaired,  so it’s back to the skates!

 

 

 
 
 

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