Sunshine Coast and Hinterland

Sunshine Coast and hinterland

 

Monday December 10th 2012

Time to explore the countryside north of Brisbane, where I’ve been staying over the weekend, as usual I am following itineraries in the Lonely Planet Cycling Australia Guide.

Today’s route started with a train ride to Ferny Grove, about 10kms northwest of Brisbane city centre, at the outer edge of suburban development. The journey up to  Mt Nebo involved a steep ascent along a mostly unmade, narrow road known locally as the Goat Track:

 

It was a bit overcast and there was a brief rain shower on the way up.  After 21kms I reached the Manorina National Park and enjoyed a walk through the rainforest:

Increasing clouds detracted from the view on the way back down:

Rain looked imminent so I kept moving and didn’t stop to take further photos. I rode all the way back to Brisbane where I stayed one further night. Total distance for the day was  60kms.

 

Tuesday 11^th December

Again, the day started with a train journey north, this time to Petrie, about 25kms north of  Brisbane.  It was another cloudy day. The first point of interest on the route was the town of Dayboro which has an attractive old hotel:

Shortly after this point the long, steep ascent to Mt Mee (498m) began. It was a hard slog but the views were worth the effort:

A fast descent led to D’Aguilar where I detoured several kms along a dirt road to a winery which was closed when I got there. The rest of the journey, along the busy D’Aguilar highway, was punctuated by a few rain showers. I reached Caboolture, the destination for today, around 5pm after riding 94kms.

Wednesday 12^th December

I had a brief look around Caboolture  but there was nothing worth photographing, all the buildings were nondescript and modern and the town was completely lacking in character. However, 2kms outside the town I reached the Caboolture Historical Village and found that many of  the old buildings and their contents had been moved there. I spent an hour or so looking around and could easily have spent longer.

Onward the route passes by the Glass House Mountains, a striking series of 13 volcanic cores standing out from the coastal plane. Aboriginal legend is that they are a family frozen in stone. I made a 5km detour to climb one of them, Mt Ngungun, said to be the easiest – but found the path up to the summit closed and blocked off when I got there.

Another detour up a steep hill led to a lookout which afforded fantastic views of the mountains:

And  further along the route these strange mountains continued to dominate the landscape:

The day’s ride finished in the small town of Landsborough, a distance of 55kms:

Thursday 13^th December

The route started with a long hard ascent up the Blackall Range of mountains, about 400m above sea level, where it remained for most of the day, so it was a day of spectacular views.

To the east lay the Sunshine Coast:

And to the west lay the Glasshouse Mountains:

Despite it being early in the day I couldn’t resist the temptation to stop off at this attractive winery for a brief tasting:

Shortly after this I reached the Mary Cairncross Park, a beautiful rainforest reserve:

The onward journey along the top of the Blackall range continued to give great views of the Glasshouse Mountains:

 

I stopped for lunch at Maleny, an attractive little town with some fine art galleries:

Then after a brief detour I visited this not-very-spectacular waterfall:

Another very pleasant tasting interlude followed at the Flame Hill Vineyard:

…then a steep, exhilarating descent into the town of Nambour where I stopped for the day.

Total distance today was 69kms.

Friday 14^th December

Heading north from Nambour, after a few kms I reached the “Big Cow”:

After 20kms I passed through Eumundi, an attractive small town:

The route then deviated north-east towards the coast. Arriving at Noosaville around noon I had a particularly bad puncture from a  large screw bolt:

After another few kms I crossed the Noosa River and reached Noosa Heads, the northernmost extent of the Sunshine Coast. 

 

The beaches here are spectacular and surprisingly quiet for the time of year:

I rode over to Sunshine Beach and found a nice place to stay, then took a walk along the beach and over the headland to Alexandra Bay:

Then enjoyed an excellent fish dinner at the Surf Club.

Today’s distance 48kms.

Saturday 15^th December

I left Noosa around 9am and headed back south, along the  coastal road, known as the David Low Way. Unlike the Gold Coast where there’s a cycling/walking path next to the beach for most of the 40km from Coolangatta to Point Danger, there’s no beachside path next to most of the Sunshine Coast, just a few brief stretches of esplanade in the towns along the route. The David Low Way doesn’t offer much of a view of the sea for most of the way either, there’s a strip of rainforest between them.

There were a few sections of bike path running through this strip which made for a very pleasant break from the main road: 

        

The beaches were mostly very quiet, here’s a view of Peregian Beach:

At Coolum there were a few surfers taking advantage of the big waves:

Before reaching Maroochydore, the next town, the route turns inland to cross the Maroochy River. Here’s a view looking south from the Maroochy Conservation Park:

Crossing the Maroochy River:

View from Moolloolaba looking north to Maroochydore, Mount Coolum is on the right of the picture:

And this is the view south to Caloundra, the southernmost extent of the Sunshine Coast and the end of the journey:

The total length of coastline from Noosa to Caloundra is about 40kms, but with a lot of backtracking and deviations  in and out of the beaches I managed to cover 87kms today.

Boardwalk at Caloundra

I stayed the night at Caloundra, and in the morning rode the 20 or so kms inland back to Landsborough, where I’d been 4 days previously. From here I caught the train back to Toombul, a north-eastern suburb of Brisbane, in time to join the weekly Sunday Street Skate – see next blog post.