Sydney to Canberra

Wednesday 26th December 2012

 

To rid ourselves of all the excess weight gained from our Xmas dinner, Carole, Rob and I set off from Longueville, Sydney at around 0915, headed for Canberra. Apart from the weight loss objective, we were also keen to visit the Toulouse Lautrec exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia.

 

Carole and Rob had done a lot of work in devising a route that would use bikepaths and quiet roads as much as possible.  

 

 Starting out - Carole, Rob & Steve

 

 



The sky was overcast and it wasn't particularly warm, yet no rain was forecast so the conditions were ideal for cycling! We headed through Meadowbank, past the Olympic Park, and along the M4 cycleway via Parramatta, Guildford and Liverpool, then on to Campbelltown where the tourist office had a very pretty garden:

 

Tourist Information in Campbelltown

 

The route then traversed Narellan Rd to the Camden Valley Way, crossing over the Hume Highway which is the main road to Melbourne:

 

Foresaking the Hume for the back roads via Camden & Picton

 

Arriving at Camden we stopped at the tourist office to pick up some maps and were given some helpful advice about the big ascent that lay ahead:

 

 Outside Camden Tourist information

 

Camden centre

 









The climb over the Razorback was long but not too steep. Rising to about 300m, from the top you can see the tall buildings of Sydney, some 70kms away, but the visibility today was not very good.

 

 







 

 Carole & Rob complete the climb up the razorback

 

 King of the mountain!

 

 

From there it was a short descent to Picton, a small town where we found accommodation in the George IV , said to be the oldest hotel in NSW.

 



 

 

Distance covered today was 103kms - so we were off to a good start.

 

Thursday 27th December

 

The day began with a puncture to Carole's rear tyre before we'd left Picton. It was repaired soon enough and we rode 10kms to Thirlmere, where we spent an enjoyable and informative hour and a half in Trainworks, a large new museum of NSW railways.



 

 

PayBus

 

The route followed a quiet, minor road through Bargo and Yanderra; then the busy Hume Highway couldn't be avoided for a short stretch into Mittagong where  we stopped for lunch at a cafe. The weather was much brighter than yesterday and the temperature had started to climb.

 

 

 View over the Wingicarribee River, outside Moss Vale

 

After passing through Moss Vale I took a brief detour to the Southern Highlands Winery, arriving just in time to taste a couple of nice reds:

 

 

Then onto the pretty village of Bundanoon, where we stayed in the Bundanoon Hotel

 

 

After a good dinner, enjoying between us the entire range of menu options, we settled down to a game of bush rummy in the  hotel lounge.

Distance today was 85kms.

 

Friday 28th December

We had breakfast after about 10kms at the small village store in Wingello:

Following the Highland Way to Merulan, we had to join the Hume Highway again for a short distance, and Rob had what was to be the first of many punctures, from debris on the roadside verge. 

 

 

The route left the Hume and joined the Jerrara Rd to Bungonia, following which we followed a signpost towards Tarago, which led along the Lumley Rd - this turned out to be nearly 40kms of rough dirt:

 

 

The locals don't mince their words!!

 

The locals.....

 

Near the end of the dirt, passing by Lake Bathurst - which was apparently dry for many years until recently:

 

The combination of skinny road bike tires, which had already endured a fair bit of wear, plus 2 heavily loaded panniers, over rough dirt road with many corrugations, proved too much for Rob's bike and over this dirt section he had 4 punctures, eventually running out of spare tubes and also repair patches. I had gone on ahead to Tarago, arriving just after 3pm at the only hotel in town, the Loaded Dog - arriving about 3pm.

 

 

Fortunately they were still serving food so I ordered up a pizza and waited for Carole and Rob. Carole arrived at about 5pm, and told me that Rob had run out of repair patches and had had to resort to walking. I rode back to find him, with my puncture repair kit and he was about 4kms back from Tarago. Unfortunately the puncture repair wasn't succcessful and I had to leave him to walk the rest of the way, so he didn't get to the hotel until after 6pm.

 

 

 

Carole arriving at Tarago

 

 

We had another good meal at the Dog, which included a very nice Morooccan Beef Salad, followed by desserts and then the continuation of our card game of the previous evening, which Rob won by a large margin. Total d.iistance today, 105kms.

 

Saturday 29th December

 

There was another futile attempt to repair Rob's punctured tyre, using a new repair kit kindly provided by the hotel. But there was a problem with the rim tape which caused a new puncture every time the tire was inflated.



 

 

 

 

 

Carole & I set off  for Bugendore, the next town, where we hoped there would be a bike shop so we could get some new rim tape and an inner tube for Rob's bike. However it was 32kms away, and after about 10kms we checked on Google and foound there wasn't a bike shop there anyway. Foortunately Rob managed to get a lift from a kind lady called Shelley, who ferried him and his bike in her little Nissan Micra,  all the way to Pushies  bike shop in Fishwyck, Canberra, where he was able to get it fixed.

 

This did of course men that Rob missed out on riding the last 67kms of the journey to Canberra, and the hilly yet scenic road:

 

 

 Arriving at the ACT border

 

 

 We passed tthrouugh Queanbeyan just after 3pm and shortly afterwards rendezvoused with Rob at our accommodation, Victor Lodge in Kingston, which he had kindly arranged.

 

Then the 3 of us went for a ride around part of Lake Burley Griffin, and enjoyed a celebratory drink at the Southern Cross Sailing Club, before heading off to dinner at the La Rustica restaurant, close to our hotel. There were so many good restaurants there that iit took a while to decide where to eat!

 

Total distance today was 86kms.

 

 



 Canberra - Commonwealth Avenue Bridge

 

 

Sunday 30th December

 

We visited the Toulouse Lautrec exhibition at the National Gallery, then had a brief look around the National Film and Sound Archive, before heading home. Getting a train back all the way from Canberra wasn't practical, as bikes on that train have to be boxed, we didn't have boxes and there wasn't anywhere we could buy any. Furthermore only 2 bikes were allowed on each train. 

 

So, at around 2pm we headed north out of town on the main Federal Highway, to cover as quickly possible the 90kms to Goulburn, where we could get the City Rail service back to Sydney.

 

It turned out to be a very quick 90kms, even though there was something of a headwind, the smooth wide shoulder allowed for an average speed of around 25kms to be easily maintained.

 

We arrived in Goulburn in time for a good meal at a Thai restaurant, before getting the 7.25pm service back home. We had to change trains at Moss Vale, Campbelltown, and again at Central, but for a fare of just $8.20, the 4 hour journey to Artarmon was certainly good value!

 

We arrived back to Carole and Rob's house just afer midnight, after a most enjoyable trip.

 

Diistance today - 102kms - total trip journey 481kms.



 

 

 



Coffs and Dorrigo Circuit

Monday 17^th December 2012

It was time to head back south to Sydney where I am spending Xmas with my friends, and I decided to break the journey in Coffs Harbour, about half way  between Brisbane and Sydney, to do another ride from the Lonely Planet Cycling Australia Guide. 

The bus was fairly full, with many backpackers getting on and off at both Surfers Paradise and also Byron Bay. It’s a pleasant enough journey nonetheless, with plenty of stops on the way and lots of good scenery.

I had to dismantle the bike before it was allowed on the bus, and on arrival at Coffs Harbour around 11pm it took the best part  of an hour to reassemble it, in the dark. Fortunately I had a room already booked at a hotel close by as it was after midnight by the time I got there.

Tuesday 18^th December

I set off from Coffs around 9am, heading inland. The route passed through banana plantations then after about 15kms began a long steep climb through rainforest, reaching an altitude of over 800m.  On the way up I overtook these two cycle tourists, fully laden with trailers full of camping gear. We stopped and chatted for a while, it is very rare to meet other cycle tourists on Australian roads and it was great to swap information on where we’d been and where we were going:

At the summit I took a 3km detour off the route to Lowanna, where I got some much-needed fluid replacement, and also gulped down a surprisingly good burger:

A bit further on the tarmac ran out and the dirt section was pretty rough in places; I had to take it fairly slow to avoid skidding on the gravel:

This massive eucalypt, the Jack Feeny Memorial Tallowood, was an impressive sight:

The road continued through pockets of rainforest and there were some great views, however as the afternoon progressed it was becoming increasingly misty:

By the time I reached Dorrigo visibility was very poor. I stopped off 2kms outside the town to try and see Dangar Falls, although it was obvious that I wouldn’t be able to see very much. However as I approached the lookout I was turned back by police who told me the whole area had been closed off as a German tourist had jumped from the top of the falls earlier in the day and was missing, presumed drowned.

I headed on into Dorrigo, arriving just before the rain started, and found comfortable accommodation at a motel. I could see that photos would have to wait until the morning as the visibility was so poor, so I went for a very nice meal at the historic Dorrigo Hotel, and spent the rest of the evening reading and watching TV.

Total distance today 78 very hilly kms.

Wednesday 19^th December

The rain and fog had cleared, so I left the motel and retraced the last 2kms of yesterday’s route back to Dangar Falls to see what I missed yesterday:

They’re not exactly huge – but still quite pretty. Apparently quite a lot of people jump from the top but it looked like a pretty stupid thing to do, from what I could make out. Obviously it had ended in tragedy for the German tourist, who was apparently just 19 years old.

Coming back into Dorrigo I took a few photos of this attractive little town, including the famous WW1 “Digger” memorial outside the Dorrigo Hotel:

A few kms outside town is the Dorrigo Rainforest centre where I stopped for an hour or so to enjoy the skywalk, which gives excellent views over the rainforest canopy,  and also did part of the longer bushwalk circuit known as the Wonga Walk:

Shortly after this, the route began a steep 10km long descent, losing all the hard-gained altitude I had sweated to achieve yesterday. There were a couple of waterfalls, the Sherrard and Newell Falls, by the road on the way down, where I stopped for a bit to let the wheelrims cool down from all the heavy braking:

The route then deviated onto a rough dirt section which continued for about 20km. It was a hard grind along this section, with a lot of climbing and steep descents but there were some good views to be had:

Eventually the route joined the Old Pacific Highway which led back to Coffs Harbour. On reaching the town I  took a ride out to the harbour and went for a walk along the foreshore:

I then enjoyed a very nice meal at the Yacht Club overlooking the harbour, before riding back to the town centre to get the bus onward to Sydney.

Distance today 78kms, giving a total of 156kms for this demanding, but very rewarding 2 day trip.  

Brisbane Sunday Skate

Sunday 16th December

After a very enjoyable week of cycling it was time to get back on 8 wheels again. I met up with the Brisbane skaters at Toombul and had a great skate with them over to Nudgee Beach, a distance of about 14kms return.

The entire route was along a flat, smooth cyclepath and the pace was moderate - there were skaters of all abilities, some not very fast but we waited for them to catch up.

Arriving at Nudgee beach, the destination, we had this photo taken. Although everyone had beenn encouraged to wear Xmas-related costumes, it was far too hot for anything other than a token Santa hat.

A nice afternoon's skating, and it introduced me to an excellent bike path which I certainly hope to skate again some time.

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.