That was the plan….

The first track by a cane field looked perfect. I rode down it for a few km until it got muddier, the grass got higher, and ….

I ended up in a pretty thick Tea Tree (or Ti Tree) swamp. Tea Trees are amazing in that they can live happily in swampy ground with their roots submerged most of the time. They have beautiful papery bark, and can grow in a thick inpenetrable scrub, which is impossible to ride through on a bike.

So I backtracked….

I eventually came out on an old gravel road with some rickety old bridges. When I saw the bridge I realized I’d found the right track after going down a few wrong ones….

I came across what I was looking for. The local council described it as a sugar cane “lift bridge”. I figured I could squeeze myself and the bike through the gap in the bars and cross the river…

Crossing an old railway bridge while pushing a bike (I wasn’t crazy enough to RIDE across!) required a bit of care, but the bridge was solid, and I wasn’t in any danger…..

Arrrgggg! So THIS is what a “lift bridge” is! A section of the bridge lifts up to allow boats to pass under. Unfortunately the last “lift” happened years ago. There was no way I was going to cross that bridge!

So I turned around and rode home.

But it highlights what is an underlying theme for me when riding a mountain bike. The destination isn’t really the point. Yes, it’s nice to arrive, or achieve an objective, but when you really think about it, it’s all about the journey.

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Today I headed out the back of an industrial estate of all places (who spends time in an industrial estate when you’re holidaying at the beach????) and discovered some quite fire roads meandering through the open forest. If you would have been a bystander hiding behind a bush as I whizzed by on my 29er, you would have heard a crazy guy yelling out “Awesome!” repeatedly.

When it comes to having fun (which is a major priority in my life) I think the major thing is to experience pleasant surprises.

I was very surprised today.

Some of the beautiful open tea-tree and eucalypt forest that the trails wind through

I just stumbled upon this old shed and hliarious sign by accident – by turning left instead of right. Although it’s superflous for obvious reasons, the sign says it all.

Stumer Creek peacefully meanders through the bush behind Coolum.

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The Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges span the mouth of the Brisbane River.

Climbing to almost 80 metres above the water, they allow huge volumes of traffic to flow from one side of the river to ther other.

A bike path on this new bridge was officially opened today, which for the first time, allows pedestrians and cyclists to stand at the top of this magnificent gateway to the city and enjoy some breathtaking views out to the bay and back to the city – views you can’t really get in a car as you’re not allowed to stop at the top.

There are only two flies in the ointment which I’m sure will be fixed soon. The first is a 10km/h speed limit on cyclists using the bike way. The problem is that many cyclists have difficulty keeping a bicycle stable at speeds under 10 km/h, so in some ways it’s dangerous having this limit so low.

The second problem is connectivity. There don’t appear to be any connecting cycle paths at either end of the bridge so you need to bravely battle five to ten km of busy roads to get from one cycleway to the bridge.

But riding to the top of this bridge (twice) was a lot of fun for me. And I was impressed to see the importance that the state government has placed on putting infrastructure like this in place for cyclists.

I hope they build more!



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Harrison and I took advantage of the trip, brought our bikes and explored the Boondall Wetlands while Liz and Lilly saw the show. It ended up being a real family affair because Lachlan phoned us and asked if he could join us.

Harrison and I were having so much fun that we asked Liz if she could drive home, and we’d ride back.

As you can see from the photos, it was a glorious day.


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It’s a short, easy 4.5km walk through some peaceful bushland that borders Lake Samsonvale.

We thought we’d take the opportunity to add to the photo log of Carla, a Toy Voyager that we’re hosting at the moment.

Toy Voyagers are fun because they challenge you to have a more child-like view of the world, and to look for events and pictures that would be appropriate for a toy on a voyage. I like them because they help me appreciate the place in which I live.

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A view of the lake while I was out riding some quiet tracks this afternoon.



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We went out via some old stock routes and came back along the shoreline of one of the local lakes.

He kept up pretty well. I’m aware that sometime in the next ten years our roles will probably be reversed and I’ll be keeping up with him pretty well.

For now I’m content to show my boy some of the fantastic tracks around our area that you never see when you speed by in a car.

We have to slow down to enjoy beauty.

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This beautiful reserve at the mouth of the Pine River has many hectares of swampy pastureland inhabited by a large number of kangaroos and wallabys.

It also has some picturesque fire-trails that are perfect for riding around early in the morning!

Photographing these guys while riding a bike is almost impossible. In fact at the first opportunity I found for a photo, I forgot to un-clip from my pedals, and fell off. I could almost hear the Kangaroo snickering (or maybe saying "Tut tut tut" as he bounded off.

In full flight they’re magnificent to watch – muscular, streamlined and effortless.

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After climbing a few monster hills that ended (sadly) in dead-ends, I finally found a fire break and followed it.

But what was supposed to be a 60 minute adventure ended up taking three hours.

I eventually found my way home, up a couple more amazingly steep hills, but (alas) I only managed to get one photo. Light was fading quickly in the late autumn afternoon, and I didn’t want to stop too long.

The total ascent was about 720m, total descent, about 380m.

The next day, Paul and I rode along some of the fire trails along the escarpment below Picnic Point. These are mostly steep rocky walking tracks, so attacking them with a mountain bike was a bit “adventurous”. Still not being totally comfortable with my clip-in pedals I fell off a few times, luckily with no damage. The view out to Tabletop Mountain is spectacular.

We also had a quick look out to the North towards Prince Henry Heights at some of the hills where I managed to get a bit lost the day before:

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