I love the colours that seep out after sunset at the beach. This afternoon we walked along Coolum Beach as the sun was going down. Even though it’s winter, the water is still quite warm, and there’s always something interesting to discover on the beach!

Congratulations Harrison on climbing Mt Coolum with me this afternoon.

There were some pretty steep rock faces to scale. Well done, my boy, for making it to the top, and back down again.

The views of the Sunshine Coast were spectacular.

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.

View Larger Map

Today I took Liz and the kids up there so they could enjoy the views too.

Someone who visited prior to us left this impressive rock sculpture looking out over the farmlands below.

Liz captured this fascinating perspective looking down on a farm, which illustrates how high up we were.

It was really sweet to watch Harrison help Lilly get back down the steep track. Liz took this picture and suggested they looked like Hansel and Gretel in the woods.

There are some beautiful fern meadows at the top of Ninderry. As Liz and the kids walked back down the hil, they seemed to disappear in a sea of ferns.

View Larger Map

Some of the clouds were amazing.

The Headland

Some tracks on the sand

This is the mythical sandman of Coolum Beach who helps all kids want to go to bed early. Thank you Mr Sandman!

Crikey! Lilly tames a savage crocodile

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.

View Larger Map

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:

View Larger Map

View Larger Map

It was the first chance I had to give my new Giant XTC 29er a try out on the trail, and it (she?) passed with flying colours! The 29er has larger tyres than the usual 26 inch ones found on a mountain bike. This gives a smoother ride, less rolling resistance and more fun.

We rode through quite a bit of mud and sand in the rainy weather, and the bikes held up really well.

Ewen Maddock Dam is a beautiful reserve bounded by ferns, tee-tree swamps, eucalyptus and sub-tropical forest. The tracks are well developed, clearly marked, and low gradient – so anyone could walk them, ride a bike, or a horse.

For the last bit of the ride we got onto the bitumen and burned up the Steve Irwin Way. On the flat my speed maxed at about 50km and Simon went even faster – he’s been working out and was keen to see whether it made a difference (it does, Simon!).

View Larger Map

We started the 50km loop at Wamuran, and proceeded in a large clockwise loop along fire trails, logging tracks, and finished via the route of an old railway line, now converted into a recreational “rail trail”.

Here’s a bridge over one of the many small creeks we crossed in the forest.

Heading down one of the many trails that cut through the pine forests.

Simon checks out the damage done by 4wd vehicles to one of the trails. We think the huge mud bowl looks a bit like a lake of chocolate, which fits in well with the Easter theme.

Simon demonstrates why I try to let him go first through most flooded tracks:

The best bits:
Picturesque views,
pine forests,
secluded roads,
quiet creeks.

The worst bits:
Motor cyclists / Trail bike riders illegally riding on state forest trails.
Dirt roads ripped up by 4wd’s and turned into mud bowls.
Piles of rubbish left by morons in the middle of the forest.

View Larger Map

This week we wanted to complete the southern section of where we think the road went, between Kurwongbah and Moorina.

We started at Dunlop Lane then headed north along Smiths Road where it crosses Mosquito Creek. I looked around here for any traces of an old bridge but could find nothing except an old beam in one of the banks.

Merelyn very kindly let us look around her property which is on the southern end of historic Franz Road where it used to meet Alf Dobson Road. She showed us the remnants of the Old Road, with what I think are survey marks clearly chopped out of a dead tree near the road.

Merelyn has records of the road reserve being re-gazetted from it’s historic route past her front door, to a point along one of the boundaries of her farm.

The ground is heavily compacted showing evidence of frequent traffic at some time in the past.

Merelyn has had conversations with several old-timers who tell her cattle used to be driven southwards along the road prior to the early 20th century.

Cliff, Owen and Cathy very kindly let us ride through their farm trying to find any remnants of the road.

As Franz Road heads north, we tried to retrace the road by referencing an old survey plan by William Fryar in 1868.

These old trees are close to where Fryar’s plan showed trees that he used as reference markers for his pegs. Unfortunately the original trees are long gone.

I would have made a hopeless surveyor, and found it difficult to differentiate between what I thought were remnants of the old road, and more recent farm tracks.

Cathy showed us this old photo of the old Franz homestead near where we passed.

Judy and Ken kindly showed us the remnants of an old road passing through their property.

Judy tells me that the road was used by Cobb & Co in the 19th century.

It winds up a fairly steep hill, and in some places it’s possible to see evidence of past maintenance, including an old log bridge, and frequent large rocks lining the sides of the road.

View Larger Map