Over seven hundred kilometres west of Brisbane, Charleville is home to more than 3,000 people and a thriving pastoral industry.
My friend Simon caught the train there recently, and rode his bike back to Brisbane.
This is his story.
Day 1 – The Westlander
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The plan was to travel light and spend each night in a town, rather than having to camp out. Not having to carry camping and cooking gear would make it easier to ride each day, and much easier to lift the bike over fences and gates, if necessary.
The Westlander is a long-distance train which makes the 700km journey to Charleville and back twice per week.
To catch it, Simon rolled his bike on to the local suburban train service late one afternoon, for a quick trip into the “Long Distance” platform at Roma Street station.
The Westlander offers a basic service – no sleepers or dining car. It’s a seventeen hour journey to the end of the line, which is a long time to be sitting in one seat.
The friendly porters loaded Simon’s bike into the luggage car, while he boarded the train to find his seat for the night.
Day 2 – Rolling West
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The frustrating thing about a long-distance train journey is that there’s not much to see during the night. But as the next day started to dawn, Simon got his first glimpse of the vast agricultural plains west of the Great Dividing Range, near Roma.
In a few days time he’d be riding his bike along some of these roads.
Ninety minutes later he was in Mitchell.
A couple of hours later, the landscape started to look a lot different.
Red dirt and low scrub stretched as far as the eye could see.
Around noon, the train reached the end of the line at Charleville.
Another friendly porter wheeled Simon’s bike off the train.
The easy part was over – now it was up to him to pedal home.
Rather than set off immediately, he took the rest of the day off and stayed at the local pub.
It was a public holiday, so the staff at the Hotel Corones kindly invited him to a staff barbecue.
The next town, Morven was almost one hundred kilometres away. It was no good setting off in the middle of the day – it would take a days ride to get there.
Day 3 – Charleville to Morven
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Early next morning, Simon started the seven hundred kilometre journey back to the coast.
“I’d better go,” he thought to himself. “It’s not much use waiting around another few days for the train.”
Rather than ride along the highway, battling it out with the trucks, he followed dirt tracks which ran alongside the railway line.
Recent rain had added a lot of green to the landscape.
If you pass this way in summer it’s hot and dusty – not the sort of place for a long ride. This time of year it was perfect – just a bit muddy in places.
“The worst thing was the flies” Simon told me. “As soon as I stopped, clouds of flies would cover my face. So I decided it was better to keep moving.”
The dirt track followed the railway line for ages.
What had passed so quickly on the westward journey was now rewinding at a much more leisurely pace.
Earlier in the day, he had visited the local bakery to fill his Camelbak with water.
Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that bakery only put one litre of water in his three litre Camelbak, which wasn’t nearly enough for a one hundred kilometre ride in thirty degree heat.
He tried out his “Lifestraw”, filling an empty water bottle from a muddy puddle, then using the Lifestraw to filter the dirty water.
“It tasted great – very refreshing. It reminded me of a chocolate milkshake. The only problem was that this turned out to be the last puddle before I got to Morven”.
Imagine following a dirt track beside a railway line for nine hours – and not seeing another person all day.
Simon had to lift his bike over gates and fences a few times, and was grateful for traveling light, despite having to fight a 20km/h headwind.
Five kilometres out of Morven, he rejoined the Warrego Highway. He had run out of water. Beside the road he saw a discard half-empty bottle of water.
“I needed a drink. I smelled the bottle. It seemed ok. So I drank the rest of the water in the bottle”
It must have been ok – he is still with us.
Sadly, there is no pub in Morevn. It burned down a few years ago.
But there is a welcoming hotel built out of prefabricated rooms aptly named the “Pick a Box”…
“I had to ride three kilometres up the road to the petrol station to buy my dinner. I was too tired to eat it then, so I just stashed the food in my backpack and rode back to the hotel, to eat it later.”
“The Pick a Box was clean and quiet,” Simon told me…
…perfect for a tired man and his bike!
Total climbing: 951 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 09:17:56
Day 4 – Morven to Mitchell
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The eastward journey continued early next day, with a short stint on the highway for a few kilometres.
Simon soon left the paved road and disappeared into the endless scrub again.
“It was awesone, just brilliant.” he told me.
“You could tell no one had been there for ages. I saw hundreds of kangaroos.”
Even though he was only a few hundred metres from the road, it felt remote – totally isolated from anyone else.
While grinding along the red dirt track he broke a gear cable. Thankfully if was only for the front derailleur, which was inconvenient, but wasn’t catastrophic.
After four hours, the dirt track ran out and Simon had to rejoin the highway.
He scrambled back over the railway tracks on which he had been traveling by train a few days ago.
It was Easter Sunday.
“There weren’t many cars on the highway, and there was plenty of room beside the road, so the traffic didn’t bother me”
“I heard a pinging noise”, Simon told me.
He had broken a spoke.
Most cyclists hate breaking spokes because of the possibility that the wheel might buckle and become useless.
It didn’t bother him. He taped up the broken spoke to stop the noise, and continued.
“It didn’t seem to affect my wheel at all” he said.
His “Flow” tubeless rims are incredibly tough.
Near Mungallala, he left the highway again, and followed a gravel road on the other side of the railway line.
“I saw a bloke behind an old house and waved at him.”
“Hang on a sec,” the stranger said, while he tied up his excited dog.
Ken, lived in an old house beside the road.
“I’ve got town water, would you like some?” Ken proudly pointed to a water tap poking out of the ground.
He generously filled Simon’s Camelbak.
He and Ken chatted for a while. When Ken discovered where Simon lived, he explained that he was friends with the Dohle family of “Dohle’s Rocks” – just down the river from Simon’s house.
It’s a small world.
A little further down the road, another farmer spotted Simon riding past his house, then proceeded to chase after him on his motor bike.
“Are you ok?” he asked, thinking our hero was lost. He had never seen anyone riding down his road on a bike before, and was concerned about Simon’s safety.
“I wouldn’t go down that road if I was you” he said. “It’s sandy and unrideable, and there’s a locked gate.”
Simon had grown used to grinding through sand all day, and heaving his bike over locked gates.
“That’s what I’ve been doing for the last couple of days” he replied happily.
After talking with his new friend for a while, he continued eastward.
An hour later, he arrived in Mitchell.
“The pub in Mitchell was fantastic,” Simon said.
“It was just me in the pub, and two barmaids.”
“The food was brilliant. The small steak was huge and hung over the sides of my place. I’m glad I didn’t order the large steak.”
I think he was pleasantly surprised by the size of the ice creams too.
Apparently, Mitchell is a very generous place.
Total climbing: 1041 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 09:37:30
Day 5 – Mitchell Rest Day
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Hurting from the last couple of days, our intrepid hero decided to have a rest day in Mitchell, soaking in the local artesian spa for most of the day.
The Great Artesian Basin is a huge underground sea – the largest in the world. It stretches for over 1.7 million square kilometres – lying under almost a quarter of the Australian continent.
In many parts of this land, it is the only source of fresh water because inland rivers are often just dry.
In some places, the water is over three thousand metres deep.
Despite what the sign above says, it contains about 65,000 cubic kilometres of water.
It is under threat from chemical damage caused by Coal Seam Gas extraction.
Day 6 – Mitchell to Roma
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Feeling rejuvenated from his “spa day” in Mitchell, Simon continued eastwards under heavy clouds.
Rather than ride on the dirt, he decided to stay on the highway for the first half of the day.
After a couple of hours he reached the small town of Amby – but no one was home. The shop was closed. No one was around, and the only thing open was the public toilet.
Half an hour later, it started to rain gently.
He pulled into the petrol station at Muckadilla for a quick snack.
It was more than a petrol station. The local service station was also the post office and general store.
Simon cheerfully wandered in and greeted the mechanic who was standing behind the cash register. He asked if it was ok to take his photo.
“Yeah ok” he mumbled enthusiastically.
When I had planned the route for Simon, I had suggested he follow a stock route north of the highway for a few kilometres in order to avoid traffic.
At the turn-off he met a friendly couple in their car.
“I wouldn’t ride on that stock route if I were you,” the driver said. “Its just soft alluvial soil – you won’t be able to ride it in these wet conditions.”
Simon thanked them for their advice and stayed on the main road.
“There was a lot more traffic today, but the trucks agave me lots of room when they passed me.” 
Another hour later he arrived in Roma.
The ninety kilometre ride from Mitchell had taken about eight hours, including breaks.
Total climbing: 632 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 08:17:50
Day 7 – Roma to Yuleba
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Rain started falling more heavily the next day.
The course I had prepared for Simon had suggested he follow more stock routes north of the highway, Because of the rain, he decided instead to work out a different course on dirt roads closer to the highway.
It didn’t quite work out. He made a few wrong turns and ended up followed a in the wrong direction.
“When I left Roma I tried to stay away from the highway but it took two hours to go four kilometres.”
“It was terrible.”
Back in Brisbane, I was following Simon’s Spot Tracker, shaking my head and wondering what he was doing.
Eventually he phoned me.
Simon panned his phone around, showing me where he was.
I looked on Google Maps and suggested where he could go.
Eventually we managed to get him heading in the right direction again, along a quiet back road.
The gravel roads became increasingly muddy because of the rain.
At Wallumbilla he took a quick break to get out of the rain, and to have a snack.
“It was nice to get out of the rain, but as soon as I got under cover I was covered by a cloud of flies.”
Simon says the pies in Wallumbilla were quite good.
Apparently the kangaroos in Wallumbilla are hostile. Beneath a sign saying “Revenge is sweet” a stuffed kangaroo stood sentry holding a rifle.
“I’m pretty sure it wasn’t loaded.”
The corrugated gravel roads east of Wallumbilla were wet, but not too soft.
He followed them for as long as he could, before rejoining the highway again at Yuleba.
Today’s ride was relatively short – only seventy-five kilometres. But it had taken Simon almost nine hours to ride it, because of wrong turns and wet roads.
Total climbing: 751 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 08:42:14
Day 8 – Yuleba to Condamine
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Yuleba marked a major intersection in the voyage home.
Today he’d be leaving the railway line he’d been following for the last week, and would head south-east through the Jackson gasfields.
Thankfully the weather cleared. The rain stopped, and he enjoyed a quiet paved road for the first half hour.
The paved road gave way to dirt.
Softened by the recent rain, the ground was soft and slippery. It was slow going.
The gasfields are criss-crossed by a network of vehicle tracks and barbed wire fences.
At several places Simon had to lift his bike over the barbed wire then slide himself underneath the wire. 
He then found his way blocked by a swollen creek.
Normally these creeks are dry, and he would have easily been able to cross, but the recent heavy rain had caused the water level to rise.
“There was no where else to go – I had to go through.”
“I waded through first with a stick without the bike to check the depth of the water.”
“I then carried my bike over. Then my bag . It took a couple of trips.”
Once he had finished, he decided the water felt quite pleasant, so he went back in for a quick swim.
Saturated from his swim, he jumped back on the bike and followed the endless dirt track to the south-east.
Eventually the dirt ran out, and the paved road continued – vanishing over the distant horizon.
“I was getting low on water, and passed a farmer fixing his fence.”
“He kindly let me top up my Camelbak from a large container on the back of his ute.” 
The town of Condamine is named after the major inland river of the same name that passes through the town.
But Condamine is also famous for the “Bullfrog Bell”. In 1868 Samuel Jones invented a noisy bell which could be hung around the necks of livestock. The distinct knocking sound was similar to call of a bull frog, and could be heard for several kilometres – making it less likely to lose cattle and horses in the scrub.
When Simon left Yuleba that morning, the general store wasn’t open, so he wasn’t able to have a hearty breakfast.
Although it was now mid-afternoon, he still felt like he needed to make up for the morning’s deficit, and ordered breakfast from the local service station.
…but he made sure he still had room for dinner.
Total climbing: 980 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 09:11:28
Day 9 – Condamine to Tara
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The second day in the gas fields was short – only about seventy kilometres
After five minutes on the highway, Simon turned left and followed more dirt roads through the bush.
The landscape here is dotted with hundreds of Coal Seam Gas wells. connected via a web of dirt maintenance tracks through the state forest.
Wild dogs are a problem around here because of the damage they do to livestock. Although it looks gruesome, farmers and shooters hang the carcasses from trees to alert other farmers about the presence of the animals.
Several farmers in the area might have been hunting the same wild dog – the carcass in the tree lets them know a specific animal has been caught.
Simon rolled into Tara around lunch time.
After finding his accommodation for the night, there was one major item that needed addressing:
Lunch!
Total climbing: 727 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 04:58:17
Day 10 – Tara to Cecil Plains
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The tenth day of this epic adventure started just like the day before: A five minute roll along the paved road, before disappearing into the bush along a quiet gravel track. 
The Kumbarilla State Forest is huge – it covers about 860 square kilometres between Tara and Cecil Plains, south-west of Toowoomba. 
The roads and fences here are long and straight.
It took Simon about eight hours to ride to Tara – ninety-five kilometres, mostly on dirt roads.
Total climbing: 1043 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 07:37:22
Day 11 – Cecil Plains to Cambooya
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The landscape east of Cecil Plains was very different from the last few days. Instead of forests and gas fields, there were crops from one horizon to the other. 
The dark soil on these flat plains is ideal for cotton farming. but it can be sticky in the wet.
Thankfully, today was a pleasant dry day and Simon didn’t have to worry about getting bogged.
There wasn’t much happening in Mount Tyson, so he kept pedaling.
I had suggested a shorter, straighter course today, but he preferred to take a bit of a detour into Southbrook so he could have a cooked lunch. 
The sign said there would be a Sunday Roast for dinner. He was a few hours early, but the cook had pity on him and gave him a roast lunch anyway.
A railway line used to operate through here between Toowoomba and Millmerran, to carry grain from the numerous farms in the area.
It stopped operating after the 2011 and 2012 floods.
Simon followed the disused railway line for about an hour until he reached Wyreema.
It took about seven hours for him to reach Cambooya.
From his room on the top floor of the local pub he rested his legs and watched the sun go down.
One more day to go – tomorrow he’d be home!
Total climbing: 877 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 07:09:08
Day 12 – Cambooya to Rosewood.
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Ironically, today would have the most amount of hill climbing for this entire ride, but it would be the fastest because of the long downhill stretches.
The endless plains of the last couple of weeks gave way to green hills and escarpments.
The hills appeared steep at first, but Simon didn’t seem to have any difficulty climbing them. The long days of the previous days had toughened up his legs.
At the edge of the Great Dividing Range, he clung tightly to the grips and rocketed down the hill.
He saw a camel that had escaped from its paddock, so stopped for a few minutes to try and entice the strange creature back behind the gate.
The camel’s horse-friend let Simon know how much he appreciate the help.
With two hours left before the end of the ride, he took a quick snack break in Ma Ma Creek. 
Rosewood! He had made it to the end of the ride!
All he needed now was quick suburban train ride home.
Total climbing: 1903 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 07:37:19
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Downloads:
Actual course: [GPX] [KML]
Original course: [GPX] [KML]
Simon rode a total of 758 kilometres over ten days, including one rest day.
His total time on the bike was just under 73 hours, including lunch breaks.
Well done, mate. That was an amazing effort.
All photos in this post were taken by Simon Smith – he reserves all rights in them.
Bloody awesome Simon! (and Neil). My kind of a ride.
You obviously don’t need to box your bike for the train? That would save a bit of hassle. Just wondering….is this ride all on public roads? No special permissions required?
Thanks for the write up.
Hi Dave
Simon and I planned the course together. There was no private land. There are misleading signs in the gas fields (which is in a state forest) which look like they’re saying “keep out” – but they’re not – they’re just asking if you are aware of the protocols.
My original course went via stock routes north of the highway between Muckadilla and Yuleba, but Simon didn’t follow them because of the wet weather.
If you were open to camping some nights, you might want to consider going via Barakula State Forest north of Chinchilla which would bring you out at the BVRT near Kingaroy.
There are some awesome looking rides in Western Queensland – Simon has made me want to do my own trip out there
Neil
Good stuff fellas. I like it a lot.
I’d like to get the original planned trip (which include the Stock Route sections) if possible please. I certainly like the concept of camping out every second night which I have done in WA a bit. It’d be good finishing up on the BVRT at the end of the trip. Good route planning.
Cheers,
Neil
Hi Neil
I’ve added Original and Action versions of the GPX and KML files at the end of the post.
You can save a day after Condamine if you go via Kogan and Toowoomba to Rosewood, but that involves two 100km days.
Neil
Thanks Neil. Yes, linking into the rail trail if the weather was favourable would be awesome.
Personally, I would take sleep gear and ride longer/camp to cover the ground faster but then I am time poor.
Dave
Simon, well done. I enjoyed the writeup. He’s not a bad ghost writer Neil. Great adventure.
I loved this story of cycling from Charleville to Brisbane. What a great way to see the country up close – sometimes a bit too close for comfort! See my blog at roseobrienwriter.blog for more Queensland places and stories. Qld stories are great.
Wow, I loved this story, well done fellas.
Noel
Thanks Noel 🙂
Simon – what an awesome adventure. Top effort. Well done.
So good to read and great photos. Well done Simon 🙂
Top ride Simon. Only just got time to read this today. 🙂
Heading out to Charleville via the Westlander in a couple of weeks and stumbled across this blog. What a great idea 🙂 I spent yesterday on the BVRT and love my cycling. Don’t think I have the time on this trip to take the bike but might have to plan another one 🙂
Enjoy your trip, Matt.
No flies on any of that food matey. What’s the go with that?
Our man Simon is an expert in finding good food 🙂