Category: Places

I’m planning a cross country ride north through the Peachester area and wanted to check out a few trails in the area before that ride.

Peachester is perched in the forested foothills of the Blackall Ranges with great views south to the Glasshouse Mountains.

Last time I was here I wound up in the middle of a bunch of Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoos all happily squawking to each other and munching on She-Oak bark, but today I was delighted to see this rare Red-Tailed Cockatoo, also hiding up in the She-Oaks.

I almost ran over this two metre long Lace Monitor (or Goanna) on my way out of the forest. I spotted a couple today. As I approached, they just slowly waddled out of the way, looking for a tree to climb.

Of course a two-metre goanna seems tiny compared to the huge reptiles that Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, used to wrestle with. This beautiful memorial to him at the start of “Steve Irwin Way” always reminds me about Steve’s passion and energy for those huge reptiles. Passion and energy, in the right place they’re magical things!

If you’re reading this, and you’re free on the 29th of October 2011, and would like a fun 70km cross-country ride through some of this country, why not drop me a line or sign up for the ride here.

There’s a crazy loop from Mount Mee that heads down a steep dirt track called Williams Road to Wamuran, then winds through the course of a former rail track, then heads back up the mountain via another rocky steep track called McLeods Lane. I’ve done it before, but today, Tim and I rode it together.

The track down is steep. I was leaning so far back I was hanging over the back of my saddle, and yet I still managed to stall and go flying over the handlebars.

Tim decided a more challenging method – his rear brakes started jamming on, so in order to finish the ride, he had to remove his rear brakes. This meant he only had front brakes. Anyone who has ridden down steep dirt tracks will tell you that you need both sets of brakes to make it down safely.

But somehow the guardian angels of the foolhardy protected Tim from harm, and he made it down safely – with a bit of extra wear and tear on the soles of his shoes.

Note to self:
1. I will carry spare brake pads with me, and will learn how to replace them.
2. I will not try to scramble up McLeods Lane again – it is too steep and rocky.

Here’s some more photos that my friend, Andrew Macdonald, took of our ride to Walloon yesterday. Thanks for letting me share your pics, Andrew 🙂 You can see his entire album here.

Today I rode to Walloon (west of Ipswich) via D’Aguilar National Park with some friends from MTBDirt.com.au.

One of the highlights of the ride was the “King of the Hill” contest to see who could ride furthest up a terrible hill we’ve dubbed “The Wall of Dirt”. Tony (“Darb”) won the contest narrowly but he only managed to get part way up the start of this hill, and everyone else didn’t even make that.

After that, we all had to scramble up the Wall, pushing our bikes.

After finally getting out of the mountains, the trail dropped us out in the middle of Banks Creek – a farming area nestled in among the hills, with miles of dirt roads.

There were 15 of us in all. With a large group it was difficult to keep everyone together. If you look carefully, you can see the “Pack” of riders off in the distance with a couple of the other riders chasing them.

Parking space for the bikes was limited once we got to the Fernvale Bakery.

The food and drinks hardly touched the sides on the way down.

Thanks everyone for a great ride. I really enjoyed spending the day with you.

I’m grateful to live in such a beautiful place.

All up, almost 90km with about 1,750m of vertical ascent, and about 4,750 kcal burned.

It was a hot day, and the Wall of Dirt was really tough, so I’m giving this one 9 out of 10 on the tough-o-meter.