Category: Pine Rivers

Cycling, History, Pine Rivers, xc

Mount Pleasant

by NeilEnnis 12 March 2011 2 Comments Shortlink

I’m still healing from a crash last week, so I have decided to avoid riding on rough trails or single tracks at the moment to let my shoulder heal.

Today I rode to Mount Pleasant in the hills behind Dayboro. This rural area is nestled in a valley created by the North Pine River between Mount Mee and Mount Byron.
North Pine River, Mount Pleasant
What I enjoyed most was having a few hours on the bike on quiet rural roads to daydream and get in “The Zone” while covering a reasonable distance (80km). The hills were mostly gentle, although I managed to ascend a total of 1,048m during the ride.
Bunya Pines, Mount Pleasant
Andrew Petrie reported a stand of Bunya Pines in this area when he visited it in the 1830’s. I’ve got some ideas about where that stand might have been. As you ride along the road, there are some quite mature specimens poking out from behind the hills about 300 metres from the road. These two Bunyas are quite young – perhaps 60 to 70 years old.

Some time in the next year I hope to come back here again and ride through the rainforest up to Toogoolawah in the Brisbane Valley. But the management roads in the rainforest are closed at the moment due to damage from a lot of the heavy rain we’ve had lately.

I’m happy to wait 🙂

Total distance: 80.65 km
Total climbing: 1131 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 04:53:22
Download file: activity_72490402.gpx
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Lawnton

Suburban Wildlife

by NeilEnnis 25 February 2011 No Comments Shortlink

A koala gatecrashed our Friday drinks on the deck this afternoon.
Koala
He quickly scrambled up the paper-bark tree then jumped into a neighbouring eucalypt before munching on some gum leaves.

When I took this picture he was probably less than a 2 metres away.

Golden Orb Spider
While I was leaning out taking photos of a Koala I didn’t realize how close I was to this golden orb spider. Looking like a strange little potato with spindly legs, these little creatures can be found all over our garden

It’s wonderful to get such amazing visitors.

Cycling, Pine Rivers

Conquering Mount Samson

by NeilEnnis 12 February 2011 2 Comments Shortlink

A couple of months ago we tried to climb to the top of Mount Samson. Today we thought we’d try again!

Mount Samson was called “Buran” by the local Aborigines. In the Turrbal language it means “wind”. Unfortunately there was no wind up there today.

The aim was to ride our mountain bikes up to a flattish point at about 500m elevation, then hike the rest of the way to the 680m summit. Easier said than done. The road had been washed out in several places, covered in fallen rocks and logs. We climbed 430m in the first kilometre. With my head spinning and sweat dripping from me I was exhausted. Thankfully Derek gave me a bit of a push-along when I needed it, and we all managed to get the bikes up to the planned point.
Farm houses
View from Mount Samson
From this vantage point, the views over Lake Samsonvale out to Moreton Bay are spectacular.

At this point we met up with some hiking friends, and started the long slog through the lantana and up the mountain. Lantana is a horrible weed with stems that can grow thicker than your thumb. The leaves and stems cut at your skin and several times blocked out way entirely. We had to smash through it with our feet (we didn’t take a Machete).
Are we there yet?
Eventually we beat the lantana and took a breather before the final push up through the rocks and the rainforest to the top.

Grass Trees
Prayer Flags
Prayer Flags
Strangely the view from the summit isn’t panoramic. It’s covered with trees. But it’s still beautiful. Someone has erected some Tibetan Prayer Flags at the top. It took me a while to make the connection. Prayer Flags are usually flown high up in the Himalayas. But I suppose this is as high as you’re going to get around Brisbane, so it make sense to me.
Little House
We made it!
We made it!
You could see a few good views by peaking out through the trees, but for me the best bit about the summit was taking a well-earned rest with some really fun people. This started off, for me, as a harebrained scheme when I asked a few friends “Do you think we could ride bikes up Mount Samson”. The fantastic thing is that those friends were willing to try something difficult and silly with me – even the ones that weren’t able to ride. I’m really grateful to have friends like that.

What’s next???

If you’d like a sadistic look at the climbing-profile for this trip, here it is:

Total distance: 22.56 km
Total climbing: 1002 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 06:08:37
Download file: activity_67763058.gpx
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Cycling, Pine Rivers

Lacey’s Creek

by NeilEnnis 6 February 2011 No Comments Shortlink

Lacey's CreekLacey's Creek
I had a great ride along Lacey’s Creek this afternoon from Dayboro up into the hills towards the D’Aguilar National park.

Lots of undulating farmland, creek crossings, Hoop Pines, etc.

A really pleasant way to spend a couple of hours 🙂

Total distance: 29.88 km
Total climbing: 454 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 01:46:58
Download file: activity_66828316.gpx
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Aboriginal Australia, Family, Hiking, Pine Rivers

D’Aguilar Range National Park

by NeilEnnis 26 January 2011 No Comments Shortlink

Jollys Lookout Panaorama
To celebrate Australia Day, Liz and I took the kids for a walk through the rainforest in D’Aguilar National Park.

There are various traditional owners of the D’Aguilar Range area, including the Turrbal, Garumngar and Jinibara Aboriginal people. The country is magical: the calls of Bellbirds ringing in the forest, the cool mountain breezes, the dense rainforest and the towering majestic tress. I can only wonder what it would have been like thousands of years ago before European settlement.
Maiala Rainforest
We started our walk through the “Rainforest Circuit” in the Maiala section of Mount Glorious. We followed an easy 2km trail through some lush rainforest.
Harrison at MaialaLiz and Lilly at Maiala

At different points in the forest we spotted giant Sydney Blue Gums towering over the forest. Before this area was logged in the 19th century, the area was full of these majestic trees. Now they’re much scarcer.
Giant Sydney Blue Gum

We then finished our walk following the trail from the “Western Window” lookout, through the bush back to the car park, before driving down to Jollys Lookout for some stunning views of the Greater Brisbane Area – no wonder Lord Mayor William Jolly built a road to it in the 1930’s!
Jollys LookoutThe Four of Us

Total distance: 4.91 km
Total climbing: 167 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 01:18:18
Download file: activity_65190815.gpx
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Family, Pine Rivers

Mount Nebo

by NeilEnnis 23 January 2011 2 Comments Shortlink

Mount Nebo Summit
The kids were a bit restless this morning, so we decided to burn up some of their excess energy by taking them on a hike. We drove up into the D’Aguilar Ranges and hiked from the road to the Summit of Mount Nebo (620m) and back – a total of about 6.5km.

We followed a forestry fire trail for about 2.5km to the summit, and came back via a walking track on the southern side of the ridge, which meant we were able to check out a number of different ecosystems.
Liz and the KidsNeil at Mt Nebo
Lilly in a Tree StumpMount Nebo Walking Track

It’s a different world in the rainforest. Worries seem far away!
Palm Forest

Let’s do this again soon 🙂

Total distance: 6.32 km
Total climbing: 328 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 01:48:10
Download file: activity_64668973.gpx
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Pine Rivers

Mangoes at Clear Mountain

by NeilEnnis 19 January 2011 No Comments Shortlink

Liz in the Mango OrchardMango OrchardMango Orchard
It was getting late in the afternoon, and neither Liz nor I had done any exercise for the day. It was too late in the afternoon for me to consider going on the roads in peak hour in the dying light, so we decided to go for a walk along one of my favourite mountain biking tracks at Clear Mountain.

It’s a state forest reserve, but it doesn’t take much looking to realize that this land had other uses. Right at the start of the walk there’s a very old orchard of Mango trees poking out of the undergrowth. The only problem is either someone got there before us, or the wind in the storms was particularly strong, because there’s no mangoes on the trees at all.

The route we took is a great one-hour workout with about half a dozen steep hills to walk up and plenty of peaceful looking scenery to check out along the way.

Where's My Stump?
Perhaps the strangest looking thing was this Eucalypt which appeared to be suspended in mid-air without any stump – an entire tree that must weight a ton. I’m guessing the stump burned away during bush fires last year, and the rest of the tree ended up nestled into one of its neighbors. It’s still a weird looking sight.

God its good to get out into the bush!

Total distance: 4.59 km
Total climbing: 239 m
Average temperature: NAN
Total time: 01:07:57
Download file: activity_64099541.gpx
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Cycling, Pine Rivers

One Mile Creek

by NeilEnnis 16 January 2011 3 Comments Shortlink

There are two major creeks in our area with misleading names. One Mile Creek is about Seven miles long. Four Mile Creek is about Ten miles long. Both creeks have their source in the beautiful bushland of Clear Mountain. Here’s some pictures of my ride through Clear Mountain and over the upper reaches of One Mile Creek.

Clear Mountain - Centre Road
This is the trail head of one of my favourite rides through Clear Mountain. Starting at the top of the mountain near Old School Road, Centre Road winds steeply down the hill through the eucalypts to a few crossings over One Mile Creek.

There are lots of trees, lizards and no sounds except bird calls and wind through the leaves.

It’s a great place to ride, and I’m so glad most of it is a state forest reserve.

Clear Mountain - One Mile Creek
The crossings over One Mile Creek have created some steep banks which are challenging to cycle in and out of, but are always enjoyable.