I took a slow ride by the lakes today. It’s amazing how much more you see when you slow down!
Mount Samson and its pyramid peak overlook lake Samsonvale.
Some houses overlook the shoreline on the far side of Lake Kurwongbah
I think a goblin lives here 🙂
Grass Trees at Forgan Cove
It’s a great feeling riding a mountain bike along these paths!
Total distance: 30.26 km Total climbing: 459 m Average temperature: Total time: 02:52:18
If you ever drive into the Pine Rivers district and look west, the chances are you’ll see a pyramid-shaped mountain on the horizon. You can’t miss it. The 18th century English navigators didn’t miss it – they drew it on their sketches of the area. And the chances are if you read this blog you’ve already seen it in some of my photos:
A week or so ago I decided I’d like to climb it, but I wanted to take my bike as far as I could up the mountain. It’s a tough climb for hikers, so when I told my plans to my dear long-suffering wife, she gave me a look which gave no doubts that I should ask some friends to come as well in case anything went wrong.
So I asked on the excellent local mountain biking website MTBDirt.com.au for some riding buddies. “You have to be crazy to do this ride”, I said. “I’ve never done it before, I don’t know if it’s rideable, it will be wet and muddy. If you’ve got any doubts, don’t come”. So seven other guys turned up this morning for the ride. I was stoked 🙂
We had permission from the local land owner who let us ride through their property up to the national park. (Thanks Gab & Shirley – we love you!). But when we got there, we took a wrong turn and ended up bashing through a few hundred metres of lantana before we’d even really started:
Eventually, we found the fire trail, and half-rode, half dragged our bikes up the hill:
We eventually made it to the 500m line which marks a saddle between the lesser peak to the north, and the imposing pyramid of Mount Samson. It’s at this point that Hang Gliders used to jump off and glide into the valley below. The views, even at this point, were spectacular – despite all the clouds and rain in the area:
We pushed on and eventually reached a thick bunch of lantana that was impenetrable. There was no way we could drag the bikes any further, and as we tried to push through it, the horrible weed cut us and made any further progress impossible.
So we did what any fun-loving mountain bikers would do, turned the bikes around, and rolled down the hill. What a ride! About 450m of descent in 3 or 4 km. I crashed a couple of times as did others – but there was so much undergrowth that it was like landing on pillows. Also, while riding down we discovered the route we should have used coming up. It would have saved us some crazy hiking at the start and maybe saved us half an hour.
But it was a great ride with some really fun, fit, and slightly crazy guys. I’d love to try it again once I have a better idea of where to go when we reach the saddle at the top.
Total distance: 25.37 km Total climbing: 832 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 03:45:15
This little fellow and his friends visit our place regularly. Sometimes before I can drive up the driveway, I have to get out of the car and shoo them out of the way.
This afternoon he was checking us out, so I snuck up on him with Liz’s camera and took a few shots.
Liz’s camera is much easier to take good photos with than my mobile phone!
Several weeks ago I rode out to the source of the North Pine River in the D’Aguilar Ranges. Today I thought I’d have a look at the other end of this beautiful river, near where it meets the South Pine River, and the sea.
Part of the trip was through John Oxley Reserve, where Oxley first set foot in our region in 1823. There are some well kept trails through the reserve which lead down to the river, and then eventually further downstream to Acacia Park.
There’s a small amount of single trail in Acacia Park and great views of the river.
The confluence of the North Pine and South Pine Rivers as seen from Acacia Park, Murrumba Downs
Dohle’s Rocks is near the mouth of the river. It’s quiet because the only way out is the way you came in – so it’s a cul-de-sac. The area is named after the Dohle family who first settled there, and whose kids used to row across the river most mornings to get to school. As you can see it’s quite idyllic late in the afternoon.
It’s rides like this that remind me how fortunate our family is to live where we do!
Total distance: 34.47 km Total climbing: 384 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 02:13:15
The excessive rain around here means that there aren’t many dirt trails we can ride at the moment without getting bogged in mud.
Harrison and I had a look at some of the flooded creeks in the area, but were particularly impressed with all the flood water in Sideling Creek.
I normally ride the bike across a few rocks over Sideling Creek below the Dam that forms lake Kurwongbah. But today, there was no chance of riding across this creek.
It was once the physical western boundary of Tom Petrie’s “Murrumba” property after he purchased if from the Griffins in 1858. It was definitely a physical boundary today!
Total distance: 18.63 km Total climbing: 298 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 01:58:27
I tried to ride to Diana’s Bath today. It’s up in the D’Aguilar Ranges half way between Dayboro and Kilcoy. It’s about a 100km round trip from my place and I would have made it except I ran out of time. But I’m happy with my efforts to get within 5km on my first attempt.
A stand of Hoop Pines and Bunya Pines grow along the upper reaches of the North Pine River in Mount Pleasant.
Surveyor Robert Dixon drew a map of the area in 1842 and noted a “Bunya Scrub Camp” on the upper reaches of the North Pine River (he called it the Eden River). But I think this bunch of trees is even further up the river than Dixon surveyed.
This is the source of the North Pine River. It continues for another kilometre upstream from here in the rainforest. This is the same river that passes within 500m of our house on its way to the sea about 50km downstream.
Byron Creek flows westwards into Reedy Creek and eventually into the Stanley River before it meets the Brisbane River near Esk.
View Diana’s Bath in a larger map
This map gives an idea of how close I got. About 1.5km as the crow flies, but about 5 on the road.
Total distance: 96.55 km Total climbing: 1903 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 06:50:03
Grant Street causeway, North Pine River, Petrie. This crossing is directly below the North Pine Dam, often floods, and is closed to vehicular traffic. But I regularly ride through on the bike. Only problem is, you get wet feet 🙂
This bunch of mushrooms decided to grow on the leading edge of a gate. If the gate swings open, it will knock them over. I had to open the gate, so before I did, I took lots of photos. Then I carefully lifted the gate up and over the mushrooms to avoid disturbing them.
Total distance: 37.48 km Total climbing: 611 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 02:42:28
