When most people think of Noosa Heads they think of Hastings Street and pretentious yuppies sipping latte’s or Chardonnay.
The best part of Noosa Heads is the National Park – a vast expanse of unspoilt wilderness covering most of the headland with a heap of different ecosystems.
When the sun came out for the first time since who knows when, Liz and I decided to take the kids for a 6.5km hike around the national park, and we’re really glad we did. Here’s some photos of our walk:
Liz and the kids enjoying one of the trails in the park
Harrison checks out the view of one of the headlands.
Hell’s Gates
The kids and I enjoy a break at “Hells Gates” partway through our walk through the national park.
Lilly and Harrison having fun at one of the lookouts on the headland.
Total distance: 7.67 km Total climbing: 191 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 02:09:54
It was pouring rain at the resort we’re staying at. What better reason to get out for a ride? A bad wet day on the bike will always beat a good dry day in front of the TV. So I took off into the bush west of Coolum looking for dirt roads and rain forests.
I found a dirt road leading off behind a farm, but the road wasn’t marked on the map. So it I had to follow it to see where it ended up. This is a stitched together panorama of one of the pineapple fields adjoining the road.
One of the many dirt roads through the rain forest near Peregian Springs, on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
Dirt roads are underrated. Mountain bikers love single track, and rough trails, but in rainy weather it’s pretty difficult to find any tracks or trails that won’t get damaged, or end up boggy and impassable. The dirt roads west of Coolum are a great compromise.
Total distance: 38.79 km Total climbing: 289 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 02:23:39
Dundalli Sketch by Sylvester Diggles, 1854 Dundalli was an Aboriginal leader and fighter from the Dalla people of the Blackall Ranges who was eventually adopted by the fearsome Djindubarri people of Bribie Island in the 1840’s.
He was convicted of the murder of Andrew Gregor and Mary Shannon in 1846. People much more qualified than I have described how the trial and conviction of Dundalli were unjust. I won’t regurgitate those arguments here, but if you’re interested, you might like to read some articles by Dr Libby Connors and Dr Dale Kerwin.
His execution was particularly gruesome. The hangman botched it while his distraught relatives looked on in horror from the hillside on what is now Wickham Terrace. The rope was too long, at the drop Dundalli actually landed on his coffin, and the hangman had to bend his legs and drag down on them to kill him.
This happened exactly 156 years ago today. So I decided to honour Dundalli by cycling into the city to the GPO and back (about 80km), stopping by “Yorks Hollow” – an important traditional camping ground for Aborigines prior to European settlement.
Yorks Hollow used to cover most of what is Victoria Park Golf Course and the Exhibition Grounds. Today it’s little more than a small park beside the busy Inner City Bypass motorway. But it’s still a beautiful park – especially when you pause to think about what it was.
In her book, “Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland”, Constance Campbell Petrie says of it:
Another big “tulan” or fight, Father remembers at
York’s Hollow (the Exhibition). He and his brother Walter
were standing looking on, when a fighting boomerang thrown
from the crowd circled round, and travelling in the direction
of the brothers, struck Walter Petrie on the cheek, causing
a deep flesh wound. The gins and blacks of the Brisbane
tribe commenced to cry about this, and said that the weapon
had come from the Bribie blacks’ side, and that they were
no good, but wild fellows. The brothers went home, and the
cut was sewn up. It did not take long to heal afterwards.
At that fight there must have been about eight hundred
blacks gathered from all parts, and there were about twenty
wounded. One very fine blackfellow lost his life. His
name was “Tunbur” (maggot). In the fight he got hit
on the ankle with a waddie, and next day died from lockjaw.
They carried the remains, and crossed the creek where the
Enoggera railway bridge is now, and further on made a fire
and skiimed the body and ate it. My father knew ” Tunbur”
well; he was one of the blacks who accompanied grandfather
Petrie on his trip in search of a sample of ” bon-yi ” wood.
I was pleasantly surprised to find out someone else had the same idea and had erected some signs about Dundalli in Post Office Square across the road from the GPO. The GPO was actually built in 1871 on the site of the old Female Convict Factory.
What struck me today was the irony. Here was a war memorial on the front wall of GPO comemorating soldiers who had died for their country in the First World War, yet it was the same place a black man was killed for trying to protect his country and uphold his people’s laws.
Even the grand statue of Major General Sir William Glasgow appeared to look away in shame from the GPO and the memorial posters there.
The trouble is we often become emotionally immune to irony, even though it can sometimes highlight painful truths. I’m glad I did what the sign said, and walked in his tracks.
Total distance: 78.87 km Total climbing: 682 m Average temperature: NAN Total time: 04:38:14
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 š
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
Rainforest, Lakes, Mud, Flooded Trails, Railway Tunnels and angry Goannas – just some of the fun things I discovered with Tim today as we explored Ewen Maddock Dam and Dularcha National Park.
Even though most of the trails were pretty soggy from all the recent rain, they were still fun to ride.
The Dularcha Railway Tunnel was built in 1890 as part of the original Brisbane – Cairns railway line. A newer, flatter route was built in 1931, when this particular section of the line was abandoned. It’s now part of the Dularcha National Park which contains beautiful rainforest.
At the end of the ride we met a beautiful goanna who let us get pretty close to take photos, but started hissing loudly at us to let us know he didn’t like us crowding him too much.
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 š
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
