Yandina

Today’s ride and hike took us to a couple of great lookouts, and along some fun tracks near the small Sunshine Coast town of Yandina.

We started from the middle of town, and headed west towards Mapleton National Park.

A few minutes later we left the paved road and started our first climb of the day.

We passed a friendly man on a furry mountain bike as we headed up the hill. It looked like he was having a much easier day than us.

Parts of Warlands Break can be quite rough and steep. My “Ninja” friends powered upwards, while I had to walk a few bits.

We emerged on Buckby Road, grateful for its smooth surface and gentle gradient.

Although we continued uphill, it was much less effort now.

When we reached the top of the hill we stopped at Point Glorious – the first lookout of the day.

Conditions were perfect.

True winter never really visits South East Queensland. Instead, we receive weeks of clear blue skies with gentle sun.

We parked the bikes, unloaded our packs, and had a short break while we soaked up the view.

There were a lot of views to soak up.

From there we jumped back on the bikes and rolled down the hill towards York Creek Cascades.

I got a flat tire, and took longer than usual to fix it. I came to the conclusion I carried so much stuff on my bike that it became difficult to find the items I actually needed. So I made a mental note to ditch a few unneeded things when I got home.

After a bit of help from my buddies, we fixed the tyre and got moving again.

One down-side of our dry winters is that the creeks can dry up.

Very little water flowed over York Cascades today…

…but it was still a pleasant spot to stop and look around.

On the flat terrain at the bottom of the mountain, we pointed our bikes east towards the second peak of the day, Ninderry.

…under the North Coast Railway Line…

…over the Bruce Highway…

…we followed the paved road as it slowly snaked upwards towards the odd-shaped mountain.

Everyone patiently waited for me to catch up.

In Gubbi Gubbi / Kabi legends, Ninderry was a possessive old man who became embroiled in a fatal battle with the young warrior Coolum over the maiden Maroochy. Both combatants were turned into stone, freezing their titanic struggle for all time as a lesson to us mere mortals.

We parked our bikes at the bottom of the walking track and hiked up the hill.

The views at the top were stunning.

It’s a loooong way down.

On the eastern horizon, the low rocky mound of Coolum stood starkly against the dark blue ocean backdrop.

There are three lookouts on the top of Ninderry.

We visited each of them.

At the western lookout I looked back towards Mapleton National Park and imagined our tyre tracks on those hills from this morning.

To the south, the Maroochy River twisted slowly to the sea, full of the legendary tears of the woman who lost her young lover in that fatal dreamtime struggle.