Walking in Tamborine National Park

Recently, I found myself in the Tamborine Hills in Gold Coast hinterland – ‘the green behind the gold’.

Having just one full day there, the Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk was unfeasible this time, although I very much hope to be able to do that in the future. What was feasible, however, was exploring some of the shorter walks in Tamborine National Park.

These walks were nothing too strenuous and did nothing to satisfy my increasing adventure-lust: they are quite short, really well marked - in some cases they even have paved surfaces and fences – and there are a number of restricted areas with no access allowed anywhere outside of the designated paths and swim spots.

However, they did satisfy my desire to spend a day outside in nature, and I really enjoyed the change of scenery, the different plant life, the change from tropical to temperate, and watching the beautiful birds we saw.

Beautiful forest

Not a great photo, but a very pretty Crimson Rosella

As the walks are so short, we were able to do a few before the daylight started to fade, and we followed the walking tracks at Cedar Creek Section, Joalah Section (for Curtis Falls), and the Witches Falls Section – the first ever area in Queensland to be designated as National Park.

At Cedar Creek Falls there are about 3 pools that you are allowed to swim in (access to these pools is only allowed from designated paths). A combination of Australia’s recent cold snap, and my lack of tolerance for the cold since living in the tropics, meant that I didn’t quite feel up to swimming on this occasion though!

Looking at these sweet little falls and not being able to get in and explore was frustrating, but I understood that the National Park is there for the protection of nature, not just our enjoyment.

At Curtis Falls, there is a well-defined dirt path to the pool at the bottom of the small falls, and also a circuit walk going along either side of the river. 

To cross the river at the far end we had to use the rocks as stepping stones, not too tricky if you are confident on your feet, but a few people we met were a little unsure. Again you are not able to freely explore in the river, for the protection of nature, however the views at various points of the river are really pretty and are well worth the easy walk.

Witches Falls also has a well-defined dirt path, this time dropping down the steep side of a hill from the road. Turning right as you approach the path to start, there are steps dropping down, while turning left to start there is a gentler slope with switchbacks. (Obviously this downhill becomes an uphill on the way back, so you may want to plan how steep your return journey is.)

The circuit path has a detour off it to the viewing platform, which has a view down onto the falls and out over the forested hills beyond. 

You can continue on this path back to a road, which you can follow back to the start point, but it’s more pleasant to return via the circuit path through the forest.

Taking our time to enjoy the scenery on each of these walks, and having a relaxed long lunch break (and a coffee break too), these three walks took up almost all of the winter daylight we had, so although they weren’t strenuous we had to finish up there.

Maybe not very adventurous, but certainly a beautiful way to spend a day out and about :)

Bicycle Touring in Style

For a couple of months now I have been avidly reading various cycling blogs, and feeling stronger and stronger urges to get back out on my bike for a longer, overnight trip.

In the UK it had been easy for me to find a good, challenging, mostly off-road route to take for a multi-day bikepacking trip. Here in Australia, I suffer from a healthy respect for venomous snakes, a lack of familiarity with what’s available, and a serious lack of Ordnance Survey maps!

Reaching out to various sources for help with planning, Mick and Jen at my local bike shop, The Bicycle Pedlar, came up trumps for help. They told me to pop in and discuss it with them, and after becoming a regular visitor to the shop we had a firm plan in place. Not only that, but the trip had grown from me going somewhere by myself, to having a whole group of great people interested in coming, and a place to camp has been arranged.

Fast forward a few weeks, and the plan has become action. We had a local long weekend (I have no idea how a particular town can have a public holiday, but that’s what happened) and we used it for cycling.

Saturday was all about style over speed; this was because of an event called Style Over Speed organised by the local Bicycle User Group to raise awareness of what a great activity cycling is. A large group of brilliantly fun people all met up in the city centre, dressed up in a variety of interpretations of the black tie dress code.

We all set off in procession for a gentle ride around The Strand. The atmosphere was great, with people cheering us, and the cyclists also cheering and ringing their bike bells.

The ride ended in Townsville’s City Lane, with a few silly competitions and then the evening’s musical and acrobatical entertainments. A really great night!

The following morning I packed up my panniers with camping gear, first aid kit, spare tubes, etc, and headed down the road to the bike shop to meet up with the rest of the cycle tourists. My set up was better than last time - I don't have a fancy bike with all the frame bags like some other bikepackers I admire (maybe one day) but I had at least got panniers both front and back this time, so I didn't need to carry any backpack at all. Especially important with cycling in the warm climate here.

Between hanging out at the bike shop and the Style Over Speed event, I had already met everyone who was coming, and we had a great group. We even had a last-minute addition to the group in the form of Cycling Josh, an Austrian lad who had been cycling around Australia.

Me and my bike - this was taken at the top of the hill, hence the pained expression! I want to replace those black panniers soon.

Off-road cycle routes are few and far between around here, so unfortunately we were sticking to the tarmac for this trip. We headed west out of Townsville towards The Hervey Range. This involved a long, pretty much flat ride out of town – initially on the city’s bike lanes, then later taking care on the more rural road – followed by a cheeky hill at the end rising a couple of hundred metres over a relatively short distance.

Being the least cycle-fit out of our group, I was left far behind on the hill. I didn’t feel too bad about it though, as I had known I would be slow. Plus I was carrying a respectable amount of weight on my bike. Cycling Josh was a similar pace going up the hill – he was far more cycling fit, but he was also carrying more weight. We made it though, which was the important thing, and met up with the rest of the group at a lookout near the top of the climb.

Heading up the hill, that's Cycling Josh behind me. This picture makes it look less steep than it really was.

The hill is not all bad though, as a short ride on from the top you come to the Hervey Range Historic Tea Rooms, where you get to indulge in a hot drink of your choice (I was craving tea) and a guilt-free cake (apple pie with cream for me!)

We relaxed and chatted at the tea rooms, and caused a bit of a spectacle as well: we were a tandem, a recumbent bicycle, and 4 regular bicycles, mostly fully laden with panniers, so we drew looks and questions from other people there, some of whom were a bit disappointed to learn that we had only come up from Townsville…

Thoroughly refreshed, we hopped back on the bikes for a very short ride on to a local home with land, where we were camping for the night. We were hosted by a friend of my new cycling companions, Vic, who was awesome. Not only had they agreed to let us all stay, and gotten a camp fire all ready for us, but he had also prepared 3 options of delicious homemade soup for us to tuck into!

I may have carried my stove and camp food unnecessarily, but I decided to make use of my camping gear and set up my new bivy tent (which seemed great at first, but turned out to be rubbish. I have returned it to the shop) and it felt good to know that I could be self-sufficient if I had needed to.

Quick Tourer bivy tent - I do not recommend this tent

Wine o’clock followed, and with a camp fire and great company the evening rolled into night time quickly, and bed time soon followed.

In the morning we had a leisurely start: mugs of coffee around the still-burning camp fire, plenty of time to pack up all our gear, and a demonstration by Mick and Jen of their new toy: a bike pump powered espresso maker, the Airspresso. 

For the first leg of our return journey, we made it a whole entire kilometre back to the Tea Rooms, where we stopped for some more food, yet more caffeine, and even more relaxed fun chatting…

Finally setting off for real, we had the glorious steep descent to look forward to. Josh and I stopped briefly at the lookout to get photos, before we flew off own the hill – even overtaking a lorry on the way, quite exhilarating.

We regrouped down on the flat again, and then set off at a good pace back towards the city. I pedalled hard on the way back and kept up a strong rhythm, meaning that I manage to keep up with everyone the whole way back. I was having to work a lot harder than everyone else to keep the pace, but I was pleased with my riding and it means I will be fitter for it.

Back in Townsville, we stopped for one more coffee, before heading our separate ways to go home.

What a great way to spend a weekend – I can't wait for the next adventure :)

The Bicycle Pedlar also blogged about this trip - and we both picked the same title! I guess great minds think alike...

Return to Magnetic Island

Very recently I got to return to Magnetic Island, an island just off the coast of Townsville and a place that I love.

We had won free accommodation for a couple of nights, and this was perfect as I had wanted to go back to the island to enjoy hiking in cooler weather, and watersports outside of jellyfish season.

First stop for me was to visit the rock wallabies again, before passing a bit of time strolling the beaches and drinking coffee while we waited for the tide to get low. 

Magnetic Island has a couple of self-guided snorkel tours, where features are marked with buoys so that you can spot different corals and so on quite easily. The recent winds had all been from the south east though, which apparently makes the waters around there more murky, so visibility was not good for us and we didn’t see a great deal very clearly.

Heading out on a low tide though did mean we got to see a few cool things, like giant clams, some corals, and the odd fish. Maybe not my very best snorkelling experience, but it was still great to get out in the water and experience another world.

Attempted snorkeling selfie

Giant clam

Corals

The following day, my plan was to hike across the island. The trail we followed wasn’t nearly as long as I had expected it to be, but this was perhaps a good thing as it seems my walking shoes had gotten a bit bent out of shape during our move to Australia, and I ended up with painful blisters. The scenery was worth it though, and it was fun to know we were hiking across an island.

That evening brought more wildlife encounters, as possums came to our accommodation. They make quite a racket running along the roof of the small building, despite being so small. I sat quietly in the doorway watching the shy creatures, and one even came pretty close to investigate what food we might have inside.

One day remained on the island, and I wanted to spend it looking for turtles. We had seen marine turtles out in the bay, poking their heads up to breathe, while sitting by the beach, and I thought that maybe if we were out on the water we would see them closer up.

We hired stand-up paddleboards (SUP) to go out on the sea, and I took snorkelling gear in case the opportunity arose to watch turtles underwater. 

I only got one good view of a turtle while we were out, as it breached the water coming up for air. I wasn’t quick enough getting to my camera though, so the only turtle photo I ended up with was taken from the beach, and the turtle is only visible as a black dot in the water.

Finally, we went for one last hike - I really didn't want to leave without having seen a koala! So on the way back to the ferry, we stopped to go on the Forts Walk. This walk is well known for being a good place to spot koalas, and as the evening was approaching it was a good time as well as a good place. Luck was onside again, and on the return to the car we spotted a cute little koala perched up in a tree just next to the track, lazily munching on gum leaves. A perfect farewell from Maggie again :)