Today was one of those days when a head-clearing ride was necessary. I had some uncomfortable business to attend to and then once that was attended to and clear I headed for the hills on some familiar roads, but in reverse of my usual route. It's a Wednesday here, so the mid-week traffic was light, to be almost non-existent later on this morning. Some of the narrower roads usually have cars and utes coming down them as you wend your way up if it's early enough...a fair few people live way up in the highlands of the hinterland and have to get down to the Gold Coast for work and school. I began my ride with a short, fast spin from Mudgeeraba past the excellent and secluded Pancho's Mexican restaurant up towards Springbrook NP to Purlingbrook Falls NP, a place I have fond memories of in the recent past. I hope you enjoy the small slide show of my ride.
The old road from Mudgeeraba to Austinville through the rainforest.
A deep, cool stream on a hot day does wonders for the soul. Mind the snakes, leeches and other snappy, bitey, sucking things.
The signs should be heeded.
Lovely, empty, winding roads through the bush. Made for motorbikes.
There's a track winding back...it's only a few hundred metres from the car park to the walkway above the falls, and it passes through some most pleasant greenery, under huge ferns and ancient Arctic Beech trees.
The creek at the top of Purlingbrook Falls, as it disappears over the escarpment.
You probably wouldn't want to ride a wooden barrel over these...
The drop is a coupla hundred metres to the rainforest floor below.
The creek (and possibly you in the wooden barrel) ends up here in this pool, called Waringa in the native tongue. Note the walking track around and behind the falls. You can't see it from this angle but you can walk behind the falls as they flow.
More fast, sweeping bends with a fair warning. Bikers ride these roads in their numbers on weekends and the local constabulary are well aware of them, and so they wait, and watch, and use radar, and issue 'road safety' fines which amount to a sin tax on road users. At times an overzealous bike and rider end up in the weeds at roadside and have to be pulled out. This we all pay for.
A longish, empty stretch near Hinze Dam.
The roads go here and there around the mountains of the border range. This fine road has near its end a most pleasant place for a cuppa and a good think about the next bit of riding you'll do to get home. You'll always find a willing participant.
And this is the place...but you'll often not find a seat to rest your bum on at the weekends at the Outpost in Canungra. That's why I go during the week while most everyone else is off at work. The Aussie-style pies and coffee are very good here.
From here you can just make out the skyline of Surfers Paradise and the rest of the Gold Coast, the mighty blue Pacific in the background. I like it up here a lot, away from all that madness and chaos.
The entire ride, from the Gold Coast, up into the hills from Mudgeeraba to Austinville, Springbrook NP, Binna Burra, the edge of the Numinbah Valley, downhill via Clagiraba Road, past the Kokoda military base into Canungra, then back home via Maudsland, Oxenford and the M1 motorway, was a mere 175 kilometres or so. A nice, bright Autumn day, with temps in the mid 20s, very little wind, a few high, fluffy clouds and a fair few dense black ones too, that threatened rain but were more show than action, and a sweet-running motorbike thrumming away between my knees. This is my pew in my church, my time for reflection, helmet therapy time; an inveterate traveller at home on the road.
As someone wiser than me once said..."I'd rather be sitting on my motorbike thinking about god than sitting in church thinking about riding my motorbike."
'Strewth, mates.
Off to Oz in March Fri Feb 25, 2011 9:03 pm
1986 k75, 1985 K100rt, 
..
to all of you.
