good ride today
starting at the familiar yatla "bp " (starting point for the funeral run at night a few weeks ago ) a few riders assembling for a day trip around our local "south east queeensland " area ...these guys were heading over to boonah for a blast up the "cunninhams gap" highway ..lunch at aralula then home
further down the highway i turned off the beaten track north south and headed for the small ...now bypassed country town of murwillumbar ,,,over looked by "mount warning" being the most prominent land mark of the "tweed " river valley
the route
murwillumbar is at the end of the fabulous nerang ..natural arch..numinbar valley run
this area at the flatlands around the coast is really the last extent of sugar cane fields, south along our coastline
the township itself , more or less a cluster once used as a port to ship out local dairy and agricultural produce , a sugar crushing mill presides the entry to the township .
on the other side of "town" the valley narrows up as the tweed river courses through the hills to its source
through that gap and onto uki ...a small comunity of "alternate lifestyle " folks that extends all through this region living out their lives and little bit of terra firma in a different way than the more traditional landholder agricultural flavour that presides on the valley floor , further down river .
roads narrowed to a small tared surface winding around the stream corners and twists, overhung with subfropical foliage all the way .
the ever present massive tor of mount warning ..now verry close
far too many twistys through this lush area, starting from about here , when the bush meets the road ..lots of turnoffs into small comunities line the road and bends .
after about half an hour i was climbing the back of the valley , over the escarpment ,where the jungle finishes and open pasure presented itself for a breif moment .....looking back down the valley
to the right the "nightcap" range that leads off to the back of "byron bay" some 50 killometers down the coast
behind it can be found the alternate communitys of "nimbin" "blue knob" "the channon" all in the catchment of the next river system the "richmond"
but for me , to navigate through the next valley and head to kyogle ..originally a farming community and of timber getters seeking mountain wood
my route took me around the hills , along the valley floor to lismore after kyogle and a chance to call in "home " to visit my ageing mum for a couple of hours . she had taken a tumble down the stairs and i thought a visit would be appreciated and long overdue .
leaving lismore the country is somewhat more "manicured" with massive pockets of macadamia plantations covering, once dairy paddocks for which the far north coast had benn famous in years gone by .
along the ridge tops of clunes and bangalow towards byron bay
over looking byron, looking back to the nightcap range ..where i had come from .
and byron bay ....awesome
another 200 k back home along boring highways ...oh well, more to come , next trip out
sunday ride 02-08-12 Fri Aug 31, 2012 11:14 am
