Recumbent tour of the South Burnett Rail Trail and Brisbane Valley Rail Trail May 21-27 2021

The South Burnett Rail Trail is an abandoned railway line that commences in Kilkivin , west of Gympie, to Kingaroy. It passes through the small towns of Goomeri, Wondai and Murgon. It is sealed and is high quality from Murgon to Kingaroy, however is fairly rough from Kilkivin to Murgon.

There is a published link route that proceeds via Nanango to Yarraman, the starting point of the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail, this more established trail passes through small towns of Blackbutt, Linville, Moore, Harlin, Toogoolawah, Esk, Lowood, Fernvale and ends at Wulkuraka train station west of Ipswich.

This ride, I suspect, is a first- 2 recumbent bikes and 1 recumbent trike- a completely bent rail trail tour!

To start the ride we caught the train, part of the suburban network, to the town of Gympie, arriving about 12.40pm.

Our route to Kilkivin avoided the Wide Bay Hwy as much as possible, riding via Glastonbury and Widgee, before joining the highway for the last 20km into Kilkivin. We stopped for a lunch break prior to getting into serious riding, unfortunately the hamburgers we ordered took about an hour to make and eat and we lost valuable daylight time which would bite us on the bum a bit later on .

Car traffic was surprisingly high and quite unpleasant, mostly they were well behaved, but there was the occasional close pass. Fortunately by Widgee the traffic had thinned out considerably. It was very undulating with numerous short steep climbs and equally fast short downhills.  A mostly slight downhill run from Widgee to the intersection with the highway was most appreciated. Turning onto the highway at dusk, with 20km to go on a Friday afternoon......not ideal.

There was a small shoulder but traffic was quite heavy  and unpleasant, we arrived into Kilkivin well after dark and were very happy to give it away for the day at our booked accomodation at the Kilkivin Hotel.

A good meal, bottle of red between us, early to bed in readiness for the rail trial.

Kilkivin to Wondai

Early get up, coffee's, pack up and we're on the trail, perfect weather, track fast. The trail quicky changes to two single tracks, ie car tracks, which is fine for the 2 wheel bents, but a problem for the trike. Long grass and tufts made the going difficult for the front wheels of the trike, Matt had to expend a whole lot more effort negotiating the trail here.

After a few kilometres we come to a creek crossing that required shoes off, and carrying the bikes across to the other side. And so the day went on, steep descents to dry creekbeds ( mostly) and steep climbs back up to the trail, this was where the railway bridges once spanned these culverts. 

The most exasperating part was the continual gate passages, we quickly established a routine whereby first person arriving at the gate waited and held it open for the rest of the party when they came along, the second person would continue to the next gate and repeat the procedure.

Quite a bit of climbing ensued, at least it was at railway gradients, 2- 2.5%, so wasn't too bad. Again Matt on the trike now had the additional difficulty of uphill and rough track to contend with. For the 2 wheeled crew, we were able to follow the single track ok and were rolling quite well.  Occasional patches of sand or larger rock, made it more difficult and required concentration to avoid losing the front wheel from under the bike. 

We rolled into Goomeri for lunch at the local bakery. At this point Matt, sick of being pummelled on the trike, elected to ride via the highway to Wondai, our stop for the night. It wasn't long before the track deteriorated with larger rocks making the going difficult for my 20 inch wheels on the Grasshopper and at a road crossing, I headed for the highway as well, caught up with Matt and we rode into Murgon together, leaving Josh on the rail trail. From Murgon on, the trail is sealed, yes!! After a rest and drinks break we continued on to our overnight stop at Wondai.

Wondai to Kingaroy

After a night at the Wondai Colonial Motor Inn and dinner at the their Ivory Restaurant with live piano music, we had an easier run into Kingaroy. The sealed trail was a godsend for Matt on the trike and we arrived for lunch at the Kingaroy RSL, before checking into a nearby motel. The next days ride was to Yarraman along the infamous link route from Nanango to Yarraman.  

A more pressing matter was finding accomodation at Yarraman, everything was booked out, Matt eventually found an AirBNB and booked that, but we didn't actually get confirmation until 10.30 am enroute to Yarraman!

Kingaroy to Yarraman

We ended up travelling via the highways to Nanango, which was fine, little traffic, and good shoulder when required. The next section started off well, but quickly degraded to a heavily rutted goat track, almost impassable for the trike. There is a signposted 2km stretch of very poor track, lots of hike-a-bike/ trike here, gradually the trail begins to improve again and the last few kilometres into Yarraman was good.

Our AirBNB was 'eclectic' with many interesting adornments, but was bery comfortable and cosy.

Yarraman to Toogoolawah

On the BVRT now, the good news was today was mostly downhill. A reasonably comfortable trail for the 2 wheeled bikes, but not so for the trike- this was becoming the pattern. Perhaps the Greenspeed GT3 with 16in wheels was not the ideal choice for this trip, but kudos to Matt he continued with it to the end.

We had a good downhill run through Benarkin, Blackbutt to Linville, on to Moore for lunch. Then an undulating run on better quality trail to Harlin before a beautiful late afternoon run to Toogoolawah and the Exchange Hotel, our bed for the night. A very solid 76km for the day.

Toogoolawah to Wulkuraka

Last days riding, started off foggy in the valleys with lower cloud, but this would quickly burn off into a lovely day. Reasonable quality trail, apart from a 5km section being worked on by council road crews, saw us arrive in Esk for morning tea at the Nash Gallery Cafe. Once caffinated, we set off for Lowood via Coominya, once again nice track for 2 wheels, not so great for 3- Matt courted with getting a lift at Esk, but in the end chose to continue on....again, award for perserverance to that man!

Into Lowood, had some lunch, then onto Fernvale. Josh left us here and made a beeline for the station at Wulkuraka. Matt and I continued on and finally hit the tarmac with 8km to ride to the station. Minimal wait for the train to Ipswich, change platforms to the train to Brisbane- who should we find on board? Josh, reunited we enjoyed our journey back to Brisbane again.

Observations

The BVRT has been a great success for the small towns along its length, the popularity of the trail has had quite an affect on the local economies.

The South Burnett Rail trail is a story in 2 halves. the South Burnett Council have invested in their part of the trail, the Murgon to Kingaroy section, it is sealed and attracts numerous riders of all abilities to the trail. The Gympie Council are responsible for the Kilkivin to Murgon section and have presumably chosen not to invest to the same degree. Consequently limited numbers ride this section, it is rough and hilly and difficult to access except by car. 

The recumbent bikes handled the conditions with little problem. The level of concentration required was probably higher that a normal bike, but they completed the trip with no punctures or mechanical faults.

In contrast, the trike, with its 16in wheel was a struggle for it's rider, 2 of the 3 wheels where mostly in the rough, low clearances and it was difficult to push uphills when required . Kudos must be given to Matt for not giving the tour away after the first day on the trail, he completed the tour with 1 puncture and dodgy rear derailleur that was easily fixed when he got home.

All in all, it was a great tour, perfect weather, good company and a first for recumbents!

St George Outback Bike Tour

I've never been to the 'outback' before, maybe St George doesn't really qualify as outback, but it was all new country for me. It has been severely drought affected for over 3 years, so I didn't really know what to expect.

I knew it would be flat and probably windy, so I was keen to take my recumbent bike, a HP Velotechnik Grasshopper. We were planning to ride some dirt/ gravel roads, not a recumbent's strong suit- but what could go wrong?

Our planned route was St George to Dirranbandi, Dirranbandi- Hebel, Hebel- Lightening Ridge, Lightening Ridge -Collarenebri, Collarenebri- Mungindi, Mungindi- Nindigully Pub, Nindigully Pub- St George, about 530km over 6 days cycling.

A week or so before departure, I started looking at the 7-14 day forecasts for the area, I started feeling a bit nervous, turns out an extremely hot airmass was moving east from the west and would be in our area of operation for the whole of the ride, peaking at 41C on Wednesday.

Wednesday's ride was 90km of unknown dirt from Lightning Ridge to Collarenebri. I had no concept of riding in temperatures like 41C, but I was fairly sure the outcomes of such were not particularly healthy! Anyway a butterfly could flap it's wings in South America and everything could change, how often is a 7 day forecast accurate?

Pretty accurate as it turns out!


Day 1

To get to St George required about a 600km drive, thankfully Matt had a 4wd with a carrier on the toe bar that fitted the 3 bikes, an early start saw us in Cecil Plains for morning tea and St George not long after lunch

Matt had prebooked us into the Merino Motor Inn, they also would look after the car while we were gone.  A lovely meal at the Cobb and Co Hotel and then early to bed for an early start on our epic.

Day 2

We awoke from a pretty sleepless night to clear skies and the sun just rising, we were on the road at about 5.30am.

Our route was via Whyanbah Rd to Dirranbandi, the first 20km were bitumen, then gravel to pretty much Dirranbandi. It was still quite cool when we started, spirits were high, wildlife plentiful- surprisingly given the absolute lack of green anything for them to eat.

Soon we hit the gravel, soon I was over on my side as the front wheel of my bike hit some deeper gravel and slid out from under the bike. This happened 1 or 2 further times, but as I got used to the road and relaxed, worked out the best track, I was able to stay upright for the rest of the day! At least on a recumbent it's not far to fall!

As we continued on the dirt, we had kangaroos crossing the road ahead of us in groups of 10 or more, emus doing the same in ones or two, galahs, crows and myriad other wildlife including goats.

Cory spotted a mother goat with a young kid just off the road in the bush. Matt virtually leaped off his bike and in a modern day version of Russell Coight, was into the bush after them. Mum goat, startled, ran off leaving her baby. Speaking softly and assuring the baby kid was not destined for a curry, he had the kid in his arms and cuddled it to the point that it stopped struggling, and silently surveyed it's new environment under Matt's gentle arms.

Matt was ready to put the goat in his pannier and head home with his new found love. He eventually left it for mum to take over her maternal duties. He was heard to be singing " There's a new kid in town" regularly for the rest of the day!

We continued onward and soon came to a bridge over the Balonne River, we had a break and Matt had a swim (as usual)!

After the bridge, the gravel road improved considerably, falling off was no longer a certainty. However while the road improved, the weather didn't, it was already getting quite hot 38ish, but now a headwind got up with a steady 25kph gusting up to 40kph. This just became a hard slog, with multiple breaks for water all the way into Dirrinbandi, but we did it! Straight to the pub and a cold beer and meal.

We had intentions pre trip of camping, but the camping areas here ( and everywhere else) were rock solid earth without a blade of grass or on 2 inches of pebbles.  We stayed here at a local motel with aircon. Shame about all the camping gear we hauled around with us!

Day3

After our experiences the day before, we had to think seriously about the future route of the ride. The temps were forecast to get hotter (41C, Min 38C) for the rest of the ride.We were confident we could get to Lightning Ridge safely as it only required a 70 and 60km days, if you start early enough you can cover that distance before the heat gets too much. But the 41C day coincided with a 90km gravel road of unknown quality, with little shade. A mechanical problem could delay us to the point of real danger. I think we were all relieved to review our options, we decided to ride Thallon, 65km due east of Dirran, then return to St George, 80km, the next day.

We left early, little wind and a clear sunny day was ahead of us. We left the highway after about 20km, onto a secondary bitumen road all the way to Thallon. I think we only saw 3 cars and 2 trucks on the whole journey! Same as the previous days, lots of roos both dead on the road and hopping here, there and everywhere when they heard us.

Arrived at Thallon pretty much right on 10am as the pub opened, so that was where we headed. The main street was full of roos, in fact the whole town was full of roos. Thallon pub is a typical country pub, with a great publican full of stories and opinions!

We stayed in an ex railway donga on the other side of the rail tracks, quite comfortable and well set up, with aircon. We had a snooze during the arvo heat, returned to the pub for a beer, then when the temp had dropped to about 35, went to check out the famous painted silos and the TCG (Thallon Cricket Ground)

Another lovely simple meal at the pub, then a bit of star gazing on the tracks, then off to bed for a 4.30am start for St George.

Day 4

Having pretty much pre packed the night before, we bolted down a bit of breakfast, then we were on the road at 4.30am. Riding just before dawn is great, no traffic, much cooler and heaps of wildlife. Before long we turned off the highway to visit the Nindigully Pub, unfortunately due to our early start it hadn't opened yet, but we got an idea of what it would be like with a park full of gray nomads watching the Nindigully Pig Races!

We'd ride 10km stop for a break, ride another 10km etc- by 9am it was really heating up, the traffic was increasing and the viewing horizon was all billiard table flat paddocks getting set for the cotton crop planting. With any passing road trains or big trucks we'd generally get off the road, unless we could see them go wide, but as the traffic increased they didn't have too many options, so we'd just get out of the way.

Before long we had arrived in St George, made a beeline for the bakery to hydrate and refuel on a particularly tasty smokey pork pie.

Sadly, but due to the unrelenting heat, that concluded the cycling portion of the trip.

Day5

The plan today was to drive to Lightning Ridge, with a stop at the famous Hebel Pub. Before departing we went for a great riverside walk beside the Balonne River, a very pretty place.

We headed off in flat, featureless, parched countryside. It very quickly became obvious we had made the correct call to not keep riding- by 9am it was 38, by 11am it was 41!

By 10am we were outside the Hebel Pub waiting for it to open, Merv opened the doors and regailed us with the history of the pub, include the pub's connection with 2 of the Kelly gang after they escaped Glenrowan- seems to me to be a hell of a long way to go to remain anonymous!

God knows what Merv the publican does when there's no visitors, to say Hebel is a god forsaken place is an understatement!

We continued on to Lightning Ridge arriving there about midday. Had lunch at the bowling club, it's vibrant green manicured bowling green was quite incongruous in the heat of the middle of the day. After lunch we checked into our motel, has a swim and a rest (about 43 by now) then went for a tour of the town and surrounds.

Lightning Ridge is synonymous with black opals, so just away from the town centre are the claims owned by the fossickers, who have set up everything from conventional homes to tin and timber humpies amongst the mullock heaps. Apparently a few people actually live underground, where it's a constant 22C.

The really ramshackle areas reminded me of the favallas of Rio!

That evening we dined in airconditioned comfort at Piccolos, a great italian restaurant, with great food, atmosphere and service- 5 stars highly recommended!

The next morning we awoke to dust, smoke and strong winds. Matt went out early for a walk, but returned after only a couple of minutes, finding it all too much for his lungs.

We decided it was probably a good idea just to head for home. From Lightning Ridge we drove the dirt road we were intending to ride- it became very apparent that it would have been a difficult ride on a convention bike, impossible on my recumbent- so we really dodged a bullet there. Thank goodness we are all calm, rational, family men!!

Home via Moree, a lovely town, Milmerran, then the new 2nd Range Crossing road that by-passes Toowoomba, to join the peak hour traffic in Brisbane.

Thanks to my riding mates, Matt and Cory- we had many fun times and lots of laughs.


Observations

1. We hear about the drought in the media all the time, but I never realised just how bad it really is and the dramatic affect on the countryside and the farmers. It is truly tragic to see. Despite this, there is an incredible number of kangaroos and other wildlife out there. I have no idea what they are eating or where they get moisture or water from, although the Hebel pub owner said, the kangaroos spend a lot of their night licking the bitumen roads, as when the temperature drops, what little moisture there is in the air, condenses on the road. This would go someway to explaining the incredible number of road kill roos littering every metre of the roads.

2. The truck drivers were mostly great, gave us a very wide berth when the could, often giving a toot from well behind to let you know they were coming. Others say its the gray nomads towing caravans that you have to worry about.

3. Recumbents are great for touring - Matt and Cory suffered a bit from sore bum, no sore body parts on the bent, just legs that at the end of the day knew they had done something. The profile on the recumbent is also kinder into a headwind! Note, a recumbent trike would be fine on the bitumen, maybe some issues in dropping off the side of the road for passing trucks. The dirts roads we went on would be difficult on a trike, although the second half of day 1 to Dirranbandi would be OK trikewise!

4. I was really surprised at the quality of the meals at all the pubs that we ate in. All tasty, filling and well presented by friendly staff. The evening meals were a highlight of the trip!