Twenty three million years ago a huge shield volcano stood over what is now the border between New South Wales and Queensland, and the Border Ranges are the remains of its northern and western rim. The volcano has long since eroded, leaving a vast caldera with the steep central plug of Wollumbin, also known as Mount Warning, rising in the middle, and a ring of cliffs and ridges around it covered in dense subtropical rainforest. The Border Ranges National Park protects a large part of that rim, and it is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, a World Heritage Site that preserves forests whose ancestry goes back to the time when Australia was part of the supercontinent Gondwana.
The forests are full of ancient trees, including Antarctic beeches, some of them thousands of years old, as well as tree ferns, strangler figs, palms and epiphytes. The wildlife includes Albert's lyrebird, a shy bird with a remarkable gift for mimicry, pademelons, possums, frogs and a great variety of birds. The views from the escarpment edge, at lookouts such as the Pinnacle, over the caldera to Wollumbin and the coast, are among the finest in eastern Australia.
The Tweed Range Scenic Drive runs through the park along the rim, a gravel road of about sixty kilometres, with steep, narrow sections, tight bends and loose surfaces. It is suitable for bikes ridden with care, but it can become slippery after rain, and it may be closed after storms. For sealed-road riders, the area has something even better: the Lions Road, running from near Kyogle across the range at Richmond Gap to Rathdowney in Queensland, is one of the most popular motorcycle roads in the region, with tight bends through rainforest and farmland, and views over the valleys.
Kyogle, about thirty kilometres away, is a small country town with fuel, shops and cafes, and Kooralbyn is on the Queensland side. There are no services in the park itself, so carry water and food, and fill up before you go. Watch out for wildlife on the roads, especially at dawn and dusk, when wallabies and kangaroos are most active. The weather is subtropical, with hot, wet summers and mild, dry winters, the best time to ride.