Why this ride
A 518 km round trip from Murwillumbah - roughly 8 h 56 in the saddle. The stops in between: Nightcap National Park, Limpinwood Nature Reserve, Lamington National Park and back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Amaroo Flora Reserve and Lamington National Park
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 518 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 8 h 56
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Amaroo Flora Reserve
Behind the coast of northern New South Wales, the Tweed valley sits inside the remains of an enormous shield volcano that erupted some twenty-odd million years ago. Erosion has carved away the centre, leaving a huge caldera, one of the largest in the world, with the steep, forested walls of the Border Ranges and the McPherson Range curving around it and the volcanic plug of Wollumbin, also known as Mount Warning, rising in the middle. The Amaroo Flora Reserve lies on the slopes of this landscape, part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, a UNESCO site of scattered reserves along the Great Dividing Range.
Read the complete Amaroo Flora Reserve write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Amaroo Flora Reserve is where the day begins. Next is Nightcap National Park.
2. Nightcap National Park
Nightcap National Park covers a high, wet plateau and escarpment north of Lismore in New South Wales, the remains of the rim of an ancient volcano centred on Wollumbin, Mount Warning, whose eroded caldera forms one of the largest in the world. The plateau receives some of the highest rainfall in the state, and it is covered in subtropical rainforest, tall eucalypt forest and dramatic waterfalls, including Minyon Falls, which drops about a hundred metres over a cliff of volcanic rock. Nightcap is one of the Gondwana Rainforests reserves, and in 2000 it made headlines when scientists found a previously unknown tree, the Nightcap oak, surviving in only a few small populations here.
Read the complete Nightcap National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Nightcap National Park comes up about 74 km into the recorded legs. Next is Limpinwood Nature Reserve.
3. Limpinwood Nature Reserve
Twenty-odd million years ago, a huge shield volcano stood where the Tweed valley is now, on what became the border between New South Wales and Queensland. Erosion has since carved out its centre, leaving one of the largest erosion calderas in the world, a vast bowl of green farmland ringed by cliffs and ridges, with the volcano's old central plug, Wollumbin, also known as Mount Warning, standing in the middle. Limpinwood Nature Reserve, on the northern rim of the caldera, protects a stretch of subtropical rainforest that is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site preserving forests whose lineage goes back to the ancient supercontinent.
Read the complete Limpinwood Nature Reserve write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 188 km into the recorded legs you reach Limpinwood Nature Reserve. Next is Lamington National Park.
4. Lamington National Park
Ask anyone in Brisbane about Lamington and they will probably mention one of two roads, and both of them will make you work. The national park covers the high plateau of the McPherson Range on the Queensland side of the border, a huge expanse of rainforest, waterfalls and cliff-edged lookouts at the heart of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage area. It was named after Lord Lamington, a governor of Queensland at the end of the nineteenth century, who is said to have been less than thrilled to have a park, and later a cake, named after him.
Read the complete Lamington National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lamington National Park, about halfway. Next is back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve.
5. back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Limpinwood Nature Reserve write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve sits at 344 km, about halfway. Next is back through Nightcap National Park.
6. back through Nightcap National Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Nightcap National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Nightcap National Park comes up about 450 km into the recorded legs. Next is Amaroo Flora Reserve.
7. Amaroo Flora Reserve
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Amaroo Flora Reserve write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Amaroo Flora Reserve closes the day.
Leg by leg
Amaroo Flora Reserve to Nightcap National Park
Amaroo Flora Reserve → Nightcap National Park is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nightcap National Park to Limpinwood Nature Reserve
Nightcap National Park → Limpinwood Nature Reserve is 115 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limpinwood Nature Reserve to Lamington National Park
Limpinwood Nature Reserve → Lamington National Park is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lamington National Park to back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve
Lamington National Park → back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve to back through Nightcap National Park
back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve → back through Nightcap National Park is 115 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Nightcap National Park to Amaroo Flora Reserve
back through Nightcap National Park → Amaroo Flora Reserve is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.