Why this ride
A 605 km round trip from Yamba - roughly 9 h 36 in the saddle. On the way it passes Nightcap National Park, Lamington National Park and back through Nightcap National Park. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Iluka Nature Reserve and Lamington National Park
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 605 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 9 h 36
- 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: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Iluka Nature Reserve
Iluka is the sort of place that people drive past on the Pacific Highway without noticing, and that is a pity. The town sits at the mouth of the Clarence River on the northern coast of New South Wales, a fishing village of about two thousand people on the opposite bank to Yamba, with a long surf beach on one side and the wide river on the other. A mineral-sands mining company that began here took its name from the place, which is as good a proof as any that this is real working country.
Read the complete Iluka Nature Reserve write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Iluka Nature 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 132 km into the recorded legs. Next is Lamington National Park.
3. 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
about 299 km into the recorded legs you reach Lamington National Park. Next is back through Nightcap National Park.
4. 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, late in the day. Next is Iluka Nature Reserve.
5. Iluka Nature Reserve
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Iluka Nature Reserve write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Iluka Nature Reserve. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Iluka Nature Reserve to Nightcap National Park
Iluka Nature Reserve → Nightcap National Park is 132 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Nightcap National Park to Lamington National Park
Nightcap National Park → Lamington National Park is 167 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lamington National Park to back through Nightcap National Park
Lamington National Park → back through Nightcap National Park is 172 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Nightcap National Park to Iluka Nature Reserve
back through Nightcap National Park → Iluka Nature Reserve is 133 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.