Why this ride
From Canungra it runs 598 km to Canungra; allow about 3 h of riding. It goes by way of Limpinwood Nature Reserve, Numinbah Nature Reserve, Amaroo Flora Reserve and Nightcap National Park.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Lamington National Park and Nightcap National Park
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 598 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 10 h 19
- 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. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Limpinwood Nature Reserve.
2. 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
Limpinwood Nature Reserve comes up about 82 km into the recorded legs. Next is Numinbah Nature Reserve.
3. Numinbah Nature Reserve
On the New South Wales side of the border range above the Gold Coast hinterland, the land rises into steep, forested ridges that are the eroded rim of the ancient Tweed Volcano. Numinbah Nature Reserve protects a slice of this country, a jumble of rainforest gullies, eucalypt slopes and rocky outcrops, looking south across the great green bowl of the Tweed valley towards the sharp peak of Wollumbin, also known as Mount Warning.
Read the complete Numinbah Nature Reserve write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 137 km into the recorded legs you reach Numinbah Nature Reserve. Next is Amaroo Flora Reserve.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Nightcap National Park.
5. 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 sits at 299 km, about halfway. Next is back through Amaroo Flora Reserve.
6. back through 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
back through Amaroo Flora Reserve comes up about 385 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Numinbah Nature Reserve.
7. back through Numinbah Nature Reserve
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Numinbah Nature Reserve write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 461 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Numinbah Nature Reserve. Next is back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve.
8. 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, late in the day. Next is Lamington National Park.
9. Lamington National Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
The route ends here after 598 km.
Leg by leg
Lamington National Park to Limpinwood Nature Reserve
Lamington National Park → Limpinwood Nature Reserve is 82 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limpinwood Nature Reserve to Numinbah Nature Reserve
Limpinwood Nature Reserve → Numinbah Nature Reserve is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Numinbah Nature Reserve to Amaroo Flora Reserve
Numinbah Nature Reserve → Amaroo Flora Reserve is 76 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Amaroo Flora Reserve to Nightcap National Park
Amaroo Flora Reserve → Nightcap National Park is 86 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nightcap National Park to back through Amaroo Flora Reserve
Nightcap National Park → back through Amaroo Flora Reserve is 86 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Amaroo Flora Reserve to back through Numinbah Nature Reserve
back through Amaroo Flora Reserve → back through Numinbah Nature Reserve is 76 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Numinbah Nature Reserve to back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve
back through Numinbah Nature Reserve → back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve is 55 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve to Lamington National Park
back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve → Lamington National Park is 82 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.