Why this ride
The stops in between: Nightcap National Park, Numinbah Nature Reserve, Mount Chinghee National Park and Mount Barney National Park. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Limpinwood Nature Reserve and Mount Barney National Park
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 797 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 13 h 46
- 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. 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 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 93 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 198 km into the recorded legs you reach Numinbah Nature Reserve. Next is Mount Chinghee National Park.
4. Mount Chinghee National Park
Mount Chinghee is one of those small national parks that most people drive past without noticing, which is a shame, because it guards a beautiful pocket of the border ranges. It lies near the head of the Albert River valley south of Beaudesert, close to the Queensland and New South Wales border, and like its neighbours it forms part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage area. The trees here are the same subtropical rainforest types that once covered much of the old southern supercontinent, hanging on in the wetter folds of the ranges.
Read the complete Mount Chinghee National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mount Chinghee National Park, about halfway. Next is Mount Barney National Park.
5. Mount Barney National Park
Mount Barney looks like it was put there to be argued about. The rugged double summit rises to around 1,350 metres, the second-highest peak in south-east Queensland, and its bare rhyolite crags stand out above the softer farmland of the Scenic Rim like a fortress somebody forgot to finish. Geologists will tell you it is the eroded core of an ancient volcanic system; locals will tell you it has humbled plenty of overconfident walkers. Either way, it is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage area, which stretches along the border ranges between Queensland and New South Wales.
Read the complete Mount Barney National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mount Barney National Park sits at 399 km, about halfway. Next is back through Mount Chinghee National Park.
6. back through Mount Chinghee National Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mount Chinghee 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 Mount Chinghee National Park comes up about 489 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 599 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Numinbah Nature Reserve. Next is back through Nightcap National Park.
8. 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 Limpinwood Nature Reserve.
9. 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
The route ends here after 797 km.
Leg by leg
Limpinwood Nature Reserve to Nightcap National Park
Limpinwood Nature Reserve → Nightcap National Park is 93 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nightcap National Park to Numinbah Nature Reserve
Nightcap National Park → Numinbah Nature Reserve is 105 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Numinbah Nature Reserve to Mount Chinghee National Park
Numinbah Nature Reserve → Mount Chinghee National Park is 110 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mount Chinghee National Park to Mount Barney National Park
Mount Chinghee National Park → Mount Barney National Park is 91 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mount Barney National Park to back through Mount Chinghee National Park
Mount Barney National Park → back through Mount Chinghee National Park is 91 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mount Chinghee National Park to back through Numinbah Nature Reserve
back through Mount Chinghee National Park → back through Numinbah Nature Reserve is 110 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Numinbah Nature Reserve to back through Nightcap National Park
back through Numinbah Nature Reserve → back through Nightcap National Park is 105 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Nightcap National Park to Limpinwood Nature Reserve
back through Nightcap National Park → Limpinwood Nature Reserve is 93 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.