Why this ride
It goes by way of Burnett Creek State Forest, Lamington National Park and back through Burnett Creek State Forest. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Main Range National Park and Lamington National Park
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 546 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 11 h 22
- 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. Main Range National Park
The Main Range is the wall behind the Scenic Rim, a long line of old volcanic cliffs and ridges that runs along the border between south-east Queensland and New South Wales. It is what remains of a huge volcano that erupted more than twenty million years ago, and the rocks have been eroded into steep escarpments, gorges and waterfalls, with the high points, such as Mount Superbus, reaching nearly fourteen hundred metres. The national park protects dry eucalypt forest on the lower slopes and cool, damp rainforest higher up, with ancient Antarctic beech trees and giant tree ferns that belong to the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, listed by UNESCO in 1986.
Read the complete Main Range National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Main Range National Park is where the day begins. Next is Burnett Creek State Forest.
2. Burnett Creek State Forest
In the Scenic Rim, southwest of Brisbane, Burnett Creek runs down from the slopes of the Main Range toward the farmland around Boonah, and the state forest that bears its name covers a stretch of steep, wooded hills where eucalypt forest gives way, in the moister gullies, to subtropical rainforest. This is the edge of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, a UNESCO-listed collection of rainforest reserves along the Great Dividing Range in Queensland and New South Wales, including the Border Ranges and the Main Range national parks. The rainforests here are remnants of the forests that covered the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana, and they shelter plants and animals with lineages going back tens of millions of years.
Read the complete Burnett Creek State Forest write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Burnett Creek State Forest comes up about 145 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 270 km into the recorded legs you reach Lamington National Park. Next is back through Burnett Creek State Forest.
4. back through Burnett Creek State Forest
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Burnett Creek State Forest write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Burnett Creek State Forest, late in the day. Next is Main Range National Park.
5. Main Range National Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Main Range National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Main Range National Park. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Main Range National Park to Burnett Creek State Forest
Main Range National Park → Burnett Creek State Forest is 145 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Burnett Creek State Forest to Lamington National Park
Burnett Creek State Forest → Lamington National Park is 125 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Lamington National Park to back through Burnett Creek State Forest
Lamington National Park → back through Burnett Creek State Forest is 130 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Burnett Creek State Forest to Main Range National Park
back through Burnett Creek State Forest → Main Range National Park is 145 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.