Why this ride
On the way it passes Border Ranges National Park, Limpinwood Nature Reserve, Nightcap National Park and back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve and Nightcap National Park
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 514 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 9 h 31
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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. Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve
Nothofagus is the botanical name of the southern beech, and the name of this reserve gives away its treasure: stands of Antarctic beech growing high on the McPherson Range along the Queensland–New South Wales border. These gnarled, moss-covered trees, some of them centuries old and sprouting from root systems far older still, are living relics of the forests that covered Gondwana before Australia drifted away from Antarctica.
Read the complete Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve is where the day begins. Next is Border Ranges National Park.
2. Border Ranges National Park
Twenty three million years ago a huge shield volcano stood over what is now the border between New South Wales and Queensland, and the Border Ranges are the remains of its northern and western rim. The volcano has long since eroded, leaving a vast caldera with the steep central plug of Wollumbin, also known as Mount Warning, rising in the middle, and a ring of cliffs and ridges around it covered in dense subtropical rainforest. The Border Ranges National Park protects a large part of that rim, and it is part of the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, a World Heritage Site that preserves forests whose ancestry goes back to the time when Australia was part of the supercontinent Gondwana.
Read the complete Border Ranges National Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Border Ranges National Park comes up 39 km in. 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
77 km in you reach Limpinwood Nature Reserve. Next is Nightcap National Park.
4. 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, 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 155 km, about halfway. Next is back through Border Ranges National Park.
6. back through Border Ranges National Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Border Ranges 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 Border Ranges National Park comes up 193 km in. Next is Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve.
7. Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve closes the day.
Leg by leg
Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve to Border Ranges National Park
Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve → Border Ranges National Park is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Border Ranges National Park to Limpinwood Nature Reserve
Border Ranges National Park → Limpinwood Nature Reserve is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Limpinwood Nature Reserve to Nightcap National Park
Limpinwood Nature Reserve → Nightcap National Park is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Nightcap National Park to back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve
Nightcap National Park → back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve to back through Border Ranges National Park
back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve → back through Border Ranges National Park is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Border Ranges National Park to Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve
back through Border Ranges National Park → Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.