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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Numinbah Nature Reserve and Gilbert State Forest

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
799 km
Riding-time estimate
15 h 26
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.

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Why this ride

799 km from Tallebudgera Valley to Tallebudgera Valley, about 15 h 26 of riding. It goes by way of Nightcap National Park, Border Ranges National Park, Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve and Gilbert State Forest. Much of it runs through woodland.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. 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

    Numinbah Nature Reserve is where the day begins. Next is Nightcap National Park.

  2. 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 118 km into the recorded legs. Next is Border Ranges National Park.

  3. 3. 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

    about 200 km into the recorded legs you reach Border Ranges National Park. Next is Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve.

  4. 4. 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, about halfway. Next is Gilbert State Forest.

  5. 5. Gilbert State Forest

    West of Brisbane, the Great Dividing Range rises as a dark wall above the plains, and Gilbert State Forest sits on its western slopes, where the rainforest of the escarpment gives way to drier eucalypt woodland and the farmland of the Darling Downs. To the east lies Main Range National Park, with its high peaks and steep cliffs; to the west, the land opens out towards Warwick and the wide grain fields beyond.

    Read the complete Gilbert State Forest write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Gilbert State Forest sits at 183 km, about halfway. Next is back through Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve.

  6. 6. back through 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

    back through Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve comes up about 493 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Border Ranges National Park.

  7. 7. 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

    about 599 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Border Ranges National Park. Next is back through Nightcap National Park.

  8. 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 Numinbah Nature Reserve.

  9. 9. 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

    The route ends here after 799 km.

Leg by leg

Numinbah Nature Reserve to Nightcap National Park

Numinbah Nature Reserve → Nightcap National Park is 118 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Nightcap National Park to Border Ranges National Park

Nightcap National Park → Border Ranges National Park is 82 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Border Ranges National Park to Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve

Border Ranges National Park → Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve is 104 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve to Gilbert State Forest

Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve → Gilbert State Forest is 96 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Gilbert State Forest to back through Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve

Gilbert State Forest → back through Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve is 93 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve to back through Border Ranges National Park

back through Mount Nothofagus Flora Reserve → back through Border Ranges National Park is 106 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Border Ranges National Park to back through Nightcap National Park

back through Border Ranges National Park → back through Nightcap National Park is 80 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Nightcap National Park to Numinbah Nature Reserve

back through Nightcap National Park → Numinbah Nature Reserve is 119 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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