Why this ride
539 km from Kooralbyn to Kooralbyn, about 9 h 17 of riding. It goes by way of Lamington National Park, Limpinwood Nature Reserve, Nightcap National Park and back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Telemon Environmental Park and Nightcap National Park
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 539 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 9 h 17
- 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. Telemon Environmental Park
The country south of Beaudesert, in Queensland's Scenic Rim, is a soft landscape of cattle paddocks, gum-lined creeks and wooded hills that rise steadily towards the volcanic ranges along the New South Wales border. Telemon Environmental Park is one of the small protected patches in these hills, near the resort village of Kooralbyn, a reminder of the open eucalypt forest that once covered the whole area.
Read the complete Telemon Environmental Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Telemon Environmental Park is where the day begins. Next is Lamington National Park.
2. 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 comes up about 77 km into the recorded legs. 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
about 150 km into the recorded legs 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 358 km, about halfway. Next is back through Lamington National Park.
6. back through 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
back through Lamington National Park comes up about 462 km into the recorded legs. Next is Telemon Environmental Park.
7. Telemon Environmental Park
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Telemon Environmental Park write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Telemon Environmental Park closes the day.
Leg by leg
Telemon Environmental Park to Lamington National Park
Telemon Environmental Park → Lamington National Park is 77 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lamington National Park to Limpinwood Nature Reserve
Lamington National Park → Limpinwood Nature Reserve is 74 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 119 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 119 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve to back through Lamington National Park
back through Limpinwood Nature Reserve → back through Lamington National Park is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Lamington National Park to Telemon Environmental Park
back through Lamington National Park → Telemon Environmental Park is 77 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.