A New trip Afoot.

I don't know what is more exciting, heading off on the new trip or planning it. Hopefully at the end of this month/early November I will be on my way again. So at present I am still in the planning stages. To me working out a route and where I intend to camp is all part of the fun and it only helps wet the appetite for the unexpected that is come.

This trip that I am embarking on will be my longest by far, approximately fifteen hundred kilometers. Unfortunately I won't be accessing any rail trails until the end on this ride.

The panned trip is taking me to Brisbane via the coast, down the Bruce Hwy and camping for my first night at Torbanlea. From there I'll continue on the Highway to Wongi. Then I'll be heading through the state forest untill I hopefully get to Maryborough Biggenden Rd then through town and out through Boonooroo Plains. Just before Boonooroo I'll turn off and head south via Maryborough Cooloola Rd heading for Tuan State Forest where I'll make camp for the second night.

After that night I will head off again for the Cooloola National Park and attempt to find Harrys Hut. I have been there before many years ago and vaguely remember the road, or should I say track, into the park. I thought I might take a small rod, reel and some soft plastics with me this trip and see if I can catch a cold.

From Harrys hut I'll work my way down to Boreen Point on Lake Cootharaba, and here I'll reminisce of a wonderful day, my wedding day. It was here at Boreen Point, that my lovely wife and I submitted our lives to one another. Sharon got a good deal that day...lol.
It could be a bit tricky here and I hope to find out more before I go. There is one track that is part of the great Cooloola Walk, and even though bikes are not allowed to be ridden I was planning on walking it. There is a creek crossing before you pass over towards the cemetery at Boreen Point, and it all depends if it can be walked across.
There is another way that shows to be bicycle friendly, but like the Walk it appears to have a creek crossing. I am just looking for alternatives rather than going all the way out to Kin Kin Rd. I want to get to Glenview, near Landsborough on Day 4 and I already have around one hundred and seventy kilometers to pedal. I don't want to go out of my way if I don't have to.

From Glenview I'll work my way down through the back of Beerwah following Old Gympie Rd into the Northern Suburbs of Brisbane. In Brisbane I'll re-stock and prepare for the journey south.

After Brisbane I plan to make my way south through Beaudesert, up the Mt Lindsay Hwy to Woodenbong and then follow the Clarence Valley Way to South Gafton. After another couple of days here it will be time to head off again.

Leaving South Grafton I'll head to Glenn Innes. I want to travel the Old Glenn Innes Rd as far as I can up the mountain, I think by memory it is a continual climb of about three thousand five hundred meters. I have ridded the sealed section a few times on my road bike and I think I'll be walking up one hill I have aptly named Heart Failure Hill. I think when I did it on my road bike my Garmin measured gradients well in excess of thirty five degrees. By the looks of Google Maps and Komoot there'll be more of those beyond the sealed section. I plan only to be doing around sixty kilometers per day through here, so it will take a couple day to complete this section alone.

After Glenn Innes I will head north and take as many back roads as I can that run parallel with the New England Hwy to as far as Tenterfield. From Tenterfield I'll divert north west and run up into Killarney via Legume. Then heading out through the back of Warwick towards Leyburn.

From Leyburn I'll head up through the back of Oakey and work my way into Kingaroy and here I'll attack the whole of the Kilkivan Kingaroy Rail Trail which includes the section of the SBRT that I  have done.

From Kilkivan I intend to head north west via Running Creek Rd back to Biggenden and then back home via Dillarnil, Booyal and the Cordalba State Forest. There is a back way that take you though via Lakeside and bring you our neat Childers. I'll investigate this and if it appears doable, I might give it a crack.

So that's the plan thus far. Another thing I'll be focusing on with this trip is budget. I want to travel for less than $10.00 per day. I'll supply everything I need via groceries etc rather than buying take aways along the way. The only accommodation will be with some friends in Brisbane (fingers crossed, suck suck, kiss kiss) and at Grafton with my mother. I plan to tent the rest of it, with free camping all the way.

Anyway I'll share more as the time gets closer and things are set more in concrete. I just need a couple of new tyres and a new chain prior to leaving, other than that the bike is all good to go.