Headed off early (for me) in the morning south from Brisbane towards the Gold Coast via the freeway. Boring straight no fun. Hit Nerang and took the Gold Coast Hinterlands scenic route. After getting stuck at roadworks for 15 minutes, proceded through some nice curvey roads. Early on the majority of road consists of sweepers that almost never end, most turns are at least 180degrees with nice rise and fall of the roadway through the corners.
Proceeding down towards the New South Wales border the landscape changes to valley settings through gentley winding roadways. The mountains to either side show a spectacular view of which these photos do not do justice, spring growth is abundant and the landscape is so very green.
These scenes continue for about 40km's before coming to a landmark called 'Natural Bridge'. A pathway leading down to a rock formation etched out by the stream going through, unfortunatley the forest surrounding had grown rapidly meaning the view of this was blocked, and I was feeling a bit lazy to do the long hike to a better position. The water flows down into the this formation and continues on underground, forming a bridge like structure.
Walking back to the carpark from here I came across a large (60cm ~ 2') waterdragon on the pathway, wonderful looking creature which scampered off into the forest before I had a chance to get the camera fired up.
Coming out of the valley the road climbed up the hillside heading towards the border of Queensland and New South Wales. The vantage point just over the border lead to some spectacular views showing spring was well set in...
One of the most suprising elements I found while traveling this road, is that in New South Wales in this section of road for about 40km's there is no speed restrictions, excluding a couple of towns and school districts.
Although this let me stress a little less about losing my license, the roadways were in parts a little under maintained and narrow. The straights let me open up the bike somewhat, and an almost continuous flow of corners made this run very enjoyable.
Through the town of Murwillumbah the roadways were again signed a speed limit, but the surface was very well maintained. The roadway continued on towards the Pacific Highway through some very nice roadways containing fun sweepers through gently undulating mountains.
Back onto the boredom of the highway, just prior to reaching the turn off to Byron Bay I had been told of a pie shop called "Humble Pie". Getting towards lunch time I stopped off to sample their goods... MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM... big chunky pepper steak meat pie covered in tomato sauce, spectacular! Haven't had a pie this good for some time.
Back onto the highway, turned off and finally reached Byron Bay, I stopped off at the beach. Felt a bit wierd wearing leather jacket and jeans and shoes here. No one else had anything near this, swimwear and thongs (flipflops?) were the order of the day.
The views were stunning, and the beach wasn't bad either. Unfortunatley, fearing breaking another camera with drool and not having a very good zoom stopped me taking some pics of the other scenery (sorry!). Spent a bit of time here taking in the views.
Up the road was Lennox Point, with a lighthouse erected to ward off wayward ships, it is the Easternmost point of Australia.
With spectacular views back towards Byron Bay (Beach from previous picture is the leftmost part).
The most Eastern BMW in Australia!
Weather held up pretty well, no rain luckily, another rider told me that another 30kms south was getting some heavy falls. Temperature was is the high 20's maybe reaching 30, great spring weather.
On the return trip, I had planned to go back via the highway, but enjoyed the scenery and roadways too much so headed back through the hinterlands. Also grabbed some pies for home (YUMM). All up the ride took about 460km's, well worth the trip if you get a chance in this neck of the woods.
