Qld road trip, riding Yeppoon, Hervey Bay and Gold Coast.

[4dabush]

Family road trip coming up and I'm looking for any advice on riding in Yeppoon, Hervey Bay and GC. Google says there is trails at all, but be great to get locals advice and pointers like where is access 4 and 5 on Rocky/Yeppoon rd? I will probably only have a couple of hours to ride - including travel to/from tracks -(early mornings before everyone else is up)...so it would be great to have some pointers to what to ride if you only have 1-2 hours tops.

Lastly, which bike? As we are camping and staying at various types of accommodation and going to many family friendly sites along the way, I was thinking of leaving the good bikes home and taking my Norco 125. It's a bit more trail friendly than original DJ with 2.35 small block 8's, Rebas and wider 11-34 cassette. For those that know Cairns, it's ok for everything at Smithfield. Figure it's less likely to be "desirable"than a dually. Alternatives are 27.5'd six inch bike or 120mm carbon 29er. I'm a bit worried these might be attractive when we are out at theme parks etc. for the entire day...Losing one of them would really spoil the trip... If the 125 walked, I'd still be p!ssed, but it's a few hundred versus a few thousand...

As for me, 48, ride anything, still race DH, and the occasional XC. As I'll be riding on my own, don't/won't do anything silly...so try not to point me in that direction!

Thanks everyone.

 

[creaky]

20 mins west of Hervey Bay at Toogoom. Ride there recently myself when up for work. Good fun little set of trails with a central trailhead, good signage and a skills area.

Yeppoon - I'm surprised but have never looked into it.

Goldie - Nerang or hinze dam trails

 

[Ridenparadise]

Vernon Conservation Park between Maryborough and Hervey Bay, or hire a fat bike near the Urangan pier and ride the sand flats at low tide.

Nerang for sure (drop into Just Ride and check the map on the service counter. There's also Hinze Dam. Can't say I like the small trail system there, but the views are pretty good as you ride across the dam wall. If you have a spare half day there's also Mt Joyce west of Beaudesert at Wyaralong Dam. Shuttles run there at times.

 

[XYGTHO]

Yeppoon had trails at Byfield but these were destroyed by Marcia.

Rocky has trails at First Turkey. Entrance on Sunset Drive. These are almost all open again. Quite hilly and rocky. More ride up 10mins and then 2-10mins down depending on which track you take (DH-1995 or longer tamer trail-The Pig).

On the way out of Rocky to Yeppoon as you mention is the Scouts land where we have the XC trails. Elite loop is now getting close to 10km and novice around 7km. You need an MTBA license to ride here though and its only open certain times as its Scouts land that they use for other things. Jump on Rocky MTB facebook page. Should be some trail maps.

Otherwise let me know when you are here and if not to busy happy to show you round.

 

[XYGTHO]

Oh yes also Goldy on way to Emu Park which is another DH track. Not sure if its opened again yet though. Also the Mt Archer Zamia walking track. You could ride this (quite a few stairs) but it might not be clear yet either as its goes from top of Mt Archer all the way down the back and comes out at Sunset Dr also.

 

[Flow-Rider]

Do a search on MtbDirt, it's more of a Queensland based site, this question has been asked there quite a few times.

 

[4dabush]

Thanks everyone. Was worried some of the tracks at Yeppoon would still be unrideable...would think all the locals have had plenty to do without trail maintenance. XY I might take you up on that on Easter Saturday or Sunday if you are around at the scouts...I have a full MTBA licence. Getting out to rocky might be a bit of a stretch though...it is a family trip after all :car:Thanks for the mtb dirt tip flow-rider, didn't know about that site.

 

[4dabush]

Well, home after almost 5000km road trip with the family. Got a bit of riding in early mornings before the tribe was awake. I did take the hardtail, just too many risks on better bikes, theft and lots of dirt roads. Our main reason for the trip was my daughters 10th birthday - all she wanted was to go to the Gold Coast theme parks. So we spent a couple of days in Yeppoon on the way down visiting friends. I didnt get to ride the trails there, Seeonee was closed Public Holidays, Saturday and First Sunday of each month...that was Easter written off. Went to First Turkey on Easter Sunday just in time for a huge thunderstorm. Sat in the carpark with some locals for about 20 minutes and watched the creek next to the car park go from dry to about 4m wide...went back to Yeppoon and rode around the beaches.


Hervey Bay was a revelation. Its only a little hill at Toogoom Trails, but you climb it about 6 times to ride all the loops, so you get a good workout...great fun trails, lots of pea gravel through to black coastal loam. They have made great use of any natural items and included built structures. Lots of B lines and newbie friendly jumps that are rollable - but so well designed that they were huge fun hitting at speed and boosting... They have built and awesome skills area and meeting point.



Nerang was fun, but a hardtail with small block 8's wasn't really the bike of choice for those trials. I rode Casurina, Petes, Bretts, Threehills and a few other trails along with climbing the fireroads not really knowing the local etiquette regarding directions. I was a bit suprised these were not very well signposted for visitors. I did like the use of old conveyor belts for waterbars - great as you can ride up or down over them without them interrupting your rhythm. Threehills was my favorite and did it 3-4 times. Bit frustrating as every run was interrupted with riders coming up or blocking the jumps. In another thread it talks about the dumbing down of trails into flow trails. Quite ironic really as the top of Threehills is (mostly) classic hand cut, rough and raw. The bottom, complete with wheelbarrows showing trail building was continuing, was smooth, wider, with plenty of doubles and tabletops and flowy turns. So while the top was tough and rugged and fun, the lower section was sooo much faster, grippier and more exciting...




We came home via Carnarvon Gorge (between Roma and Emerald) and via Hughenden and Richmond (for the dinosours and gorges)...the photo below is Porcupine Gorge - bit over a km of steps down into the gorge...very pretty and a great spot for a swim. Carnarvon is beautiful and many walks and cave paintings...we weren't prepared enough or had enough time as some gorges are 8hrs return walks! We got to see the closer in ones which were awesome anyway - this was Warrumbah Gorge ( the one with my daughter in it).

 

[Ridenparadise]

Looks like a fun trip. It's funny reading about Nerang. Yes we need signs and maps, but that's up to Qld Parks and Wildlife. They want those rubber flaps removed - not natural. Three Hills definitely has multiple personalities. The top section was actually machine built. As you descend past the rock armoured creek, the next bit was hand built. Then after the trail touches the fire road there's more machine built trail and the bit you liked best at the bottom was hand built. We will have to move those barrows. The only reason they are still there is that we had such wet weather this summer that we had to add some gravel to stabilise sodden areas. We thought there would be a need to repeat the process, but fingers crossed the worst is over. Hope you enjoyed riding Nerang. If you get back there are many more trails farther out with a more old school feel. You need a local to act as guide. Thanks for the trip report.