Road Tripping East Coast for 2 weeks

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latheboy

Likes Dirt
I'm packing the van with my wife, young bloke, 2 AM bikes and following the coast from Melbourne to Brisbane..
Planning on being away the 2 weeks before Easter.

We will be camping and riding as much as we can.. problem is, we don't know the goss on where to ride.. don't want to go more than 50k inland..

Where/ what are the must do trails on the NSW coast?


Thanks

Areas/Trails so far on the list, looks like we'll be busy....

VIC ... might skip these as they are close to home, well close enough for a weekend/camping trip
Colquhoun Forest MTB park
Mt Taylor

NSW
Tathra
Jacks Ridge, Nambucca Heads
Bom Bom forest, Grafton
Cows with Guns / Pine Creek at Coffs Harbour
Ourimbah
Awaba
Glenrock
Kiwarak forest
Bonny Hills
Port Macquarie bago vineyards track/telegraph point/Wayne richards park
Nambucca heads - jacks track
Bermagui
Maulbrooks at Mogo
Batemans Bay


Don't know if we'll get all this done in 2 weeks haha
I'll start reading up on them.
Good work RB
 
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C

creaky

XMAS Plumper
Jacks Ridge, Nambucca Heads
Bom Bom forest, Grafton (inlandish but you have to go through Grafton anyway)
Cows with Guns / Pine Creek at Coffs Harbour
Taree is meant to be alright too but I've never ridden there
 
pharmaboy

pharmaboy

Eats Squid
Can give some advice on the bit between sydney and the north coast.

Ourimbah and awaba are both xc tracks, but a dedicated am run that's easier to use at ourimbah. The is also a kids and adults adventure park next door ( treetops?) which might be good entertainment.

Awaba great flowy track with some good rainforest riding also.

To Newcastle, if stay nearby, glenrock is coastal Mtb park, one and a bit hours of riding, can sought out someone to guide you round at glenrock trail alliance.com or one of the guys round here - I'm the mid week couple of times a week.

Next stop Kiwarak forest, great set of tracks opposite tip in taree. Tip riders are on Facebook and put rides up.

45 minutes north near lauriten and Kew is Bonny Hills. Loads of all sorts of gravity and XC riding - can stay at the big 4 van park on the beach which is 15 minutes ride from the trails - all ride meets are from what's called the chook pen ( an electricity sub station at the side of the road) on Facebook look for jolly nose Mtb who will organise showing you round

Next - port macquarie - if you have license, you can rides bago vineyards track, if not there is telegraph point just north of port and a 7 km loop in town called Wayne richards park

Nambucca heads - jacks track - well regarded well cared for trails

Get some experience with mapping might be a good idea so you can find your way round if not able to ride with someone else. Facebook is a good way to connect with the riding groups from these areas
 
S

sydmick

Likes Bikes
On route to Tathra make sure you stop in at the Colquhoun Forest MTB park near Lakes Entrance. Fun trails in there. For AM there is a new 5km descending flow trail opening this weekend at Mt Taylor just out the back of Bairnsdale. It is well worth checking out. PM me for directions or if you want a local guide.
 
L

latheboy

Likes Dirt
Wow, I wasn't expecting this much info so soon.. thanks .. not on face book so I'll get my wife to do that bit ..
A quick stop before the boarder will happen for sure..
 
Dozer

Dozer

Heavy machinery.
Staff member
creaky said:
Jacks Ridge, Nambucca Heads
Bom Bom forest, Grafton (inlandish but you have to go through Grafton anyway)
Cows with Guns / Pine Creek at Coffs Harbour
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Jacks Ridge is a must, it's easy to follow and has some great terrain that isn't too challenging.
The Bom Bom trail is also a great trail and well worth a look, it's only two minutes off the highway just before you hit Grafton.
As for the Coffs trails, I'll gladly show you around the decent trails but I won't be in town that time of year. The trails are Pine Creek and the Cows with guns trail aren't signed with any loops or even give you any sense of direction. There are some small snippets of fun trail on these trails but the bulk of it is shit. The alleged trail maintenance and new work done over the last few years has been total trash and has ruined some good vibes.
 
Ridenparadise

Ridenparadise

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Add in Nerang on the Gold Coast and Cornubia/Daisy Hill in Brisbane. It may be a bit farther inland than you like, but Mt Joyce west of Beadesert (SW of Brisbane) is worth a ride and is quite different to the coastal areas. Not that it is AM, but I would also suggest riding the coastal track from main Beach to the seawall on the Gold Coast. Start at Surfer's and get in some pathway perving before the dirt starts and finish back there again with a beer.
 
C

creaky

XMAS Plumper
Dozer said:
The trails are Pine Creek and the Cows with guns trail aren't signed with any loops or even give you any sense of direction. There are some small snippets of fun trail on these trails but the bulk of it is shit. The alleged trail maintenance and new work done over the last few years has been total trash and has ruined some good vibes.
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Gotta agree unfortunately. When I head down that way I don't tend to pop into coffs trails anymore. They used to seem more fun ??
 
Dozer

Dozer

Heavy machinery.
Staff member
creaky said:
Gotta agree unfortunately. When I head down that way I don't tend to pop into coffs trails anymore. They used to seem more fun ??
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I'm putting it the nicest way I can: The current crop of people who claim to be doing the work on the trails are fucking dipshits that are on a powertrip with self imposed responsibilities that they think are doing something so crucially important to maintain club numbers. In actual fact, these people are making total arseholes of themselves and ruining what once had a good feeling. That shitty approach has now seen them act like that with trail work and they are just destroying anything of merit.
I'm nothing to do with the club. I never have been and never intend to be. I've not worked on any of the trails they have permits on and will openly ridicule their efforts. Why? I do so because I've operated a solo gravity scene for a bloody long time and always fought off the impression that the Coffs riding is shit. It isn't, only the club stuff is. My stuff is well loved and well known to those that I encourage to use it without the added shit that people don't want.
Like I said, feel free to hit me up anytime and I'll show you around the good stuff in places where the club powertrippers won't hide near the car park and put notes on your car saying you should be part of the club to pay for the trail maintenance.
Live to ride. ;)
 
L

latheboy

Likes Dirt
That's a shame dozer, at least you have your own trails..

I'm going to sit down and cut the list to make the trip more doable..
I don't want to leave my wife and young bloke behind all the time.. got a seat for him being 16 months old and he loves it..
Wife is pregnant too so she can't push it ..
 
johnny

johnny

I'll tells ya!
Staff member
I know you don't want to go too far inland but there's always Canberra - Stromlo - Kowan/Sparrow - Tuggeranong - Bruce Ridge - Majura - etc.
 
L

latheboy

Likes Dirt
Hahaha this is number 2 so already know whats coming stirk.

We've been to Stromlo but not the others Johnny, I don't think we'll make it on this trip.
 
Elbo

Elbo

pesky scooter kids git off ma lawn
latheboy said:
Wow, I wasn't expecting this much info so soon.. thanks .. not on face book so I'll get my wife to do that bit ..
A quick stop before the boarder will happen for sure..
Click to expand...
Following this thread with interest as I'd love to do a similar trip one day.

If you're looking for camp sites near the border, there's a great free camp site at Genoa, just after the turn off to Mallacoota. Continue straight past the turnoff to Mallacoota, go over the bridge and look to your left. You'll see a heap of poplars and most likely some campers/RVs parked there. The entrance is a few hundred metres up on the left. There's flushing toilets and cold showers there and there's just a tin for a gold coin donation to keep the toilets clean and the grass mown.
 
R

richie_gt

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I reckon Hornsby MTB park is worth a lap if you can squeeze it in, you'll be pretty much driving past it anyway before you jump on M1 freeway up to the Central Coast!

Nice list BTW, I've been meaning to write myself and MTB bucket list for 2015 so I might pinch some off your list!
 
E

Ellobuddha

Squid
Tathra

latheboy said:
That's a shame dozer, at least you have your own trails..

I'm going to sit down and cut the list to make the trip more doable..
I don't want to leave my wife and young bloke behind all the time.. got a seat for him being 16 months old and he loves it..
Wife is pregnant too so she can't push it ..
Click to expand...
If you start at the fireshed side at Tathra your missus could do it no worries. The tracks mostly continually cross a firetrail so when shes beat, she can just head back up the firetrail back to the sheds. Good riding out there. Nothing too serious though.
 
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