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Coast to Mountains to Coast Ride - Northern New South Wales/SE Queensland. Fri Feb 18, 2011 8:03 am
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While we're on the subject of rides, and to give an additional distraction to our snow and Winter-bound fellow moto travellers a feast for their hungry, can't-ride-'cause-of-the-damn-weather-eyes, here's a coupla three pics of a recent ride I took on my K100RS from Tweed Heads NSW, through Murwillumbah, Chillingham, out over the border range to Cave Creek's Natural Bridge NP in Queensland, then on to Byron Bay NSW. These are mainly photos of locations, not so much of the roads. But those narrow, local roads round these parts are mainly twisty and ideal for a motorbike and rider on a sunny arvo with a bit of time and in no particular rush. Itsa bit of a bitsa, but you'll get the picture.
Here's the obligatory motorbike happy snap.
You can get anything you want at Chillingham's general store. Some dreaded rasta will sell you local bud, they make an excellent cup of coffee in the shop, you can get petrol, post a letter, or snack on Aussie bush tucker, the woman across the road grows loofa sponges and makes soap, or you can indulge in an Aussie meat pie and a stubbie, if that's your poison.
The top 'entrance' to the Natural Bridge, an eroded basalt riverbed cave.
The light through the falling water is ethereal. Glow worms attach themselves to the ceiling and bats fly round day and night. In days gone by one could have a splash in the cool water, but lately the research shows that whatever we wash ourselves or perfume ourselves with is harming the locals. Thus, swimming is verboten. Might have had something to do with the number of broken bottles in the creek bed after clandestine late night piss ups, too.
The view from Cave Creek, downstream of the 'Natural Bridge'.
The dense undergrowth is home to a whole heap of variety, one of my favourites of which is the strangler fig, which attaches itself to a 'donor' tree and eventually takes right over. They can tower above the other trees right up to the forest canopy. I can picture dinosaurs wandering about, it's positively prehistoric.
One can never have too many profile photos of one of their favourite mounts!
A fine, blue sky day.
Off to the beach. Byron Bay from Cape Byron.
There's not a lot of it left any more, so we need a sign to remind us of what we've lost and continue to lose. It does a hardscrabble existence, clinging to a thin strip of land along the edge of the East Coast all the way up to the Daintree and beyond, on Cape York. Progress took the rest.
The clouds move in, but even on a drizzly day the landscape and ocean are majestic. Cape Byron.
I call this one, 'Old Wood x 2'. The walk up to the lighthouse is not strenuous, but there are several resting points, this one in particular grabbed my attention, and bade me sit down a while and take in the view.
Cape Byron Lighthouse is still in operation flashing its warning to sea travellers and fishermen along the north coast of New South Wales.
The lighthouse keeper's quarters, now a museum and cafe, where you can press your lips to a fine mug of steaming rich coffee to ward off the rider's chill, brewed and served by a young Swedish or Irish or German or Brazilian backpacker. Australia beckons. It's all good.
Literally, the place of first light on the mainland of Terra Australis. From here you can watch any number of dolphins, whales, sharks or manta patrolling for a feed or just lolling round in the warm water and waves.
I love a good waves breaking over the rocky shoreline shot!
Tallow's Beach from the top of Cape Byron, looking South. About 800 kilometres South of here is The Big Smoke, Sydney, just to put the size of the place into some sorta perspective.
A fine way to wrap up a good riding day. A lot of Aussies like to find a nice little beach with a fine little break, and catch wave after wave after wave till they've got nothing on their mind. It's a bit like a long ride, where we empty our head, I guess.
We all like a good view, and this one from Point Danger, on the NSW/Queensland border is a fine one on a warm evening.
There's nothing like the old Western tale of the loner riding off on horseback (in our case, motorbikes) into the sunset. Of course if I attempted this I'd be drowning quick smart. This is sunrise instead. Time for the start of another long ride! Cheers.
Here's the obligatory motorbike happy snap.
You can get anything you want at Chillingham's general store. Some dreaded rasta will sell you local bud, they make an excellent cup of coffee in the shop, you can get petrol, post a letter, or snack on Aussie bush tucker, the woman across the road grows loofa sponges and makes soap, or you can indulge in an Aussie meat pie and a stubbie, if that's your poison.
The top 'entrance' to the Natural Bridge, an eroded basalt riverbed cave.
The light through the falling water is ethereal. Glow worms attach themselves to the ceiling and bats fly round day and night. In days gone by one could have a splash in the cool water, but lately the research shows that whatever we wash ourselves or perfume ourselves with is harming the locals. Thus, swimming is verboten. Might have had something to do with the number of broken bottles in the creek bed after clandestine late night piss ups, too.
The view from Cave Creek, downstream of the 'Natural Bridge'.
The dense undergrowth is home to a whole heap of variety, one of my favourites of which is the strangler fig, which attaches itself to a 'donor' tree and eventually takes right over. They can tower above the other trees right up to the forest canopy. I can picture dinosaurs wandering about, it's positively prehistoric.
One can never have too many profile photos of one of their favourite mounts!
A fine, blue sky day.
Off to the beach. Byron Bay from Cape Byron.
There's not a lot of it left any more, so we need a sign to remind us of what we've lost and continue to lose. It does a hardscrabble existence, clinging to a thin strip of land along the edge of the East Coast all the way up to the Daintree and beyond, on Cape York. Progress took the rest.
The clouds move in, but even on a drizzly day the landscape and ocean are majestic. Cape Byron.
I call this one, 'Old Wood x 2'. The walk up to the lighthouse is not strenuous, but there are several resting points, this one in particular grabbed my attention, and bade me sit down a while and take in the view.
Cape Byron Lighthouse is still in operation flashing its warning to sea travellers and fishermen along the north coast of New South Wales.
The lighthouse keeper's quarters, now a museum and cafe, where you can press your lips to a fine mug of steaming rich coffee to ward off the rider's chill, brewed and served by a young Swedish or Irish or German or Brazilian backpacker. Australia beckons. It's all good.
Literally, the place of first light on the mainland of Terra Australis. From here you can watch any number of dolphins, whales, sharks or manta patrolling for a feed or just lolling round in the warm water and waves.
I love a good waves breaking over the rocky shoreline shot!
Tallow's Beach from the top of Cape Byron, looking South. About 800 kilometres South of here is The Big Smoke, Sydney, just to put the size of the place into some sorta perspective.
A fine way to wrap up a good riding day. A lot of Aussies like to find a nice little beach with a fine little break, and catch wave after wave after wave till they've got nothing on their mind. It's a bit like a long ride, where we empty our head, I guess.
We all like a good view, and this one from Point Danger, on the NSW/Queensland border is a fine one on a warm evening.
There's nothing like the old Western tale of the loner riding off on horseback (in our case, motorbikes) into the sunset. Of course if I attempted this I'd be drowning quick smart. This is sunrise instead. Time for the start of another long ride! Cheers.
Last edited by Two Wheels Better on Fri Feb 18, 2011 1:21 pm; edited 3 times in total
