View from Tweed House Hotel terrace across to Mt Waring in the distance
Just at the bottom of the road we were staying on was a museum and a renovated old steam engine used to drive sawmill machinery between 1930 and 1950. I must admit she was truly magnificent standing nearly 3m high and 5m long. The way it worked was a fire was lit in the boiler which heated water to create steam. The steam drove the flywheel on the top of the engine. A long belt was fitted between the flywheel and the sawmill machinery. There was a photo of a long bullock team hauling this large engine to the top of Mount Nullum where it was initially used. A true insight into the industrial history of this area
For our cycle, today we headed off north of Murwillumbah for a slightly easier cycle. We started off riding through sugar cane fields on a good flat road. After about 4 km we headed off the main road and started to climb up though the rainforest. Essentially the flatter river valley is farmed and the ridges are forested.
Our route was delightful though the forest, great to see the different levels of canopy, abundant tree ferns in the lower levels. We had quite a steep climb up to our high point, stopping now and then to have some water / take photos. Glad to have had the power and no worries about using it as we used so little (one bar) on our ride yesterday. The ride down was really charming as we soon came across little creeks which broke up the forest and merged into Bilambil Creek.
After a while we left the forest and entered into horse territory. Stopped and had some nuts and some mint tea in the shade by a farm. Enjoyed looking at the jacaranda trees and staghorn ferns. Not sure if they are cultivated or wild but it doesn’t matter. Our furthest point was at Bilambil and we then left the river valley climbing up another ridge before dropping down towards Tumbulgum.
Another delightful ride through the rainforest and Duroby Nature reserve. The road down to Tumbulgum was in excellent condition, fun switchbacks and exciting to ride down with very little traffic about. We did pull over to let a couple of cars past and I got big waves. Nice to be appreciated.
Various photos from our day
This handmade copper pot was the second to be used at Husk Distillers (between 2012 and 2018). Her name is Old Friend. Lovely welcome.
Not many cafés on this route so we planned a short detour to the Husk Rum and Gin Distillery. Good choice as we got to try some lightly breaded crocodile nuggets. Very tasty, bit like barramundi fish! Relaxing sitting in the shade facing the gardens and just chilling. We had already purchased and tried some of their Ink Gin (blue) which was very nice, better with cucumber than lime.
The food clearly gave Mike a second wind as he led on the way back and kept up a very good pace. We were a bit concerned that the road would be busy as it was the main route to Murwillumbah, however this was not the case and we could enjoy the cycle.Got home before the forecast rain and thunderstorms so after a quick turnaround headed back to return our bikes to ‘Better by Bike’ and thank them for their recommendation re our bike routes. They were very happy we had enjoyed the experience.
As a treat in the evening we headed out for dinner at Tweed House Hotel, a local fine dining restaurant. Very enjoyable meal, I had a medley of pork with morel mushrooms to start with followed by duck breast (beautifully cooked) whilst Mike had lamb for his main with scallops as a starter and a sweet peanut concoction for desert. We sat on the covered balcony along with other guests and had a fine view of the lightning and thunderstorms taking place across the far side of the valley to the west of us.
Great way to end this first part of our Gold Coast holiday
See below for a video of our ride. Note to see the full controls click on the < control on the progress bar. This will allow you to watch the video full screen
Opposite is a map of our route and below is a link to Ride with GPS where a GPX track of our ride can be found
