In a few short weeks, sometime after EkkaCross, I’m going to go for a bike tour along the Mawson Trail. Yes, I am very much looking forward to it.
It’s a two-week tour on gravel roads and trails, and my friends and I will cover something just a little short of 1000km in those two weeks. From the Flinders Range through the South Australian outback to Barossa Valley vineyards, and finishing with a ride down from the Adelaide Hills into the South Australian capital.
The Mawson Trail is not your first bike tour. It helps to have some experience going into a two-week ride.
But for those people who see photos on Facebook or Instagram from my little adventures and wonder “could I do that?”, let me tell you that there’s nothing special about me, and I’m not any sort of athlete. I am a portly middle-aged man.
So, could you go bike touring? (or as the kids call it these days, “bikepacking”?)
Of course you could. The hardest part is deciding to go.
And here are some rides that I think are easy starter trips. You could do these rides with full camping kit, or just staying in pubs or motels.
Short tours around SEQ
- Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah)
- Darling Downs long weekend
- Stanthorpe base camp
Longer tours (which are still pretty easy)
- Central West Cycle Trail (NSW)
- New England Cycle Trail
- Orange 360 (NSW)
- Kilkivan to Ipswich on Queensland’s rail trails.
Longer tours which are slightly harder
- Stanthorpe to Ipswich
- The Great Queensland Rail Trail Adventure.
- The Munda Biddi Trail.
- The Mawson Trail
I shall put up a page describing each tour, so when the link goes live, there will be a description of each tour, including logistical challenges that need to be met, and a link to my Airtable database for each tour, with route plan and accommodation plan.
Hope you find this useful! Let me know if you go on any of these trips!
