[Closed] Mountain biking down under

My cousin lives in Brisbane and is a mtber, from what I can tell mountain biking is pretty limited locally. He travels to trails near Tambourine Mountain.

Dunno yet - I should be over in Perth in July with another few weeks before the possesions (and more importantly the bikes) get there.

I've got a mate who lives near Bunbury and I get the impression that there's not an awful lot down there - the Munda Biddi trail passes by his way I beleive there's a lot more up between Perth and Bunbury, so about an hour and a half away. I noticed a lot of road biking going on when we did a recce in MArch.

Take up surfing instead

Tambourine Mountain.

I love Aussie place names.

OP - is it too late to go to NZ instead?

robinbetts,

I can give you a bit of an insight into the Adelaide scene, which in short is pretty big. The Adelaide hills has a purpose built trail centre 'Eagle Mountain' (I think its called). I've ridden bits and its really good, quite dh theme'd, in fact the past 2 Aussie national champs have been held there.

On top of the dedicated park there is a huge network of trails that reach out from the hills through to Maclern Vale (wine region) and then beyond. If road is your thing, then Adelaide has a huge scene, TDU is based there and the local authorities pump mega bucks into promoting cycling in general.

The only real downside is the heat, temp regularly get to high 30's, coupled with the fire risks means that trails in peak summer are sometimes closed. Most people in the summer months get up really early to avoid the heat.

There are a couple of good forums for Adelaide cycling on the net, plus the couple of shops I visted were really helpful in suggesting group rides or places were riders usually meet pre-ride.

Hope that helps, ArcticD

Thanks guys, I know surfing will be on the agenda, as well as diving, but don't want to loose biking for 12 months! Personally, I'd love NZ, but the misses defiantly wants a change in climate from the UK, and keeps hearing from people the NZ is just the same. Also, NZ jobs for doctors are really oversubscribed.

From the few places I visited (essentially NSW) I would say that the scene in Canberra is the best. They have a huge network of trails and it is a great place to be a cyclist. Drivers seem to have a better understanding of cyclists which made riding the roads a nice place to be.
Most people will tell you Canberra is boring, but I quite liked it there. Much quieter than everywhere else, but nice people and about enough to do.

Sydney was pretty awful, both on the road and off-road. Drivers there give you no room and I had to be very defensive when riding. There is a nice off-road loop at Manly Dam, but very little else near by. I was shown a "local" trail at Nurimba (sp?) which was an hours drive away. I guess 1hr drive is nothing in Oz.

The blue mountains were OK, not great for riding though. Very little else around. Sydney as a city was OK, very busy and it seems to be the place to be and the price of living reflected that.

There was some good riding further South, around Berry/Nowra/Kangaroo Valley area. That seemed like a nice place, but everything is on a much smaller scale.

Speaking for Perth - within the city and metropolitan area, there isn't much, although there are loads of paved cycle-ways.

Drive out of Perth though and there are a good few trails dotted about - check the local Mountain Bike clubs for their equivalent of trail centres.

Otherwise there are loads of "walkabout trails" all over the place - get a map, and some local advice. Munda Biddi already mentioned above.

If you end up in Bunbury (are you mad? 🙂 ) there's a whole network of Mountain bike trails centred on a little town called Collie. It's about 80km east of Bunbury. The scenery is all National Park and is to die for... but buy yourself a fly net to cover your head.

I've been biking around Castlemaine north of Melbourne and its superb.
Some good stuff to be had in the Snowy Mountians (i found a fantastic techy trail on the side of Lake Jindabyne).
stayed in Canberra for a while, it is dull, but mtb is supposed to be good (and its near the snowys)

Road-biking scene is very big. Ride the Great Ocean Road if you get the chance. Like the Pacific Coat Highway in California (which I've also ridden along) but no yanks!

Thanks again, some great info! Looks like Adelaide could be a good option.

Ax3m4n, would Bunbury be a dull option though, mtb aside?

I rode up at Dinner Plain in Vic ( http://www.dinnerplain.com/) where there is a really nice little bike shop run by a nice couple that hire out decent mtbs. Some nice trails and also xc ski routes to be followed, lovely riding through the Snow Gums. I reckon the whole australian alps area would be good, certainly lots of Victoria looked like it would be good.

Would guess around Margarets River would be good too as lots of nice forest there.

I went to Tambourine Mountain too, lovely spot, NSW has some good hilly bits.

Adelaide was amazingly busy with bikes and well laid out for cyclists, everyone seemed to be riding bikes, very impressed.

Some guy called Sam Hill is decent on a bike and is from Perth i think, so must be some good places, the heat would be killer though.

+1 for Canberra being super cycling-friendly. You can also ride straight from the city centre to Stromlo where there are something like six purpose built MTB trails, a DH track and a road track.

Bunbury is a bit remote... but it's a coastal town and you'll get a better property deal than Perth.

Personally, I love the countryside down there.

There are quite a few trails knocking about in aus but they are only normally known by local riders. Not trail centres like we are used to here.

My mrs flew out to adelaide Sunday to live while I sell the house and cars before joining her. If nothing else you have the ability to ride alot more out there without getting wet!

Being from Brisbane, I can only give you details for what I know around there; although all of the big cities have good riding somewhere nearby. You just need to get involved and meet some locals to find the best bits.

MTB Dirt ( http://www.mtbdirt.com.au/trails-information) is a good resource for publicly available trail information in SE QLD. As you can see there's plenty to be had.

This place ( http://www.mtjoyceescape.com.au/about-mt-joyce.html) is not far from Brissy and should be opening soon as well.

It's not been mentioned, but Hobart has a good scene by all accounts. The climate may not be what you're looking for though.

EDIT: Cairns has some brilliant biking as well BTW. Though everyone's a bit loopy up in FNQ.

Being an ex-pat from Brisbane I can backup what several have already mentioned which is that most of the major citys are very accomodating of cyclists. I used to cycle to work along the Brisbane river where they have dedicated bike paths everywhere...and I'm not referring to a bit of paint on the main road that everyone ignores...most are completely separate. Where there's an overpass they even build a separate one just for bikes in some places. As for off-road trails, I didn't do much trail riding while I lived there but there's plenty of state forest within an hours drive so there should be some decent trails if you can tap into some local knowlege. IMO Brisbane isn't a very exciting place for visitors, it's a good city to live in as it's not as expensive as Sydney/Melbourne but it doesn't have the same appeal and can feel a bit ho-hum...then again, the gold coast is only 45mins away if you're into that sort of thing...

Something to always bear in mind when you're out on the trails in OZ is the wildlife. Unlike the UK where pretty much everything is harmless, in Oz there are snakes and spiders and crocodiles and everything else you've seen molested by Steve Irwin(rip) 🙁 . If you end up in Cairns you can come across even more exotic creatures that can make a mess of you if you sneak up on them, Cassowaries are native to that area and can be a bit mental and dangerous. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassowary

It's unlikely you'll have any problems but that's my 2 cents 😀

Though everyone's a bit loopy up in FNQ.

😆 queenslanders and adelaiders seem to get a hard time in aus!

Adelaide enjoys the title of murder capital of Australia (and the world apparently) 😐

Having lived in NZ and the UK the climate is NOT THE SAME !!!

And in Australia its awful.... and they have lots of crawly beasties.

Thank to all for your comments. I think we'll be looking closely at Adelaide now.

One final question to you: What's the best way to get my bike(s) over there? I'm thinking the cheapest would be to ship them dismantled in a crate? Any ideas how much this would cost and where I should look for details?

Robin,
I spent two years in Canberra and had a marvellous time on my bike. There are some great trails at Sparrow Hill, Majura and Mount Stromlo as well as plenty of natural trails around. Generally the place has a really good cycling atmosphere with some great bike shops, great bike club - Canberra Off-Road Cyclists (CORC) with about 600 memebers - and some great events. There are two 24hr events each year - Scott 24 and Mont 24 - as well as plenty of smaller evetns and crits. As a city it is not as vibrant as Sydney or Melbourne but I was 36 with two children and it suited us down to the ground. I would go back tomorrow; there is nothing like racing kangeroos through dry, dusty woods.

Dogsby

mtbmatt - Member
From the few places I visited (essentially NSW) I would say that the scene in Canberra is the best. They have a huge network of trails and it is a great place to be a cyclist. Drivers seem to have a better understanding of cyclists which made riding the roads a nice place to be.
Most people will tell you Canberra is boring, but I quite liked it there. Much quieter than everywhere else, but nice people and about enough to do.

Sydney was pretty awful, both on the road and off-road. Drivers there give you no room and I had to be very defensive when riding. There is a nice off-road loop at Manly Dam, but very little else near by. I was shown a "local" trail at Nurimba (sp?) which was an hours drive away. I guess 1hr drive is nothing in Oz.

The blue mountains were OK, not great for riding though. Very little else around. Sydney as a city was OK, very busy and it seems to be the place to be and the price of living reflected that.

There was some good riding further South, around Berry/Nowra/Kangaroo Valley area. That seemed like a nice place, but everything is on a much smaller scale.

Don't remember seeing you but you must have been on holiday with me last year!

Definately head down to Berry, go to Berry Mountain Cycles. Paul, the guy who runs it, is great. Had an inpromptu guided ride from him, excellent. And Shoalhaven beach is great too, 5 miles away passed the vinyards... Canberra is also great, unless you are interested in architechture. Not sure why Matt didn't like the Blue Mountain though, even in the rain they were great, only saw a tiny bit of them though.
Royal National Forrest is nothing spectacular, only advantage is easy to get from Sydney. Brisbane water is immense and quit varied, if you want all day fire-road blasts to see sights then it's good, not much singletrack though.
Best advice is a find a local and join them!

We drove up into the Atherton Tablelands inland from Cairns, temps were perfect, good bit fresher than the coast. Some amazing places, & lots of interesting looking trails. Can't remember the name, but we went to a huge lake, Tinaroo possibly ? That area looked perfect for biking.

Hi,

Lived iin Aus for a while and my missus is born and almost bred over there.

City wise it depends what you want for your social life and how old you are. We were based in Brisbane which is a great city to live in and has a fabulous climate. Night life's probably not great if you like to have a young persons life style but for anyone else its ace.

Brisbane has great riding but its a;most all controlled by the council so imagine a city surrounded by forest with trail centres everywhere. Great if thats your thing. Riding wise theres no cheeky stuff unless you know a man who knows a man etc etc.

Race scene through out Aus is fab, you could do a 24hr event more or less every weekend in QLD and add in the rest of the country well you'd never be home!!

Our race tem travelled around a bit to race and all the riding is good, just some better than others, get used to dry dusty slippy corners!

Another plus for Bisbane is the sunny coast, personally I'd never go back to the Gold Coast but the Sunshine Coast is amazing. Byron Bay is well worth a look too, bout 2hrs south of Brissie.

In fact wtf am I still doing over here.........

My mum lives between Berry and Kangaroo Valley. It is lovely round there, but as andrewh says you'd want a local to show you around. Where did you go andrewh, Red Rocks or into the Budawangs?.

The biggest problem you might find is that IME much land is private and there isn't really the fantastic network of footpaths and bridleways we all take for granted. I was in Tasmania in January and it's the most beautiful place I've seen in my 4 visits to Oz. It does have some built trails near Hobart, plenty of mountainous areas etc. I'd happily live there, but it has a more temperate climate than the mainland so may not suit you.

Doctors jobs are, if anything, harder to come by in Oz than NZ, certainly not difficult or oversubscribed in either place, and especially not for 12 months. Sydney and Melbourne both possible too for most specialities, especially at junior level.

As to the mountain biking - well NZ is great and there's some good stuff around Adelaide certainly, not sure about elsewhere.

My recommendation having lived in both Melbourne and Sydney (currently in the latter), don't move to Sydney for the bike riding. Road and MTB riding is difficult to say the least.

Melbourne is much better for road riding (bike lanes everywhere through the city and a better driver attitude) and some great accessible trails close to the city. Some good (non-authorised) trails near the CBD (Yarra) trail) too that you can piece together with the commute. I used to turn up to work covered in mud most mornings in the winter.

If we stay in Oz, Melbourne will be the place. Sydney is all surfing and water sports.

I loved Tambourine Mountain. I bought some of the best Brie ever at the cheesery (?) at the top. And chocolate port. Fantastic.

Hoping to emigrate to Brisbane/Gold coast area at the end of the year and am really looking forward to riding up Tambourine Mountain on my road bike (16 miles from friends front door to the top, average 6% gradient).

Does anyone know the cost of shipping bikes from the UK. I have 2 or 3 I would like to send but am undecided whether to post them, or sell and buy new out there.

a good forum is rotorburn. Lots of friendly helpful Aussie mtbers on there.

You don't want to come to Hobart. Nothing to see here.

Another vote for Cairns. It can get cold in winter - the temperature has been known to drop into the low 20ºs.

In summer it can get hot, but everything is airconditioned, and a 10 mile drive takes you into the Atherton Tablelands where the temperatures are just right.

Loads of good mountainbiking, and some world class cyclists come from there. (Not bad for a small place).

If you live at the Northern Beaches, you're just minutes away from a world class mtb track - if you can drag yourself away from checking the young ladies topping up their tans on the beach.

I'll be there in a few weeks (back home) 🙂

There's some decent riding South of Sydney, in the Royal National park and just outside it's boundaries. Good place to live too (Sutherland station is on the line to Sydney)

Blue Mountains are ok, great views but non-technical fire-roads.

Forgot to say, if I couldn't live in Cairns, then Brisbane is good. The amount of cycle tracks are brilliant.