STWers in Australia - where are you and where is good to live for good riding?

What type of mtb riding?

I spent 3 years in Canberra, loved the bike scene.

True road riding was definitely not as good as here, reinforced by the general spectacularly car centric attitude to life. But this applied to all of Australia. However if you were happy doing 60-100k rides there was a few good loops. Or, if racing and crits are your jam it was on 4 nights a week. With outdoor velodrome track racing 1 night.

offroad was totally differeny.

The gravel was fab, although generally felt quickly remote and often quite chunky. E.g riding in the brindabellas you’d be better off riding an xc mtb.

XC riding can be done all over, the centenary trail, arboretum, Bruce ridge, jerra trails, kowen forest. 

Machine sculpted trail center riding was good, majura, stromlo, tuggernong pines all good vfm.

If hand cut enduro to dh is your jam then you want to have a look at blue range 🤩🤩(or some of the cheeky stuff out the back of stromlo)

”nearby” there is also mogo, Narooma and thredbo (for your lift assisted riding)

I think people say Canberra is boring to keep it for themselves.

You're very specific in your requirements. There's loads of places that fit except for the riding from the door/30,000 people probably.

Gold Coast has a place called Nerang which hosted the 2018 Commonwealth Games mtb. Good rocky xc singletrack with a bit of elevation and right next to a velodrome.

Otherwise Tasmania.

Your requirements sound very much like the Adelaide Hills, ticks all the boxes apart from the rejection of poor old SA. I plenty of elevation, lots of gravel and off-road trails, a couple of decent bike parks, international airport 30 mins away. There is a reason that the tour down under is an Adelaide thing! Hit me up is you’re in the area and SA curious. 

Cairns. Got velodrome (open air, local style one), international airport. World class mtb tracks. Very active cycling scene.
(Don't live there anymore, but only left for family reasons, otherwise I'd still be there)

Tasmania!

Looking at it from the perspective of the international airport criteria...and removing the places you've said a hard no to, you're left with (I think) anywhere within 3 hours of the following (noting Gold Coast and Brisbane are close by). I believe Townsville is a bit sparse for mtb but don't know it very well, and it's fairly isolated generally. The rest all have pretty good options.

I think climate would be your next consideration. Temperate south or tropical north. 

Similar to reeksy I kind of think that from your requirements, you should base your location on the weather you want. 3hrs from an airport is manageable in any state unless you live the arse end of nowhere (where you probably wouldn't want to live anyway).

I'm biased to say Victoria as I'm in Melbourne, although it's getting a bit wet and chilly now. Or go up to Queensland and you can have wet and warm. 

We are warrandyte (nort-east melbourne on the banks of the yarra). Lots local mtb riding (road, gravel and mountain bike), Smiths Gully, Plenty gorge, Yarra trails all riding distance. Further afield is you yangs, red hill, warburton. then further (bright, falls creek, beechworth, omeo, forrest etc). Decent road riding also and decent gravel heading north from us.

Posted by: Jez Turner

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I kind of think that from your requirements, you should base your location on the weather you want. 3hrs from an airport is manageable in any state

I think that’s it, the weather. Possibly also if you want to be near the coast?

Regardless, based on everyone’s opinions so far I’d say you have a lot of choice! 🙂

This is awesome, and I'm delighted to see Cairns and Canberra mentioned.

Instinctively I'm gravitating towards Cairns, while the Mrs would jump at Canberra (and actually, I do like the city there). 

Some good thoughts here - weirdly, I hadn't thought about the weather distinctions in the way it's laid out with teh temperate south and tropical north. Obvs I recognise the difference, but having been in the UK so long I'm working on the basis it's all gonna be better than what I've grown used to. 

A Melbourne suburb or Tassie based on your description. I lived in Melbourne over 15 years ago and there were a few decent MTB spots, but they were separated by a fair distance in driving. I left because living in the city meant I couldn't get a decent MTB ride from the door. There's also a huge road riding scene there round the bay with good path infrastructure.

Tassie appears to have come on leaps and bounds with some cracking trail locations. Again, a lot of them are pretty spaced out and it takes a long time to drive places in Tassie. Out of the towns I stayed in there, I reckon I could only really stand Hobart for an extended period of time.

Weather wise, Melbourne will be warmer and drier than Tassie and far easier to get to and from with more job potential.

Look at Port Douglas as an alternative to Cairns. Having lived in Victoria (long drives, chilly winters, cold sea, Vic Bitter) I'd be looking at the Sunshine Coast, lots more packed together and fewer tourists.

What the reasoning behind excluding those states? Slightly biased as we used to live in Perth and will probably move back in a very similar timescale to you but the riding (well MTB) in WA is really good and getting better all the time. Climates good for most of the year albeit summers a bit of a pig.  I think gravel would be good as well but there isn't countryside on the same way we have so road I found a bit lacking.

Hobart is an lovely city as well and Tassie looks absolutely incredible for riding.

Posted by: reeksy

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Otherwise Tasmania.

Shhh!

Posted by: billmc

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... I'd be looking at the Sunshine Coast, lots more packed together and fewer tourists.

Shhh... It's rubbish.

Posted by: fat-boy-fat

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Weather wise, Melbourne will be warmer and drier than Tassie and far easier to get to and from with more job potential.

Having lived in both I'd say the Hobart weather is probably nicer. Especially as when the weather is bad in Hobart at least you still have good views, Melbourne is predominantly flat and dreary (IMHO 😉)

Tasmania has everything I like...except the jobs I would like.

I suggested Canberra as an option to my Perth born wife and she was horrified ha. I think it looks like a fantastic city to be honest but I think the idea of not being near the sea makes her teeth itch.  Work is the trickier issue for the smaller cities I think, Perth, Adelaide etc are just not that big / disproportionately focused or affected by certain industries.

There’s plenty of places within 3 hours of Sydney airport that aren’t Sydney. Central Coast has good MTB. Wollongong is getting a lot of work done on MTB trails at the moment. You could be at Sydney airport in 90 mins on the train from either. I don’t ride on the road seriously so can’t comment on that but the Worlds were in Wollongong a couple of years ago if that means anything.

Posted by: wildhunter2009

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I suggested Canberra as an option to my Perth born wife and she was horrified 

My wife lived there for a year before I met her and said it's the one place in Australia she'd never live again. It's a bit like a spread out Milton Keynes I guess but some people like it.

Yeah - strange collection of criteria, but obviously don't know your reasoning

I think ruling out anywhere within 3 hrs of Sydney Airport is a mistake - thats a huge area: you can yet all the way to kangaroo valley, Berry, Kiama, the southern highlands and Shoalhaven to the south, into the blue mountains and (almost) to Orange to the West, and all they way up to Blueys beach via the central coast, the Hunter Valley, Newcastle and nelsons bay to the north.  I'm sure there's somewhere in that enormous area thats worth your consideration.

Also - I'm going to call order on the "international airport" criteria.  You are going to need to be a bit choosier than that.  Hobart "international" airport is really just a domestic airport which has flights to Auckland 3x a week, and the occasional charter to Antarctica.  Having said that - I'd live there in a heartbeat if I won the lottery and didn't need to work.

Cairns is great - went there this time last year and absolutely loved it.

My pick would be the Sunshine Coast - specifically a little suburb called Peregian Beach near Noosa.  I can't speak to the riding there - but it does't matter - absolutely lovely spot.

I lived in Newcastle for 8 years, Syndey for 2 and now Just north of Melbourne for the last 5 so have tried most of the good spots in NSW and a few of the great places in Victoria.  I completely agree with Sydney being out - roads are f***ed for road riding and house prices are bad.  Central coast is a bit soul-less and a pain in the ass to get to work (in Sydney) although the MTB trails at Ourimbah and Awaba are good.  Newcastle has great beaches, cheaper housing and is within 3 hours of Sydney airport and has a bunch of road, gravel and MTB trails within easy reach.  If you want to see how many trails there are within half an hour of Melbourne have a look on Trail forks - i live north of Melbourne airport and I have multiple options within 30 mins of the house plus You Yangs and Harcourt Trails within 45 mins.  Also Bright, Mt. Buller, Mt Hotham, Yarra Valley etc etc.

It's too bloody hot in the summer for me any further north than NSW (blue skinned Scotsman) so good luck if you fancy 100% humidity in Cairns or sunshine coast in January!

You wouldn't like Hobart.

Posted by: hugo rune

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It's too bloody hot in the summer for me any further north than NSW (blue skinned Scotsman) so good luck if you fancy 100% humidity in Cairns or sunshine coast in January!

I took a bloke from Cupar riding in February in Queensland once. He was a little surprised. You do get used to it after a few years. 

Summer riding in WA was very much an early early morning kinda thing!  Just had to watch out for sleepy snakes and the ruddy terrifying massive orb spiders that would web across the singletrack.

We're doing exactly what you're doing, but in about 4-5 months time. Just need to sell our UK house. (Anyone want to buy a house in Toddington, Beds? (Near Woburn bike park and nearish to Chicksands...) Retirement is coming early for us. 

We considered Cairns but I've lived there during the 90s - fun times but cyclones are mildly menacing and not a lot of surf.
We ruled out Sydney and Melbourne, too big and noisy. We thought about Nowra way but after 24 years in the UK, we wanted somewhere a tad warmer. My brother's down that way and it is really nice. 

We've bought a house in Tewantin, near Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. It's opposite a MTB bike (Wooroi day use) and there's plenty of riding options in the area. Close enough to a selection of beaches too. We bought before the big price jump so we were lucky. The hinterland looks fantastic. As I am also trying to learn to wingfoil, there's lakes nearby too. 

30 min from a regional airport, 90 min from Brisbane Airport. 120 min from Brisbane CBD. 5 min away from the in-laws. 

I do really like Cairns. The humidity can be a challenge but scoot up to the Atherton (good name for MTBing huh?) Tablelands and the humidity does drop quickly. Mould can be a bitch in Cairns.

One thing to note - swimming. In particular, stinger season in "Summer" - aka The Wet. You pretty much can't swim in the sea all Wet season unless you're wearing a stinger suit (a lycra onsie) but they do double as sun protection. If you want to swim, you'll need to head about 5km off shore. If the box jellyfish don't get you, the Irukanji will. Little disks of stinging joy. Delightful. 

Finally! If you have a decent pension saved up, there's a lot of gotchas. If you need advice, I can put you onto the right people. It is not a quick process! The ATO will only permit $360K per 3 years to be transferred into an Australian fund. (If you don't want to pay excess tax!)

We've bought a house in Tewantin, near Noosa on the Sunshine Coast. It's opposite a MTB bike (Wooroi day use)

One of my regular spots. I'll be there in a couple of hours 😀

Avoid Perth, we're full 🙂

Nah it's not bad. I like it. It's very backwards in coming forwards sometimes. But there's heaps of riding, more trails all the time. And more pump tracks than you can shake a shitty stick at. Airport is less than an hour from me. My nearest riding is about 30 mins away. I usually go on Thursdays. I saw one other car in the car park and didn't see anyone on the trail. Probs busier at weekends but I work weekends. 

Summer riding is hot even if you go early. Often hotter under the trees and less breeze. 40c with no wind can be quite a session! It's Autumn ish now but still 30c but very pleasant. A face full of spider's web certainly gets your heart rate up!

Posted by: reeksy

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Posted by: hugo rune

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It's too bloody hot in the summer for me any further north than NSW (blue skinned Scotsman) so good luck if you fancy 100% humidity in Cairns or sunshine coast in January!

I took a bloke from Cupar riding in February in Queensland once. He was a little surprised. You do get used to it after a few years. 

I'm from a bit further north and after 15 years in Oz my sweat glands still haven't adapted 🙂  I just don't ride XC in summer!  My local(ish) trail centre at You Yangs does monthly uplift days for the gravity trails which is perfect between Nov and March - still pretty sweaty though.