Wine times = good times

For the last few years, cycling magazines have been telling me that riding a bicycle from winery to winery is apparently a cool and fun thing to do.  Well I don't drink (since the Christchurch incident), and I don't like having fun, so back in February, I decided to put these claims about wine touring to the test.

I met Rudi at my work on the Friday afternoon, we loaded up the car and made the 3 hour drive out to Lake Barambah, near Murgon in Queensland.  It was well and truly dark by the time we arrived at Yallakool Park, checked in, and made our way to our spacious cabin.  The plan for the following day was to do a 100km-ish road and dirt loop around the dam and nearby national parks, before spending the afternoon checking out the South Burnett wine district, centred around the tiny village of Moffatdale.  Shortly after arriving the heavens opened, so we prepared for the adventure ahead by eating boxes of pizza shapes and watching about 6 hours of shopping channel.

Whine time

After a restful sleep dreaming of steam mops and integrated home exercise gyms, I woke up to the sound of rain on the roof.  The weather was miserable.  We sat around drinking cups of tea for several hours, hoping the weather we could lift and we could get on the way.  Anyone who knows me knows that it doesn't take much for me to abandon any kind of ambitious plan in favour of doing nothing, and so on this day I decided the big ride wasn't going to happen, and we should just drive around the area until after lunch and see what the weather was doing before deciding on a course of action.

 

Our cabin at Yallakool Park.  A top spot

We spent at least 4 hours sitting on the veranda drinking cups of hotel tea with UHT milk.  Not exactly grand cycle adventure but I will admit it was very relaxing after a long week at work.

 Our first stop was the town of Murgon, where we walked the quiet main street eating pies and drinking chocolate milk in the rain.  From there we drove over to Goomeri, and even smaller town, where I had possibly the worst, and therefore best, coffees I've ever had.  By this stage the weather looked like it may be lifting enough to actually ride, so we made our way back to the cabin, prepared for what was looking like a pretty dreary afternoon of cycling.

Main street of Goomeri.  "Cheese World" is hyping it a bit - it's more like "Room With Half A Dozen Shelves With Cheese On Them"

Spelling guys...

Wine time

Back at the cabin, the roads had dried out enough, and were were all fired up for an afternoon of cycling and wine tasting.  I know zero about wine, I don't even like it, however I had an open mind and was pretty pumped to try something I'd not done before.  Bikes were prepared, and off we rode - into adventure!

This bike was total overkill for the task at hand - we didn't exactly push the frontiers of cycling endurance.

Rudi heading out of the campground up to the main road.  The pannier were for carrying back any wine related products we might score along the way.

 It ended up being a nice afternoon for cycling.  The weather was nice and cool, the road was dry, and there was absolutely nobody else around.

Pedalling into the first vines of the winery district. 

 Turning off the main drag and onto a dirt side road, we were headed to our first winery, and my first ever winery experience.

Bridgeman Downs wines - our first stop on our South Burnett wine region cycling tour.  Total distance travelled from cabin to winery - about 1200 metres.

I was really nervous about the whole winery experience.  Up to that point my impression of the whole winery sampling thing was a bunch of pretentious wankers crapping on about "bouquets" and "aftertaste" and "stuff".  I had two options - spend my day in fear, or surrender myself to the whole experience, and do my best to play the part of a wine wanker myself.  I chose the latter, took a deep breath and stepped inside.  Obviously playing it super cool, when the lady there said hello, I nervously blurted out "I'VE NEVER BEEN IN A WINERY BEFORE AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO AND I'M REALLY SCARED!!!".  I think she was a bit taken aback by having such an anxious luddite in her midst, however I think it was the best approach - she explained to us what all the wines were, and we set about the business of trying each.  Some of my insightful comments at this stage were "this wine tastes strong", "I like this one" and "this one is different to that one".  I was well on my way!

It begins.

 Rudi CoolGuy propping up the bar.  Being European, Rudi was much more able to bung on the wine aficionado act a lot more effectively than me.

Don't drink and ride kids.

Given the whole wine tasting thing is free, we felt compelled to buy a few bottles to take home for the wives.  Even by this early stage I was starting to feel a bit giggle headed, being such a lightweight and all.

Making our way to Clovely Estate wines - a massive distance of about 1500m from the winery we just left.  Lucky we are such hardcore endurance athletes...

It's a bit of a haze, but I seem to recall someone telling me that this is the biggest wine producer in Queensland.

By the time we hit the Clovely Estate cellar door were well and truly emboldened by a few wines, followed by some pedalling.  We marched in through the front door, and informed the owner that yes, we would indeed love to sample their wares on this fine afternoon.  We surrendered ourselves to the wine tasting scene, having a great time pretty much playing characters from some kind of 80s yuppie drama.  We were all bouquet this, fruity that, swirling glasses and stuffing our noses in them for no other reason than we'd seen some grown ups do it one time.  In short, we were getting pretty silly on all the free wine, an having a very, very enjoyable day.

 Clovely Estate cellar door - there's a little restaurant in there too.

"Do I look like a tourist?".  I actually stopped after about 4 wines here, although Rudi kept charging through the entire range, including the liqueurs.

Rudi wobbling through the vines, as I try and get a staged photo for some of my magazine stuff.  For some reason I'd lost the ability to use a camera very well by this point.

 These are grapes.  Other than that, I have no idea.

 On the day, pedalling between the rows of vines seemed like the most profound experience ever.  It's a shame neither of us had the perspicacity to actually transform the experience into any kind of compelling image.

 The percieved gradient of a slope is directly proportional to the number of drinks samples by the rider (me = 8, Rudi = 13).  This nearly flat climb felt like it went on forever, by which I mean about 600m.

Our next winery destination was Moffatdale Ridge, the third and final winery for the afternoon.  After an exhausting 3km ride to the cellar door, we were very much indeed of refreshment.  It was getting pretty late in the day by now, and the grey weather was getting just a little darker.  We parked the bikes, walked in, and the owner asked us if we'd like to do a tasting, we simply nodded knowingly, now that were obviously qualified wine super-experts.

Wine vine climb time.

 The road to Moffatdale Ridge.

Yet another round of tasting underway within.

  Dam time

By the time we left Moffatdale Ridge I think our wine sample count was me = 16 and Rudi = 22.  Although each sample was pretty small, the rapid fire nature of the drinking and the bursts of light cycling meant that by the time the day ended, we were feeling pretty jolly.  Cycling back down to the cabin, I was feeling particularly silly - trying my best to jump my touring bike off roadside drainage ditches at full speed, and somehow succeeding.  Before retiring to the cabin for dinner and more shopping channel, we rode down to the dam wall to explore our surroundings a little more.

Rudi rides over the dam wall.

Heading towards the spillway.  The recent wet weather meant that the recreation areas around the dam were very quiet.

 Pretty sure this doesn't apply to sophisticated wine experts like us.

 

This seems intelligent.

Good time

So, was the winery cycling tour thing everything that it was hyped up to be?  Basically, we'd just driven 3hrs each way to spend a day drinking free wine and riding a grand total of 9km - and it was unquestionably one of the most entertaining days I've ever had on a bicycle.

The spoils of the day.

Winery touring on a bicycle is simultaneously grown up yet juvenile - it feels civilised yet quite naughty.  You don't need to like wine, or even cycling, just grab a bike of some description, set yourself up among a few wineries, surrender yourself to the experience and do whatever comes naturally...

...you won't regret it.

Welcome to the fold

As I posted a few weeks ago, my four year old daughter has picked up the noble art of bikecycling.  Since then we've been riding more and more, and she's been getting better and better.  That's been great and she's been having a blast, but the difficulty is finding new places for us both to ride...

The park about 100m from my house has one of those little bike path / traffic sign things - it was fun at the start but now her and I are getting thoroughly sick of it.  She loves practicing sideways skids into corners though, although it's ended in tears a few times!

We went down to the criterium bicycle racing circuit.  It was a lot of fun, however getting my bike down there was a massive pain  - we only have small cars, and to cart a bike and more than one person requires the use of a bike rack, something I can't be bothered doing most of the time.  Plus riding one of the "big" bikes seems kind of overkill.

 There is something not right about chasing down a little kid on a track bike...

One of the great things about parenting is you can use the needs of your children to justify all sort of naff things that you couldn't otherwise get away with.  I needed a bike that was easy to ride, would fit in my little car along with my daughter and her bike, and wouldn't look too mismatched alongside a tiny BMX riding at 15km/h.  We all know there is only one kind of bike out there to match those criteria, and let's face it, it's something I've secretly wanted for years and years.

Being just after new year's day, I tried my luck at buying some "unwanted gifts" through the classifieds.  A few phone calls and crazy low offers later, I drove across town, handed over my $70 and became the proud owner of this once-ridden machine...

 

Yes, I've become one of THOSE guys...

 Let the good times fold...!

Same but different: Day 2

There's no daylight saving in Queensland, so by 4:20am it was well and truly light enough to break camp and get moving.  The forecast called for another scorcher of a day, so I hopped out of bed and set about packing up my gear.  By 4:40am I was all packed up, dressed, fed, and ready to go.  Rudi, however, was still fast asleep in his tent - not even all the noise I was making and the numerous wallabies crashing through the campsite was enough to stir him from his beauty sleep.  I decided to use the time wisely, to explore the camp in the already warm and humid pre-dawn air.

Macnamara's Camp at about 4:30am.  That white shiny thing behind the clouds is the full moon.

Camping right on the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail.

My summer sleeping setup is a Hennessy Hammock.  It really can't be beaten for comfort, coolness and fast setup and takedown.

Dawn clouds on the rail trail

Finally, the sleeping beauty awakes!  The sun was well and truly up by this point, about 1.5hrs after I was ready to depart.

Uphill we go

By the time Rudi got out of bed and got himself together, the horse had well and truly floated out the window of opportunity for us to beat the heat on the morning climb through to Blackbutt.  By the time we set off on the trail again, the temperature was sweltering, and I was already sweating before even turning a pedal.

The best part of me being ready to go so early was I got to enjoy watching Rudi attempt to pack down his tent, all the while offering unhelpful advice and commenting on how difficult it all looked.

Away we go again, climbing uphill through Benarkin State Forest.  The trail continues steadily uphill from here, all the way to the township of Benarkin.

The trail surface in the forest section is smooth and fast.

We crossed under the main highway, where we could see a lot of cars were stopped for some roadworks on the range.  We were definitely having a much more enjoyable trip than all those motorists!

Our progress up the hill wasn't fast, mainly as we were both stopping a lot to get a lot of photographs on the way - one of our main purposes for the ride was for a magazine photo shoot.  Here's Rudi blending seamlessly into his surroundings.

The trail emerges from the forest into a grassy clearing near the commercial pine plantations of Benarkin State Forest.

As we neared Benarkin, we left the thick scrub and rode into more over bushland.  By now it was getting very hot, and I was looking forward to a cold drink in the town somewhere up ahead.

A meeting on the trail

As we pedalled closer to Benarkin, I was sure I could hear the sound of a vehicle on the trail.  It was a very odd moment as the trail is closed to vehicular traffic, and for an instant I was a pretty disappointed that my impression of the place as a peaceful car-free paradise could be shattered.  Approaching a creek crossing near the top of the range, we spotted a white ute down on one of the concrete culverts, carefully rolling back and forth across freshly laid gravel covering the steep approaches to the gully.  I stopped on the side of the trail, and, strangely for me, the driver of the vehicle already knew who I was!  His name was Geoff, a rail trail ambassador, who had been chatting with the other rail trail ambassadors we'd met on the previous day.  As per the day before, I was just blown away by the dedication and effort these guys put in to running the trail.  Geoff was out here rolling out some gravel he'd put over a creek crossing a few days earlier.  He was concerned that the trail was getting too rutted in the approach to the creek crossing, so he'd decided to do something about it, first doing some earthworks in his loader, then coming up this morning to roll it all out.  I kind of had trouble getting my head around just how the ambassadors worked - basically if something needed doing, they just sorted it out and did it.  A very different approach to the "can't someone else do it" mentality that seems to prevail in nearby Brisbane.

Geoff very kindly spent a lot of time with us, pointing out where to find interesting sights along the trail.  He also recommended to head to the Blackbutt bakery for our morning coffee - a very sensible idea.

Rudi approaches the town of Benarkin.  You can almost see the heat in this photo - it was well over 35 by this time of day.

Between the towns of Benarkin and Blackbutt, the trail levels out as it makes its way across the plateau.

The legendary Blackbutt Bakery.  Here we met up with Geoff and his family again, and had a fantastic time chatting to the local people and learning a lot mre about the area.  If you're ever at the bakery, I recommend getting a smokey-dog!

Surely the most photographed sign in Blackbutt.

I hadn't expected to see a rusted old tractor that someone had converted into a giant musical instrument, but here there it was!  The "fins" on the "cylinders" were actually tuned to different notes, and the pedals of the tractor operated the cymbals hidden within the body.  Very cool.

Scorching descent

In our classic style we ended up spending much longer than expected chatting to the locals and seeing the sights, and it was well and truly after lunchtime as we started pedalling back down the hill towards Linville.  It was hot, crazy hot - a look at the weather observations later in the day revealed the temperature in the area was a bit over 41 celcius.  Fortunately, the gradual descent meant we could easily maintain a decent speed to keep some breeze blowing in our faces.

No shelter from the midday sun, even in the forested section of the trail.

This historic railway culvert provided us with some much needed shelter from the midday sun.

Another of the art installations along the trail, made from the parts of old railway carriages.  I quite liked "the zombies", as the locals referred to them.

Pushing my bike up the steep creek crossing on the trail.  It was tough work on such a hot day, although I could have had a shot at riding it like Jer once did...

I was pleased that it wasn't just me who opted to push out of the creek crossing.

Today the ganger's shed took on a whole different feeling from when we had ridden past at sunset.  It was hot, glarey and dry.

Behind the ganger's shed are the ruins of the old magazine, where the trail builders used to store the dynamite used to blast cuttings through the spurs of the valley.

The fires were still burning near Linville, filling the valley with smoke and haze.

A patchwork of different colours across the landscape as a result of the recent fires.

Back at Linville Station.  As I rode out of the station grounds one of the locals at the pub called out "you're nuts in this heat!" She was of course correct, it was scorching out there.

Linville store knows how to get the cyclists in!

I sat on the steps out the front of the shop drinking a fizzy drink.  In the heat and quiet of the little country town, it was all reminding me very much of when I worked in the outback of remote north Queensland.

Linville - the true outback country town experience, less than two hours drive from Brisbane.

A quick blast back along the bitumen back to Moore.

It ends as it begins, chilling it up in the tearooms at Moore memorial hall.

After unwinding with a cold drink, it was time to load up the car, crank the air conditioning up to a billion, and head back home to Brisbane.  I thought I knew the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail reasonably well, but this weekend had dished up a whole bunch of new surprises.  By adding in an overnight stay along the way, my favourite day ride had now been transformed into my favourite weekend getaway destination.  The only logical step for me now is to ride the whole 300+ kilometres of the trail all the way from Ipswich to Yarraman and back again - now there's a new adventure that has to be had!