ABMT 2-Day Tour - March 2022
After a Coffee and pre-ride chat, it was becoming clear that nobody on this ride was going to make this inaugural 2-day tour anything but a delight to run.
Day 1 went very well incorporating a side trip to the historic Muntapa Tunnel. The tunnel was built pre WW1 (between 1910 and 1913) to help form a secondary rail link to support the then thriving timber and agriculture industries between the small towns of Oakey and Cooyar.
We then continued up the Bunya Mountains for a great lunch at a café. The Mountains are a volcanic ridge that formed in the Jurassic period and appear from some angles, to be quite “stand alone” in the landscape.
Native Australians used the mountains as a meeting “Carroboree” place for thousands of years, due to it being covered in what are now called “Bunya Pines”.
Bunya Pines produce a huge “football” size cone that is full of edible seeds. The afternoon was a really nice cruise on a mix of bitumen and gravel backroads that would lead us out to the west of Kingaroy. This area is abundant with fantastic backroads to tour, with an array of landscapes to take in, not to mention historic towns and outposts.
By 4.30pm we had arrived at the motel where much appreciated showers and beers awaited. A short walk to one of Kingaroy’s nicer pubs for dinner and a few more refreshments, then the whole crew seemed more than happy to waddle back to the motel and hit the sack by around 9pm.
Sunday morning breakfast was huge with a good mix of continental and hot food with coffee to die for. Thanks to the ladies at Pioneer Lodge Motel for a fantastic job.
After fuelling up, we rode west out of Kingaroy to Elginvale and the very head of the Brisbane River.
From there we went south on Western Branch Road for a while until a couple of on coming trailbike riders alerted us to the fact that the river was still too high on the more southern crossings.
The diversion we took (River Rd) to Nanango, turned out to be a pretty nice ride as well.
A coffee and a bit of lunch in Blackbutt and we continued south, with an attempt to use Waterhole Creek Road thwarted by a very fast flowing crossing on Sheepstation Creek.
Eventually we started to split up for our individual rides home. From what I could tell, 8 happy customers went on their merry way.
Although I have been organizing overnight rides for quite some time, this being my first under the ABMT banner, I am truly happy with how it was received by all that went along and I can’t thank the guys enough as they made the ride what it was.
The next ABMT overnight tour is already fully booked and promises to be as good, if not better. We will be alternating the direction we travel in for these rides as much as possible and hopefully using our southeast QLD beautiful winter weather to make them a bit more frequent.
Thanks again to all that came along to Kingaroy and I can’t wait to meet some new people and show you all the stunning scenery and awesome riding on the Tenterfield Tour.
