Ayr to Nebo
11 May 2019
Master Map
The rain not only stopped during the night, but a drying breeze developed. It's always a relief to be able to pack a dry tent rather than either waiting for it to dry or packing it wet.
There were a couple of roads we hoped to ride on the way south which meant more time on the main road than we would normally be prepared to endure. It's not like the US Interstate by any conceivable stretch of the imagination, but there is traffic and there are trucks and there's buffeting and the riding is simply not as pleasant. Our evening strategizing had led to a compromise: we'd ride the first of the planned roads before turning inland for a faster run through central and southern Queensland and into New South Wales.
There followed an interesting enough 250 kms along the coast road. We stopped for breakfast in a surprisingly posh café in Bowen—a more interesting town than I remember from my one and only previous visit.
Steel road and rail bridge over the Burdekin River just south of Ayr
I took no more photos until after we left the Bruce Highway at Mt Ossa and had a great ride along a series of pretty, quiet and enjoyable back roads to the plain below Eungella which was on my list of roads to ride on the way home. It runs up the hill in this picture and is, as promised, very scenic.
However, many of the curves are very tight and there are substantial grids on the road which make careful navigation important. It was worth the ride to the top of the hill for the view and a brief run along the range, but the road was not nearly as good as those we rode near Cairns.
Coming back down the Eungella road
In the next picture, you can see a sign warning of a tight right-hand corner. As I came down into it, I could see the road for a considerable distance down the hill and realised it would be safe to overtake this line of traffic. The bloke in the grey utility was very unhappy about it and sat angrily on our tails until we stopped for petrol. Why I don't know. He had plenty of opportunities to pass.
Our plan was to head to a mining town called Nebo for the night. At Eungella we realised we could hit another of the recommended stretches of road on the way. From the bottom of the hill we headed south towards Sarina before taking the Sarina-Marlborough Road through a short but glorious series of bends. They were well worth the slight detour. The rest of the trip to Nebo was also pretty. In places the bush encroached close to the edge of the road and made me nervous as kangaroo time was fast approaching.
In Nebo we found a slightly run-down but agreeable enough caravan park to pitch our tents. It promised to be cold overnight, much to the disgust of the owner. He told me he got cold when the temperature fell below 40ºC!
