I’m astonished how undeveloped the mountan biking scene is here. There’s a pretty good local guidebook, describing trails around Brisbane, and along the coast (North and South). But they don’t look very long or very interesting, and I’d like to find something that Paddy & Vicky can try on their bikes.
K-Mart specials, he calls them. They’re perfect for the kind of riding they usually do – urban stuff through the streets and along the cycleways on both sides of the river. But they’re not really designed for rough stuff. I decide to explore some local trails that are described as technically easy and low fitness. So I ride to nearby Morningside train station, get a train into Roma Street and then another train to Kuraby, out to the South East of Brisbane. From Kuraby I have about a 6 mile ride to the trails at Daisy Hill Koala Centre.
Calling in at a bike shop on the way, they suggest a route that would avoid a “nasty” hill. ”That will do me” I think to myself. “Save my legs for the trails”. Maybe it was some wry Aussie humour, but just as I get within a mile of Daisy Hill, suddenly the road goes vertical! In 30 degree heat I do the manly thing and push. Reaching Daisy Hill itself, I'm disappointed. Maybe I’m too used to UK forests, riding real singletrack through real trees. Fire roads have decent surfaces, and singletrack is narrow and twisty and fun. At Daisy Hill, the trails seem like a hybrid of poorly surfaced firetrail and wide uninteresting singletrack. And the hills, although short, certainly can’t be classed low fitness. Maybe there are some great trails there, but I can't find them and the place doesn't inspire me to go back and try again.
On the plus side, I see 3 koalas (clinging lazily to a tree in the entrance lobby), a wallaby (bouncing casually alongside me on the trail), and a one-inch long ant. I’ve no idea what kind of ant it is, and whether I should kill it or protect it. In the end, I play peek-a-boo with it.
He's a funny little fella. I'm reading a (rubbish) trail map that I’ve laid out on a fence, and this ant just walks straight across it, as bold as you like. It startles me a bit initially, being an inch long and flamboyantly coloured. A bit like Elton John. Anyway, when I bend over to inspect him more closely, the little chap stops suddenly and looks up at me! After a few seconds, he moves on, and I move to follow him. He stops and looks at me again. That goes on a few more times until he starts hiding from me. He walks round the other side of the fence post. I look round that side, and he hides again! Ace! I leave him to it eventually - I'm sure we both have things to do. But I like to think we part with a grudging respect for each other, as equals.
