Hi
We’re planning a bit of an Oz fly-drive trip next February. My only chance to fit in a few rides is the “drive” bit, as above, and we can tailor our stop-offs to suit.
Has anyone got any info re any bike hire/guiding companies?
Cheers all.
What kind of riding are you wanting to do?
I'm in Sydney and while there are guiding services around here I've never used them so don't have any recommendations. Plenty of places hire bikes though and you can look on Trailforks for bike park / trail centre type places, eg Ourimbah, Awaba, Stromlo, Thredbo.
The extreme wet weather and flooding we've had this summer has really impacted lots of trails, and it's forecast to continue raining through winter as well, so I hope it dries up for when you get here. And so I can get out for a ride too!
There's a bit of riding local to me in the Royal National Park and Heathcote National Park. It's all closed at the moment as it's underwater, but happy to show you around there if the weather and timings line up. I ride a rigid mtb and I don't own a full face helmet so my riding style may or may not be what you're looking for!
As above, you will likely be battling with the weather. The tropics are pretty unforgiving if you're not used to them so expect to be very hot and very wet, expect to need 1l/hr to drink. If it's not raining you'll be as wet as if it was. Lots of places will close if it's too wet.
That aside, there's some good riding all through Queensland. I've not ridden at Atherton Tablelands near Cairns but have heard people wax lyrical.
Smithfield at Cairns (World Cup DH track plus plenty other tamer trails) is well worth a ride. I would recommend hiring an e-bike (it's pretty steep and you'll get better coverage that way) from Graham at the bike shop close to the park but he's closed currently, possibly forever. You wouldn't need a guide, just trailforks or the map they provide(d). Crankworx is coming to Cairns in October this year so there will have been some investment.
Coming south i haven't ridden, but have heard good things about Townsville and Rockhampton, near Bundaberg Cordalba state forest is pretty good XC territory.
I would look up bike hire for each location. By the time you get here tourism may be humming along again and mtb is getting bigger all the time.
Once you get to the Sunshine Coast there's a good range i know well - thousands of km of gravel to rainforest off-map handcut tech xc, gravity parks and DH tracks. Happy to show you around depending on timing, and have a spare large aggro HT. I have a mate that runs a bike tour company here too https://havefuntours.com.au/ and he'll likely be available.
Brisbane also has some choice options ... but I don't get there much and it's relatively busy, whereas I like my trails empty.
For a real adventure if the weather works out head inland a bit to near Ipswich for
Hidden Vale Adventure Park
for $15 you get access to a 110km network of trails. They do a great uplift service on offroad buggies and hire bikes and eebs. I normally get around 60km of riding into a morning and get a great feed at their onsite pub/restaurant. Again, they don't guide, but it's all on trailforks and they have a great map and will advise you.
Watch Jack Moir's YT channel for inspiration on some of the mid New South Wales trails.
