Author: Mrs A
Location: Cooroibah, Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Despite a forecast of showers, we decided to head out on the bikes today and explore some of the local area on two wheels. Cooroibah is literally surrounded by the Noosa hinterland’s forests, reserves and National Parks, with many well maintained mountain bike trails, ranging from easy, through intermediate and up to black – the most challenging.
The rain held off for the first half an hour, but then came on in showers, mostly torrential, cooling us down on a still 27 degree centigrade day.
We rode down Gyndier Drive, a locked gate road winding up through the forest. The route is used as part of the Noosa triathlon and twice a year the site for road and race cars which enter the Noosa Hill Climb, with 14 corners to race through – just us there today though, on our private road.
As we came out of the end of the drive we could see that ahead was Mount Tinbeerwah which had a lookout I was keen to climb up to. Mount Tinbeerwah had always been in our sights the past few days down in Noosa, looming to the west like a giant pyramid. We cycled along the access road, catching a glimpse of the lookout appearing very high and far away.
My first thought was ‘I can’t get up there!’…and then my stubbornness kicked in and I was determined to make it. 
Everything seemed to be against us, as the rain fell down as hail, and then in ridiculously heavy torrents. The road was mostly unpaved and the orange mud ran down in rivers, making the surface sticky and slippery as well as it already being extremely steep. We kept on going. Finally, we reached the carpark with some relief, and the rain stopped!
We left the bikes leaning in the car park, hoping nobody would steal them, and hiked up the final kilometre to the summit, with fabulous views over Noosa Heads and the next rain shower heading our way.
We enjoyed the view, then retraced our steps (wheels?) a short way before heading through the forest along an ‘easy’ route.
I’m certain it is easy when dry, but the wet conditions had us slipping and sliding sideways down the tracks, thankfully staying upright. It was a short way from the end of this track back to our caravan, with just over 20km under our belts. Boiled eggs & Marmite soldiers burned off I think!
After a bite of lunch and hot showers, we headed off into Noosa so Mr A could successfully buy some swimming goggles, and then to the Noosa Yacht and Rowing Club to catch up with some more friends who live in the area.
Brian and Caroline used to live near to us in Sydney, before making the move to the Noosa hinterland back in 2009. Almost a decade later, they’ve brought up two gorgeous children and are very happy in the area. It was so nice to see them and hear how things are going.
We headed back to camp for a relaxed evening. We move on from here tomorrow…
