Anyone want to share.
Mine have changed over the years, my bikes and taste have changed, more so where I ride has changed.
Not a regular, but one I've done a couple of times.
The Gillies Highway.
263 corners, and 800 m elevation change in only 19 km of road.
The day trippers and tourist, and the weather can take the fun out of it, but on a good quiet, dry day....
(https://i.ibb.co/DHMZFvwP/IMG-0985.jpg) (https://ibb.co/hJdSN42x)
One I never felt the love for was The Great Ocean Road.
I get the historical significance, I love the cliffs and ocean views, I'm certainly glad I did it, but I'd have been just as happy in a car. As a place to ride and enjoy a bike it's far from my favourite. Not helped by the amount of tour bus"s, tourists gazing out to sea and not at the road, and trying to get a nice day with the weather down south.
(https://i.ibb.co/SDNstZ1h/IMG-7144.jpg) (https://ibb.co/PsxmcVb7)
(https://i.ibb.co/B2nHkqtv/IMG-7145.jpg) (https://ibb.co/DfrPd5tm)
(https://i.ibb.co/gMHmKw5P/IMG-7143.jpg) (https://ibb.co/1fh7WKDd)
One stop did have Vegemite Ice Cream though !
Yeah nah from me on the GOR, too much sand and tourists.
One of mine as mentioned is south-westhighway, del Park road to dwellingup, then Nanga Brook road onto Waroona.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/4iuHgQyF5zfc97Wm9?g_st=ac
In a time long ago, in a land far away......
As teens, a regular run from the UK Midlands was to Bewdley, Cleobury, Cree Hill, Ludlow, across to Welshpool, Machynlleth, up through Abadovey, Tywyn, over the bridge to Barmouth and back to Welshpool and home.
Around a 200 mile run.
As teens with no phones and little experience riding badly home tuned 125's it actually felt like something special. Lost count of the number of times we did it, the novelty never wore off. The new sense of freedom and independent travel was amazing at the time.
(https://i.ibb.co/cch5Mv47/IMG-5275.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
It's very popular to moan about the state of the roads, and often rightly so, but a lot where I ride have got noticeably better over the last few years and I now ride places I previously avoided.
# Maidenwell up to the Bunya Mountains use to have a dirt section, now it's bitumen all the way.
# Crows Nest to Blackbutt used to have a long dirt section and a narrow single lane with wide shoulder section, now it's full width bitumen the whole way.
# North of Crows Nest to Hayden / Goombungee used to have a narrow and rough bitumen section, now it's full width all the way.
(https://i.ibb.co/nqCybqZN/IMG-0967.jpg) (https://ibb.co/ZRmrVRtp)
(https://i.ibb.co/TDBJmb9L/IMG-7151.jpg) (https://ibb.co/8nDG6d1c)
Another south West wa favourite is the Bridgetown to Nannup road. Bridgetown sits a bit higher in the hills, so the road drops and winds around the hills to Nannup. A favourite is to ride this road from Bridgetown to Nannup, haveva coffee at Nannup then turn around and go back up the hill.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/kUrEhu76dJY5K4iv7?g_st=ac
Most of the Queenslanders know Mt Nebo, Mt Glorious and Mt Mee well. Rare to find a rider that hasn't done them.
20 yers ago they were my regular haunts too, a regular for group rides.
Over time I've really lost any interest in doing them. Now I only use them as a route to somewhere much better.
They have lowered the speed limits, they've had random bursts of very enthusiastic police presence, they would be good rides but they suffer from being so close to the largest population in Queensland including more than a few hero's and fatalities.
(https://i.ibb.co/YxtbK6x/IMG-7153.jpg) (https://ibb.co/3n0k8wn)
(https://i.ibb.co/n8fsFqgW/IMG-7155.jpg) (https://ibb.co/1JKfkYvS)
(https://i.ibb.co/Kp6r9F4C/IMG-7154.jpg) (https://ibb.co/q3BrRkqb)
I think I've had more breathalysers, license checks and vehicle inspections in those areas than everywhere else combined. Folk tell me it isn't as bad now, but I don't really miss it.
It was handy to have a hill with corners on my doorstep, but there's a lot better places to have fun.
Edit: Stopped on a brand new bike, less than 100 kilometres / 65 miles on the clock. Licence checks, breathalyser, full vehicle inspections. Sent on my way. Had a coffee, heading back home 15 minutes later... stopped again, same cop. Licence checks, breathalyser, full vehicle inspections. Cop got real aggressive when I pointed out he'd done it all 15 minutes ago and the bike was brand new.
Found out the same cop had a real reputation. Ticketing bikes for rear guards an inch too short ( before the law changed) , ticketing bikes for quiet pipes because they didn't have the correct tag or markings etc. pretty sure he's not around now but he was well known back in the day.
I live at bottom of Blackall Range, used to be so many good runs, now mainly ruined by population, speed limits, police presence, frogwit day racers. 2 really good rides, RexRange up near Port Douglas,similar to Gillies. 99 Bends Tasmania West Coast, amazing place.Getting a non freezing dry day the trick.Worth a search on YouTube.
Will be doing the Oxley, Thunderbolts and Bucketts Way along with a few others on the way up there end of this month.
Miss our rides to the Snowy Mountains.
I used to live near the bottom of Mount Tamborine before we moved up here 5.5 years ago. My normal ride there was up Tamborine then down the goat track to Canungra. If I had time i would then go up to Beechmont and then down to Nerang. These roads are also policed a lot more now and full of power rangers on their late model sports bikes. Used to here quite often that at least one of them out rode their abilities. I went down to the Gold Coast a few months back on my Softail Deluxe. I did the full loop then and was great to see it again.
Quote from: Stevel3 on Wednesday, 16 September 2026, 05:14 PMI used to live near the bottom of Mount Tamborine before we moved up here 5.5 years ago. My normal ride there was up Tamborine then down the goat track to Canungra. If I had time i would then go up to Beechmont and then down to Nerang. These roads are also policed a lot more now and full of power rangers on their late model sports bikes. Used to here quite often that at least one of them out rode their abilities. I went down to the Gold Coast a few months back on my Softail Deluxe. I did the full loop then and was great to see it again.
My favourite ride in that area used to be heading in from Nerang past Natural Arch, over the border and doing all the fun back roads down to Flutterbies Cafe at Tyalgum.
Loved that cafe. Always had a good feed there. Never knew the story behind it, staff used to have Old World costumes, place never served Pork, no bacon! I get there religious reasoning but it was an odd place to see it.
I see the wooden bridge on the way has gone now too.
(https://i.ibb.co/TqFBtk3c/IMG-0611.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
Quote from: Tony Nitrous on Thursday, 17 September 2026, 06:32 AMQuote from: Stevel3 on Wednesday, 16 September 2026, 05:14 PMI used to live near the bottom of Mount Tamborine before we moved up here 5.5 years ago. My normal ride there was up Tamborine then down the goat track to Canungra. If I had time i would then go up to Beechmont and then down to Nerang. These roads are also policed a lot more now and full of power rangers on their late model sports bikes. Used to here quite often that at least one of them out rode their abilities. I went down to the Gold Coast a few months back on my Softail Deluxe. I did the full loop then and was great to see it again.
My favourite ride in that area used to be heading in from Nerang past Natural Arch, over the border and doing all the fun back roads down to Flutterbies Cafe at Tyalgum.
Loved that cafe. Always had a good feed there. Never knew the story behind it, staff used to have Old World costumes, place never served Pork, no bacon! I get there religious reasoning but it was an odd place to see it.
I see the wooden bridge on the way has gone now too.
(https://i.ibb.co/TqFBtk3c/IMG-0611.jpg) (https://imgbb.com/)
I've done the ride down over the border quite a few times ending up near Murwillumbah. Then we took the road through to the back of Currumbin. There are some great roads down there.
Last motorcycle trip to the south coast was from Dwellingup up in the hills, to Waroona, Bridgetown, Nannup, Manjimup, then Quininup and Highway 1 to Walpole and Denmark and onto Albany. That South Coast Highway section is Gods own motorcycle track. Smooth, flowing and scenic.