A new beginning?

Well, I made a phone call at 4.50pm yesterday afternoon, and confirmed what I was really expecting, the concert last night was cancelled. Apparently it's going to be re-scheduled for sometime in September, so it's another month or so before I'll get to hear the magical voice of Sarah Blasko in a live setting. One hopes she's feeling better soon regardless. What it meant for me was that instead of spending the night in Brisbane and probably sleeping in, I was waking early on the Gold Coast, and looking for a morning ride. I headed west, found the turn off to Little Nerang Road (which definitely does not go to Little Nerang Dam), up a steep climb, and at a T-intersection, I found a trail heading off into the bush.
Seeing a sign saying that horse riders needed a permit, but no mention of mountain bikes (I was on my hybrid anyway), I took a chance.

What followed was a very intimate experience out in the bush, with literally nobody else around. Surprisingly, most of the trail was more than manageable on the hybrid, although there were times when I wished I'd been riding the MTB. There were wildflowers, hills, eucalypt forests, and perhaps surprisingly, water views!




The big surprise was that this wasn't the trail I'd been thinking it was. I found the other side, about 100 metres higher, which had eventually wound it's way around to the far end of Little Nerang Road, meaning that the finish of the circuit was only about 2km from where it started. There were also some interesting tracks heading off, one toward Hinze Dam which looked quite manageable, if I'd had the inclination to lift my bike over the locked gate. What really excites me about this, however, is that there appear to be quite a network of trails out there to explore. This could occupy a few Saturday mornings in coming months. I really want to find a link between Hinze Dam and Neranwood, if there's a trail covering the length of that journey, it would be a truly inspiring experience.
The final word comes from the return to the start, and taking Range Road to the North. It dead-ended at this body of water, which is simply too large to be an ordinary Hinterland creek. Could this be a distant spur of Hinze Dam/Advancetown Lake? All shall be revealed... Eventually.