The Great Southeast Queensland Cheese Trail: A Proposition

Foreword

The year was 2021 and by some blip in time, the year was almost over (After we were in and out of lockdowns in what felt like being in a room with someone maniacally switching the lights on and off). I had yet to come to ground myself, I had just walked away from a toxic workplace (and had just interviewed at several other promising employers) and was craving an adventure, a shakeup, something that would bring together my friends and reignite the passion for a challenge.

I had gathered a few mates together and my now partner into the messenger dimensions and after much discussion, excel spreadsheets, gear coordination and a beautifully crafted route* by Jaye, we were ready. The date was set. The horses were saddled. The train station was primed and we were off. We didn’t want to take food/a kitchen and the emphasis and distance of each leg were very focused on party pacing so the legs of the journey were pretty short, the hills and terrain made up for it. 

* No really, it was beautiful. Jaye makes stunning routes and invokes the spirit of adventure most fervently. She does however, like to infuse a classic stitchup or three that really became the highlight of the adventure (as they so often do).

Only upon reflection as I sat down to write this later in 2022 (Babes, it’s now 2023, so sorry Mattie I’m the worst hahaha) did I realise that Woombeye and Maleny alongside Kenilworth, had their own respective cheese factories. I propose that anyone following this journey, and perhaps we will revisit again soon, to make cheese the focus. So may I propose to you, The Great Southeast Queensland Cheese Trail. 

Day 1 – Woombye To Kenilworth “Classic Stitch Up”

The CBD is covered in a fine grey mist in the morning and the tower of power is nowhere to be seen. Rachael and I had set up our bikes the night before so there was not much to do other than ride to the train station and train into central to meet Jaye and Milena. We would jump on the Sunshine Coast line and travel all the way up to Woombeye. Milena had misread the dates and thought we were starting a day later which caused some chaos. We would meet her later in Kenilworth. Jaye, Rachael and myself set off from Woombeye after a brief stop in town and a nibble at the bakery (Rachael: “Don’t forget to mention the cauliflower and parmesan triangle!”), we were off. 

Much of the region had the threat of rain, but thankfully for us it was mostly a fine misting which, in November, is a mostly beautiful thing. The first day featured road and mostly up as we climbed upwards to Mapleton. The most resonant memories for me I can only describe with sensations and colour; deep rich greens and blues that occur when the sky is heavy and bruised. The misty rain and light splattering leaves me refreshed, but it could also be a thick humidity we all know and love. Flocks of yellow tail cockatoos sing their siren song. But also, lots of bloody climbing. There were several 16 and 20 percenters…

Did anyone ever see that movie the perfect storm? The scene with the big wave? The crew have a brief moment of hope as the seas ease but for a moment. And then the music changes, the scene goes dark and a gargantuan wave seeks to destroy them all. This scene essentially played out in real time. Jaye was frantically checking her ridewithGPS to see if there was a workaround and I just laughed. Before us was an enormous hill/mountain. We hiked a bike for almost two kilometres to Mapleton. The icing on the cake was almost reaching the top and watching a car chug its way slowly up the top with black smoke pouring out the back, lurching forward, rolling back slightly and then making it (BARELY) over the crest.

A brief stop in Mapleton to Sweet and Flour for bakery treats and a regroup and then we were off to the descent into Kenilworth. We made a judgement call to stay on the roads as our original route had us going singletrack and up some pretty stonkin climbs. With the recent heavy rainfall and flooding in the region, we stuck to Obi Obi road. We had some pretty epic descents down into Kenilworth, lots of mountain range cutaways into cattle flats and creek chasing. The sun was starting to part as well and it was rather cinematic. We arrived at Kenilworth far too late to visit the cheese factory, but went for a quick dip of toes in the raging flooded river and scoped out a great little site for us to pitch our tents at the showground in town. Here is a rundown.

Water pressure in showers: 10/10
Spacious and Chill: Totally
Little fish that swim over flooded causeways on the way to camp: Absolutely
Ample trees for hanging handwashing: Uuuuuuuhhhhhh
Ample trees for hanging hammocks: It’s a stretch, but doable.

The sun set and we feasted on incredible pub faire, at 4.00pm I received a call that I was offered a job at a place I really wanted work. Milena arrived. We had conquered mighty mountains. The feeling was triumphant. We went to sleep with the sound of the Mary River rushing with incredible ferocity and the chorus of hundreds of wee frogs.

Day 2 – Kenilworth – Maleny “Creek Crossings”

The morning is beautiful and promising and now the merry band are all together again. After a few gentle coffees and soaking in the sun and hanging amongst the camphor trees, we pack up our camp and head out to the legendary Kenilworth bakery. It is as good as they say folks – the pies are really really good. After some moments scoffing pies and gathering our things we set off before it gets too hot. We know we have a few big climbs and hot roads to tread so we set off.

A long country road sends us towards the upper Mary River valley region and we soon deviate off the bitumen and head onto some supple grav that weaves through many farm paddocks. There is joy in the air and we feel energised as we seem to be peeling further and further into the bush. Soon enough – the road as we know it ends and we transition into hectic 4wd tracks/singletrack territory and there before us lays the beginning of many of a bikepacking journeys highlights, creek crossings.

After the recent inundation of rain the creek crossings were a lot deeper than usual and it was very difficult to see the bottom. With many of the creek crossings full of large sneaky boulders, we resorted to carrying our bikes through every crossing. I think it was at this moment I wished I was wearing sandals instead of socks and shoes because the shoes socks on shoes socks off was getting a bit ridiculous. In total I think there were around 6 creek crossings – with many requiring one person in the water to help catch a bike and then help each other down. Rachael had a spill at one point and my feet got one of the most intense acupressure treatments of its life. Whilst it felt trying at the time – it was exciting on reflection and for a first timer attempting multi-day bikepacking adventure, it felt like quite the achievement.

From the bottom of the valley it was time to go up – we were back on the road up some very winding road ranges up towards Maleny. We stuck together like a little elephant herd slowly plodding up the mountains with some cars doing their usual revving and roaring. After some very slow and hot climbs we reached Maleny and made our way to Maleny show grounds to set up camp. Here is a rundown:

Amazingly tended soft grass to put our tents on: 10/10
Water pressure in showers: 8/10
Cool little horse/livestock stables to hang hammocks and dry clothes: Absolutely
Nice shady areas and the sounds of a river to put us to sleep: can confirm
Abnormally freezing cold weather in the evening that had us using a space blanket for Jaye’s hammock: Yeah damn, we were not expecting that.

We decided to do a bit of a roam around town which included scoping bakeries for tomorrow’s breakfast and checking out the Maleny Chocolate Factory. We struck up a conversation with a gentleman who was a keen cyclist who also worked there, but just a huge shoutout to that fellow because he was instrumental in helping us find our way on a part of the route planning that we were unsure of. 10/10 chocolate and friendly bike humans can be found at the Maleny Chocolate Factory.

After some afternoon chilling, watercolours and stick whittling, we had dinner nearby at Brouhaha and then after an emergency trip to Woolworths to get some tights because it was abnormally freezing, we were off to sleep. 

Day 3 – Maleny To Glasshouse Mountains “Those who live in glass houses should throw shoes (across creeks underarm)”

The sun hitting our tents was an excellent way to wake up as it felt like we were defrosting. I had not had the greatest of sleep due to the colder weather and it was a big lesson in getting a better sleeping mat. But hey, you have to learn these things for yourself when you start out!

Jaye had struck up a conversation with the fellow at the chocolate factory the day prior around the route she had planned. He swung by our campsite after his early morning bunchie to try and catch us before we departed to let us know we were able to cross at the bottom of McCarthay’s Shute road/4wd trail. Legend! 

Malaney Bakery Café provided us with some excellent pie sustenance to send us rolling down the Shute road. Because of Malaney’s topography, much of this leg of the journey was a pretty severe downhill. It was deep in bushy – rainforest-y territory as we descended down the mountain. The Shute road terrain was pretty darn rough and demanded some bike walking – we spotted quite a few awesome looking downhill MTB trails ourselves. But most of us were pretty tired by this day and were far less send-it inclined. 

At the base of the shute road was a large but simple creek crossing and it was here that I decided that I was to throw my shoes over the creek rather than try to carry them – I was sick of all the on and off and gear juggle. Jaye, Milena and Rach had already crossed and I did not notice Jaye perched in the embankment like Steve Parish waiting to photograph an unsuspecting bird. I hurled one shoe across the creek with great success, underarm, as I’ve a poor over arm throw. Second shoe was thrown too high and bounced off a tree above and landed straight into the creek. Lesson was, get creek crossing friendly shoes.

From here on in the cover of the rainforest thinned as we headed back to the glasshouse mountains train station along back roads towards main roads. The terrain started to get quite sandy and we passed several motocrossers and 4WDs and lots of muddy sandy puddles.

I quite enjoyed our first glimpse of some of the glasshouse mountains peeking up from some farmland and I remember the bright red dirt contrasted against the greens and blues. 

From here it was a big race to get back to the station as quick as we could as it was so hot and we were all pretty much over it. Ice creams were had, snoozes were had and we made our way back to BNE.

The length of my writing on day 3 is pretty indicative of the feels of this leg of the trip. We were having fun but wanted to get it over with. 

Rachael: “The most memorable part of the journey for me was making the train and then smashing down a blue gatorade and a gaytime on the train home.”

Final Thoughts And What About The Cheese?

I think I would like to attempt this journey again. The gear and bags have really changed on my setup, I’ve gotten wiser, I make better gear choices and wouldn’t mind seeing it all again with some more seasoned eyes. And well, plan the timings so cheese may be had. 

During the first attempt we never actually had any cheese at any part of the proposed cheese trail, but whenever my partner and I go bikepacking on Minjerribah, we head to the local IGA to get some Kenilworth cheese and watch the sunset. 

The route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/37962049

November 2021

Featuring: Jaye Buswell, Kate Hallen, Milena Atanassova & Rachael Sedgman 

Written by Kate Hallen