Sydney to Brisbane - Trip Summary and Info

A quick reference guide here for anyone planning similar cycling adventures in Australia.

This was my 4th tour in this country, and just about the shortest as well as the most populated I've ridden through. So, it is the worst for traffic, but the easiest for distances between supply points and services.

As well as riding interstate for this tour, I had an additional goal of completing the Great Cycle Challenge Australia for which I needed to ride 2000km in October in order to raise money for the Kids Cancer Charity. I ended up on 2080km in October which was on about day 4 of this tour.

Gear

I rode a Giant Contend, the same bike I commute with. I was not camping on this trip so really just carrying ample tools, food, water, rain jacket, sunblock,electronics and a few basic clothes. In November its already very warm in this area.

'Bianca' in Bikepacking mode

Key links:

https://www.nswcoastcycle.com  - Trip planning

https://www.willyweather.com.au/ - Great Wind Forecasts

https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me - Check this often!

http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/radar/ Rain Radar Maps

My Sydney to Brisbane Ride Summary:

The route I followed was similar to that on https://www.nswcoastcycle.com

• Bondi to Lakes Entrance / Route Map and also / Distance: 97 km / 932 meters / Blog post
• Lakes Entrance to Nelson Bay / Route Map  / Distance: 124 km / 648 meters / Blog post
• Nelson Bay to Forster / Route Map / Distance: 112 km / 738 meters / Blog post
• Forster to Kempsey / Route Map / Distance: 153 km / 852 meters / Blog post
• Kepsey to Coffs / Route Map / Distance: 131 km / 842 meters / Blog post
• Coffs to Yamba / Route Map / Distance: 139 km / 681 meters / Blog post
• Yamba to Ballina / Route Map / Distance: 94 km / 251 meters / Blog post
• Ballina to Gold Coast / Route Map / Distance: 134 km / 722 meters / Blog post
• Gold Coast to Brisbane / Route Map /Distance: 106 km / 689 meters / Blog post

Totals (includes cycling across southern Sydney, and GPS ran out of power twice)

• Total Distance: 1097 km
• Elevation Gain: 6516m
• Ride Days: 9.5
• Rest Days: 1

My Other Australian Tours:

For other tours see:

Adelaide to Melbourne  Total Distance: 1,040 km, Total Elevation Gain: 3792m
Melbourne to Sydney  Total Distance: 1255 km, Total Elevation Gain: 10289m
Perth to Adelaide  Total Distance: 3562 km, Total Elevation Gain: 12371m

Sydney to Brisbane - Day 1 - Across Sydney

Time to get started! I wanted to begin this tour at the exact spot my last ride in to Sydney ended, at the train station Gymea. This may seem like a weird place to start or end a tour, but I had a breakdown at the time and was walking a broken bike. By starting this trip at the exact spot, I gave myself the option later on of completing a round Australia circumnavigation. I'm not certain I actually want to do this...but its all about having options!

For this trip I will be riding bike packing style and travelling light, but sleeping indoors. Goals for this trip are:

1. Complete the Great Cycle Challenge by riding 2000 km in the month of October and raise some money for https://www.cmri.org.au/
2. Ride from Sydney to Brisbane, unsupported

This is the bike setup:

So after getting the bike out of her box and putting her together amidst many staring tourists at Sydney airport....I got the train down to Gymea and then started cycling back north!  It was a stinking hot day in the mid 30s with a very strong westerly gale blowing, and not much fun navigating the industrial area around the airport especially...but at least I got this done.

By the time I rolled in to the Youth Hostel at Bondi, I was feeling sick and probably had a bit of heat stroke. I'd also broken my bike pump, so fixing these starting off pains was top priority for the 'real' start of the ride tomorrow.

As always on day 1, I have plenty of self doubts. Am I fit enough for this? What about all this traffic....and so it goes on...

Sydney to Brisbane

Wow! I'm not sure where 2 years have gone by but somehow that's when I last got back from a big ride. Another is long, long overdue and so I've booked a one way flight to Sydney, to ride up to Brisbane. Isn't it crazy how work can dominate one's life like that? Although I guess 2 year's isn't long in the greater scheme of things, and I should stop complaining and get busy with turning the pedals!

Once again there is a bit of a worthy cause involved. A really awesome group of  8 workmates have banded together and we are aiming for 5200km in a calendar month, to support The Children's Medical Research Institute, in particular for child cancer. We are all part of the Great Cycle Challenge Australia  which is an amazing cause.

Our challenge ends on October 31, and to keep my part of the bargain, I still have 574 km to go at the time of writing this post. What better way to get this done than a beautiful interstate ride?

For this ride I will be travelling a lot lighter than my Nullarbor epic which required camping gear and lots of water. This time I'll do it on a quicker road bike with backpacking kit. I'll be avoiding the highway as best as possible and using a large part of the NSW Coastal Cycle Trail. Total distance is roughly 1200km.

A bit more later...time to get packing...