Day 11 - Monday 16th February

The final day of the ride; Brisbane, according to the road signs, is 82kms from Surfers Paradise, so the distance was never going to be a problem. However I no longer had a route to follow; the Lonely Planet guide's East Coast Explorer route, which I've been following all the way from Sydney, finishes at Surfers Paradise. The Guide recommends getting the train from there to Brisbane, saying that the road is too busy for safe cycling.

In fact, since the LP guide was published, a motorway has been built between Surfers and the Gold Coast and bicycles are not allowed on it.

I had a look on the internet for a suitable safe cycling route to Brisbane and read about a bike route designated "V1" - the "V apparently standing for velo - clearly it was intended to be some kind of "cycling superhighway", it seemed. I couldn't find a map of the route to download but managed to find some reference to where it started which was near where the Gold Coast Highway joined the M1 motorway.

As I rode along the Gold Coast Highway through Surfers and Southport I passed 2 bike shops and in each of them asked if they knew anything about this V1 route and how to get on it. Both told me that they'd never cycled to Brisbane themselves and recommended against it. Neither of them had heard of any bike route going there.

Anyway after a few kms north of Southport, the Gold Coast Highway became a lot quieter, with a good bike lane alongside:

Shortly afterwards I found the first V1 sign - clearly,the route did exist! see below:

For a few kms the route was easy to follow, and clearly signposted. Also for a lot of the way it was delineated by some of the brightest green tarmac I've ever seen:

From the route I got an excellent view of Waterworld, one of several large theme parks in the area - here is the water slide:

But shortly after this I lost the route completely. The bike path ended, there were no signposts, and I couldn't follow the motorway because there was simply no way to get alongside it. Very frustrating. I had to detour for quite a long way, getting lost and had to ask directions several times before anyone could tell me the right way to Brisbane.

Eventually I found the V1 route again:

The route crossed over the Logan river where I took this tranquil looking view (below) - in fact the motorway was immediately behind me and it was anything but peaceful!

Shortly after this the trail went cold again and I had no idea which way to go. I assume someone must have taken at least one signpost, I guess this sort of vandalism happens everywhere.

Aftre a long diversion followed by a stretch on a busy main road without a bike path, I saw another sign:

...which led me back directly alongside the motorway, along this excellent bikepath (see below) -

This didn't last long and the route left the motorway again; at least from here onwards it was reasonably easy to follow, with no shortage of signs:

At last, the skyline of Brisbane started to come into view:
The last few kms into Brisbane were along some of the best bikepaths I've ever experienced - completely segregated from motor traffic and pedestrians, great surfaces, these allowed fast, safe cycling and were clearly very popular and well used by a large community of cycling commuters:

What a pity it hadn't been like this all the way from the Gold Coast. Approaching the city centre, the V1 route crosses the Brisbane River via the new Goodwill bridge which is cycle and pedestrian only and is an attractive design:

And that was it - mission accomplished - I'd travelled by bike all the way from Sydney to Brisbane. I stopped briefly to take a photo of the entrance to Queen St Mall, the central street of Brisbane:

...before travelling north through the city centre to Fortitude Valley, where I had reserved a room in the City Palms Motel -

The total distance covered today was 117.2 kms - probably about 25kms more than I would have done had the V1 route been clearly marked all the way and I hadn't taken any wrong turnings!

Which gives a trip total of 1239 kms.

Only one puncture; no other problem with bike or rider, no accidents, no hassle from any car or lorry drivers, no problems finding decent accommodation or food, and most important of all, dry weather - in fact the trip has gone as well as it could have!

There are plenty more rides in the LP Cycling Australia guide; I hope to do another one next year and if I do, I will definitely post another blog!