Let’s have a chat

Blackbutt’s claim to fame is as the birthplace of international tennis star, Roy Emerson. The dedicated local museum wasn’t open so we settled on admiring the life-sized bronze statue. 

According to Des, a local volunteer, people get good photos by sticking their heads through the tennis racquet. We declined the opportunity, but undeterred, Des proceeded to tell us lots more about the local area including that museum was located in the relocated Nukku public school once attended by Roy Emerson.  Once Des started sharing jokes about his undertaker friend who would “be the last person to let him down”, we decided it was time to move on.  

The trail is shared with horses, and there were a couple in the small holding pens in Benarkin. At Fettler’s Rest we admired the “dogs” created from railway carriage drawbars and detoured to view the historic culvert. 

There were a number of deep gullies along the trail, fortunately with no water, but occasionally requiring us to get off and push the bikes up the steep ascents. The signs predicted dire conferences if you congregated at the bottom.   

We continued along the ridge line, passing more “dogs” and valley views before stopping to wait for some cows to clear the trail.  

Linville station was lined with historic red railway carriages which stood on a remnant section of track.  We stopped for a nice coffee at the Linville café and general store.  After some debate, we agreed on an early lunch and enjoyed some excellent toasted sandwiches. It turned out to be a wise decision as there wasn’t much on offer in Moore just 7kms down the trail, where we had planned to stop for lunch.  We settled for an icecream from the only remaining café.  

Back on the trail we continued through cattle country with vibrant murals in one of the road underpasses and some remnants of old bridges.  We stopped to chat with a Council worker who played a key role in ensuring the trail was safe for cyclists.  He definitely liked a chat, and told us about some of the local characters and work he was doing to install signage to warn of swooping magpies.  He seemed disappointed when a group of school kids approached at speed and we had to say goodbye to give them space to pass.

The Yimbun Railway Tunnel was the only tunnel constructed on the Brisbane Valley line and marked the end of a long, gentle climb.  We continued through open farmland, passing a long line of bikes before reaching Harlin where a magpie lay in wait for us.  We could see him sitting on the phone line and made a careful detour to avoid being swooped.  

As we were approaching Toolgoolawah we met a young English girl heading north. We chatted for a while and gave her some tips on the route – including seeing if she could catch the Polley’s school bus to Gympie to avoid the highway which was not safe for cyclists. 

The Peddlar’s Rest was much nicer than the Blackbutt Motel and we settled in the common room for a cold drink and some snacks before heading out for dinner at the Groovy Goat in the Exchange Hotel.  

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