Finding Inspiration by Bike

During the past couple of years, I've developed an interest in Mountain Bike Orienteering.  Although I'm no athlete, I enjoy getting outdoors on my bike navigating my way along gravel roads and dirt tracks in the forest.

Most of the events are held in pine plantations, so the landscape can get pretty bland - pine trees with lantana and other 'weeds' and grasses.  But there are pockets of native bushland, usually retained near creeks and swamps.  These areas are my favourite, leading to some mid-race distraction!

Luckily I have a map, and I can navigate my way back to spots that interest me after I've finished my race.

Today we visited Beerburrum, north of Brisbane.  Its a very sandy, coastal landscape, very flat so its easy to ride.

I found a lovely spot with beautiful ferns, and of course my very handy plastic bag enabled me to collect some samples for future monoprinting projects.  Watch this space!

The pine forest at Beerburrum - its so quiet,
you can hear the wind whispering through the
needle-like branchlets on the trees.
It has a very artificial feel to it even
though its filled with bird song.

A 'selfie' - behind me are the formal rows of
the pine plantation

A pocket of remnant native bushland along a creek -
a beautiful natural forest of ferns

A close up of the ferns

One of my favourites - pouched coral fern

This is one of the controls for the orienteering event -
that's how I found this beautiful spot.
I had to navigate to it using a map.

Here's me with Craig's mountain bike after the event.
You can see the map board holder on the handle bars -
its flat surface is ideal for stashing plant material!