A true romantic adventure

Sons of Adventure

A 20th wedding anniversary is an occasion worthy of celebration – and worthy of a kid-free adventure!

We’d celebrated a mid-week dinner at the Dugandan Hotel with our boys, then packed them off to Nan’s place while Scott and I escaped to Stanthorpe for a long weekend winery tour.

Visiting wineries doesn’t sound like much of an adventure? Well we actually rode to Stanthorpe on our bikes so it was quite an adventure. Scott rode most of the way from Boonah but I wasn’t really keen to ride up the Head Road, so I drove to Legume NSW, and we rode together from there.

Touring bikes have solid, heavy frames designed for carrying luggage in side panniers. They are a hybrid between a mountain bike and a road bike – they’re comfortable to ride, ok on dirt roads but have no suspension, and they have a ton of gears (for which I was very thankful!)

I made sure Scott packed all the heavy items on his bike, which I thought was fair since my only training for the weekend was to ride from Boonah to the Scenic Rim Brewery for an ale. I thought that was pretty good training, and it was, but perhaps not quite enough preparation.

We left Legume late afternoon, dodging a nasty looking storm and rode until just before dusk when we found a spot on the side of the road that looked ok to camp. It turned out to be a lovely little spot and we had a quiet and uneventful night, only to find out in the morning that the property across the road is called Lunatic Ridge.

The ride from Legume to Stanthorpe is mostly very quiet until you get close to the town.

There were more planes flying overhead than cars passing us on the road for most of the way.

Riding a bike is a much better way to enjoy the stunning views and the sights along the way.

You also get more of a chance to look at the animals, especially when riding up hill. We saw lots of sheep, horses and cows as you’d expect but also a lot of wildlife including black cockatoos and an echidna.

About 20km before Stanthorpe I was grateful to stop at the lovely Aloomba Lavender Farm to enjoy Devonshire Tea which included lavender scones. After gaining altitude most of the way to Stanthorpe, it was really nice to enjoy the last 5km as the road descends slightly into town.

We would normally be very happy to camp but since this was our 20th anniversary, we had booked accommodation and stayed in a fantastic cabin at 31 The Rocks which is located right at the start of the winery bike trail.

The next day we visited local wineries – on our bikes of course, so when we stopped for tastings and for lunch we really felt like we’d earnt it! We found that it was a very enjoyable way to explore the area and we liked it much better than just jumping in and out of a car all day.

Lunch at Jester Hill Winery, olives and fudge at Mt Stirling Olives and a visit to Whisky Gully Wines were highlights, along with enjoying a couple of delicious ales at the Brass Monkey Brewery to finish off the day.

On Monday we rode the 60 kilometres back to our car at Legume and I could thankfully draft behind Scott, saving a lot of energy.

Once again it was a lovely ride and this time the road was trending down hill, making it a much easier ride except for one particular climb that was steep enough to break your heart.

Approaching Legume, I was pleased to finish – 180 kilometres in four days was the most I’d ever ridden.

But more than that, it was great to reflect on such a unique and memorable weekend celebrating our 20 years of marriage.

Just like marriage, our weekend adventure had highs and lows, sometimes it was a hard slog and other times we felt like we were flying.

Most importantly, we did it together, enjoying each other’s company and creating our own adventure together.

We are excited to see what adventures the next 20 years hold – both with our boys and without.