Mulga Bicycle Tours

Embark on a memorable cycling journey through an incredibly diverse range of landscapes, starting on the beautiful tropical coast, then taking in rainforest, savannah and winding rivers as you cross Australia’s iconic Cape York.

Leave winter behind and escape to the warm embrace of Tropical North Queensland. With its wealth of rainforest and unique wildlife, clean fresh air, endless blue skies and rainbow sunsets, this is an Australian cycling holiday you’ll never forget.

This 11 day tour is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to accomplish something most people only dream of – crossing the northern most tip of Australia - with each leg carefully planned to be achievable for the average cyclist.

Small groups, delicious food and wine, fascinating tours, comfy beds and a focus on safety (not on beating the clock!) means a smooth ride with Mulga Bicycle Tours.

Highlights

• Move through a vast variety of environments and landscapes, taking in diverse flora and fauna.
• Ride the famous Gulflander train and experience the incredible Undara Lava Tubes.
• Taste delicious fresh seafood from the Gulf of Carpentaria and watch the sun set over the sea.

This guided bike tour is suitable for those spending either one or more days in our marvellous city. In the short time available for this tour, many of the places we go are only accessible by bike, so our bicycle tour provides an excellent and quick orientation for all visitors to Canberra.

Since 1988 the city's focal point has been the large Australian flag flying from the stainless steel flagpole on top of Parliament House, the seat of government in Australia. Spread out below is Lake Burley Griffin, the parklands of the Parliamentary Triangle and the homes of many of Australia’s social and cultural institutions. These striking institutions, the government buildings that surround them and the other National Institutions spread throughout the city are there with one purpose in mind - to collect, preserve and share the nation’s stories.

As we ride through the parklands using part of the Canberra Centenary Trail we pass many of these institutions including the National Museum of Australia, the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, the National Archives of Australia, the High Court of Australia, the National Gallery of Australia, the National Portrait Gallery, The National Science and Technology Centre (Questacon), the National Library of Australia and the Australian War Memorial. 

Throughout the tour we will stop to tell stories and take photos.

We stop for lunch at one of the cafes in the new Kingston Foreshore urban renewal redevelopment, which is built on the site of the old industrial area established to build and provide power to early Canberra. On our way we will pass through the Kingston Arts Precinct, home to the Canberra Glassworks and the famous Old Bus Depot Markets.

We begin with a stop at the Australian War Memorial to witness The Last Post Ceremony.Leaving the War Memorial we head down to Lake Burley Griffin, passing many of the national institutions, Parliament House, and the National Gallery's Sculpture Garden and James Turrell's Skyspace.

We stop for a bite to eat at 'Snapper on the Lake', an outdoor eatery popular with Canberra locals, and then conclude the evening with a 10-minute ride back to Regatta Point.

Whilst on tour please feel free to ask your guide about anything to do with Canberra. Whether it is about the best place to eat or the best way to spend a rainy day in Canberra, we want to share our city with you.

Pedal amongst the paddocks and tip toe through the tulips with this invigorating and varied cycling holiday of Canberra and surrounding region.

Enjoy riding under wide blue skies, breathing the crisp, clean, spring air on this peaceful journey through the quiet country roads, historic villages and sweeping plains between Goulburn and Canberra.

Experience the historical, cultural and natural delights of Canberra, recently named by Lonely Planet as one of the top places to visit in 2018, and take in the cheerful ambience of Floriade; the largest floral festival in the southern hemisphere.

It’s one good thing after another in Canberra, as it is with Mulga Bicycle Tours. Good food and wine, comfy beds, small groups, expert support and a commitment to safety ensure an Australian cycling holiday like no other.

Transfer options: If you’re coming from Sydney, why not catch the train and meet us in Goulburn? We can also provide car transfers to and from Canberra. Simply book a transfer with us on the tour booking form.

This new two-week cycling holiday provides you with the opportunity to explore and experience two very unique and historically rich areas of South Australia - The Southern Flinders Ranges and The Clare Valley.

In week one, think rugged stunning outback landscapes and in week two, rolling hills, fertile valleys, and lush green vineyards. And in between, the rich colonial agricultural and mining past that was once connected by the now abandoned railway lines.

Another highlight of this new tour is you will only have to pack and move your bags three times. To make your cycling holiday more relaxed we will be basing ourselves in Quorn for 5 nights and Watervale for 8 with a single night in between at Stone Hut.

A common request on some of our tours has been to provide self-contained accommodation so you have the choice to cook your own evening meals or, if you don’t wish to self-cater, go out to a restaurant, and this is what we have done for this tour. We have still scheduled a number of evening meals for the group throughout the tour and we have also provided opportunities for you to visit supermarkets and have your purchases transported back to our accommodation in the mini-bus. In Quorn, the supermarket and pubs are within walking distance of our accommodation. If you don’t wish to self-cater your evening meals while we’re in the Clare Valley, we’ll run a “courtesy bus” each evening to one of the local establishments.

Please note this tour uses a mix of sealed and gravel rail trails and sealed and gravel roads suitable for all bike types, as long as the bikes are fitted with tyres suitable for gravel surfaces.

We hope you can join us on this unforgettable cycling adventure through the Southern Flinders Ranges to the Clare Valley.

Highlights

• Explore and experience the landscapes, history, food and wine of the Southern Flinders Ranges and Clare Valley.
• Take a ride on the Pichi Richi heritage train to Woolshed Flat.
• Ride the Southern Flinders, Shamus Liptrot, Riesling and Rattler Rail Trails.

Soak up the natural and cultural diversity of inland Queensland on this exclusive bicycle tour along the Great Inland Way.

On this fascinating journey you’ll cycle through some of Australia’s most spectacular landscapes, past sandstone cliffs, through ancient cycad forests and alongside rolling grasslands.

You’ll also spend two full days exploring Carnarvon Gorge, a cool lush oasis in the outback complete with one of Australia’s finest examples of Aboriginal stencil rock art, breathtaking vistas, and plenty of wildlife.

From Murray Darling Basin country, across the Great Dividing Range and into the Fitzroy Basin, you’ll be amazed at the variety of landscapes and the intriguing stories they have to tell.

You’ll be struck by the Mulga difference. All of our bike tours are achievable by the average cyclist with a focus on the journey, not on the clock.

Highlights

• Explore diverse outback landscapes from flat floodplains to remnant rainforest.
• Follow the route of Australia’s last Cobb & Co service.
• Explore magnificent Carnarvon Gorge staying at Breeze Holiday Parks Carnarvon Gorge.

Australia’s North East Victoria is known for its incredible natural beauty, fantastic produce and rich history, and what better way to immerse yourself in this increasingly popular region than with our easy-does-it autumn cycling tour.  

With small groups, expert support and an unwavering commitment to safety - the Mulga difference - you’ll see Victoria’s high country in a whole new way.    

Each of the four seasons provides its own distinctive mix of visual delights but it is in autumn that North East Victoria especially shines. Journey with us on this autumn tour and pedal beneath grand old trees heavy with striking leaves of red and gold.  

On this tour we’ll ride the Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail with beautiful views of Mt Buffalo. Later we’ll join quiet country back roads to explore the Milawa gourmet region and the King Valley.

Nestled in the Tidbinbilla Valley on the edge of Namadgi National Park in Canberra’s south-east, Tidbinbilla is home to a multitude of native animals including kangaroos, wallabies, emus, echidnas, koalas and platypus. The Reserve also plays a vital role in the conservation of endangered indigenous species like the Northern Corroboree Frog, the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby and the Eastern Bettong.

On this bicycle tour we cycle through the Reserve along its 35kph 16 kilometre loop road, stopping along the way to soak in the views and observe the animals and birds that may cross our path or draw our attention.
We will also take a leisurely stroll through the Sanctuary and Eucalypt Forest enclosures, where there’s a chance of a close encounter with brolgas, pelicans and magpie geese, and we may even see a platypus or koala and, if good fortune is on our side, perhaps a Lyrebird.

A picnic lunch and snacks are included.

There are some short climbs on this tour so guests will require some bike fitness, with some finding it necessary to use the lowest gear on our bikes.

You will ride, explore, relax and dine and if you wish you can ramp up the excitement and go cage diving with Great White Sharks. What more could you want from a bike tour?

South Australia's Eyre Peninsula is one of those regions that should be added to the list of best cycling destinations in Australia if not the world.

So where is the Eyre Peninsula? If you take a map of Australia and fold it in half from east to west, Eyre Peninsula is the shark tooth at the bottom to the right of the fold.

Australia’s First Peoples have lived here for tens of thousands of years with archaeological evidence dating their occupation to greater than 40,000 years. By contrast Europeans first visited the region in 1802. The peninsula is named after Sir Edward John Eyre (pronounced "air") who in 1839, at the age of 24, was the first to map the land. His discoveries opened the region to settlers and by the 1870s much of the peninsula was being farmed.

Celebrated for its delicious and abundant seafood and adventure experiences, the Eyre Peninsula’s rugged and unspoilt coastline, historic towns and ports, national parks, gently rolling country and bike friendly roads make this a perfect destination for cycling.

Our bicycle journey starts in the century old frontier town of Ceduna on the ‘West Coast’ finishing 12 days later in Cowell on the Spencer Gulf.

Travelling mostly on sealed roads our 12-day biking tour keeps to the coastline following the Seafood Frontier touring route with a couple of detours into the interior. There are no long hill climbs, although the terrain is undulating. Some of the points of interest that we will be visiting are only accessible using unsealed roads and these are outlined in the itinerary below.

Every Mulga tour is achievable by the average cyclist with the focus on enjoying each day, not stacking up the kilometres or racing the clock. Our goal is to soak in the scenery, marvel at fascinating stories, then recharge the batteries with a good feed and a good rest.

Highlights

• Ruggedly beautiful coastline,
• delicious and abundant seafood,
• nineteenth century villages & jetties,
• rolling farmlands, national parks, ancient geological formations,
• bike friendly roads & relatively easy terrain.

Our 16-day cycling tour is a modern day version of Sarah’s route taking in some new towns and the High Country, Murray to Mountains and Great Victorian rail trails.

Each year we cycle from Sydney to Melbourne and celebrate the achievements of Sarah Maddock, a trailblazer in Australian cycling and who in 1894 became the first woman to cycle from Sydney to Melbourne.

In 2003 an unrelated Sarah Maddock googled her name and came across her namesake.

“… Google was just a new thing … so, I put my name in. And the first thing that came up was a listing for another Sarah Maddock who I discovered was a cyclist. And she happened to be the first woman to cycle from Sydney to Melbourne in 1894. … I was just inspired by this woman and her achievement. And given the circumstances at the time, like the outfits … the bikes would have been very basic at the time too. I had so much admiration for the achievement … that I decided I wanted to undertake this too.” Sarah Maddock talking on The Bicycle Show. In 2019 Sarah contacted us with a request to design and run a fully supported bicycle tour from Sydney to Melbourne to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Sarah’s ride. In August 2019 Sarah and 8 others left Narellan on the inaugural Sarah Maddock Sydney to Melbourne Commemorative Cycling Tour.

Sarah and Ernest Maddock’s bicycle ride from Sydney to Melbourne in 1894 took place at a time when Australia’s 6 self-governing colonies were reaching a consensus to federate to form the Commonwealth of Australia. It was a time of confidence and increasing wealth with the urban population beginning to have more disposable income and more time to engage in leisure activities such as cycling.

Sarah and Ernest left Sydney on the convict built Great Southern Road that, from a 1902 account, was a very poor track at its very best. Over the last 120 years the road has undergone numerous changes to its alignment eventually morphing into today’s Hume Highway - a 110kph four-lane divided carriageway. Much of the highway now covers Sarah and Ernest’s route so our bicycle ride to Melbourne is going to be a little different, as riding the Hume Highway would be more gruelling than enjoyable.

Instead, as much as possible, our cycling tour from Sydney to Melbourne uses separated off-road cycleways, shared paths and quiet back roads to visit some new villages and towns including Bundanoon, Binalong, Cootamundra, Junee, Wagga Wagga, Yackandandah, Beechworth, Mansfield, Yea and Flowerdale.

In Victoria we will use three rail trails - the High Country Rail Trail, the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail and the Great Victorian Rail Trail. The last two will give a sense of what the scenery and ambience would have been like for Sarah and Ernest all those years ago.

Our virtual travelling companions on our journey south will be explorers Hamilton Hume and William Hovell who in 1824 explored the land between Gunning and Port Phillip (where Melbourne is today), with their expedition revealing the Murrumbidgee and Murray Rivers and an abundance of well watered land suitable for cropping and grazing. Their discoveries began the colonies’ transformation from convict settlement to the wealthy and liberal society in which Sarah and Ernest started their journey 70 years later.

Hume and Hovell’s route and ours will cross paths on many occasions. This is a bicycle tour through our colonial history, the gold rushes, immigration, bushrangers, the establishment of agriculture and the expansion and contraction of the railways.

While our cycling route may be slightly different to Sarah and Ernest’s, the essence of celebrating the adventurous spirit of Sarah is at the heart of the ride by allowing you to take your own modern day adventure!

You’ll be struck by The Mulga Difference. All of our bike tours are achievable by the average cyclist with a focus on the journey, not on the clock.