6 days ago
Rail trail set to open in Queensland's Pioneer Valley
Retirees Mike and Margie Browne say Queensland's Pioneer Valley Rail Trail has been a reason to get out of bed in the morning.
They have for the past two years been helping to build a 40-kilometre trail for mountain bikers, walkers and horse riders by connecting disused sugarcane railways west of Mackay.
The work got harder in January when Mr Browne was diagnosed with lymphoma and the couple had to start visiting a hospital for chemotherapy.
"It's given us something to think about rather than dealing with anything to do with health," Mr Browne said.
The couple joined the volunteer group of about 15 people with the aim of creating a tourist attraction.
"We want to help get Mackay and Mackay's small communities on the map," Ms Browne said.
She has been by her husband's side to help with the physical and logistical work.
During the wet seasons they have travelled around Australia and tested out their bikes on other rail trails.
"We've been living in our caravan motorhome till now," Ms Browne said.
"We both love to travel, but this [project] has given Mike some time to rest up and I've been able to do stuff that he can't sometimes."
After thousands of hours in conversations with cane farmers and hard work battling fences and natural springs, the first section of trail has unofficially opened to the public.
"Eventually it'll be part of the entire section that will run from the harbour up to Finch Hatton," Mr Browne said.
The total length of the more than 100 rail trails in Australia has grown from 2,100 kilometres in 2014 to 3,180km.
The success of other trails, such as the one in the Boyne Burnett Valley, should act as a model for new routes, according to Rail Trails Australia president Damian McCrohan.
"They've seen a lot of people specifically going to that region now to ride it," he said.
"There's a hotel opened at Many Peaks [population 149], there's cafes setting up along the way to cater for rail trail users."
The organisation did not have hard numbers on visitation, but Mr McCrohan said the popularity of some routes close to city centres had pushed totals into the hundreds of thousands.
He said the challenge for volunteer-run trails was maintaining them.
The dream for the Pioneer Valley volunteers is to connect Mackay's city gates to Finch Hatton, 60 kilometres to the west, which is the trailhead for a recently opened series of mountain biking tracks.
Adam Carter bought the Criterion Hotel in Finch Hatton in 2022 and said the community had welcomed the increase in visitors.
"The trails that they've built within the mountains behind us here are just amazing," he said.
The Brownes intend to keep working on the next stage of the rail trail.
Mr Browne is optimistic that connecting the existing mountain-bike park in Finch Hatton to the broader valley will see the tourism spend spread.
"We've seen these small communities [across Australia] just exploding, like Finch Hatton has and will, because of all these people coming to the area," he said.
"It's a natural spin-off."
