If we want to promote Australia as a cycle touring destination it would be better to start acknowledging and disseminating information about the efforts that are underway here.
For instance in in my neck of the woods funding has recently been announced for the remaining undeveloped section of the
Brisbane Valley Rail Trail. The South Burnett Rail Trail is about to officially opened this weekend. It's on
Facebook but needs a proper web page.
With a bit of route planning between these two organisations it would be possible to create a contiguous touring route from Gympie to Ipswich which can be accessed by train from both ends, thus avoiding the busy metro roads and the Bruce Hwy.
There is an established network of
rails trials in Victoria, South Australia has the
Mawson Trail and Western Australia has the
Munda Biddi and
Cape to Cape Trails. Tassie has the
Tasmanian Trail, the
Giro Tasmania and the
Blue Derby MTB Trail and a host of other mountainbiking areas. NSW has recently established the
NSW Coastal Cycle Trail. This looks fantastic, I'm hoping I'll be able to ride some of it at Xmas.
There is much more that can be done and should be done, but there has also been a lot of hard work put in and those communities which have taken the initiative are beginning to reap the benefits. What is need now is to get the word out.