Friday 7th & Sunday 9th January, 2005
By John N Photos by Heather S. David C. Jon F.
Seven hardy souls (Rob and Jana, Heather & Nick, David & Faye, and John N) set off on Friday afternoon from Leongatha Motel despite grey clouds and occasional rain. As we didn’t leave until after 1 pm when the
weather cleared a little, we planned to ride as far as Meeniyan and back – around 38 km. Rob and Jana led off on their recumbent tandem, resplendent in their yellow rainwear, as recalled in the limerick:
Our cycling friends Robert and Jana The Pole and the Czechslovokana - Whilst fine lass and fellow Dress up all in yellow And look like a giant banana.
Despite the conditions, the 10 km ride to Koonwarra was very pleasant with
hard fast conditions on a fine gravel track. The café at Koonwarra serves
a fine array of cakes and coffee of the best quality and a few of our
number (perhaps wisely) took this option before pedalling back to Leongatha.
The others pressed on the additional 9 km to Meeniyan. The first section of the track (3 km) is not yet open and it is necessary to road on the (sometimes rather narrow) shoulder of the South Gippsland Highway.
From Minns Road we could use the track (except for one bridge crossing which is not yet open) but the track was not in great condition. At each of the gates, the track had turned to mud after the rain with some of us disappearing ankle deep as we hauled the trike or bike past the gate. Despite all that, by the time we got back to Leongatha we had had a good day’s ride and had a good appetite.
We met at the local Chinese for a good feed and a look at Heather and Nick’s fantastic scrap book (together with many sketches of the plant-life) from their year-long trek (on four wheels) around Australia. We were all left with itchy feet. On returning to the motel, we looked at my slide show of the highs (and the lows) of the Great Victorian Bike Ride, accompanied by Heather’s rhubarb pie and cream.
The next morning we drove to Meeniyan to continue the ride on to
Foster and back. This time, we were blessed with a fine day in the low
20’s, perfect riding conditions. The track to Foster is fine gravel/sand
and in some cases the riding conditions were excellent. Edges
had been under-washed and there were still occasional problems at the gates.
Quite a bit of effort has clearly been put into this section of the
track with 2 brand new toilets installed next to the track (and more
proposed according to the map). The track to Foster goes over the Hoddle
Range (129 m high) so there is a little climbing to do, but after the top you
are rewarded to magnificent view across to Wilson’s Promontory. In fact the
landscape and views all along the track are superb making this section highly recommendable. After
a leisurely lunch in the park at Foster, we set off for the return trip to
Meeniyan.
We were surprised, and pleased, to see Emma and Jon F coming in the opposite direction. They are in training for the Great Tasmanian Bike Ride in February and-not being able to take off the Friday-they were riding all the way from Leongatha to Foster and back in one day-about 105 km! We had plenty of hills on the way back as well. Nick was doing a magnificent job considering he pedals with one leg and Heather and I developed an excellent shunting technique using Nick’s walking stick to help him up the bigger hills. We stopped for coffees at a very friendly café at Fish Creek. The staff took up the offer to try out one of the trikes and set off with enthusiasm for trips around the car park. The total day was around 68 km and we got back to Meeniyan a little after 6pm, after having set out at 10 am.
On the Sunday, we drove the 50 km from Leongatha to pick up the Mirboo North-Boolarra Rail Trail. At Robert’s suggestion, we met at the small town of Boolarra so that we could do the climbing on the way out and enjoy the downhill
ride on the way home. Emma and John F had recovered from their intrepid ride the
previous day and made it in time to join us. This trail is only 13 km each way
but the conditions make it fairly slow going. The last half of the trip (at the
Mirboo North end) is covered with lots of loose ballast, which made it very slow
on the way up-and very bumpy on the way down. There are also a couple of sets
of steps in the middle of the ride, which are a bit of a struggle. The trikes
could make it down the parallel dirt track but lost traction going up the other
side.
Despite these shortcomings, this is a truly magnificent ride. The track only crosses a couple of roads along its length and you are treated to beautiful forest views all the way. The track is covered for most of the path by overhanging trees making it a very pleasant ride on a day that, by the afternoon, had reached the mid- to high-20s. By 3 pm we were back in Boolarra and looking for coffee. Unfortunately the town café (which proudly stated that it was a café 6 times all over the front of the building) was shut-down and selling off all its contents-but no coffee! Despite the caffeine withdrawal symptoms, the long weekend was voted by all as an excellent trip.
By Jon F.
The great southern trail-great as the name implies, great scenery, great
ride, great company, saw lots of wildlife-echidnas, bush rats, big
lizards, little lizards, rabbits, rosellas, great smell of the bush all
from the comfort of your arm chair, sorry HPV seat...Highlight-down hill
10 km trip from Mirboo Nth to Boolarra trail was dirt, rough in some
places, which was a bit of a slow slog on the way up (took 2 hours, mind
you was a bit tired from the 100+ km had rode the day before) but the
rough and dirt just added to the excitement on the way down, love that
feeling of "off roading" on the trike...Brings out the inner
rally driver!!! Track was also surrounded by absolutely beautiful
forest...
By Heather S.
Thanks for organising a great ride. We particularly enjoyed the ride from Meeniyan to Foster and back. The grade of the track was steady, and most of the track surface was good. What fantastic views can be had looking over the landscape to see the towering mountains of Wilson’s Prom as you start to head down into Foster! We also enjoyed the variety of the vegetation-full of interest the whole way and in particular the remnant patches of rain forest-with tree ferns, coral ferns and even a couple of snakes and an echidna. We felt very privilaged to have done the trip.
Click here to go to The Great Southern Rail Trail web site for more great pictures and information