The Great Southern Rail Trail Ride, 26-30 December,2006
Robert and Jana, Heather and Nick, and John and Ruth arrived at the Meeniyan Motel late in the afternoon on Boxing Day (Tues 26th), to a cheerful welcome from Lorraine, who pretty much runs it single handed.
Don't expect luxury at Meeniyan, but the motel is clean and comfortable with a pool (which we didn't end up using) and a family suite - also a couple of rooms with a spa. The grand tour of Meeniyan itself will occupy just a few minutes, taking in the closed sole restaurant, the closed nursery, the closed nursery café and the temporarily closed pizza parlour. There's an open hotel with a bistro though, within staggering distance from the motel.
Thanks to Lorraines' hospitality, we were able to use her kitchen and dining room to combine Christmas leftovers to have a very pleasant meal that evening. Lorraine entertained us with tales of the strange things people do to motel rooms, the things that get taken and the unusual toys that sometimes get left behind. Then a game of Pictionary to round out the evening; modesty prevents me from mentioning who won.
Wednesday morning dawned cool with the risk of showers. Our route was to be the trail between Meeniyan and Foster, just over 60km return. While we were getting ready, George D rolled up in his convertible with trike stuffed in the rear.
So we had Robert and Jana on the hybrid tandem, Heather on upright, Nick on his trike with Bionix assist, George in trike and John and Ruth on "identical" recumbent bikes. Sadly the charger for the Bionix had been left at home, so Nick had to conserve the charge he had to last the entire three days.
Occasional light misting of rain kept us cool on the outbound trip as far as Fish Creek. The path, being a rail line, never reached a serious grade, but there are long stretches of climb. The longest and steepest is between Fish Creek and halfway to Foster - and of course there's a corresponding grade back the other way.
George forged ahead and pre-scared most of the wildlife, reaching a very high Echidna sighting count, and pacing a number of roos for some km.
Lunch at the park in Foster was welcome, and a chap who owned a recumbent came over to chat. The return trip paused at Fish Creek for the obligatory coffee.
With Christmas left-overs still available, we descended on Lorraines' kitchen for yet another evening nosh-up.
Thursdays ride was to Leongatha, a short 30km or so return. This trail is notable for the sections where it doesn't exist. There are old rail bridges that are considered too unsafe to be used, and you have to scramble up to the main road and back down again to bypass the bridges. In addition, there is a 2km section where you have to take the main road just before Koonwarra, and this is somewhat scary as it has minimal or no shoulder. The remainder is very nice trail with a gradual climb up to Leongatha, noteworthy only because I nearly ran over a black snake. We were met just short of Leongatha by Mark, a local trike rider (on his lunch break) who works at the hospital there. Lunch in the park, a relief stop and we said goodbye to Mark and headed back, braving the road section and the bridge diversions a second time - with of course, a coffee stop in Koonwarra.
Chris arrived this evening to join George, but without pedalable wheels.
Dinner this evening was at the hotel, which was relatively expensive for pub grub, but you certainly got a decent sized feed. Catchphrase for the evening: "I don't want to hear about your grubby little fantasies!!"
Fridays' ride involved driving to Boolarra then riding the trail to Mirboo North, only 14km away, then return. The trail from Boolara to Mirboo North is an almost continuous uphill grade on a not particularly smooth surface. There are two places where bridges have been removed that involve quite steep scrambles up and down gullies. We were able to heave Nick up these gullies without having to de-trike.
George and I had originally thought to leave the group at Mirboo North and ride the 40km back to Meeniyan, but decided not to, given the need to assist in the gullies. So after lunch and a visit to the brewery for the tour that didn't exist (but a nice beer that did), we headed back, coasting the downhill run.
Just before the bridgeless gullies, there is an old rail stop that is beside a road that (on the map) takes you to Boolara. Heather and Nick decided to take the road instead of facing the gullies, and George accompanied them. We others took the original route. We arrived long before the other (exhausted) party, who turned up with horror stories about hills and newly graded dirt roads that wheel sunk inches into.
Back to Meeniyan to clean up, then we were off to Leongatha for Chinese. Service was slow but the satay beef was a triumph and well worth the disappointment of the Gado-Gado (as predicted prior to ordering).
The ride was a great success, with ideal weather, good company, good food and great hospitality. Thanks Robert for (not)* organising it. (*liability statement)