Riding Australia's Great Southern Rail Trail
I travelled to Australia to see my family for the first time in six years in early September 2022. Time with my family is precious, but traveling with my bike ensures I keep a good balance and my fitness goals on track. I first spent a couple of days in Melbourne, riding with my sister and brother in-law, appreciating the wonderful cycling infrastructure, the café culture and finals footy at the MCG.
I then headed down to the South Gippsland region where my parents live.
I had researched the area before I went, using Strava heat maps to find common routes and I identified the Great Southern Rail Trail as one of my routes. I had come to enjoy a good rail trail and was excited to try a new one, complete my day’s intervals and grab a coffee along the way. What I got was so much more.
The Great Southern Rail Trail currently runs from Loch to Port Whelshpool - a distance of 65 miles. I started just east of Korumburra and was immediately impressed by the quality of the trail. This was a recently opened section, but I found all of the trail I rode to be wide, firm packed dirt or gravel with good drainage. This resulted in an excellent surface along the route, despite the recent consistent rains over the winter. The bridges along the trail were all excellent and the road crossings were also high quality and safe.
South Gippsland is dairy country and early spring reveals why. Lush green fields provide ample grass for the cows to feed. They are a regular site along the route, along with cattle raised for beef and the occasional sheep.
I set off into the cool moist air. It was a weekday and this time of year is certainly not peak tourist season. I largely had the trail to myself. But the wide trail meant there’s was always ample room when passing other trail users. I had brought my Moots Rout 45 for this trip and I couldn’t have been happier as the gravel cracked and popped beneath me and each gentle curve in the trail slowly revealed the next amazing view. This was most commonly fields of what looked like perfectly manicured lawns, dotted with groups of lazing diary cows and the occasional rusting, corrugated iron farm sheds, long past their prime.
I stopped frequently to take in the views. As I did, memories started to return to me of a road trip with my father when he worked in the dairy industry; of a family vacation in nearby Sale; of a school camp to a farm in Mirboo North. I hadn’t spent a lot of time in the area, but childhood memories seem maintain their outsized importance even with the passing of time.
This sense of a deep familiarity intensified as I continued to ride. Magpie calls, grumbling frogs, bleating sheep, and the many cows mooing all drew me back to my childhood and a deeper connection to the area. I caught sight of a wombat at one point - a relatively infrequent occurrence as they are typically more often seen laying upside down as roadkiil.
I passed though Leongatha, Koonwarra and continued towards Meeniyan. Each town had embraced the trail. Like many small country towns, these towns historically rely on the agricultural economy and have generally experienced a slow decline. But these towns were fighting back against the long tidal pull towards the city by embracing its natural advantages - a slower pace of life, quality local produce, ample fresh air and a greater sense of community.
I stopped in Meeiyan for a coffee at an aptly name café “Moo” where I enjoyed a flat white. I spoke with the owner. They had been in business for 13 years and focus on locally sourced produce. The inside tables were all occupied so I sat outside and took on the sleepy town and noted that it had just one pub but and at least three coffee shops on its Main Street.
As I pushed on towards Fish Creek, I realized it was not just the sights and sounds along the trail that were drawing me in. Perhaps more subtly but with much greater impact were the smells. There was the smoke from a Red Gum fueled fire warming a nearby home. The eucalyptus leaves and bark scattered on the trail, slowly decaying in the early spring moisture. The less subtle smell of cow manure. All of these, along with the sounds and the sights along the route were evoking emotions in me in a way that I did not expect when I set out on this journey.
I had planned a ride with a workout, a coffee stop and a destination in mind. What I experienced instead was a journey back in time and reestablished by connection with this place. I arrived with at a realization that this will always be home, no matter how long I live somewhere else and how infrequently I return.
