King Parrot Cottages and Retreat, Pennyroyal, VIC

Over Easter, we spent four nights at the idyllic King Parrot Cottages at Pennyroyal, in the Otways. Apart from lounging in or hot tub, out on the deck of or gorgeous little cottage,  we …

• Rode our bikes on the trails at Forrest

• Rode the Old Beechy Rail Trail

• Walked through the forests to see waterfalls and rivers

• Played in the surf at Lorne

• Caught yabbys in the dam and cooked ‘em up for supper

• Fed an alpaca.. or tried to (apparently they don’t like capsicums)

• Scrumped apples

• Drank lots of wine

• Had interesting conversations about growing ginseng

I can’t describe how good it all was :)

Yabbies

Tortoise Head Lodge, French Island

Sometime in mid-summer, sick of days too hot to climb and even too hot to go to the beach, we decided to take our bikes on the ferry across to French Island. We planned to cycle around the island and stay at Tortoise Head Lodge, which is only a few hundred metres from where the ferry docks. The location is idyllic – the beaches are deserted and this quiet, together with the fact that mangroves still exist, lend the impression that you are days from the city, rather than an hours drive and a ten minute ferry ride.

We didn’t manage to ride around the island as the roads are really bad (deep – 10-15cm – corrugations interspaced with sand) but we rode far enough to find new views. There were also narrow, flowing paths though the trees behind the sand  that were fun to ride.

Tortoise Head Lodge was pretty fun too  – much more of a homestay than a hotel. But good food and heaps of local knowledge.

By the time we came home, it felt like we’d been away for a week, which is as much as you can ask of a weekend!

Riding the trails on French Island

Trail between Kilcunda and Ansersen on the Bass Coast Rail Trail

Rail Trails follow the routes of old, disused railways. The rails are usually removed when a railway is closed, but remnants of the past such as railway cuttings and bridges still remain. Because railway engines were not good at climbing hills or making sharp turns, the lines were graded into sweeping curves and gentles inclines and declines.  To achieve this, cuttings were built through hills, tunnels under roads and bridges over embankments and across gullies and creeks. The steepest grade of a railway line is never more than 1 in 30.

Near Stoney Creek on the Great Southern Rail Trail

Railtrails Australia has resurfaced several of these disused trails from their abandoned state of rough rocks and rubble, grown over by grass into fine gravel and sand. These ‘Rail Trails’ are now perfect pathways for cycling, riding and walking, in many cases accessible to those with limited mobility and to pushchairs and wheelchairs. The only downside is that they are, obviously, linear so you have to make an out and back trip or shuffle transport.

Views over to Wilson's Prom from the Great Southern Rail Trail

Of the states, Victoria has the most developed rail trails, with 12 in the Melbourne metropolitan area, 11 in Gippsland, 10 in the Northern part of the state and 10 in the Western districts. They range from just a few kilometres to 94km (The East Gippsland Trail from Bairnsdale to Newmeralla) and 97km (The Murray to Mountains Trail from Wangaratta to Beechworth and Bright). The guide book ‘Rail Trails of Victoria and South Australia‘ provides maps, surface descriptions, gradient profiles information on access points and facilities for 26 trails. Some trails, for example the Great Southern Rail Trail and the Bass Coast Rail Trail are close enough to be combined into a weekend bike tour.

Kilcunda trestle bridge on the Bass Coast Rail Trail

These videos from the Cycling Promotion Fund were all filmed within a few blocks of my house. The actor drivers seems to be infinitely more careful that the real drivers. It’s all very well showing them to cyclists but motorists also need to be reminded of how dangerous their behavior is.

1. Look before you open your door. Car doors are lethal weapons.

2. Open your eyes and learn the rules. And, no, yelling that cyclists don’t pay road tax does not alter the rules.

I think it is now getting better. I can move my arm a tiny bit more each day… And the other bruises and things have settled down so I can at least get some exercise by walking around a bit; until last night, I hadn’t moved except from chair to bed all this week.

So it wasn’t quite as minor a fall as I thought when it happened, but it’s not a big injury either. Hopefully it will all be healed and gone in a week or so. In the meantime I can work but not much else. Certainly no climbing. Or running. Or swimming. *yawn*

I will however, be using a bathful of precious water to soak away the grit and aches. It’s medicinal, I’ve only had a couple of baths in the last few years and we use our grey water so I shan’t feel guilty, nyah!