Day 3/3: The Prom

When you're on a bicycle or on foot, fellow hostel dwellers wish you a good trip. When you're on a motorbike, they wish you a safe trip. Having been wished a safe trip by a Scandinavian family, a friendly Irish lesbian couple, and a European of a non-identifiable nationality, I set off to complete the South Gippsland Highway. The South Gippsland Highway lies on the coastal plain South of the Strzelecki Ranges and finishes at Sale, where it connects with The Princes Highway.

Yarram, the only town of any size on the remote Eastern half of The South Gippsland Highway, was the first stop. Between Foster and Yarram, a side-road to Port Welshpool gives a view of the Southern coastline. It also has a small museum (top picture). At Yarram I accidentally filled up with premium fuel and was having breakfast at the bakery when a group of fifteen or so motorbikes parked next to my machine. Large bikes with lots of gadgets and hard lockable luggage; my GS500 with its soft panniers felt inferior.

About 20kms before Sale, around Longford, there are two turnoffs: the first goes to Seaspray while the second goes to Loch Sport, and I took the latter. The 50km road to Loch Sport runs along the strip of land surrounded by Lake Reeve and Lake Victoria, behind ninety-mile beach. It's a picturesque place to visit, but the pay-off didn't quite justify the 100km detour. Just outside of Loch Sport I had to slow down to avoid a group of large birds, Emus I think, running across the road. Unfortunately I was riding into the sun and they were a fair distance ahead of me, so my video camera (i.e. my iPod nano) didn't pick-up a usable image. Past Loch Sport, I tackled 9kms of compacted but rutted dirt within The Lakes National Park; a record for me as I rarely take the bike off the asphalt. I was happy to keep to the 30km/h speed limit.

After visiting the historic swing bridge just South of Sale (bottom picture), I finally completed The South Gippsland Highway. The bridge no longer swings (it is currently under repair), and no vehicles are allowed on it other than bicycles. Now through the back-roads above The Princes Highway; North to Maffra, then West through Heyfield, Toongabbie, Glengarry, Yallourn North and re-connecting with The Princes Highway at Moe. I must get myself a 'my bike is parked because I am watering a tree and I am perfectly fine' sign.

A trip North to Walhalla would have been a good ride but I wanted to get back early to avoid the returning long weekend traffic. So I took the slab back to Melbourne, with a rare trip on Eastlink to make the journey a little easier and a little dearer.

Riding Distance: 510 kms
Total Distance: 165 + 170 + 510 = 845 kms

Day 2/3: The Prom

A 10am start and I headed out on an indirect route to The Prom via the junction just before Meeniyan to ride the whole of Meeniyan Promontory Road (C444), which passes through the small towns of Fish Creek and Yanakie. The roads were still drying from heavy rain overnight. Yanakie is literally just a general store ($6 for a coffee and bacon roll if you've missed breakfast) and a petrol station (no petrol in The Prom now, so fill up here).

On from Yanakie to The Prom entrance ($2.70 for bikes), and then down to Tidal River, the main centre for activities in The Prom. The C444 up to the entrance consists mainly of straight isolated roads. Once past the entrance, the C444 becomes a superb tree-lined biking road; but the trees hold an abundance of wildlife, so I relaxed and enjoyed the most awe-inspiring scenery that Victoria has to offer. The peaks and bushland eventually give way to stunning coastal views. Tourists go to The Great Ocean Road, locals go to The Prom.

A change of clothes at Tidal River and I was off for a long walk, exploring the area around Tidal River and The Loo-Errn Track. A couple of hours exercise was enough for me, so I got in the long queue at the cafe, grabbed some lunch, and rode back while taking some of the side roads to beaches and scenic look-outs on the Western side of The Prom.

Alighting at Fish Creek for a quick look around, it began to rain heavily, so I had a coffee while it cleared. With the sun and the mercury dropping I went back to Foster, stopping to visit Foster Cemetery, established in 1872 in a pretty location just before the town centre. "Born Sleeping" read one of the plaques.

I was intending to tackle The Grand Ridge Road tomorrow, but some of it is dirt; with all the recent rain I'll leave it for another day. I'll complete the South Gippsland Highway instead.

Riding Distance: 170 kms

Day 1/3: The Prom

A very late start due to a combination of being lazy and bad weather that I was hoping would clear: I didn't get out the house until around midday, and I passed far more brown signs than I would have liked on the way from Melbourne to Foster, the gateway to Wilsons Promontory National Park.

The South Gippsland Highway goes through Korumburra and Leongatha before Foster. I hadn't been to Korumburra before so I stopped off there for a great beef burger lunch at The Green Door Cafe, serving local and organic food. Korumburra has an old train station, now used for The South Gippsland Tourist Railway: v/line trains to here were replaced with buses some time ago. It also has, oddly, a boutique menswear store.

Just past the centre of Korumburra is the main tourist attraction around these parts: Coal Creek (entrance in top picture). It's an outdoor museum focusing on the former coal fields. It's Sovereign Hill's little brother, but unlike Sovereign Hill, it's free, it doesn't have that many tourists, and the focus is on the museum rather than entertaining the kids with actors in period costume. It is very interesting, but feels a little empty. Looking at the old photos of the school kids from just after 1900, I wondered how many had lived full lives, and how many had lost their life in The Great War soon after. Tomorrow is 25th April: ANZAC day. The museum in Hiroshima and the impossibly gigantic Taukkyan War Cemetery outside of Yangon are my vivid memories of the consequences of war. Lest we forget.

Coal creek closed at 4:30pm, so it was on to Foster, arriving at about 5pm as the weather deteriorated, and staying at pre-booked (advisable during long weekends) dorm accommodation at the excellent Prom Coast Backpackers, which is akin to staying at your mate's place.

Riding Distance: 165 kms