Melbourne to Metung
A two-week car-free tour to and from Melbourne, with 8 or 9 days cycling. Train and ferry to Cowes, cycle to Metung, and return by train from Bairnsdale. Mainly easy cycling on off-road trails and quiet back roads (we struck 5 km of difficult, sandy road past Port Welshpool, which will not be a problem once the rail trail is extended to Alberton). You could shorten the number of cycling days (and keep it relatively easy) by riding to Leongatha on day 3 and Foster on day 4. We didn’t camp and were happy with all the accommodation we found. It’s worth booking accommodation ahead, even in the off-season (we met people who were having trouble finding accommodation in early November). We needed to self-cater in the evening at Port Albert and at Seaspray (and to pack lunches heading to Seaspray and Paynesville), but otherwise lots of good coffee and food on offer at regular intervals along the whole route.
Day 1. Richmond to Cowes
Sunday, 6 Nov 2022. A leisurely Sunday of public-transport commuting to get out of Melbourne: the Metro train from Richmond to Frankston, the V-line train from Frankston to Stony Point, and the passenger ferry from Stony Point to Cowes on Phillip Island.
Maybe we were lucky, but the connections worked a charm and we found ourselves in Cowes less than three hours after leaving home. The first connection was tight: we were 7 minutes late into Frankston. Fortunately, the Stony Point train waited for us to board before leaving 2 minutes late. We had put the bikes in the front carriage of the Frankston train (even though it’s not strictly allowed), which made the change quick, as the train pulls in behind the departing Stony Point train.
The Ferry arrived at Stony Point at the same time as the train, and there was a big crowd waiting to get on. It was a bit of a bunfight, but they called for pre-booked ticket holders (including us thankfully) to board first (-ish: not the greatest of systems). Westernport was a millpond, and the crossing to French Island and then Phillip Island was perfect.
We managed an early check-in to our comfortable room in the Kaloha Holiday resort, a short ride back up to the Cowes Pub for a late lunch, a gentle walk out the back gate of Kaloha to the beach for the first swim of the season in beautiful clear water, despite the recent rains. And a night of fine-dining and nonsense at Ânerie, finished off with a sunset walk back along the beach
Day 2. Cowes to Wonthaggi.
Monday, 7 Nov 2022 (41 km, bike trail all the way).
After a short stretch of on-road bike lane along the main drag of Cowes to Ventnor Road, the trail is off-road and easy almost all the way to Wonthaggi: concrete all the way to Newhaven pretty much. (A short unsealed section at which the sign threatens the end of the bike track, but it’s only for ~100 m over which it’s shared with a couple of farm driveways). Shortly after the Newhaven College (point 43.8 on the map), the track crosses the road with the choice of the unsealed and shady (in the morning) service road or the sunny concrete footpath (with driveways to cross) for a km or so along the edge of Sunset Strip. Thereafter concrete path with very civilized road crossings all the way to Newhaven.
I had expected a need to walk over the Philip Island bridge, but the footpath over the bridge is plenty wide with high enough barriers for a safe, scenic ride over the bay to San Remo. Uncharacteristically, we weren’t up for a coffee in San Remo, but we paused under the trees, and went looking for the famous stingrays on the beach (they had seemingly taken the day off).
After the first km or so out of San Remo, the trail becomes mainly unsealed (hard clay), with a couple of challenging climbs that pushed us beyond our ‘take-it-easy’ standard on this warm, still, sunny day. Our exertions required a lengthy rest under a shady tree at the top of the hill.
But once the track crosses the Kilcunda Road, it joins the Bass Coast Rail Trail (unsealed but a firm surface), with only the gentlest of hills, as you would expect from a rail trail. There are sections heading into Kilcunda where it looked for all the world like the track was heading uphill but we were powering along with little effort. Lunch at the Kilcunda General Store, followed by a visit to Kilcunda beach. But the afternoon breeze rendered our overheating on the hills of San Remo a distant memory, and we decided against a dip.
The trail along the coast was also unsealed, heading along the coast at first, then behind the dunes, past a big coastal wetland, over the Powlett River, and then through farmland into Wonthaggi. We stayed in a cabin in the caravan park for the night.
Day 3. Wonthaggi to Korumburra
Tuesday, 8 Nov 2022 (45 km, mainly back roads).
In planning today’s route, we aimed to avoid the main Wonthaggi-Korumburra and Inverloch-Korumburra Roads as much as possible. Other than 1 km along the former, and a few km along the latter, the ride was along delightfully quiet back roads, mostly sealed. For the first 30 km, it was a fairly flat ride through mainly cleared agricultural land (but with more pockets of forest than I was expecting). There wasn’t a huge amount of shade until the forest at the Inverloch Road, where we had our first breather of the morning, on the grass under a shady tree at the first driveway north of the intersection.
Inverloch was only 6 km south at this point, and perhaps on a cooler day we might have entertained a detour for a coffee at Inverloch. But we wanted to tackle the hill before it warmed up too much. Five km up the Inverloch-Korumburra Road, just before it heads up the hill, we turned right onto the much quieter Stewarts Road, which took us along the base of the hills, over the Powlett River to Outtrim (no shops). With still not much in the way of climbing, we finally turned left onto the unsealed Ryeburn Road across the (much sadder looking) Powlett River again.
The climb didn’t really start until Clancys Road. It was a steady, relatively low gradient for ~5km, and we just took it slowly with lots of breaks under the occasional shady roadside tree. Clancys Road, initially gravel, was sealed after ~2 km, and as we got higher, we were treated to views south to Wilsons Prom.
A final detour to enter Korumburra along Shellcot Road, rather than the busier Wonthaggi Road, was a fun roller coaster until the last 9% climb into town, which required a lengthy recovery in some cool grass before heading for the shops. A quiet afternoon was had, and dinner at the middle pub was pretty good, but we managed not to be seduced by the bright lights of Korumburra, and retired early to our motel room.
Day 4. Korumburra to Meeniyan
Wednesday, 9 Nov 2022 (34 km, rail trail).
There was a moment today, as we were enjoying iced coffees made by Joe the Barista at the health food shop in Leongatha, when we thought that perhaps we were taking it just a little too easy on this section of the trip. In retrospect, we could easily have rolled 15 km down the hill after lunch yesterday, to Leongatha, which seems to have a bit more to offer than Korumburra. And then we could easily have ridden the 50-ish km to Foster, cutting a day off the trip. But, as the afternoon heated up, we were happy to be just doing an easy, mainly downhill, 34 km today (plus an additional 4 km for Chris who discovered he’d left his helmet at the top of the hill 2 km out of Korumburra).
We were able to appreciate the rolling hills between Korumburra and Leongatha from the leveled path of the rail trail. After our late morning coffee in Leongatha, it was only another 10 km along the flatter, treed countryside to a lazy lunch at the Ethical Food Store in Koonwarra. The final 8 km to Meeniyan was shady and flat along the Tarwin floodplain, cris-crossing the river and other wetlands full of water after the recent rains. The warm day became a lovely mild night for a passeggiata around the shops and community garden of Meeniyan.
Day 5. Meeniyan to Foster
Thursday, 10 Nov 2022 (36 km, rail trail).
A great section of the rail trail today. Lots more shade, more interesting bush, more birds and wildlife. But it was warm again, and we overheated enough on the gentle hills to be thankful for our take-it-easy itinerary. We began slowly (as usual) with breakfast at Moos (good) a last visit to the Meeniyan community garden, followed by a hasty passing of Meeniyan’s extremely enthusiastic swooping magpie. It wasn’t far to the safety of the Meeniyan bird hide at their impressive sewage treatment plant.
After a minor mechanical (an impressive jam of the back wheel by a large stick that bent the mudguard over itself: it magically unfolded once the wheel was off and the wheel was remarkably unscathed), we lunched at Fish Creek (hot). We loved the forest past Fish Creek, including some small patches of rainforest, as we climbed to the impressive lookout past Mt Hoddle looking out to Wilsons Prom. A longish ride through the burbs of Foster to the town centre and out to the pretty swish Prom Country Lodge. A rainy evening in Foster may be the harbinger of some less clement weather…
Day 6. Rest day in Foster.
Friday, 11 Nov 2022. A cooler, dry day in Foster after a night of rain. To avoid being complete slugs, we took a short (22 km return) ride out to Port Franklin, and admired the army of small green crabs going about their business among the mangroves. Back in Foster, we took a short walk in the New Zealand Hill Flora Conservation Reserve. Very pretty, with lots of plants and flowers that were quite different from what we are used to around Melbourne.
Day 7. Foster to Port Albert
Saturday, 12 Nov 2022 (65 km, rail trail, then mainly back roads, sealed, unsealed and some sand).