BikePacking French Island - November 2020

 

A virus pandemic, toilet paper frenzy with lockdowns was a interesting and sometimes frustrating year that no one saw coming or never thought would be a world wide problem.

A mate of mine and I had planned a month long bike packing trip thru Greece to Macedonia  pre lockdowns early 2020 just when silly memes were getting flicked thru social media about corona virus I don't think people in Australia were taking too seriously including myself and Spira. So in early March a week out from the whole world closing borders we booked airfares to Thessolonki and of course that came to a screeching halt and the rest is history.

With all the gear brought for our bikes , saddle bags , panniers etc....  November come around quick with it come freedom hooray we were out of another lockdown. 

maiden voyage

With an itch to scratch and get back out in the great outdoors we planned a little adventure to French Island 90kms from Melbourne , an island in Western Port Bay a population of around 140 people .

Last minute adjustments

                                     

We met up in North Carlton and made our way to Flinders St to get the Vline service to Somerville via Frankston (aka the Bronx), was late Spring and was warming up probably first summery weather all year.

We rode approx 20kms down to Stoney Point to get the ferry across to French Island

On arrival at the port we had a chat to someone who had rode down from Hawthorn via beach rd , she was getting the ferry across to Phillip Island to visit family, was nice to see people out and about enjoying each other's company after many months being housebound

We disembarked on French island and immediately were greeted to a row of wrecked junk used cars with weeds growing in-between and rusted out, was just like an eerie horror film.

We cycled up the wide dirt roads to its one and only establishment the Tankerton general store and sourced a paper map of the island so we can plan a route and look for a place to camp.

Wild camping is not allowed so we planned a loop to ride and head to the camping area which is located on the west coast of the island.

The riding was tricky and tough going with boggy sand which come up quickly if weren't paying attention would sink the front wheel and almost wash out or the back end would be sinking and snaking around like a wild bull and wrestling the bike to stay upright with heavy heavy bags attached was a little  sketchy.                                          

on the sketchy sand

We started making our way to the campsite on the western side of island and realised at this point we had made a wrong turn and gone too far out of the way, the terrain was hard going sometimes pushing the biked thru uphill boggy sand. Was getting late in the afternoon also so we decided we would look for a place to camp elsewhere and break the rules, with 140 people on the island who will see us..?

We come across a track to the left so we decided to go down it but a locked fence was in our way , so we stripped our gear off the bikes making for an easier lift to other side and we were on our way again.

After 20 mins or so of scouting out a place to camp we found a nice spot with plenty of trees for shade plenty of room for pitching our tents.    

Highest point on the island

Morning sun rays 

Was a pleasant night we also were badasses and lit a small fire to deter the hungry blood sucking mosquitoes , damn there were everywhere!

I used my ultra light single skin 3F UL tent which I brought on Facebook market place during lockdown.

A hiking pole is used to keep it upright weighing in around 700grams I thought what a beauty! but being single skin they tend to build up condensation which found out. I tried it out on Mt Feathertop early winter between another lockdown on a dreary cold weekend , condensation was dripping all over aswelll as the odd shower passing thru that night and cold temps I slept in my goretex pants and rain jacket.   For this trip it held up well and dry given the warm conditions.

The next day we broke camp leaving everything setup and with bikes with no bags on we were lighter and able to tackle the boggy sand better, we rode a circular route on the island , was a fair bit of unridable parts so we pushed a lot and the day was getting hot around mid 30's

Feeling hot and bothered was time to change route and go for a swim, reaching the legal campsite on the western shores we were glad we hadn't camped here as its quite luxurious with a large sheltered area  with tables gas bbq's and a water tap not quite the wilderness camping I mean cmon we like to keep it interesting and not too easy! 

The swim was refreshing and that too was a boggy muddy squishy long walk out to get to the water but well worth it.  Post swim we rode to the general store for minor re supplies and a well earned cold beer!

We met a local bloke who runs tours as a side hustle and was trying to convince us to take us on a E-bike tour of the island we politely declined , seems a lawless quirky part of the world so are the locals.

Of all the handful of cars we saw drive pass the store , none had rego plates and were beaten up by the rough dirt roads. we did see a lot of Koalas they also noisy buggers, during the night at camp they make a growling sound.

"For a Hard Earned Thirst!"

Whats in my teeth..

Was time to head back to camp after a couple of refreshing beers, the cashier at general store quizzed me where we were camping because she noticed yesterday we rode opposite direction of the legal camp site and told me its illegal to wild camp, I couldn't fool her being such small island community I think we were busted sooner than we thought, I pointed my hand to the left and said over there somewhere.

Turned out she does a general maintenance of the camp site and was there yesterday so she was onto us.

We peddled up the wide dirt rocky road and saw a car coming our direction and just like young teenage kids getting up to mischief we hid behind the bush until it passed as we didn't want them to know we were headed in wrong direction of camp ground lol

We found a water tank on private property we let ourselves in and filled our water bottles up before heading back to camp.

Another pleasant night by the fire was enjoyed  with uninvited guests (mosquitos)

 Next morning after being bitten a million times by mosquitoes ,we packed up and headed for the 10am ferry back to the mainland

was cold and windy we rode to Hastings for breakfast 

and made our way thru suburbia along peninsula link freeway to Bonbeach train station where we went our separate ways as Spira had another trip planned in the high country and had to be back in Melbourne to prepare , I continued on and cycled back home via a kebab in St Kilda

Was a great few days highly recommend it!