Big River & Fainters Bikepack March 2017

Timms Spur 

The 4th quarter of 2016 I started to develop a mild foot pain which escalated quickly into a diagnosis of arthritis in the talonvicular bones of the mid left foot, left me some days unable to walk as it would swell into a balloon  so hiking was off the agenda.  After some weeks of frustration i come up with a plan to ride my bike into the wilderness surely pedalling is user friendly for my arthritic foot.

Started doing some research into bike packing and sourcing the equipment I would need mainly being the bags to store the essentials tent etc.....  Commuter Cycles in Brunswick had everything I needed, an empty wallet and trip to their store later I was excited to start kitting out my Kona Kahuna.

No room for food storage was the only problem so I figure a day pack will be sufficient , I stored the cooking utensils in the frame bag along with spare tube and pump. I could of used panniers but they would stick out too much on the sides and I know some of the tracks it would be getting caught so not a good idea, more suited to road touring and back dirt roads.

Now it was all set for a maiden voyage I ripped out the map and started looking at possible routes and regions a circuit using the fire trails keeping off the walk trails. With some more research confirming I can use these trails I was good to go, Labour day long weekend was a couple weeks away.

Chosen route would be starting from Bogong HighPlains Rd up the Fainters and riding around on the high plains and returning down to my car via the Big River trail happy days woohoo!

Day 1 Bogong Jack Hut via Fainters Trail

The long weekend arrived and I left Melbourne around 10:30am its a long drive, between bathroom breaks and food I got to the head of Ropers Track around 3pm found a clear area on the side of the main road to park and was keen to get going, the first part up Roper track is around 1.3 km. and 600 meter elevation gain so I knew I was up for a early lung buster and surely not a rideable one! Was on my way half hour later.

Cycled the first 30 meters and instantly the gradient was impossible so I pushed and pushed my heavy bike up , couldn't get traction under foot as it was slippy with leaves and fine loose dirt , had to lunge and push the bike up whilst trying to get traction, I tell you what I was blowing steam huffing and puffing and thinking to myself what have I got myself into , thoughts of stupidity come to mind and what a bad idea this was, but I battled on and finally got up to the start of the Fainters trail.

The end on top of Roper Track

Plan was to camp at Bogong Jack Hut for the night, with now a trail that was ridable I could finally get some better progresss as it was now just after 5pm an hour and half later was thinking its getting a bit late in the day I should of left Melbourne a bit earlier oh well.

I Pushed on it was slow going was a gradual up hill and got  steeper and steeper in places forcing me to again get off the bike and start pushing  "Hike n Bike style" yeah was getting used to not what I had in mind my foot was ok no pain, as light started to fade I gave up on trying to make it to camp in the full daylight , ripped out the head lamp and forged on.

Rolling into camp

As the gradient started getting much easier to ride I started rolling down and entered thru old rusty cattle gates and a pair of illuminating eyes looking at me it spooked me out , some animal I hope, and realised I was at the camp area was just after 9pm relieved because I was hungry and tired. Tucked into dinner after pitching my tent of fusilli pasta the wind had a chill so I was quick to eat and hop into bed.

The wind had eased off  I dozed off but woke a few hours later and was spooked out to hear sound of my bike making noises, a humming metal on metal sound , I put it down to wind passing thru the frame I put my head under the sleep bag hoping it would just stop , had those lit eyes I saw earlier back to scare me.

Day 2

Woke up to a beautiful morning and with daylight could see my surroundings of the area and the little hut, not much of a hut more like a storage shed.

Was on my way around 8am I made my way up the Fainters , was more pushing no riding all an uphill slog , I started to see this trip as a failure and defeated the purpose of carrying all my belongings on a bike it would of been quicker walking and much easier !

Got to crest and levelled out and was able to ride on the rough path , to my left I could see in the distance the clearing I had camped at and into the valley towards Tawonga.

Leaving Bogong Jack 

Somewhere on the Fainters

Started to descend in a a valley and riding on a narrow windy path thru the scrub was fun going.

I reached Tawonga Huts at around 11 and had a good break and a snack, before making my way up again , aim was to reach Ropers Hut the sun was out and was warming up I lathered on the sunscreen ,

Made my way out to the open plains mostly rideable but slow, got to Cope Saddle Hut or also know as the SEC and veered up the AAWT and Pretty Valley Rd got to a point where there was a big hole in the middle looked like it was dug out by machinery for some purpose with flagging tape around it, looked like a grave, impassable around it I lowered my bike into and scrambled with bike up out of it, was difficult and taxing.  Finally I reached the Bogong High Plains Rd.

I didn't know there was a cycling event on I think Peaks challenge so the road was full of lycra hardcore fast cyclist I headed left for 3 kms on the smooth road with cyclist looking at me as if I was lost and what the hell is this guy doing !

Tawonga Huts

Turned off the main road and onto the start of the Big River trail was a little hot by this stage and riding become a problem was too steep and rocky , I reckon with my proper gavel bike I used at French Island trip it would be easy to cycled up.

I pushed and pushed in the blaring sun I run out of water and was dry and parched, I felt dizzy and light headed dehydration was certainly a factor , come to one point I had to lay down for a 20 minutes, plus my 30 litre backpack which was full to the brim with food was giving me sore shoulders and neck.

Had some Pringles and trail mix and kept going , skirted around a highpoint and could start rolling down the hill , I made it to Ropers Hut around 5 pm , dropped bike and went straight to the creek to collect water I was well and truly buggered.

Was a nice evening and being a long weekend I expected some other people to be here but surprisingly  no one, I flicked thru the log book inside the hut and found an old entry from early 2016 a group hike we did in the area. Ate my veg stir fry and settled in for the night.

Day 3

I broke camp around 7 am and headed back up to where the Big River trail continues thru to Timms Spur , all down hill today to the main road , weather was looking bleak some dark clouds were building and a fresh wind blowing , I packed on a layer and my rain jacket to break the wind chill and started the long descent. 

Was a very rocky affair negotiating boulders was hard work on the legs trying to keep up right in some parts I had to stop for a quick break. with bags full of gear attached I lost the agile response I would normally get , steering was the hardest I reckon a fat bike fat tyres would of been great thru here.

Took me 2 hours to get down to Big River saddle from there it was another 2 hours to the main road, one last obstacle of a closed gate 100 meters before the bitumen high plains road, I used the last of my reserves to pick my bike and hurl it on the other side and hike and bike up to the road. from here another 1 km and I was back at my car was great sense of relief  definitely type 2 fun- approx 60kms covered

Note- later that year May 2017 I had foot fusion 12 months later I resumed hiking

Ropers Hut

Approaching Big River trail

Leaving Ropers Hut

Big River  half way down 

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!