Itching to go away camping, we thought if we waited until schools went back we would have the places to ourselves. How wrong were we.
Inverloch
Inverloch is less than two hours from home, this is the closest campground to home we have ever been to.
We all had e-bikes that fold in half, which allows us to pack them into our cars. Day two’s agenda was to ride the rail trail from Wonthaggi to Kilcunda and have a bite to eat at the pub at the end. The trail was closed at Daylston as they were repairing some of the bridges, so we went back and drove to Kilcunda only to find the pub closed. We don’t know if this was a seasonal thing or a Covid thing, so we just went back to our campground.
Day three’s agenda was to drive to Kilcunda and ride the rail trail to San Remo and have lunch at the pub. Both pubs were closed, so we settled for a pie from the bakery which we ate outside with a view of the water. Both trails were a lot of fun, it is so much easier riding with a booster, even though I still lag behind a bit, I can increase the throttle if I want to catch up.
Wilsons Promontory National Park
As we were travelling with friends, we found two sites on 6th Avenue directly opposite the track to the footbridge, which also happens to be the start of some of the walking tracks. Perfect.
I was going to try and get some bird photos in the campground after breakfast but I couldn’t find any. Our friends had already left for Squeaky Beach, and we caught up with them as they were admiring the view. It is a very nice 4.2km return walk and the beach has lovely white sand that apparently squeaks when you walk on it. It was mostly wet so we didn’t experience any squeaking. There are several nice granite boulders in and out of the water there too.
The following day we walked to Pillar Point. This is a 3.6km walk that starts from the end of the footbridge across the Tidal River, the same direction as Squeaky Beach, but then you turn left, 700mt before the end. You get to see both Norman and Squeaky Beaches and the offshore islands.
There is a carpark at the start of the Mt Oberon track that you can drive up to during the week, during the weekend a shuttle bus takes people up there. From the carpark, you walk up the gravel road 3.4kms to get to the summit, all uphill. This might not sound very far but it feels like forever, especially at 12:30 pm; the peak heat of the day. We thought we could just walk a little way and come back, but there isn’t anything to see; there are no lookouts along the way, so we trudged on. I had brought my water bottle and a muesli bar but Lindsay hadn’t which was a big mistake. There are three benches along the way to sit on, but that wasn’t enough! When we left it had said 3.4kms, allow 1.5 hours – I thought this was return. I’d forgotten that the walk’s brochure had said 6.8kms. And yes, I think it did take 1.5 hours to get to the top. Once you are at the top of the road you have granite steps and rocks to walk up. I’m sure Lindsay wouldn’t have gone if he knew that; as this is the sort of thing he broke his ankle on two years ago. Once you are on the top you have a birds-eye view of all the beaches, Tidal River, the islands and the campground. It is pretty spectacular. So, that made a total of 10.4kms for the day, plus I had walked down to the footbridge a couple of times to take photographs that morning – which took me to over 20,000 steps; a record for me.
Great Southern Rail Trail
We packed up and went to Meeniyan as it is right on the Great Southern Rail Trail. We wouldn’t be doing all the trail as it is 74kms; we thought we’d just ride from Meeniyan to Koonwarra for 8.8kms, have a break and come back again.
It is a lovely trail, you go past cows in the fields, then you are surrounded by trees, over bridges, some are new and some are upgraded from the old; they still have the original supports from their previous life as a train line, through some road works. We get to the end and go into the café. When we order she realises we want to eat there and asks us for our Vax certificates, which of course I didn’t have. There was a bench out the front but we didn’t want to sit on that, it would not have been the lunch we had envisaged. So back we go, no break and another 9kms.
Whenever there is a road crossing the rail trail they put bars for you to go around. On the last one I went too far to the right, then I must have pedalled and the assist came on pushing me forward, the front wheel skidded on the loose large gravel that seemed to be near all these crossing areas and before I knew it I was heading down the embankment but was saved from completely free falling by some dead branches. Lindsay realised I wasn’t behind him and called out “are you okay?”. NO! When he turned around he actually couldn’t see me, I was that far off the track. He said it’s actually really hard to start running after you have been cycling, your legs don’t want to work.
I had no way of getting up as I was facing downhill and I couldn’t push myself up as there was nothing below me; I was suspended on the branches. Lindsay didn’t know where to start to help me as my legs were wrapped around the bike and he couldn’t get beside my torso as there was nowhere for him to stand. OMG. I didn’t damage the bike but I had cuts to my face, legs, arms, hand, and a broken nail. The bruises would come later, they are like the gift that keeps giving, I’m getting a new one each day. I had been wearing 3/4 pants so my knees were spared scrapes but you could see the dirt rash but there will be bruises. My head had banged against a branch so I was grateful I wore my helmet. My sunglasses had a few scratches, so they saved my eyes. I was lucky, it could have been worse.
The day was warming up, it was 31° and getting humid. Lindsay commented that we could go home, it was only 128kms away, hint hint! The thought of air conditioning was pretty enticing. We went home.
Luminosity Trails 
Great photos Jane. Good to see you’re ale to get out and about again.
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So nice to be out and about
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