Otways Rainforest Roads · short arc

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Fuel stop near Point Cook

   Point Cook sits on the western shore of Port Phillip Bay, a fast-growing suburb on flat basalt plains between Werribee and Altona. The land here is open and windswept, with long views across the water to the city skyline. It is not a destination for twisty roads, but it has some surprising history.

   Read the complete Fuel stop near Point Cook write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Otways Rainforest Roads is where the day begins. Next is High point near Wyndham Vale.

2. 2. High point near Wyndham Vale

   Wyndham Vale is one of the new suburbs on Melbourne's western fringe, where housing estates spread across the basalt plains towards Geelong. The landscape is flat, open and often windswept, with stone walls built by early settlers from the volcanic rock and low volcanic hills such as Mount Cottrell rising from the grassland. It is not the most scenic place on its own, but it is where the city releases you towards the coast and the Otways.

   Read the complete High point near Wyndham Vale write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Otways Rainforest Roads checkpoint 8.

3. 3. Near Sunshine West

   The suburb of Sunshine took its name from a harvester. In the early twentieth century, H. V. McKay built a huge factory here to manufacture the Sunshine Harvester, a machine that revolutionised wheat farming in Australia, and the suburb grew up around the works. In 1907, a court case involving McKay's company, known as the Harvester Judgment, established the principle of a basic wage, enough to support a worker and his family in reasonable comfort, a landmark in Australian labour history.

   Read the complete Near Sunshine West write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 298 km. Next is Scenic stretch near Mickleham.

4. 4. Scenic stretch near Mickleham

   North of Melbourne, the Hume Freeway runs up a long corridor of basalt plain, and Mickleham sits just off it, where old farming land is rapidly turning into new housing estates. Look past the roofs, though, and the older landscape is still there: stony paddocks, dry-stone walls built by early settlers, scattered red gums and the low volcanic cones that punctuate the plains.

   Read the complete Scenic stretch near Mickleham write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Scenic stretch near Mickleham, about halfway. Next is Photo stop near Wallan.

5. 5. Photo stop near Wallan

   When the explorers Hume and Hovell pushed south in 1824, they climbed a forested peak north-east of here hoping to glimpse Port Phillip Bay, saw nothing but trees, and named it Mount Disappointment. The name stuck, and the ranges that rise east of Wallan still carry it. Wallan itself is a growing town on the Hume Freeway, the main road from Melbourne to Sydney, and the meeting point of new housing estates and old farmland.

   Read the complete Photo stop near Wallan write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Photo stop near Wallan sits at 195 km, about halfway. Next is Melbourne / Victoria return.

6. 6. Near Gembrook, on the way back

   Gembrook sits on the eastern edge of the Dandenong Ranges, at the far end of the line of Puffing Billy, the narrow-gauge steam railway that winds through the forests from Belgrave, carrying tourists on wooden carriages with their legs dangling out of the windows. Just south of the town, near Pakenham Upper, the country opens into a landscape of rolling hills, orchards, forests and small farms, between the ranges and the plains of the south-east.

   Read the complete Near Gembrook, on the way back write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Melbourne / Victoria return comes up about 255 km into the recorded legs. Next is Food stop near Clyde North.

7. 7. Food stop near Clyde North

   Clyde North is about as new as a Melbourne suburb gets. Not long ago this was flat farmland south-east of Berwick; now it is a sea of fresh rooftops, wide boulevards and shopping centres built almost overnight. As a place to end a ride, it has one big advantage: it is easy. Plenty of food options, ample parking, and a short run to the Monash Freeway and the South Gippsland Highway.

   Read the complete Food stop near Clyde North write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Food stop near Clyde North closes the day.