The Challenge offers one afternoon and one full day of events

French Island Tour on June 30 / July 1, 2007-07-06

Words By George D. , Pictures & Links By Steve N.

French Island: The Hustle, The Bustle! (Pigs At the Eco Farm) George waits for the Ferry at Cowes

This ride doesn't count as Being Spontaneous, as it was planned months ago by Steve Nurse as an optional add-on to the Challenge at Casey Fields in April. In the event, only a couple of people wanted to take part in April, so we put it off. The French Island stay was researched and arranged by Christine Nurse. The deferral resulted in a 25% increase in turnout. (John Kuljis joined the Nurses and the Durbridges.)

The main riding party (Steve and George) began from Pakenham railway station at 6.30 on the morning of Saturday 30 June, which is when the first train gets in. From Pakenham we rode south to Koo-Wee-Rup and picked up the South Gippsland Highway south along the east side of Westernport Bay to Grantville (breakfast at the bakery) and Bass, then west to San Remo and Cowes, a distance of 56 miles, or 90 km. The road is good, with a good shoulder nearly all the way, and was moderately busy. There is a bike path from Newhaven to Cowes, but we didn’t check it out. The first half, from Pakenham to Grantville, is mostly level, but the second half is moderately hilly.

The dawn found us at Koo-Wee-Rup and the rain found us soon after. The rain wasn’t too bad, and we mainly dried out between one shower and the next, but two squalls with showers of hail (one near The Gurdies, the other near Bass) were unpleasant, though mercifully brief.

We reached Cowes in good time to catch the 12.40 ferry to Tankerton, on French Island. The crossing takes only 30 minutes, but there are only a few services every day, so you don’t want to miss it. The ferry takes passengers, shopping, dogs and a few bikes, rather precariously propped on the rear deck, but no cars. Despite a moderate wind, the bay wasn’t rough, and we had no trouble getting on or off, except the usual hoisting cycles in and out of awkward corners, with the help of the ferry crew.

At Tankerton, we met John Kuljis, who had ridden down from Hastings to Stony Point on the GT3 and taken the ferry to Tankerton, laden with bedding, a small tent, a large pot, and secret ingredients. He had sent all the heavy stuff ahead with the Eco Farm bus with Chris and Christine, so we set off more or less unladen, except that John still had a large bag of Pink Lady apples.

The road from Tankerton to the McLeod Eco Farm and Historic Prison is about 13 miles (21 km) and moderately hilly. It was covered with a moderate dressing of slush, being freshly graded and even more freshly rained upon. It was very heavy going, taking over 2 hours, and at one stage we stopped in the middle of the road and ate about three Pink Ladies each, which re-arranged the load very nicely. That was after we mended John’s puncture in the middle of a particularly cold and windy shower. On the credit side, we saw about 4 cars in the whole trip. From home, Steve and George had ridden about 72 miles (116 km).

At the Eco Farm, all was warmth and comfort – except John’s tent. We had two rooms and the run of a living room with a fireplace and an industrial strength kitchen, in the staff quarters, not the cells. We thawed out, dried our clothes and generally recuperated. Then we had dinner by the fire (much good food brought by Chris and Christine, and John’s secret ingredients, cooked in the large pot). Then we collapsed. Indoors we slept in comfort. John seems to have slept part of the night, his tent keeping out the rain and mosquitoes.

On Sunday morning, we ate overs for breakfast, gritted the grin and set off for Tankerton before 10.00, aiming to see a chicory kiln museum which is more or less on the way and to catch the 1.00 ferry to Stony Point. Although the road back to Tankerton via the chicory kiln was a little longer than the route we had taken from Tankerton and parts of it were very rough, it was much quicker. The surface was relatively hard, as most of it had not been graded lately. We were even lucky with the rain: although the roads were freshly damped, the only rain that fell during the morning fell while we were indoors at the chicory kiln. We arrived in fair time to catch the ferry, and then caught the train from Crib Point. John left the train at Hastings, with the last of the Pink Ladies. Steve and George left the train at Richmond. The rest of the party took a guided tour, caught a later ferry and drove home from Stony Point.

French Island is attractive, with scenery, things to visit and koalas and birds. Even the half that is not national park is not densely settled. Tankerton looks like a town on the map, but it is two houses and a shop within sight of one another. Traffic is very light, but sometimes rather energetic, and the roads are slow riding, particularly on narrow tyres. John’s relatively wide Scorchers made the roads a little easier for him. The Eco Farm is a good place to stay, inexpensive and would suit a largish group. You need to book ahead. There are a couple of B&Bs, but we would need to check how many people they could take.

The ferry service can carry 20 or more people, but only half a dozen bikes. There is a barge service to Corinella which can carry cars, but it only runs at high tide, so it doesn’t work a regular timetable. If you drive, you need to leave your car at Stony Point (or Cowes), but there is a train service every two hours to Stony Point. Mobile phones (both GSM and CDMA) worked everywhere we went.