Motorcycle Rides from Melbourne

Three directions, three different rides

The routes out of Melbourne are unusually well organised by geography. West is the coast: the Great Ocean Road and the Otways. East is the forest: the Yarra Ranges, the Black Spur and Reefton Spur. North-east is the high country: the Great Alpine Road and the Victorian Alps.

Each is a different kind of day. The coast road is long and scenic and slow; the forest spurs are short and technical; the alpine roads are big days with real altitude and a season attached to them.

The mistake riders make is trying to combine them. The Black Spur and the Great Ocean Road are in opposite directions and each deserves its own day.

The state guide sets out each of these roads individually, including the sections that close in winter and the ones that stay busy all year, so it is worth reading motorcycle rides in Victoria before choosing between them.

• West: the Great Ocean Road, the Otways and the shipwreck coast, a long day or two.
• East: the Black Spur, Reefton Spur and the Yarra Valley, a half or full day.
• North-east: the Great Alpine Road and the high country, a long day with a season.
• South-east: Gippsland and the Mornington Peninsula, quieter and closer.

The Black Spur and the Yarra Ranges

Yarra Ranges National Park sits between Melbourne and the Victorian Alps, and the Black Spur Drive runs from Healesville through Mountain Ash forest to Narbethong. The forest is the tallest flowering plant on earth, with tree ferns under it, and the road runs straight through the middle.

It is a short road with an outsized reputation, and the way to ride it is as part of a loop rather than as a destination. Pair it with the towns and lookouts of the Yarra Valley, and treat the surface as damp: this is forest that holds moisture long after the weather clears.

Reefton Spur is the other forest road over the same ranges, narrower, quieter and more remote. It runs between the upper Yarra country and the Marysville side, and it is the one riders come back for.

• Black Spur: Healesville to Narbethong, tight and forested, best mid-week.
• Reefton Spur: narrower and quieter, with a surface that varies after rain.
• The Yarra Valley towns: the natural stops, and the reason it works as a loop.
• Wet shade: both spurs hold moisture under canopy, and the corners stay slick longer than the straights.

The Great Ocean Road

West of the city the Great Ocean Road runs from Torquay through Lorne and Apollo Bay towards the shipwreck coast, with the Otways behind it. Great Otway National Park covers over a thousand square kilometres of forest, fern gullies and coast.

It is a touring route first and a through route second, which means caravans, coaches and holiday traffic alongside locals going about their day. Ride it mid-week, ride it early, and ride it west so the lookouts are on your side of the road.

The Otways are the other half of the ride: rainforest, waterfalls reached on foot, and seasonal track closures to protect the roads from water damage. It is wet country, and the forest holds moisture.

If the plan is to cover the coast and the Otways with a bed at the end of the day, a campervan hired in Melbourne follows the same road at a different pace — worth considering when the weather is unsettled and the days are short.

• Ride it west: the ocean-side lookouts are easier to reach and you avoid turning across traffic.
• Mid-week and early: the difference between a good road and a queue.
• The Otways: rainforest roads that stay damp, with waterfalls reached on foot.
• Return inland through Colac rather than back along the coast.

The Great Alpine Road and the high country

The Great Alpine Road runs from the Gippsland lakes country at Bairnsdale up through Omeo, Dinner Plain, Mount Hotham and Harrietville to Bright, and on towards Wangaratta. It crosses the Alps rather than running beside them.

Altitude is what makes it different. The Hotham section is the part to plan around, because snow and ice close or restrict alpine roads in winter, and the weather at the top bears little relation to the weather in the valley you left.

It is a summer road in the proper sense. Riding it in the shoulder months means checking the alpine conditions before you leave, and being willing to change the plan at Bright rather than at Hotham.

• Bairnsdale: the eastern end and the last lowland town before the climb.
• Omeo and Dinner Plain: the middle of the crossing, and where the weather gets serious.
• Mount Hotham: the high point, closed or restricted by snow in winter.
• Bright: the western base, and the point to decide whether to continue to Wangaratta.

Gippsland and the Mornington Peninsula

Gippsland is the quiet side of the state for riders: the Gippsland Lakes, the forest behind them, and Wilsons Promontory at the southern end where the coast road finishes at Tidal River.

Closer to the city, the Mornington Peninsula's ocean side is a half-day ride, with back-beach roads and the bay crossing at Sorrento at the end of it. It is the easiest good ride from Melbourne and the busiest on a warm weekend.

Both are worth treating as their own trips rather than as alternatives to the coast road.

• The Gippsland Lakes: flat, quiet roads between the water and the forest.
• Wilsons Promontory: the southern end of the state, with the coast road finishing at Tidal River.
• Mornington Peninsula ocean side: a half-day ride, busy on warm weekends.
• The Sorrento crossing: a ferry that turns the peninsula into a loop.

Before you leave

Melbourne's riding is close enough that planning feels unnecessary, and the two things that catch riders out are the weather and the distances.

The other variable is the wind. The coast road west of Cape Otway is exposed and the southerly arrives across the road rather than along it, which is a different kind of riding from the sheltered forest spurs. On the alpine roads the wind is colder and arrives earlier in the day than riders expect.

The weather changes fast in the ranges and faster in the Alps, and the distances to the good roads are longer than the map suggests once you are clear of the suburbs. Both are manageable with a check before you leave.

• Check alpine conditions before committing to the Great Alpine Road.
• Carry a waterproof layer for the spurs: forest roads stay wet under canopy.
• Leave the city early; the eastern and western arterials are slow at peak.
• Fuel before the forest roads rather than in the towns at the far end.

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