Victoria: Reefton Spur - Scratcher’s Paradise
According to someone who once counted them, the road up Reefton Spur, located roughly 100km to Melbourne's east, contains 165 bends in 18km. Now I'm not going to get picky over just how much of a curve you need in a road to constitute a bend, but in anyone's language that's a lot – and in a biker's terms, it's heaven.
Reefton Spur is to Melbourne what the Old Pacific Highway is to Sydney, the Adelaide Hills are to Adelaide, and so on. If you like a lot of lean angle in your riding you'll love it, and it's close enough to Melbourne to make it a top destination for its city-bound bikers looking to blow out the cobwebs.
To get there, simply head east from the city on the Maroondah Highway, and a couple of minutes past Lilydale take a right onto the Warburton Highway. The Warburton Highway winds and weaves its way further east, past towns like Wandin, Seville and Woori Yallock. If you're looking for a spot to take a break, you can get a top (though not exactly cheap) feed at the Launching Place Hotel – there's also the Cunningham Hotel at Yarra Junction and the Sam Knott Hotel at Wesburn – before you reach a popular weekend biker haunt, the Reefton Hotel.
The town of Warburton is the last town of any size for some distance, so if you're planning on exploring a bit instead of heading straight through to Marysville, make sure you fuel up here.
After Warburton the road gets tighter and twistier, and then about 20km on the Reefton Hotel, which technically is in McMahons Creek, swings into view on your right. It's an historic old place, licensed since 1886, and has survived fires and many a tough time in general. It often attracts bikers in force on a sunny Saturday or Sunday, off-road and road riders alike, but if you're yet to tackle the Spur stick to the soft stuff when ordering at the bar – you're going to need all the concentration you can muster.
A few clicks further on the road swings to the left, and the Reefton Spur proper begins. The township of Reefton is located at the foot of the mountain – watch the 80km/h limit. Once you're past it you're in a 100km/h zone, and for at least the first half of the Spur, that's plenty fast enough given the narrow width of the road, the trees, the drop-offs on your left and the walls of rock and earth on your right. The road hugs the ridgeline, with a series of 55, 45 and 35km/h corners taking you up the mountain, with only the odd short straight thrown in for good measure.
Halfway up you'll enter the Yarra Ranges National Park, and while the road might open up a little here, there are still plenty of opportunities to attend to any squared-off tyres. There are some longer straights up in this section too, and it's not unknown for the odd Highway Patrol car to lurk in the shadows for those who get carried away – I speak from experience!
The police presence isn't surprising – on a good weekend you'll get dozens upon dozens of bike and car nuts ripping up Reefton Spur, and because of the lack of run-off, any spill – and they occur all too regularly – ain't going to be pretty…
The run ends in a T-junction, with the right taking you on to Woods Point (see 'Know Before you Go'), and the left taking you to Marysville, which is yet another top route through the awesome Yarra Ranges. At Marysville there are cafes and a good bakery, plus a service station. Calm the adrenal glands, fuel up if you need to, and then head back to Melbourne either the way you came, or via another Melbourne biker's favourite – the Black Spur.
Know Before you Go:
There are plenty of side diversions you can build into a trip to Reefton Spur. The road from Warburton up Mount Donna Buang is worth a look, as is the 10km ride from the Marysville Road to Lake Mountain, an alpine resort. For the more adventurous, the Woods Point pub is a great destination, but from the top of the Spur you've got over 60km of rough dirt roads to get there.
Reefton Spur is unforgiving, especially the first half up from the town of Reefton, with drops on one side, rock or earth walls on the other, and trees on both – use care.
The upper section of the Spur is prone to ice in cold weather, and is generally mossy and greasy throughout the cooler months. It's best left for late spring, summer and early autumn.
The surface is generally good and is well maintained by the local authorities, but watch for loose gravel if it's been recently resurfaced.
For more information:
Contact Tourism Victoria, tel: 132 842, or visit: www.visitvictoria.com
Contact The Reefton Hotel, 1600 Woods Point Road, McMahons Creek; tel: (03) 5966 8555, email: info@reeftonpub.com
For Yarra Ranges National Park, visit: www.parkweb.vic.gov.au and follow the links
Protect your Bike. Call Shannons Insurance on 13 46 46 to get a quote today.
