Trails in Australia
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I spent 3 years living in Stirling (Scotland) and we rode a lot of Welsh stuff and pretty much all the 7Stanes + a heck of a lot of local Scottish stuff.
There is nothing I've come across in Oz (so far) that even compares to the Scottish and Welsh riding (tho you guys in Wales have waaay too much fire-road between singletrack
), let alone Canadian stuff.
I'm not familiar with our northern cousins, however, Melbourne has a similar climate to the UK and loads of fantastic riding both within the city limits (Yarra trails are sensational for XC) and 1-2hrs out of town (same as living in Glasgow and driving to Glentress etc).
As mentioned, the You Yangs are a short drive out of the city, while Forrest has pretty damn good XC too and is great weekend away, surf at dawn, ride for the rest of the day, hit the pub - repeat til you go home... there is heaps of good DH and XC around with Blores Hill (XC), Mt Taylor and Churchill (DH) out my way in Gippsland, while Mt Buller to Melbourne's north, as mentioned has great XC and DH.
Albury (3hrs north) has some excellent riding these days also, with many trails marked properly and graded - albeit not to the same benchmarks as Canada or Scotland - I find the Albury black routes to be about Welsh/Scottish red level. The AWMTB club have put in some awesome work over the last few years and the result is some really, really good longish flowy aggressive XC riding, while you're up there, don't forget to take your bikes to Beechworth, Bright and the famous Mt Beauty, more than enough for several years worth of exploration out that way!
All in all, unless you're riding the more famous DH or XC tracks, don't expect the same level of riding in terms of properly constructed trails that have that 'bike park / well engineered' feel (like Mabie, Ae, Kirroughtree etc) however there's a very healthy scene in Oz and some world class riding to be experienced, it's just different is all and you get very good at power slides in loose gravel as opposed to power slides in wet mud!
Cheers mate, hope you find that useful
There is nothing I've come across in Oz (so far) that even compares to the Scottish and Welsh riding (tho you guys in Wales have waaay too much fire-road between singletrack
), let alone Canadian stuff. I'm not familiar with our northern cousins, however, Melbourne has a similar climate to the UK and loads of fantastic riding both within the city limits (Yarra trails are sensational for XC) and 1-2hrs out of town (same as living in Glasgow and driving to Glentress etc).
As mentioned, the You Yangs are a short drive out of the city, while Forrest has pretty damn good XC too and is great weekend away, surf at dawn, ride for the rest of the day, hit the pub - repeat til you go home... there is heaps of good DH and XC around with Blores Hill (XC), Mt Taylor and Churchill (DH) out my way in Gippsland, while Mt Buller to Melbourne's north, as mentioned has great XC and DH.
Albury (3hrs north) has some excellent riding these days also, with many trails marked properly and graded - albeit not to the same benchmarks as Canada or Scotland - I find the Albury black routes to be about Welsh/Scottish red level. The AWMTB club have put in some awesome work over the last few years and the result is some really, really good longish flowy aggressive XC riding, while you're up there, don't forget to take your bikes to Beechworth, Bright and the famous Mt Beauty, more than enough for several years worth of exploration out that way!
All in all, unless you're riding the more famous DH or XC tracks, don't expect the same level of riding in terms of properly constructed trails that have that 'bike park / well engineered' feel (like Mabie, Ae, Kirroughtree etc) however there's a very healthy scene in Oz and some world class riding to be experienced, it's just different is all and you get very good at power slides in loose gravel as opposed to power slides in wet mud!
Cheers mate, hope you find that useful
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