Trails in Australia

C

Converge

Squid
Ello all.

I'm joining the forum to seek out where I should move to in Australia (In the UK at the mo). Done a fair bit of googling which has just added to confusion. I currently ride a lot of Welsh red and black trails. Looking for some aggressive XC down under...

Opinions please people - Where's the best riding in Oz?

Cheers guys
 
Knopey

Knopey

Likes Dirt
Er, what state are you moving to?

Australia's a big place and no doubt you have some requirements other than riding...
 
C

Converge

Squid
Good point :)

NSW or Western Australia. I'm absolutely open to ideas though - I'm trying to focus on finding a decent place to ride and live first and work a job around that.

I'm not used to such a huge land mass. The UK is tiny
 
old4dy

old4dy

Likes Dirt
Converge some useless Aussie trivia for you.

The UK will fit into NSW 3 times and Victoria once
 
C

Converge

Squid
That would put me near to Sydney, right? That could work.

I was looking at Melbourne last night - I suppose that puts me close to Mt Buller. Is it as good as it looks??
 
Kizzmtbr

Kizzmtbr

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Mt Buller is good fun. Although it is never open. Only for 1 month this year.... for DH. The XC is pretty Epic though.

Although being in melbourne you have the you yangs XC and DH as well as about an hour away Forrest(Yes it is a place name not a forest). Forrest has about 50km of pure single track and is fantastic for XC. There is also Lysterfield and Yarra Valley trails although i have been to neither they sound alright. The commonwealth games where held at lysterfield so that must count for something.
 
NSR

NSR

Likes Dirt
Melbourne has tracks everywhere... you just have to open your eyes to these type of things and be ready to ride any time.
 
C

Converge

Squid
I found some Forrest vids on youtube a couple of days ago. Looks good. How technical is the XC there? What's the deal with Mt Buller being open for one month?? (Is that just applicable to just the DH track?)
 
Kizzmtbr

Kizzmtbr

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Converge said:
I found some Forrest vids on youtube a couple of days ago. Looks good. How technical is the XC there? What's the deal with Mt Buller being open for one month?? (Is that just applicable to just the DH track?)
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say that the tracks at Forrest are too technical they are more flowy than anything. If you are talking about the recents they will have rollers, jumps and plenty of burms. There are also switchbacks on the climbs.

Overall Forrest is only as hard as you make it. Just dependsnon what tracks and if you do all the jumps.

I'm pretty sure the xc at bulled is open for the whole summer, check on their website it should say.
Cheers, Kyran.
 
tex72

tex72

Likes Dirt
I would also like to throw out there for consideration the Blue Mountains (near Sydney, NSW) plenty of epic/technical xc to be had:),
and also Canberra if quality trails are your only;) requirement.
 
M

maxxim

Squid
The story with buller is that the chair lift is only open for a month, basically 26th December to 31st of January. The Horse Hill lift is what accesses the trail head for the DH tracks. That said, the XC trails are open and free to ride all the time (weather pending of course!) and there is a lot of back country out there to explore as well...
 
C

Converge

Squid
Ah, I see. I think my visits would mostly revolve around the XC. I'm yet to break my DH virginity (saying that though my 140mm bike would have been considered a DH bike not too many years ago :rolleyes:)
 
D

digby69

Likes Bikes
Live free, See it all,

Why not live in a combi, work as much or as little as you want, c'link your way around and ride every trail in OZ!!!
Go on. Do it for me.....
 
Australia

Australia

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Well the best riding in Australia is in our little known 8th state - its called Whistler;) (Weather suits you poms better too!)

What sort of industry are you looking to work in, thats going to be more important than you think in determining where in Aus you live - Aust is way more compartmentalised than the UK...

Anywhere from North Sydney to the Nortern Beaches is great so long as you're earning the coin to foot the bill... alot of great riding outside Melbourne - probably a greater variety of jobs as well. Centeral Coast is nice provided you can get a job there. Canberra has lots of great riding and cheap beers; you just have to get a mindless paper pushing job and be ok with never meeting any great amount of people - ever. If you're involved in Primary industry you'll find better jobs in Queensland and Western Australia, but I believe there is less of the XC goodness you crave - (lots of sun though). Adelaide is the same as Canberra but with a slightly more diverse range of jobs (altough no as well paid).

something for you to think about!
 
niftydog

niftydog

Likes Dirt
Hey, not all Canberrans are "mindless paper pushers", thanks very much! Jebus! :rolleyes:
Most of the blokes I ride with are engineers of some sort - electronics, machinists, software, telecoms etc.

The paper pushers all go to the gym! ;)
 
MtbDjRidaSachaz66

MtbDjRidaSachaz66

Likes Dirt
Well my opinion is like said some times before, within Sydney, Melbourne, or Canberra. But my best suited place to go is in Thredbo because it's halfway between Melbourne and Canberra and you can still go to Canberra to watch races and stuff, and you can go to Melbourne for whatever the reason may be apart from lots of job possibilities there.
 
hungrytiger

hungrytiger

Likes Dirt
Converge said:
Ello all.

I'm joining the forum to seek out where I should move to in Australia (In the UK at the mo). Done a fair bit of googling which has just added to confusion. I currently ride a lot of Welsh red and black trails. Looking for some aggressive XC down under...

Opinions please people - Where's the best riding in Oz?

Cheers guys
Click to expand...
Hi Converge,
I came out here a year ago from the UK for work, although I didnt have the luxury of choosing my state (Victoria - although I like it anyway, so no worries there!).

The MTB scene here is much more dispersed than in the UK. Oz is a big country and that means that going to a new trail is a looong car journey. You get used to that though and its a good excuse to go general exploring aswell.

I suppose the other thing is the heat, I actually enjoy MTB more in the autumn than in the high summer - Victoria gets cooler over winter, but its nothing like what we are used to in the UK, generally its dry and sunny.

So, thumbs up for Victoria, but just remember that you will be unlikely to be riding out your backdoor straight onto the trailhead. Unless you live somewhere like Forrest.. those trails are immense:)
cheers
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top