I’ve discovered riding uphill is the best time for thinking. You have to concentrate on the downhill runs, especially when you are experiencing the thrill of hooning down at over 50kmh. And the relatively flat bits I tend to just look out and appreciate where I am. Enjoy the trees against the sky, the shape of the clouds and say hello to the birds and the cows and the sheep.
But when there’s a long uphill it’s just head down and keep on pedalling. That’s when my mind wanders. It was during one of those hills yesterday that I realised that it was the first day of Senate Estimates, and I consciously thought, where would I prefer to be? There was no contest. I’m very pleased that my former colleagues are there; I can imagine the excitement and nervousness that Steph would have been feeling as she approached her first go at questioning evasive bureaucrats and defensive Ministers, but I’m very happy to be here.
People have asked me whether I’m missing it. The answer is no. Maybe once I’m settled back at home, working out where to next to keep making a difference I might think wistfully of the opportunities and privilege of being an MP for campaigning and advocacy. If we get a big win in the parliament I might think that it might have been nice to have been an integral part of that. But I think its much more likely I’m going to be quite content with knowing that I played a big role over 10 years and I have passed the baton on.
On day 15 of my 17 day ride, enjoying a blissful rest day at Ruth McGowan’s in Jindivick I’m feeling incredibly grateful to friends and everyone who has been so generous in supporting my ride. I’ve known Ruth since she and I were Mayors together in 2006, she at Baw Baw Shire and me at Maribyrnong. In Stratford I stayed with Beth Ripper - Beth and I were on the VLGA Board together. These local government networks are strong and enduring. It’s an interesting thought as to whether I’ll end up with the same networks of cross party friends and former colleagues from the federal Parliament as I did from my time in local government. Somehow I don’t think so. The adversarial is for adversarialism’s sake that so characterises our federal parliament mitigates against forming close cross party bonds. I’ve got a few people I’ll stay in touch with in addition to my Greens colleagues, but not many.
I think another factor is that the people I connected with from my local government days were community campaigners, people who went into bat for their local community and country and being elected to Council was just one way they could contribute. They weren’t the career politicians that there are a lot of in Canberra
Ruth shared her story with us this morning. We shared an absolutely delightful walk in Kurnai Country through the Nangara Reserve, just up the road from them, stopping in awe to listen to a lyrebird, hugging a huge mountain grey gum in a sea of tree-ferns and smaller trees, and delighting in a grey fantail that flew onto a branch to within a metre of us to say hello and show off their beauty and flying prowess, fanning their gorgeous tail as they went.
Ruth was instrumental in saving this area of bush and has been involved in its restoration since. It was an old quarry site that Council was going to sell off to a paintball operator. Ruth advocated to the local Councillors and executive who were all blokes. She asked - why aren’t there any women here and they said they’d like to have women elected but no one wanted to stand. So she took up the challenge, and has been a huge contributor through her time on Baw Baw Council, in local government and particularly supporting and mentoring women to stand for election since.
And when Ruth heard that I was coming through Gippsland she was really keen to have me stay. I was very happy to organise my schedule to suit! Not only have me stay but also Leon and Michael who are travelling with me for these couple of days, and feed us, and host dinner tonight for some local Greens supporters.
Beth was similarly generous. Beth as one of her many local community roles is a key mover and shaker behind the Gippsland Plains Rail Trail. And how good is the Gippsland Plains rail trail! We left Stratford at 9am as a group of 12 - even more than had joined me as I left Canberra, and had a gourmet ride - coffee from the Badger and Hare as we headed off from Stratford; morning tea in Tinambra, and excellent lunch at Cafe 3853 in Heyfield along the way.
I was once again struck by how valuable rail trails are as remnants of native vegetation - the rail reserves not having been cleared or ploughed or grazed , which results in very pleasant, shaded and vegetatively interesting surroundings most of the way along. Interspersed with plenty of rolling paddocks full of dairy cows, and a good swag of railway memorabilia too - much more in this case than on the East Gippsland rail trail.
The gravel surface was generally good - it would have been more comfortable on a mountain bike rather than my road bike but we made it. And it was so interesting to be travelling through towns off the Highway: Maffra, Heyfield, Toongabbie, Glengarry, which maybe I had visited before, driven through, no reason to stop, but couldn’t really remember. When you are on a bike you move at a pace that you notice things, say hello to teenage girls riding their horses, say hello back to the dogs barking at us as we travel through.
Riding gives time for conversation with people riding alongside; hearing about the history of the rail line and the rail trail from Beth, catching up and able to have long yarning conversations with old friends who joined us for the ride, and hearing about local history and settlements from Greens local Dan Caffrey who we stayed with in Traralgon.
The rail trail still needs more work - it stops abruptly outside of Traralgon at a busy intersection. ‘Opposite Bunnings’ was the location detail we gave to Darren McCubbin who greeted us on arrival on behalf of the Gippsland Climate Change Network.
It would cost such a pittance to extend this trail and provide a good safe connection into the heart of the town, which is all that’s needed to encourage more people to ride, and to see riding as just part of their daily life to get from A to B, rather than only a special thing you do on Sunday afternoons - as lovely as that is.
As I had thought a few days ago when riding from Metung to Bairnsdale along the Metung Road which carries a lot of traffic and hasn’t even got a sealed shoulder - the value of providing a shared path here would be immeasurable. How about a BBB fund? A billion dollars for bikes and biodiversity to put in shared pathways across the country and do revegetation and rehabilition of degraded roadside vegetation as part of the package?
Yesterday’s ride was as delightful as the day before. Dan saw us off in the fog from Traralgon as we left via the APM paper mill - which I now feel much more positively about since they stopped feeding it with wood from native forest.
We travelled via the dark satanic mills of the Yallourn coal fired power station - it will be a huge day when that is replaced with renewable solar and wind and batteries. And then onto the Moe-Yallourn North rail trail. I had wondered what this trail would be like, given neither town is known for their scenic beauty! But it too was a delight, a green oasis amongst farmland and industry.
But similarly the access at either end leaves a lot to be desired- I’m sure that good intentions have been stymied by lack of funds.
Coffee and a toasted Sanger at Danbo’s Coffee in Moe set us up for a good few hours riding along the Old Sale Road. This too should be a cycling destination - maybe it is amongst touring cyclists - I’m not really in those loops! We enjoyed very little traffic through lovely countryside between Moe to just out of Warragul - ‘undulating’ yes, but no hills I had to stop and get off and walk for - and plenty of time for thinking!
Ruth met us at Rokeby to ride the last hour with us- I must admit I envied her electric bike as the road just kept climbing to Jindivick! But we got there and really enjoyed the massive downhill to her place on Jackson’s Track.
We have learnt the history of the First Nations community on Jacksons Track too, which was demolished in the 1950’s - colonisation continuing so close to the current day. The story reminded me of the West Bank Palestinian villages that I saw in 2017 that had been razed by the Israeli government - to say nothing of the Genocide in Gaza being inflicted as I sit here and write.
But Ruth and Pauls’s place has been a place of absolute respite and rest. I enjoyed a luxurious bath last night, We have enjoyed the warmth of their energy efficient house with its excellent solar access, and rammed earth internal walls, and the warmth of the company of friends. I look forward to coming back, as I do to so many places that I have visited over the last fortnight.
And I look forward to the last two days of riding to come.
I’d love for you to join me on the last day’s Ride, leaving from Dandenong station at 10am on Thursday, or to greet me at Footscray Community Arts Centre as we arrive at 3pm.
And if you’d like to make a donation to support self determination and justice in the occupied states of Palestine, West Papua and Tibet - I’d love that too!