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20
A View From
Down Under
By Katy June-Friesen
W
orking on this feature convinced
me: I need to go to Australia.
The more photos I saw of the
country’s rail-trails and the more
stories I heard, the more torturous it was
to sit at my desk up to 13 time zones away
and not take it in firsthand. I’d rather have
been traveling on a resurrected railbed
through South Australia’s wine country or
watching wildlife in one of more than 500
national parks.
Locals use the trails for bike com-
muting, dog walking and horse riding.
But as cycling becomes more popular in
Australia, tourist traffic on these routes is
on the rise. “You’re no longer regarded as
a freak if you go off on a cycling holiday,”
says Damian McCrohan, president of the
nonprofit RailTrails Australia.
The backstory on these trails? In the
1850s, Australian colonists—tired of long
treks by horse between the continent’s
sparsely populated settlements—began a
flurry of track-laying. By the time Australia
became a nation in 1901, most towns and
state capitals were connected by govern-
ment-financed rail service that crisscrossed
the continent’s rainforests, arid bushland,
Two rail routes make up the 25-mile dirt
loop throughWestern Australia’s Perth
Hills on the Railway Reserves Heritage Trail:
the original southern route, whose steep,
tight curves cursed the Eastern Railway
with numerous accidents, and the newer,
more forgiving northern route built during
the early 1890s gold rush. The newer line
passes through Swan View Tunnel in John
Forrest National Park—one of the country’s
first—where you might spot kangaroos
or bearded dragons. Signs along the way
offer some history on the small towns that
sprouted up along the line.
RailTrails Australia