The Great Forest National Park
The Great Forest National Park will be Melbourne’s next great attraction. It is a giant playground on Melbourne’s North Eastern doorstep. It comprises a large area of Victoria’s central highland bioregion including much of Melbourne’s water catchments. Significantly, it provides crucial habitat for several critically endangered marsupials. Unfortunately areas inside the proposed park boundaries are still subject to clearfell logging, this combined with fire risk has led to the ecosystem being critically endangered.
The traditional owners of this country are the Wurrundjeri, Taungurung, Bunurong and Gunaikurnai. It always was, and always will be aboriginal land.
Riding For The Great Forest
“When I heard about the proposed park, I thought it was a great idea. I couldn’t believe native forest was still being decimated, were those responsible insane? Do they not understand climate change? I also realized I didn’t really know much about the area, and decided it would be fun to learn about my backyard. It’s ridiculous that I had been to every continent except Antarctica but didn’t know anything about Warburton…”
“I knew it would be a good idea to share my journey, so other people could learn about the park and hopefully get inspired to visit. That’s why I started this website. I’ve taken mates and I’ll take more. I need to share my appreciation and respect for this vital land. I’m going to keep riding and writing about it until these forests are protected. After only one year of doing this already there are patches of forest I loved that are gone. While it saddens me deeply, that injustice is nothing compared to what indigenous people have gone through. They knew forests where we will likely only know suburbs. I can’t bare the thought of future generations missing out on the chance to explore and discover in this magical ecosystem. ” Aidan Kempster June 2017
To get you inspired about taking your own trip, why don’t you read about my first ride in the Great Forest National Park or check out this amazing gallery from a more recent trip? Don’t be afraid to get in touch with any comments of queries, I’m always up for anything to do with riding bikes in the forest…
