Foster Mountain Bike Park

Overview

Foster Mountain Bike Park is a small, volunteer-built singletrack network in the Whipstick Gully Natural Features Reserve, on the edge of Foster in South Gippsland — the gateway town to Wilsons Promontory National Park (where MTB is not permitted). The park is also referred to locally as "Cement Hill MTB Track" after the rise it climbs around. It is built and maintained by the Prom Coast MTB Club on Parks Victoria-managed land.

The riding is concise: roughly 7 km of singletrack on a blue-graded main loop ("Whipstick Gully Main Loop") plus two short black-diamond options ("Bruised Elbow", 336 m and "Gravel Pits", 313 m). It punches well above its size given its location — riders coming for Wilsons Prom hiking or staying in Foster can drop in as a half-day add-on, and it is directly accessible off the Great Southern Rail Trail. The club has hosted at least one round of the XCO Victorian MTB Championship Series here (Nov 2021).

The Prom Coast MTB Club has flagged a "New Zealand Hill" extension still in development, and a longer-term ambition to build a network linking Grand Ridge Road through to Fish Creek. None of these are open as of May 2026.

Location & Access

• Address: Hall Road, Foster VIC 3960 (parking off Hall Road / O'Connors Road; reserve listed as Lot 19 Wilson Road, Foster on some Parks Vic indexes)
• Region: Prom Country (South Gippsland) — not Central Gippsland
• Drive times: ~2 h 20 min from Melbourne CBD via the Monash and South Gippsland Highways; ~30 min from Leongatha; ~25 min from the Wilsons Promontory NP entrance
• Public transport: V/Line coach Melbourne–Yarram stops in Foster; no PT directly to the trailhead, but the trailhead is walkable / rollable from town via the Great Southern Rail Trail
• Parking: Free; gravel parking on O'Connors Road / Hall Road. Trail also accessible via the Great Southern Rail Trail.
• Coords: -38.65748, 146.204795 (verified against the Trailforks region pin and Google Maps for Whipstick Gully NFR adjacent to Foster township)

Best Season & Conditions

• Peak riding season: Autumn (Mar–May) and Spring (Sep–Nov) — Gippsland summers are hot and prone to total fire ban days; winters are wet and the trails sit in a gully.
• Wet-weather impact: Trails are dirt singletrack on Gippsland clay — riding when wet causes ruts and surface damage. The club explicitly asks riders to "tread lightly" and updates conditions via Facebook.
• Fire-danger / total-fire-ban impact: Reserve is bushland; closures may apply on Code Red / catastrophic fire-danger days under Parks Vic protocols.
• Snow / alpine season: N/A — sea-level coastal location.
• School-holiday surge: Modest — Foster's main draw is Wilsons Prom; MTB is a side attraction. Not crowded.

Managing Body & Trail Builders

• Land manager: Parks Victoria (Whipstick Gully Natural Features Reserve, on behalf of DEECA)
• Trail builder / maintainer: Prom Coast MTB Club Inc (volunteer-built and -maintained). The club is registered at 50 Lower Franklin Rd, Foster VIC 3960.
• Volunteer / dig days: Not publicly scheduled on the website; coordinated via club Facebook (facebook.com/PromCoastMTBClub) and Instagram (@prom_coast_mtb).
• Donations / membership: https://promcoastmtb.org.au/donations/. Social membership is $30/yr; AusCycling-affiliated club membership channels $30 of the AusCycling fee back to the club.

History & Background

• Origins: The trails were built and continue to be maintained by volunteers of the Prom Coast MTB Club. Sources do not give a precise founding/opening date; the network is referred to as "Cement Hill MTB Track" in older club material, after a local rise. (Source: club site at promcoastmtb.org.au/2021-xco-vic-mtb-championship-foster/.)
• Racing: Hosted Round 1 and Round 2 of the 2021–22 XCO Victorian MTB Championship Series on 20–21 November 2021 — 115 riders Round 1, 95 Round 2. This is the highest-profile event documented on the club site.
• Cultural context: The land sits in Gunaikurnai / Bunurong country. The reserve is a remnant bushland gully on the slopes feeding into Corner Inlet.
• G7 status: The DB description previously stated Foster was part of the Central Gippsland 'G7' Mountain Biking Hub. This is incorrect. The G7 plan, per Visit Gippsland and the TRC Tourism feasibility study, names exactly seven sites — Haunted Hills (Newborough), Maryvale Pines (Maryvale/Traralgon), Somewhere Good (Glengarry), Blores Hill (Glenmaggie), Avon-Mt Hedrick, Erica, and Mt Baw Baw — all in the Latrobe Valley / Central Gippsland geographic strip. Foster is in South Gippsland (Prom Country) and is not listed in any G7 source. The DB description should be corrected.

Recent News & Updates (last 12 months)

• No verifiable news in the last 12 months from the club's public website. The Prom Coast MTB Club news/blog index appears to be inactive (most recent dated post is the 2021–22 XCO championship). Live updates are pushed to Facebook/Instagram, which were not reachable from this research environment.
• The New Zealand Hill trail and the Grand Ridge → Fish Creek linking project were both flagged as "in development / pipeline" on the club's trails page — status as of May 2026 is unchanged from earlier wording, suggesting slow progress.

Sources

1. Prom Coast MTB Club — homepage — https://promcoastmtb.org.au/ — accessed 2026-05-07 (tier 2, official club)
2. Prom Coast MTB Club — trails page — https://promcoastmtb.org.au/trails/ — accessed 2026-05-07 (tier 2, dedicated trails listing — captured for role:"trails")
3. Prom Coast MTB Club — 2021-22 XCO Victorian Championship report — https://promcoastmtb.org.au/2021-xco-vic-mtb-championship-foster/ — accessed 2026-05-07 (tier 6, club news / event history; sole written source for "Cement Hill" naming)
4. Prom Coast MTB Club — membership page — https://promcoastmtb.org.au/membership/ — accessed 2026-05-07 (tier 2)
5. Melbourne Playgrounds — Foster Mountain Bike Trails — https://www.melbourneplaygrounds.com.au/foster-mountain-bike-trails — accessed 2026-05-07 (tier 6, third-party guide; confirms trail count + grades + lengths)
6. Bancoora — Foster Rides — http://www.bancoora.com/Foster%20Rides/Foster%20Home%20Page.html — accessed 2026-05-07 (tier 6, ride-log site; confirms 7 km loop + Great Southern Rail Trail / O'Connors Road access)
7. Visit Gippsland — Central Gippsland G7 MTB Hub (search summary + listings) — https://www.visitgippsland.com.au/destination-gippsland/about/industry-resources/central-gippsland-g7-mountain-biking-hub — accessed 2026-05-07 (tier 3, tourism authority; basis for G7 site list — confirms Foster is not in G7)
8. Wilson Cottage — What's Nearby — https://wilsoncottage.au/whats-nearby/ — accessed 2026-05-07 (tier 6, local accommodation page; confirms direct connection to Great Southern Rail Trail and proximity to town amenities)

Supporting / verification (not counted in primary 8):

• Parks Victoria — Whipstick Gully Natural Features Reserve — https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/places-to-see/parks/whipstick-gully-natural-features-reserve — accessed 2026-05-07 (tier 1; thin landing page but confirms Parks Vic management)
• Trailforks region (Foster MTB Park) — https://www.trailforks.com/region/foster-mtb-park-12872/ — accessed 2026-05-07 (tier 4; URL valid but returned 403 to WebFetch this session)
• Visit South Gippsland — https://visitsouthgippsland.com.au/ — accessed 2026-05-07 (tier 3; confirms Foster is in Prom Country tourism region)
• OSM way 1384549572 — https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/1384549572 — accessed 2026-05-07 — identified as "Hayes Walk", a town pedestrian path, NOT the Whipstick Gully MTB trail. Removed from source_urls_json.