Tour of Tasmania
15/02/2003 to 23/02/2003

Day One - Churchill/Launceston

Up at 5:30, had breakfast and was on the road by 6:00. Arrived at Station Pier around 8:00 and went through the long drama of getting on board. The queue started two blocks away from the pier and took a good half an hour to get through. I finally gave up on starting and stopping the engine as it was just too much of a nuisance and opted for stepping the bike the couple a car lengths until we stopped again. I had to turn the engine off as it would have over heated. Starting the engine is a nuisance given that the ignition is inhibited 15 seconds after turning the engine off. As we reach the security check area I am asked if I am carrying a firearm, fuel, plants, food, etc. They didn't go through my bag, but in the case of cars they did a quick check through boots, back seats, etc. The bikes were parked in the centre parallel to the long axis of the ship. I was warned to take a towel to cover the seat to protect it from the dirty tie downs the ships staff use.

Left Station Pier at 9:00 am. I was quite surprised that it took two hours to get to 'The Heads' of Port Phillip Bay. I wasn't in a hurry but I was surprised at how slow a boat ride is. The next hurdle was coping with the swell. As soon as we left the heads the ship starts moving about making me feel a bit queasy. I wasn't well enough for lunch and just snacked. Finding a place to sit was another problem. Inside the ship most of the seating was taken so I ended up on the decks catching a nap here and there. I'm no fan of cigarette smoke and found plenty of that outside, so much for the fresh air I thought I'd find onboard.The swell dissipated as we approached Tasmania thank goodness and the ship settled down as did my queasiness.

Two musicians were playing at the stern of the ship, one singing and playing guitar, the other playing fiddle. They played Australian Bush Ballad types of songs with a bit of Celtic thrown in as well. One of the passengers really got into the music and was dancing away in that Irish style where the hands stay close to the body. His feet were another matter, they seemed to be everywhere.

Arrived at 6:30 and made the trip to Launceston before dark.

Day Two - Launceston/Swansea

The only problem with the place we stayed at was that they stayed open until 6:30 am and the music was just pouring out of the floor boards from the juke box. Lesson learnt here.
My longest days ride which comprised four parts.

• Getting lost leaving Launceston and consuming 50 km for nothing:)
  
  
• Riding to Delorane around Great Lake and having lunch at Longford.
  
  
• Back to Launceston, getting lost again and then travelling the western side of the Tamar Valley all the way to Greens Beach. Across the Batman Bridge and then up at Low Head.
  
  
• Bell Bay, Bridport, Gladstone, St Helens, Bicheno and finally Swansea.

All up I travelled about 700 km. By the time I reached St Helens the sun was setting and the cloud level was falling. Not long after the rain started falling. I had to go slow as a combination of the rain, the darkness, the wild life and the twisty road. I slowed down even further after a wallaby head butted my left foot and got tangled up in the foot peg. Why is it the possums run up the road and not across the road?

I was really lucky to find a service station open at St Helens. If not I would have had to stay the night. Finally arrived at Swansea at 10:00 pm. The other riders were getting concerned and had called the police to see if any accidents had been reported. I kept my travelling down after today. Too late for dinner, just a cup of tea and biscuits.

The alarm on the bike played up after I parked. After two false alarms in a few minutes I disarmed it.

Day Three - Swansea/Eaglehawk Neck

Travelled back to Launceston via Cambell Town. I wanted to check out the BMW dealer, Cycle World, and found a tiny raised platform on the left side of the front window with one bike and various garments and boots on the walls. Three BMW bikes on the floor and display case full of luxury items like gloves, sunglasses, etc. I bought a pair of Cruiser sunglasses as a memento of the tour.

Had lunch at Subway. Back via the Midland Highway to Conara and took a left and travelled down the Esk Highway. Hardly a curve in sight until I reached St Mary's and then there were curves galore. I'm glad I didn't try and go through St Mary's last night. Continued on through Bicheno, Swansea, Triabunna, Sorell, Dunally to Eaglehawk Neck.

The memorable event here was that the water coming out of the taps was hard and tasted bad. No way you could get the soap to lather.

Day Four - Eaglehawk Neck/Hobart

It had rained through the night and all the way through breakfast, but cleared up enough to ride to Port Arthur in the wet gear. I decided that it looked too touristy and turned around. I spotted a shop at Port Arthur that displayed a sign "Internet here!". Found the weather bureau site and checked the radar for signs of rain. I was pleased to find the area around Strathgordon to be completely free of rain.

Rode on to Hobart and kept on going though New Norfolk, Maydena all the way to Strathgordon and the Gordon Dam. After Maydena the land rose and so did the clouds and showers, all the way to Gordon Dam and back, so much for the radar. Filled up at Strathgordon and was surprised to find the petrol price the same as in Hobart. I was expecting to pay heaps more. Walked across the Gordon Dam and took my time walking back up, resting on each landing before continuing. I had to rush at the end as another shower came through and did the last three landings in one go. I was most surprised to learn that only the top two metres of water is used from Lake Pedder to keep Lake Gordon at a constant level.

Rode back to Hobart and had dinner with the rest of the party. The guys had started a lottery to guess how far I'd travelled that day. That continued each day for the rest of the tour. :)

Day Five - Hobart

After breakfast, Graeme, Pam and I rode up to the Cadbury factory. I knew the way after yesterdays trip so I led. On arriving Graeme informed me that my rear tyre looked flat. Sure enough 6 pounds when it should have been 36! Did the tour and was encouraged to take as many mini chocolates as we could eat. I passed over the opportunity as it was too early to eat chocolate. The tour took us about 90 minutes after which we descended into the retail shop and bought what we wanted. Dark chocolate almonds for me, yumm!

Rode to the nearest service station and pumped up the tyre before heading back to Hobart and then on to Geeveston where we had lunch. We then set off for the Tahane Air walk. Quite a novel experience walking in the tree tops. I walked right to the end of the cantilever section and sure enough it rocked around a bit, but the view was great. The only thing I missed was the sounds of the birds, very, very quiet, just the sound of the river and the wind in the trees.

Travelled back to Huonville and then down to Cygnet with the intention of riding the B68 back to Hobart. Pam and Graeme decided against continuing and headed back to Hobart via the way we came while I continued the ride. Lovely scenery. Had dinner at Amigo's in North Hobart.

Cygnet had the highest price of petrol on the tour. $1.13/litre

Day Six - Hobart/Strahan

Checked the back tyre and sure enough it had deflated to 10 pounds. A quick look revealed a piece of metal in one of the grooves. I rang Honda in Derwent Park and they said they could help me out. Rode to Honda and waited for them to repair the puncture. $30.

Rode back to Hobart and onto Mount Wellington. Quite a panoramic view from there.

Rode back to Derwent Park and had McDonalds for lunch, quick and easy. Onto New Norfolk, Tarraleah, Derwent Bridge, Queenstown to end up at Strahan. I had been warned about how desolate Queenstown and the area around it looked, but I wasn't that surprised, after all, it's a mining town. The sign welcoming you to Queenstown stated "Welcome to Queenstown, mining since the 1800's" There should have been an extra line that read " ... and we're sorry!"

Had dinner at the pub and was most surprised at their level of service and friendliness. Out of all of the places I visited, this was the best.

One of the group, Tony, had his 43rd birthday and we all got into that.

Day Seven - Strahan/Stanley

I'd booked a seat on the Gordon River cruise and that set off at 8:30. I thought that they served breakfast, I was wrong. The tour guide slipped me a muffin which helped out. There were three price levels on the tour. $80 for down stairs in the centre, $100 downstairs but with a window seat, and, $130 for an upstairs seat with alcohol and food provided. I took the $130 option. Hells Gate was quite narrow and I could see why it could cause problems. I was expecting huge, narrow rock walls and was a bit disappointed to find what I did.

The trip up the Gordon River was almost at walking pace due to a speed limit to protect the shores. There were two American couples in front of me and they were invited to sit in the Captains chair and steer the boat. This involved flicking a little joystick to the left or right as demanded. There was a traditional wheel in front of the chair but it was ornamentation only. After the four people had had a turn in the Captains seat I was asked if I'd like to have a turn. OK, I sit in the seat and play with the Captains joystick. I wasn't asked to leave and no one else wanted a turn so I ended up steering the boat up to the jetty where the boat moored while we had a walk around a section of rain forest that was board-walked. Pretty dense undergrowth and it sure looked wet, moss and fungus everywhere.

After the walk we had a smorgasbord lunch and then on to Sarah Island. The Captain informed us that the water was low due to a high pressure being 1.7 metres deep. The boat sat 1.8 metres deep, so the plan of attack was to get all of the people onto the bow of the boat while the boat was moored. The Captain informed us that one of the boats had been stuck for 30 minutes the day before.

We walked onto the island and were split into two groups and were given a guided tour of the ruins, the history and politics of the prison. Not much remains in the way of buildings as the locals were so ashamed of the past that they were blown up with explosives. Rugged stuff that reminded me of Siberia under Stalin. Not a great deal of difference, enforced slavery for petty or imaginary offences. The tour guide managed to heighten our attention span by picking on various people to act out various historical people. Sure kept everyone on their toes.

Left at 2:45 and headed for Stanley with a short diversion to Cradle Mountain. I only got as far as the Ranger Station before turning around, I just didn't have the time today. The wind picked up and by the time I had reached Stanley I had quite a lean up on the bike.

Day Eight - Stanley/Devonport

Up at 7:30 with the rest of the group as some of them were riding to Devonport to purchase new tyres.

Rode to The Nut and parked the bike in the car park and climbed the very steep walkway. As I was catching my breath at the top where the ski lift is located I noted ironically that the chairs started moving. Bad timing I guess, still, it was quite some walk. I'd go about 40 paces and then stop to catch my breath. This old Italian man just kept on going past me, no stops for him. Walked around the top and nearly got blown off in places. Various islands were described but because of the fog I couldn't see them. I took the ski lift down which cost me $5.

Set off for the West coast and ended up at Cape Grim where the Woolnorth wind farm is located. Unfortunately it's private property so I didn't get to see the sea. The mist had turned into rain, so I turned around and abandoned my search for the sea and headed back to Wynyard and filled up. The weather had improved considerably, so I decided to go to Cradle Mountain after all and this time was greeted with completely blue skies and quite warm. I walked around Dove Lake which took me two hours and was very mentally relaxing.

Set off at 6:15 for the relatively short 75 km back to Devonport. I was expecting about 60 minutes but that ended up more like 90 minutes because of all the curves. Had dinner, a shower and crashed.

Day Nine - Devonport/Churchill

Up at 7:30 and had breakfast and then off to the Ferry. We managed to get around half the cars before having to fit into the two lanes of four wheeled vehicles. I turned the engine off and rolled down hill as far as I could and then just stepped the bike along without getting off it. I wasn't going through the off/on engine cycle process again. Made my way to the parking area on the Ferry and found that this time we park at right angles to the length of the ship. It was another warm day but we had that mist again and that didn't lift until two thirds of the way home.

Two musicians were performing at the stern of the ship. A lady sang and played electric piano (Electric Bass in the left hand and piano on the right hand) and a man played guitar and the odd vocal here and there. He seemed to be struggling with the songs and was told to stop on more than one occasion as he got lost. During a break I asked if I could play a song and use the guitar as well. They looked at each other and said "OK, while we have lunch", Fine! I went to the restaurant had had lunch then came back and waited for them to let me do my one song. Finally they finish the set and the guitarist looks at me and asks if I have a guitar. When I say "No" he responds with "Well, my guitar is too epensive to loan", so that was the end of that. Pity, I was looking forward to that one song.

When we entered Port Phillip Bay we felt the heat of the day for the first time, clearly it had been a hot day in Melbourne. Said our good byes and headed off for home and boy was I glad to be home. Hardest nine days I've done so far.

All in all I had a great time, very intense, as it was mostly riding. Next time I plan to do more walking.