CHASING THE HORIZON

PINKY TUSCADERO DOES TASSIE

Hello again.

You've heard of Debbie does Dallas right? Well this week we have a variation. Join us as we set of on the Pinky Tuscadero does Tassie tour.

Those of you that know my long suffering wife Samantha, will be well aware of how accommodating she is when I decide at the drop of hat to drain the family bank account and head of to all corners of the world in my quest for world domination. She never complains when I wake upon the middle of the night and tell her of my plans to head of into the desert just because it seems like a good idea at the time. You never hear a whimper when I set off my spot tracker and she has to drive out in pissing down rain to winch me out of a flooded river. Nor does she belly ache when she discovers that I have maxed out the credit card on that must have widget for one of the bikes. So when she mentioned that she would like to go on a ride where she is actually riding rather than sitting on the back or waiting patiently at home for the police to ring, who was I to deny her?

So one night out in the desert when drunk I inadvertently mentioned this to to my great mate Thommo (aka Scrawn AKA Ranga) and a plan was tentatively put into place. What was that plan I hear you ask dear reader.? Well seeing as Sam is a complete gumby when it comes to motor skills, there was no way I would let her loose on a full size bike, but as she actually rides a postie bike to work most days of the week, it was decided that a tour of Tassie on the posties was in order. This was actually easier to put into practice than normal, seeing as I forgot to bring my postie home from the Moto GP last year and it was sitting at Thommos house in Melbourne just waiting to be set loose again. As it happens it appears that my postie and the Rangas postie had been breeding and somehow or other another Postie has materialised in Thommos garage.

So with the bikes sorted we set about preparing for the bike ride. This involved me totally forgetting about it until earlier this week and Samantha doing her nails. Check them out.

 

Fortunately the scrawn was on the ball and he has spent the last few months quietly toiling away in his shed with a couple of Oompaloompahs getting the bikes ready to go.

So anyway the day has arrived and it was an early start.

Brissie airport was a hive of activity.

Melbourne looked its usual glorious self as we jetted in. That's it in the distance through the smog.

We had a short stopover in Melbourne,

 

where I taught Sam the finer points of adventure gluttony and nose in the trough etiquette for factory postie riders.

Meanwhile back in Melbourne the service crew were getting ready to board the big red tinny for their crossing across bass straight. The ute which is normally used for picking up smoko orders was loaded up with bikes and all manner of other equipment.

Along with the Scrawn we shall be joined by his lovely partner Sandy, who has decided to leave her Hayabusa and DR at home and will drive the support ute for a few days.

 

As you can see Scrawn has let himself go

 

So it's shaping up to be a great few days. Although we have absolutely no plans in place We are really looking forward to catching up with some friends and generally have a look around.

Spot tracker will be here after tomorrow.

If by chance you happen to see the help signal go off, please don't call the police like what happened last time. They get a bit snakey if you drag them away from their donuts.

So hope you enjoy following us along. I will be getting Sam to post her thoughts on this trip as well, so that should be interesting. I hope.

PINKY SAYS

Feeling very excited about this. Also feeling very nervous but the wine is helping to settle the nerves.

I know I am in good hands with Thommo and Sandy. (Guy I'm not so sure about)

Not sure where we will end up, but hopefully not in hospital.

Am definitely up for the challenge though. Hope you enjoy following us along.

Pinky x

 

 

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PINKY CLIMBS A LADDER

Was an uneventful flight over Bass straight. Wasn't long before the coastline came into view.

We made our war into Launceston where we checked into the Star hotel. Not a bad pub with great meals and friendly staff. Sam and I went for a walk around town while waiting for the Service crew to arrive.

The guys at the bar very kindly let us store the bikes inside the rear of the pub which was great. Only let down was the the noise that went on into the early hours of the morning which made for a sleepless night, but otherwise it was fine.

This morning was a beautiful sunny morning but pretty at cool at 4 degrees. Thommo and I set about getting the bikes ready to go.

Also fitted some new stickers that are sure to add 0.75 horsepowers.

We had a huge brekky then as the weather was so good we decided to head for Ben Lomond and the famous Jacobs ladder road. Nothing like chucking Pinky in at the deep end.

Ben Lomond soon came into veiw

 

Jacobs ladder is reminiscent of some of the great passes in the European alps but not as long and much rougher. Slippery and rutted it is no place for the faint hearted. Its a dauntingbriad forthe inexperienced. Luckily for Pinky, ignorance is Bliss and she blasted up without missing a beat.

She was pretty pleased to get to the top, but went into panic mode when she realised she now had to head back down. She need'nt have worried as she easily made her way down like a pro.

 

The Scrawn on the other hand had all sorts of trouble suffering from vertigo and actually falling over at top, but he was quickly on his feet, so no pic. Some silliness on my behalf also nearly saw me come to grief.

It was still pretty cold so we had a bush coffee stop on the way back down, which was fantastic.

From there Sandy and the Smoko truck headed off to Scottsdale via the main road, while us three, took the scenic route over Ben Nevis ridge road, which was just brilliant.

Pinky was on fire and at once stage even passed the road boss, which pissed him off no end.

So much for her being a learner

The final blast into Scottsdale via the scenic twisties was great fun.

At Scottsdale we checked into our salubrious B&B then headed into town and ordered a gourmet takeaway dinner from DoJo's of curried scallops and pizza and a couple of bottles of wine before heading to the local park to watch the Platypus frollick while we dined on our fantastic meal.

I was a bit slow on the camera, but we really did see a platypus which was pretty cool. Then back to our room where the service crew checked over the bikes.

 

it's been a early night so we can catch up on the sleep we didn't get last night.

A great first day for Pinky' first big ride and she is doing fantastically well. Very proud of her.

PINKY SAYS

I was very nervous when we woke this morning, The cold didn't help and I needed several nervous wee trips.

I was concentrating so hard going up Jacobs ladder that I forgot to take in the veiw, but once there, I was pretty pleased with myself. Coming down was much more stressful for me and I was very happy to stop and have a coffee.

After that I started to relax and really enjoyed the rest of the ride into Scottsdale especially the winding bits.

Having dinner with the Platypus was lovely, as is the room we are staying in. I am very pleased with how I went today and am now really looking forward to tomorrow.

 

 

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Pinky meets Pinky.

Was another cool start to the morning, and a slight drizzle that soon cleared to beautiful day. Sandy left early to drive down to Hobart to visit some friends. We decided to back track a bit to Ledgerwood, because somehow or other I had totally missed the tree carvings when we came past yesterday. Don't ask me how, they are massive, but I was totally oblivious to them. Tree carving what tree carvings?

 

The carvings are memorials to locals that fought in the various wars and are extremely well done.

We headed up into the beautiful Mt Victoria state forest to Ralph falls.

The walk down to the falls was spectacular. Huge green mossy trees with mushy's growing out like steps. Was like a scene out of a fairy tail.

Was even a scrawny troll under one of the bridges

The falls themselves were a bit underwhelming, but the walk was nice. More of a water trickle really.

Pinky decided that she wanted to pay a visit to her old friend Priscilla at the pub in the paddock, but when we arrived we were saddened to hear that Priscilla had passed away. Probably too much piss we Presume. Anyway Pinky tried persistently to coax Priscilla's replacement (also know as Pinky) out of her apartment to partake in a pint of Piss, but Pinky was'nt keen to participate, despite Pinky's persistence. So we decided to piss off and leave her in peace.

Pinky trying to persuade Pinky to partake. ( Puck there where a lot of P's in that last paragraph.)

We found some awesome back tracks on the way to St Helen's, where had some excellent fish chips on the blue boat.

 

We decided that the fish and chips were'nt quite filling enough, so pancakes on the Elephants pass were in order, but first we had to burn off the fish and chips, so we climbed high into the Scamander state forest where the views back over St Helen's and south to Bicheno were breathtaking. Unfortunatly the iPhone pics won't do it Justice.

 

The pancakes as always were brilliant.

At about that time we received an invitation to stay at some friends of Thommos in Longford. Was a quite a way to go, so we set off, looking for short cuts as we went, and tryed to stay off the main roads as much as we could, but all we found was some place called Mangina. A great piece of road past Rossarden, which we have done before on previous trips and the Ranga and I had a great race down the hill.

It was a hard slog all the way up to Longford, but we were made to feel very Welcome by Peter & Caroline who have very kindly let us stay in their very comfy cubby house and cooked us a huge feast. Thanks guys was great to meet you.

 

PINKY SAYS

Big day today. About 300 klms mostly through the bush. Had a great time, but am totally exhausted.

Conquered a couple of big hills which was great.

Pretty pissed off at Pinky the pig. Priscilla was much more personable and pleasant.

And the pancakes were perfect.

 

 

 

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PINKY MEETS BAMBI

Was a cold start again. The wind was blowing so hard thru the the night we thought the cubby might fall down. Took a while for the support crew together the bikes ready.

But eventually we got away and rode 30 seconds into Longford for an awesome big brekky at the Bakery.

There was a bit of confusion about what direction we should take, but eventually we all agreed to work as a team and do it my way, and after confirmation from the locals we headed in a southerly direction towards the very peculiar town of Poatina. Not quite sure how to describe this place. Reminds me of Woomera in Sth Australia. Seems to be stuck in a 1950's time warp. It was freezing cold after racing up the range, so we headed for the cafe which featured great coffee complete with period style wing back armchairs and Elvis playing on the wireless. The town itself was deserted but I got the the distinct feeling we were being peered upon by unseen people behind the curtains as we rode around the deserted streets. Very unconcerting and very wierd. We learnt later that the whole town is owned by some wierd ass religious types, so that goes some way to explaining it.

Our favourite shanty town of Flintstone was next and we had a yabba yabba do time checking out all the new shacks that have been built since our last visit. We then froze our asses off all the way to Interlaken which looked surprisingly like the Interlaken Switerland.

At least the lake wasn't frozen, but our hands certainly were.

On the way into Bothwell we decided that we better organise some dinner, so Pinky went hunting for some Venison which we carved up into some lovely steaks. The scrawn reckons 'twas the best viddles he had seen since Christmas at cousins Mary's place.

Actually that last bit was bullshit, we just happened to come across some dear hunters while sipping lattes at the cafe.

 

We found a back road that took us through the Ouse valley that was really weird. Full of dead trees and burnt down farm houses. Real duelling banjo country. The Scrawn felt right at home.

 

We had an appointment to meet back up with Sandy in Hamilton, so raced each other to the historic Hamilton Inn built in 1801, where we had a great meal and were entertained by the very funny Dan behind the bar.

 

The rooms here are quite luxurious but lacking in head room so you need to be a bit careful when standing up.

 

 

PINKY SAYS

No pinky says tonight as she s fast asleep. (Could have been too many beers)

 

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PINKY WINS A STAGE.

Was a bleak and overcast morning today. Perfect weather to head into the Tasmanian wilderness.

Pinky didn't get much sleep due to the resident ghost keeping her awake all night, and sadly we said goodbye to Sandi who has to head back to Melbourne as her evil employer wouldn't give her any time off work. She came with us as far as Russell falls then headed to launceston, while we three headed for Strathgordon dam. Sam and I had done this road previously, Scrawn hadn't but we were happy to do it again. Its a great road even at 80 km\h.

The logging trucks held us up a bit.

And then it started to rain. The wind was so strong, we were being blown all over the road. Luckily it was only 8 degrees as well.

We decided against the creepy crawly nature trail.

 

Was pretty difficult conditions, But Pinky overcame all the adversity and claimed her first ever stage win. (and didnt she make sure we knew about it)

Scrawn suffers from vertigo even more than me so it was only a quick look at the dam wall.

It was still bitterly cold and raining. We decided a quick lunch at Lake Pedder was in order. An hour after ordering our toasted sammiches arrived, so we had plenty of time to take in the veiw.

It was getting late so we made quick time back down to the National Park hotel for a drink and scoffed all the free pies and sausage rolls. Then set off into the forestry looking for a short cut to Huonville, which is near to where Eva and Simon live, and where we are staying tonight. Got a bit confusing with tracks going everywhere.

And things got a bit prickly at one stage.

With darkness descending and us with no working headlights, we just made it to Simon and Eva's , where we had a great night chatting drinking and eating.

An awesome day!

PINKY SAYS

Wow what a day. Very challenging. The weather up to Strathgordon was diabolical, but I was pretty pleased with my stage win. There will be more of those to come.

Had a few scary moments on the loose gravel, but no crashes so all good.

Staying with the lovely Eva and Simon and their very cute 4 month old baby Lilly.

 

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Hobos in Hobart.

We had a great night with Simon, Eva and Lilley. They live in a little piece if paradise known as Mountain river and the veiw from their patio is brilliant.

 

The bikes needed a little love this morning, so we got stuck into that with a little help from Simon. While Pinky got all maternal like.

 

Thanks again Eva and Simon, was great to meet you.

We had a quick brekky on the banks if the beautiful Huon river.

 Then took some great roads across to Kingston in search if a headlight globe. Which of course no one had.

We had to go to the north side of Hobart to get a globe, which was quite a way and we considered catching the train, but it would ave been too slow.

We headed up to the top of Mt Nelson to get a veiw across the Derwent, mainly to check if Dan & Rosie were back from Sth America yet, but the lights were off, so we had an icecream and will have to wait till Thursday to see them.

 

With the globe sorted we did a tour of the suburbs of Hobart and Pinky made a pilgramige to the Cadbury factory, but luckily we were too late for a tour.

The famous Joes garage was our next stop where we met our friends Leigh & Sarah. Also met up with Andrew who is going to come for a ride with us tomorrow.

We left our mark in Joes then headed to Salamanca place where we had a Pizza before we put our newly acquired headlight globe into use and set off into the night to Leigh and Sarah's place.

Tomorrow Andrew is taking us on a tour of Bruny island.

 

Pinky says

Bit stiff and sore this morning.

Great ride today though.

Great to meet up with Leigh and Sarah again.

Joes garage was pretty cool, with everyone very interested in us and the posties.

Riding home in the dark was interesting. Luckily it wasn't too cold.

 

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Beautiful Bruny.

Was so good to catch up with Leigh and Sarah. As always it was all to brief, but we really enjoyed the short time with them. Thanks for everything guys and have a great time in Hawaii. Make sure you send us some pics of the wedding.

We got up early to see Leigh off to work, then Sam and Sarah went to feed Sarah's prize winning Alpaca's, which Sam just loved.

After dragging Sam away from the animals we set off, but not before doings some modification to Leigh's WR that is sure to add 5 hp and make it handle like a KTM.

We met Andrew and his awesome 1959 Triumph T100 at Salamanca place for a coffee, where we decided that Bruny island would be our destination.

Had a quick pee before we set off. Check out the veiw from the pisser.

Andrew led us over some brilliant roads the Kettering, where we boarded the ferry.

Actually Pinky led some of the ways well.

Bruny Island was brilliant. We had the best time exploring the island, which is spectacular. It's like a whole different world.

Even had a bit of shenanigans on the beach.

Was a great adventure. Check out the Grin on Andrews face. Sums up the day perfectly.

Lunch was at the Bruny hotel and it was very good.

We really had the best time and Defineatly a place to revisit sometime.

Andrew invited us back to his place for a coffee. What a dump! Check out the crap veiw from his patio.

And how could anyone wake up to this shit veiw from their kitchen every day.

He also has a crap collection of motorcycles.

Andrew then very kindly offered us the use of his shack at Dodges Ferry. Was expecting a tin shed out in the bush, but it is in fact a beautiful little cottage, located just a stones throw from the beach. Very very comfortable.

In fact it is so good we are going to stay for 2 nights. It even has a fridge full of beer and a bottle of gin than I intend to demolish.

Andrew you are legend! thank you for an awesome day and for letting us stay at the shack.

Tomorrow we hope to catch up with our bestest mates Dan & Rosanne , who only tonight are returning from a huge Sth American tour.

Check out their blog at http://www.altroutemotorcycle.typepad.com it's hilarious.

 

PINKY SAYS

Feeding the Alpacas was great fun. They are all named by Sarah after luxury cosmetics and clothing brands. Eg Coco Chanel, Armani, etc.

Wish we had more time with Leigh & Sarah

Bruny was fantastic. Lovely to meet Andrew.

Staying at Andrews cottage which is brilliant.

Looking forward to seeing Dan & Rosanne again tomorrow.

 

 

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The Tasman peninsular.

Was a very leisurely start to the day. Slept in for quite bit before getting up and going for a walk along the beach where Pinky and the Ranga did their best marine biologist impersonations seeking out all sorts of weird creatures.

We decided to do a lap of the Tasman peninsular on the way stopping at the Donnelly pub for a beer. Pinky had a whale of a time.

The bridge is also pretty cool pivoting in the middle to allow boats to pass.

Unfortunatly there is also a sad side to Donnelly, with many people having lost everything in the recent fires. The devastation is still quite apparent and many are now living in tents.

The scenery on the Tasman peninsular is brilliant especially on a day like today. The colour of the water is amazing and the roads are great fun.

We headed back to Dodges ferry and tried to take some sunset pics while waiting to meet Dan & Rosie.

Had a great time catching up with Dan & Rosanne over a pizza and a few beers then back to the Shack to stoke up the fire.

Tomorrow we start our trek North.

 

PINKY SAYS

Was nice to have a gentler day today.

Enjoyed the Tasman peninsular and the chocolate factory ..

Was so good to see Dan & Rosie again.

Looking forward to our last few days.

 

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Wandering around the Lakes.

Sadly we had to leave the shack today. It was a great place to stay for a couple of days and we can't thank Andrew enough. After packing up we headed into Sorel to buy some top up oil for the bikes then made for the hills with no particular destination in mind. It's amazing how these sorts of days turn out to be some of the best. We just wandered around basically just heading in a northerly direction, stopping for regular choccy and coffee stops, not fussed about which road or track we took. We had a ball and saw some beautiful scenery.

 

Even had time for shenanigan along the way ..

 

Had a great lunch at the bakery in the very pretty town of Ross

We got lost a couple of times and with the sun starting to fade we headed up to the great lakes region and checked into the Central highlands lodge where I had the best lamb shanks Eva !

Going to be a cold night tonight and will be a bit nippy in the morning.

PINKY SAYS.

Really enjoyed today. Am so much more confident than at the start of the ride. Even passed the road boss a couple of times.

Beautiful scenery everywhere.

Last day tomorrow. :-(

 

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LAST DAY (& CRASHING) IN PARADISE

As predicted it was a very cold start to the day. We set off down the Great Lakes road taking in some of the spectacular scenery along the way.

The race down to Deloraine was great fun.

We had brekky at a cool 50's diner.

Soon after the weather started to close in, so we decided against Cradle mountain. No big deal as we have been there before. We ended up just taking some back roads to Sheffield, where there was festival going on. We checked out some of the steam tractors and a few of the murals in town.

Had the only crash of the trip in Paradise.

Soon after we had our bit of trouble with the bikes when the needle in Sam's carb broke. Minor problem though and we soon had it sorted.

 

 

Our friend Barney had very kindly offered the use of his Shack at Liffey and what a place it is. Hidden away in the most idyllic setting near Liffey falls.

 

Barney took us for a look around the place, before he headed home, while we took a spin up to the local waterfalls.

 

Then back to the shack to cook up dinner and drink Barneys beer and a early night.

Thanks again for the use of the shack Barney. We love it.

Sadly tonight is our last night in Tassie. It's been a fantastic trip and was great to meet up with some old and new friends. Thanks to all those that made our trip so great. We did nearly 2500 Klms and Samantha had an absolute ball on her first solo ride and she did unbelievably well. Not even a single crash, which more than I can say. I think she is now ready for Vkadivostok to London.

Huge thanks to Thommo as well for supplying her bike.

Tomorrow the bikes get loaded up and sent back to our top secrecy facility in Frankston, where a team of highly skilled Oompaloompahs, will service them and get them ready for the next ride which is scheduled for June. Talk is Victorian high country. Hmm Vic in June. Now There's good idea.

Hope you enjoyed coming a long for the ride.

 

PINKY SAYS

Very sad that today was our last day. The boys were racing everywhere today, so I just took it easy, took in the veiws and had a great time.

I have had the best time. Met heaps of people. Everywhere we went people would stop and chat ask about the bikes and what we were doing. Most thought we were nuts.

Also am really pleased how well I went. My confidence grew every day.

Huge thanks to Thommo for letting me ride his bike and also to Guy for taking us on to some brilliant roads.

Can't wait to do it again. Maybe on a full size bike next time.

 

 

 

 

 

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