CHASING THE HORIZON

TWO UP TOUR OF TASSIE

Finally we are ready to go. We are both feeling a little apprehensive......not for what lies ahead, but because we are leaving our 17 year old son in charge of our house. We would like to apologize to our neighbors in advance. He has promised to limit party goers to less than 100 and the music will be turned down before Dawn :-)

 

This trip we will be taking a Spot personal tracking device and for the truly desperate & dateless amongst you can follow our progress here.

http://jasonjonas.org/spot/tripViewer.do?id=620

 

It will be active after we leave in the morning.

 

This should be  a great trip and we are looking forward to updating you as we go.

Hope you enjoy coming along for the ride.

 

 

Day 1 Brisbane- Wolloombooli Falls

It was an early start from home to the meeting point at BP Nth Maclean. We had a slight incident when the lid of one of our side panniers flipped open and a bottle of water cartwheeled down the motorway beside us.

The other arrived not long after us and the obligatory pics were taken

From Left Leanne,Glen,Guy,Sam,Jackie,Steve,Ken & Nev

We then headed off over the lions road Kyogle for breakfast.

 

Our first refuel was at Grafton where it was stinking hot, so we had a break under a shady tree, before heading off on the Clarence way to Woollullmbi falls via ebor falls.

The sky was quite overcast as we left Ebor and looking very ominous, but we had ni idea what we were in for.  It soon became very black, it soon started to pelt down very rain & Hail. Sam & I quickly found a bus shelter and put our wets on. The others took shelter wherever they could.

We just had time to set up camp before the shit hit the fan and a massive thunder storm hit us. The only thing we could do was sit in our tents and drink our wine. The lightning and thunder was amazing and lasted most of the night.

This morning we woke to overcast sky's, but lucky for us, most things remained pretty dry. Not So for Steve & Jacquie, so while they tried to dry their things out, Sam & I packed up and headed to Walcha for breakfast. 

Day 2 Walcha- Wollumbi

So after our fabtastic breakfast it was off up the Thunderbolts way. Have to say I was a bit disappointed this time. Previously I have really enjoyed riding this road, but it has had no maintenance and the mid corner potholes aren't very confidence inspiring. We stopped at the lookout and while the view was as good as ever, the amount of crap being left behind including dirty nappy's, takes the gloss off the place.

We then dropped down into Bretti reserve for a look then into Gloucester, where we all got separated for the high speed run across to cessnock.

Our plan was to try and get to wisemans ferry, but as we went past the Wollumbi pub, Sam & I decided to stop for a beer. When the other arrived they also thought this was a good idea and as I type it is 8.30pm and there is no way we are going to wisemans ferry. The publican has let us set up camp out  the back and we have had dinner and far too many beers. We have also been hit by another storm, so another wet night ahead. Luckily the bar is open late . :-)

I have no idea where we are going tomorrow. :-)

 

Day 3 Wollombi - Wee Jasper

Was a bit of a slow start this morning for some. Jackie in particular was looking very second hand and there was a mysterious carrot Pattie just outside her tent that couldn’t be explained, Nev proudly woke all of us at 5.30 am with his town cry. He though it was hilarious, the rest of us just wanted to kill him.

I went for a bit of a walk around the town and checked out some of the old sandstone buildings before heading back to camp to pack, so Sam & I could get an early start for the very pretty Wisemans Ferry for brekky.

The rest of the crew arrived shorty after and we headed off for the Bells line of road, which continues to be a mystery to me as to why every raves about it. We had lunch then headed down to the Jenolan caves for a quick look and a piccy of the Japanese tourists. J

 

Some how or rather we all became separated after the caves . Sam & I took some dirt road short cuts and decided to push on as much as we could and ended up at Wee Jasper, which I have stayed before and had a great time. Janet at the Stables Tavern puts on a great feed and the beer is always cold. The offer of a cheap cabin was too good to refuse. The road in is also fantastic compared to the goat track it was last time I was here just a year ago. We had a great night chatting to the locals, then crashed heavily in the comfy bed.

Day 4 Wee Jasper- Myrtleford

We awoke early and had our included brekky then rode through the very scenic forests on the way to Tumut, where we stopped for a while before heading up  the snowy mountains highway into the Kosciusko national park. The temps plummeted the higher we went and we had to stop at Kiandra to put our wets on to try and stay warm.

We visited Cabramurra which is Australia's highest town and probably the coldest.

From there we rode some magnificent roads down to Tooma dam

From there it was a highish speed blast along themurray Valley highway to Tallangatta, where purely by chance we met up with the rest of the crew, who had literally rolled into town as Glen had run out of fuel once again. We then made our way into Mrtleford to meet Nev who had been banished to to travel down the highway. we set up camp the Sam & I headed off to the local pizza joint for a most excellent meal of Pizza & pasta

Apparently a couple of friends of mine, Richard and Pete are going to show us the scenic route to the big red tinnie in the morning.

Day 5 Myrteford - Devonport

Sorry no spot tracking to day as some idiot forgot to turn it on. :-(

Ever heard the saying " If you don't like the weather in Melbourne, wait ten minutes"? Thats exactly what happened to us today. We had everything from freezing rain to blustery winds and scorching heat.

Sam & I  rose early and packed up and just as well and no sooner had we done so it began to rain. We took some back roads through Carbour, then down to Whitfield for brekky.

Our plan was to head across to Mansfield then Bonnie Doon where we would meet our friends Richard, Pete, Doug & Rowan, who would take us the scenic route into Melbourne. We got there early and were just commenting on how serene the place was, when we realized we were at the wrong place. :-). We soon met up with the boys and off we went through the rain to such places as Buxton (home of the worlds biggest burger) Marysville and Reefton spur, which was great fun, even though it was a bit damp.

We stopped at the Reefton hotel, were we made a goats ass of ourselves as it was closed, so headed off for Warburton, where we had a fantastic pie.

Pete then led us off on a very scenic ride through the countryside to his house, which is the home of the WTF650.

The photo doesn't do this thing Justice. It is a Suzuki DL650 that Pete bought as a wreck and he has spent hundreds of hours transforming it into a work of art. The fit and finish is amazing and all hand made,

We drooled over it for a while then headed off to meet the others at the Ferry terminal in St Kilda. They were doing it tough when we found them, drinking beer on the beach.

Don't know wy they are looking so sad sack in this pic.

Then it was on to the boat

The staff were all very friendly and efficient and our bikes were soon tied down safely. Sam & I were lucky to score an upgrade to a room with a view (we had only book seats) thanks to a friend of ours. Thanks Hamish :-) and we settled in to our comfortable room before heading off for a huge dinner and a couple of beers. The first part of the trip across the bay was smooth sailing, but as we left the heads the seas picked up and there was quite a swell. We decided that bed was the best place to be and Sam was asleep with in minutes.

 

 

 

Day 6 Devonport-Burnie Via Cradle Mountain

You would think that today is Sam's birthday based on the amount of sleep in time she had. She had obviously worn herself out wandering the decks looking for our room after she had forgotten the room number.

I was up early to begin my midlife crisis wandering around the decks aimlessly checking out the cabin less and piss wrecks.

The boat docked in Devonport right on time and we were soon down to the lower decks to load up the bikes and we went to a nearby cafee to have Brekky. $12 all you can eat. woohoooo :-)

Sam & I left the others to their  breakfast and headed off to Sheffield to check out the murals for which the town is famous for.

 The detail that goes into these murals is amazing and most buildings in the town have one.

From there we headed up into the mountains and also the change in weather. At this stage we hadn't had too much rain it was a great day to be out on the bike. Sam was getting sick of sitting on the back of the bike , so when we came across this gem, she was off.

 
We headed up range towards Cradle Mountain and before to long we had to stop to put on our wets. not becuase it was raining, but because the snow & sleet was getting a bit much. Any sane person would have turned around and headed back down the mountain, but no not us....we're adventure riders. ;-)

We made it to  the Car park and caught a fleeting glimpse of the snow capped mountain before we decided that enough was enough and a coffee was in order.

Waratah was next on the list, but unfortunatly the pub was closed, so we took a quick pic of the falls in the park and set off for Hellyer gorge.

It was too early to head to Burnie to meet up with the others,
so we took some fantastic back roads and stumbled across Guide falls which was an unexpected bonus

From there we headed back towards Ulverston then the coast road to Burnie, where booked into a cabin as we were looking forward to a big night.

Burnie - Strahan via Western Explorer

So happy new year. How was your night? We spent the night in the camp kitchen of the van park  freezing our bums off and drinking beer. Was a great night.

We had a bit of a sleep in this morning, before packing our gear and bidding farewell to the other guys. We are on our own from here as they have an extra week in Tassie, so we need to move a bit quicker than them. We set off up the Bass highway and took a look at Table cape then headed into Stanley for breakfast.

 

Stanley was a very interesting place with some really cool looking old buildings. We just happened to pick a cafe that was also a chocolate shop and Sam was like a kid in a candy store. They even had all the lollies in the old glass jars on the wall. Brought back a lot of memories, The wind was blowing a gale, so we decided against heading up what they call the Nut, A large headland that is the main feature of Stanley.

The breakfast was fantastic, then we headed over to Smithton, which was surprisingly unremarkable. Perhaps we missed something, but we did head up to the town lookout to take in the view. It was then a dirt back road to Marrawah, which is right on the Nth west coast. The surf was huge and there were quite a few surfers, which surprised us considering, how cold it was. They breed em tough down here.

It is 14 klm's from Murrawah to Aurthur river and along the way there are these strange road signs. Not quite sure what they mean. Do the roos here use cars as bodybuilding weights or is theree something more lewd going on. I tell ya these Taswegions are a strange lot. :-)

Aurthur River isn't the end of the world, but the edge of the world is just near it.

I checked the weather at Aurthur river and the forecast was for gale force winds, Hail
and rain.......Perfect conditions to travel down one of Tasmania's most remote roads/tracks the Western Explorer. Everyone we spoke to said that we should go back around the road way, but I was determine to at least go and have a look. The 160 klm's of road itself turned out to be fine apart from a couple of slippery patches. It was the weather that was the problem, with freezing sleet and howling winds making it all great fun. Well I thought so anyway, Sam wanted to take to me with the tomahawk. It was all worth though as the views are spectacular,,,,When you can see em through the rain and cloud that is.

  

Soon we arrived at Corinna, which is a quaint little village on the banks of the Pie-man river, which must be crossed by the Fatman Barge.

We would have stayed here except is was fully booked out, so after a quick look around it was onto the barge, where a special procedure must be followed before boarding.

The fatman talking to the Pieman

There was no reason that I could see to Stop in Zeehan, so we didn't. In fact I would be surprised if anyone ever stopped in Zeehan.

Zeehan to Strahan was a high speed blast on an excellent road. We decided that it was too cold to camp and were lucky to get the last available bed in town at the backpackers. Pretty cool little hut it is too.

Tomorrow is tourist day, 

Strahan Rest day

Today was to be a rest day, but it didn't quite work out like that. We headed into town and had breakfast, then had  a jet boat ride that took us up the King river, then a 4wd trip to one of the few remaining rainforest's that contains Huon pine. The walk & talk was very interesting and I learned a lot about this endangered tree. For instance did you know that a huon pine can live to be over 1800 years old and even when one has fallen in the forest it can last for hundreds and hundreds of years. I know interesting hey! If you need to know anything else about Huon pine ,I'm your man, just post a comment and i'll get right back to you.

We also checked out the old tourist train that travels from Strahan to Queenstown.

We had thought about doing a Gordon river cruise, but the thought of spending the day trapped on aa boat with 300 Japanese Tourists nearly had me in tears, so we have decided to do a seaplane tour in the morning instead. More expensive but much safer for everyone. We had the afternoon free, so we rode up to the Henty sand dunes and did a quad bike tour, which was a lot of fun.

Then it was back into Strahan via the Ocean Beach and Macquarie heads, which was beautiful, but the peacefulness was shattered by some moron doing big skids and wheelies on the beach. ;-)

Sorry campers :-)

Then it was back to town to check into another cabin. We had dinner with Richard & Sandi, a lovely couple from Sth Australia riding a Triump Tiger and who we will be riding with to morrow.

 

Day 9 Strahan-Derwent bridge via Roseberry

What an awesome day we had today. Sam & i got up early and had breakfast then had another quick look around before we heading for the seaplane office, Only to discover that the other people that had booked to go on our plane had canceled. Luckily Richard & Sandi stepped up and the trip was on.

it was a great flight with the highlight being the landing in the Franklin/Gordon river gorge, site of the massive protest over a proposed dam back in the eighty's. We also took a short walk to Sir Johns falls.

 

 
After returning to Strahan we hit the road for some of the best riding I have ever done. We went up to Roseberry to check out Stitt Falls then the lake Plimsole road which was just amazing.

Ricard's Tiger has this trick little trailer and is surprising how well it handles the twisty's

In Queenstown, we once again met up with the Steam train that travels across from Strahan, Then headed u to the town lookout for some piccies of the weird landscape caused by the raping and pillaging of the mining operations.

 

Then it was off on the awesome road towards Derwent Bridge, through some spectacular scenery including snow capped mountains. It was unbelievable and also bitterly cold. We broke the trip up with a very worthwhile short walk to the beautiful Nelson Falls.

 Then into Derwent Bridge were we booked a room at th pub as it is too cold to camp.

 

Day 10 Derwent Bridge- Hobart Via Strathgordon

We awoke to blue sunny skies for the first time today, but it was still very cold. We said goodbye to Richard & Sandi. We will be meeting up with them again later in the trip. The Tarraleagh power station was our breakfast stop, then across to the Mt Field National park where we went for a walk to the spectacular Russell falls.

 

We refueled in Maydena and were met by a heap of sports bike riders. These idiots then continued to terrorize everyone on the road by passing cars at huge speeds frightening the crap out of the drivers and  then coming back towards them on the wrong side of the road. I was really expecting to come across one wrapped around a tree. Its no wonder bike riders cop a bad wrap with dick heads like this on the roads. Anyway to the road up to the Gordon dam was spectacular ( except for the gravel mid corner )and the dam equally so, except that every time I went close to the railing I was overcome with vertigo, while Sam pranced around hanging over the edge.

  
 
 

  

We had a quick lunch at the lake Pedder resort, then headed for Hobart.

Along the way we came across some Greenies protesting about saving the Rainforest's and reducing carbon levels. Interestingly they were all driving gas guzzling old vans...not a prius or a bicycle in sight.

As the weather was holding up, we decided that a trip up to mt  Wellington was in order. The views from up there are amazing and the photo's don't do it Justice. The ride up is great fun as well. This is a must do if you come to Hobart.

From there we went on a bit of a tour around the CBD then headed to Snug where we grabbed a cabin. Tomorrow will be spent looking around the city and meeting some friends for lunch.

 

Day 11 Hobart - Hobart

We had a bit of a lie in this morning before doing  some washing and stuff and  then headed south for a bit of a tour around the Cygnet Peninsular. This part of Tassie is very pretty with lots of vineyards and cherry farms,Of course the views to the southern ocean are amazing and there are also some spectacular houses over looking the bays and we saw a couple that were right within our budget and quite a few that were way out of it. This one would be in it but would need a bit of work.

This one would be Ok as well

We would need to enlist the services of the local Glazier of course, but i am not so sure he could be trusted, considering he doesn't use his own products

We then headed into the Huon valley through some awesome country side and fun roads.

The local council has very conveniently placed small amenity blocks along the road, but the only problem is whenever you need to go a bloody bus pulls up.

Others featured comfy beds to rest on while you waited for our bus.

Then it was back into Hobart to meet our friends Dan, Leigh and Sarah for lunch at Salamanca Square.

Was great to catch up with Leigh again and our time with he & Sarah was all to brief, but they said they may come and meet us somewhere up north later in the week, which would be fantastic. Dan had to go back to work, but he has very kindly offered for us to stay at his house, so we decided to go on a bit of tour around then meet back at his place a little later.

We headed off in no particular direction and over the famous Tasman bridge before stumbling across the historic town of Richmond. Home to to Australia's oldest bridge and also a very cool pub.

 
 

Opussum bay sounded like an interesting place to visit so thats where we headed and we wer'nt disappointed. along the way we came across some more suitable real estate.

  Its got me stuffed how they keep the wind out in winter.

The beach houses in the bay were ok, but not a patch on some of the previous ones we had seen.

 

Take a look at this dump. How could anyone live here?

We then refueled at Ye Old Shoppe, be fore heading to Dan's house, which is right on the beach. Dans wife Rosanne cooked us up an awesome feast of Lasagna, we had a few beers and talked for a few hours, then exhaustion set in and we collapsed in bed. So much for having an easy day.

Tomorrow, Dan & Rosanne are leading us  on a ride to Cockle Creek, which is as far south as you can travel on the road in Australia. Dan probably wont take the Beta as it is safely stored in the lounge room. :-)

Day 12 Hobart to Hobart via Tahine airwalk

Holy crap what a day we had to day. We woke to a bright blue sunny sky and I went for a short walk along the beach in front of Dan & Rosann's place.

 

Then Dan led us in too town where we had brekky and met Wayne who would be joining us on his DL650

We then headed back through the Huon Valley, with our plan to visit the Tahune Air walk and then on to Cockle beach, the most southerly point in Australia you can reach by road.

We traveled through the very scenic valley,and Wayne seemed a little confused about which way we should go .

There was some friendly discussion

 

Then Dan took us up to some pine plantations, which is where disaster struck, when I got a bloody flat tyre. Fortunately I had some repair wicks with us, and it wasn't long before we were on our way again, only to discover the tyre flat again after just a few kays.

The culprit was a small sharp stone, that would end up causing us and me in particular grief for the rest of the day. We had to stop to reinsert new wicks about 3 times on the way to the Tahine airwalk.

 

After fixing the tyre there was some more confusion about the correct route.

Oh it had stated to rain by this time as well, which was great.

Then the tyre went flat again.

We finally made it to the Airwalk, which is a series of suspended walk ways above the rain forest. Vertigo raised its ugly head with me again.

The tyre had held up while we on our walk, but unfortunately we had lost too much time and the rain would have made the track to Cockle Creek to dangerous, so we made the call to head back to town via the main road. I was a little disappointed, but it just means we will have to come back some time. We would have to stop at least another 2 times to re patch the tyre, but eventually we made it to Joe's Garage, where we met up with Richard & Sandi again. Joe's garage is a motor sport themed bar in the centre of Hobart and the walls are full of all sorts of bike and car stuff.

 

Richard offered up a can of tyre repair gunk in a can, which didn't fix the tyre, but gave everyone a laugh anyway when it spurted straight out the whole and all over me.

Eventually we able to stick a couple more wicks in and we headed off with Dan in tow in his landcruiser, just in case we needed to throw  the bike on the back. we only had to stop 2 more times on the way home and on one of those stops were visited and questioned by two of Tasmania's's finest.

We finally made it home and I took the back wheel off and am a bit pissed that it is totally stuffed and I only got 4400klms from it. Am booked in to get a new tyre in the morning

Day 13 Hobart to Tasman Penisular

Sadly today was to be our last with Dan & Rosanne. Their hospitality has been overwhelming and we hope we can return the favour soon. But first we had to get a new tyre sorted. Dan dropped us off at the bike shop and one was quickly organized. While it was being fitted, we went for a walk around the city, then caught our luxury limo to the Cascade Brewery.

 

The tour was very interesting, but the best part was the free beer at the end.

With quire a few Kay's to do, we decided to call it quits and Rosanne very kindly came to pick us up, then the tyre and home to fit the wheel and get away.

Our destination was the Tasman Peninsular. It was a cruisy ride down the highway to our first stop the Tessellated paveway, which is a natural rock formation that looks like paver's have been laid.

The views along the coast were spectacular.

We checked out some of the other local attractions including Devils kitchen and the Tasman Arch

Also got to try one of the famous curried scallop pies, which wasnt as good as they are made out to be.

We then came across alittle fishing village called Dootown, where all the house names came the word Doo. You can use your imagination, but some included Xanadoo, Rum Doo, She'll Doo, Doolittle etc etc, but our favorite was this blokes place.

From there we headed towards Port Aurthur, but we didn't want to pay the extortion money to get in, so we settled for a couple of covert pics, taken from the bush nearby.

The lop around the Tasman Penisular is something special, and I reckon we should run our version of the Isle of Man Here. With a bit of work to the roads it would be awesome.

The beaches arnt bad either.

More of the awesome roads.

We had earlier in the day met up again with Richard & Sandi and had decided to book into some cheap Dongas ofr the night. This place was actually bit like wally world, but the beds are comfortable and clean.

We then had dinner at a nice cafe on a lake then headed back to bed where the rain is pouring down on our Tin Roof. Time for bed.

 

Day 14 Tarranna-Coles Bay

The overnight rain cleared  to a bright sunny day and we left wallyworld  in cold but clear conditions. We took the weingatta forest drive through some spectacular countryside through Rheban. The view reminded us of the Whitsunday's, only 30 degrees colder. Some of the old houses were awesome.

 

We had breakfast at a cafe  in Orford, which was fantastic. i had pancakes, Sam had chocolate.

We headed up through Swansea, then hit the Lake Leake rode, which was great fun. We had a beer at the lake Leake tavern then did the road back down again.

 
We stopped at the Spiky bridge for a look then headed off for Bicheno, via a winery or two, before we headed into Bicheno to stock up on some food to go with the wine. 

 

We then headed off towards the Freycinet peninsular. The views were reminiscent of Fraser island, but it was still very cold. Everywhere is booked  out, but we have managed to get a shared camp site in the caravan park and we set up camp then hooked into our olives and wine we had bought.

 

We were thinking about doing the 3 hour walk to wineglass bay, but have discovered you can do a 30 minute scenic flight for $95 so the decision was made to get pissed on the wine we bought and do the flight in the morning.

Day 15 Coles Bay - Bay of Fires

I jokingly sad to Sam this morning that today was going to be crayfish day. Little did I know what would happen latter in the day, but first we had a plane to catch. We had a little time, so we headed up the to the lighthouse lookout, from which you can see wineglass bay in the distance.

Then it was off to the the Frecinet Peninsular international airport for our 30 minute scenic flight over the bay and surrounding islands.

Our captain for the flight was the gorgeous 19 year old Katrina who is from Brisbane and down here on her first flying job.

 

It was an awesome flight and Katrina very kindly stretched it to about 45 minutes, which was great.

From there we headed up to Bicheno and this is where we had an amazing thing happen. as is often the case here, the people are very friendly and always want to have a chat and ask us about our travels. We were just about to head off when we met captain Frank a retired merchant seaman who has retired in Bicheno after spending his life sailing around the world. he was a very friendly old chap and some of his stories were probably crap, but they sounded good. I told him we were off to St Helen's to try and track down a crayfish to have for dinner. Capt Frank insisted that we follow him to his house where he gave us this huge crayfish he had caught yesterday. These things are worth about $65 and he wouldn't accept a cent from me. We couldn't believe it and spent some more time chatting to Capt Frank before sadly saying goodbye and heading of for the Famous elephant pass and the equally famous pancakes.

  
 

 

The pancakes were amazing and we were tempted to go off and do a loop and come back for more, but we resited the temptation.

We decided to do a loop out to rossarden for a look , so took off in the direction of St Mary's and avoca. We got fuel in St Mary's and met this old bloke who had just completed a lap around Australia on his BMW and said that next time he does it it will be on a Strom as he reckons there more reliable.....His words not mine.

The road out to Avoca and was more like a race track and we found $2 on a couple of occasions for those that know what I mean. :-)

There was a little bit of dirt t traverse before we hit the billiard table smooth racetrack....i mean road into Rossarden

 
We could here the fiddles playing as we rolled into Rossarden, where the main activity seems to be burning down each others houses and shops, but at least the evening meal is easy to catch as it is in the main street.

  
 

 
Tassie is definitely a place of stark contrasts, with beautiful scenery on one side of the road and then total destruction on the other side.

There are some beautiful old buildings

 We took a short cut up an old logging track and ended up in Mathinna for an ice cream....What else would you do in Mathinna

From there it was back towards st Mary's and down the spectacular St Mary's pass into St Helen's and Binnalong bay, where we found a nice picnic spot to demolish the Cray fish given to us by Captain Frank

 

If you happen to read this Capt Frank, thanks for making this day one of the more memorable of the trip.

We then set off in to the bay of fires conservation park, where we set up camp and I got to work bringing you this update. tomorrow we are going to get a pig pissed. :-)

Day 16 Bay of Fires - Launceston

Our camp at Swimcart beach was fantastic and it would have been nice to stay for a day or two, but we had to keep moving. But not before we had a swim in the freezing southern ocean. I tell ya it was bloody cold and there was some serious contraction and expansion going on in places that i didn't even know expanded or contracted, but it had to be done.

 

hen it was out on the sandy track back into St Helen's for breakfast.

The pub in the paddock was our next destination and Sam enjoyed feeding Priscilla a beer

we then took some great fun back roads towards Ringarooma, just cause it sounded good and stopped at the Welborough pub for a beer.

The Weldborogh pub is right in the middle of the Weldborough Pass which is a stage on the Targa Tasmania and a great piece of road it is.

We rode several roads today that are used in the Targa, which was great fun. this area is also popular with trout fisherman and there are some absolute monsters around.

Then it was into Scottsdale for fuel and up  to Bridport and the loop past some local wineries to stock up before we a look around Georgetown and Low head, which is the mouth of the Tamar river.

From there we crossed the River to take a quick look at the infamous Beaconsfield, before we headed to Launceston to meet up with Leigh & Sarah, who had driven up from Hobart to spend the night with us which was brilliant.

Sarah had booked us into the flashiest backpackers we had ever seen but we soon made our selves feel at home by spreading our crap around the room, then we went to a very nice Italian restaurant for dinner and quite a few too many drinks. :-)

 
 
 
 

Tomorrow is our final Tassie and we intend to make the most of it.
 

Day 17 Launceston- Devonport

As I mentioned we were determined to make the most of our last day on Tassie. After burying our noses in the trough that was the all you can eat buffet breakfast we packed up and headed for Ben Lomond, which is Tassies one and only ski resort. The road up is known as Jacobs Ladder and consists of a series of switchbacks with loose slippery gravel. It was quite an effort to get the bike up without crashing on the ice like road. Would be very interesting to do it when covered in snow.

The rock formations were amazing.

 We had a warming coffee at the pub at the resort then stated the scary descent back down Jacobs Ladder.

I was keen to give Liigh's flash SS Ute a bit of sideways action on the hill, but Leigh wasn't very keen

I think he did have fun though.

Although he was complaining about getting his baby dirty :-)

The roads and the scenery continued to amaze us. There was something interesting around every corner and the riding today was probably some of the best we have done.

We headed up the Poatina pass for an area known as the highland lakes, which is a series of huge lakes perched on a plateau. The lakes are very popular with trout fisherman and a series of shacktowns has sprung up over the years, with hundreds of old and some new weekender shacks.

We visited one of these shack towns known as Flintstone and many of the shacks had names to suit.

$350 000 will buy you this shack

 

At Miena we pulled into a fishing hunting lodge and this is where we said goodbye to Leigh & Sarah. It was great to spend the weekend with them and really good to see Leighh again. Lets not make it so long this time mate. oh and  give that bloody Ute of yours a clean will ya :-)

We would deerly (sic) have loved to hang around a bit, but the A5 to Deloraine beckoned and we had no idea what we were in for. The road starts as a good quality gravel track that closely parallels one of the great lakes then transforms into one of the best motorcycling roads in Australia.

We stopped too take in the view and then it was straight back into it. Some of the best riding I have ever done.

A quick stop at the very pretty Deloraine and then it was onto Mole Ck for afternoon tea, where we met a bunch of good old boys out for their regular Sunday ride.

We even came across a full size Tassie devil.

Right to the very end the roads continued to impress with the run into Devonport throwing as good as any we have ridden in the past 2 weeks.

It was like riding in Paradise. ( well 3 klms from it at least)

We ordered a pizza from one of the waterfront cafes and just as it came to the table our big red taxi came into view.

The bikes were strapped in and then we made our way to or salubrious accommodation. Not as flash as the trip over but it will do for one night.

And so ends our much anticipated trip to Tasmania. We have loved every minute of it. We met some amazing people, made some new friends and saw some stunning country side. The weather wasn't always the best but it didn't stop us from doing anything we had wanted except for the run down to Cockle Creek, but a plan is a foot for a fly in weekender to tick that one off. It truly has been a fantastic 2 weeks, but it doesn't end there. we still have a week to go before we settle back into mundaneness. Tomorrow is the great ocean ride. Stay tuned for an up date to morrow ( if we can get our batteries for the camera and computer charged somewhere.)
 

Day 18 Melb-Cape Otway

It was actually quite a comfortable night on the boat despite the fact that we were sleeping on the tables. Melbourne came into view with Drizzle & cloud, but it was soon to burn off into a spectacular day

We said our final goodbyes to Richard & Sandi, who were off home to Adelaide. They were a great couple and we hope we will meet them again sometime in the future.

We decided that rather than battle the Melbourne traffic we would head down to Sorrento and take the ferry across to Queenscliffe for ur run down the great ocean road.

It was a great cruise across the Bay and we got buzzed by a couple of other boats

The Great ocean road is a spectacular site, but was full of retards in rent a rockets, that travel at 30 klm/h and refuse to use the turnout lanes. so we decided that an early morning stealth run was in order to morrow, so that we could have a crack at it at least at the speed limit. The views however made up for any disappointment.

This is how bad some of the drivers were.

We decided to stay the night in the Cape Otway national park and grabbed a luxury resort suite at the caravan park.

And headed off for a look at Port Cambell and the 12 apostles, which is actually more like 5 1/2 apostles, with one of those looking decidedly shaky.

 

 

 

The long days make it possible to squeeze a lot in ( the sun isn't setting till about 9 pm) but buy this time we were totally shattered and headed back to Chateau shit box. which was actually quite comfortable)

Sam loved the Koala's which live in the trees just outside the van.

I though they tasted horrible. :-))))))))))

In the morning our stealth run back along the GOR

Day 19 Cape Otway- Wilsons Promotory

We had to dodge a bit of wildlife on the way out od Cape Otway, but other than that the road was virtually empty and the view's as good as ever.

We had a great run back along the GOR and seeing as we had been told that Mr Plod sleeps in on Tuesdays we were able to have a bit of fun. All up a huge thumbs up. (or should that be wheel up?)

We found a  really good cafe in Anglsea and some breakfast. It even had the exact same entertainment system we had when i was a kid. Very cool.

By the time we reached the Geelong- Melbourne freeway the temps were rising and for the first time on thee trip I was glad I had a vented jacket. We decided to escape the heat with a visit to the excellent Point Cook RAAF Museum. Entry is free and I highly recommend it if you are remote interested in aircraft.

  
 
From there it was a boring run down the freeway in searing heat. We had to stop on several occasions to buy icy poles.

 

The heat and the traffic were causing more than temps to rise. (what is it with Victorians refusing to keep left unless overtaking?) So we decided to divert for a toilet stop at Koo-WEE-rup, but couldn't find any so headed for POOwong. (hee hee hee get it Wee & Poo in the names.......Oh never mind :-))))

A bonus was the wood carvings and also the excellent roads.

The Poowong pool looked pretty inviting.

But we had to get moving to our destination for the night which was Wilson's Promontory. we passed through Fish river, where the locals appear to be into some weird things with seals.

I had no idea Wilson's prom was so spectacular and popular. The camp grounds were all booked out so we checked into a cabin at Yanakie, then headed into the national park for a look and a swim.

(sorry no bum shots here, we didn't want to scare the kiddies) :-)

 

Sam loved the wombats which roam freely all around te place.

I thought they tasted terrible. :-))))))))))

The sun was setting, so it was back to the cabin for dinner. Temps are forecast to reach 40 degrees tomorrow, so we are heading for the mountains, to try and escape the heat.

Day 20 Wilsons Prom-Delegate

There was no interesting way that I could see from Wilson's Prom in the direction we wanted to go, so it was a bit of a boring run up the Grassland highway, we made a couple of diversions along the way, such as Agnes falls and the swing bridge at Sale. There were heaps of roadworks, which slowed us up a bit.

 

Our timing was impeccable as they were doing some maintenance on the bridge and we got to see it in action, which usually only happens on special occasions.

We thought Hollands landing on lake Victoria might be an interesting stop, but we were wrong. We did however meet all the locals and had a bit of a chat.

 

The mayor of the place was the only one missing as he was at home drunk apparently.

The heat was unbelievable. It was like riding in a blast furnace, so we decided to head for the mountains, where hopefully we could escape the 40 degree + temps.

First stop was Buchan, where it was buchan hot, so we bought a buchan ice cream. We went for a look at the Buchan caves and then hit the road out which was buchan awesome. :-)))  (sorry I couldn't help myself )

Our next stop was the amazing  Seldom Seen road house. It is owned by a weirdo couple who have collected all sorts of crap and turned it into art. (very loosely termed)We met Rosemary who is as mad as a cut snake and had a bit of a look a round. This place was totally destroyed by the fires in 2003 and Dave had to actually jump in his dam to save his own life.

we could have spent hours looking at all the stuff at Seldom Seen, but it was still stinking hot and we needed a swim, so it was off to McKillops Bridge for a refreshing dip in the Snowy River.

  

McKillops bridge was built in the 1930's and was designed to withstand the huge forces of the Snowy River when the snow melts, however just 11 days before its official opening a huge deluge washed it away and the current bridge was built in its place. Bet some engineer got his ass kicked for that little fopar. :-)

The excellent Delegate hotel was our stopped for the night. Graham the publican put us straight into the honeymoon suite, which was nice of him and Daniella kept the beers coming all night.,

 

DAY 21 Delegate- Kiama

The coast seemed  like a good idea to try and escape the heat and it was quite pleasant to just set the cruise control, crank up the music and just cruise into Bombala then Merimbula. The coastal road from tathra to Bermagui was great fun.

 

We took a look at some of the local attractionw along the way.

We had to call into Mystery bay because the Robert G Barret (Les Norton)  book I am currently reading is based in Narooma and Mystery Bay.

In Unadulla we came across ths wierd looking boat, known as Earthrace. It runs on Biodiesel and hold the record for circling the globe. (60 days I think it was). well i thought it was interesting anyway. ;-)

from there it was a liesurely cruise into Kiama, where we checked into a dodgy motel for an early night. Tomorrow is going to be a big day on the bike.

Day 22 Kiama- Comboyne

The objective today was to stay of the evil Highway 1 as much as possible. With this in mind after we checked out the Kiama Blow hole, which unfortunately wasn't blowing today, we plotted a track up the Jamberoo pass and then back down the brilliant Macqauarie pass. This  put us a grand total of about 10klms up the road after doing about 50. I told you I was good at short cuts. :-)

From there we headed into Wollongong and had breakfast at the harbour, which was really nice.

We then headed up the amazingly spectacular grand Pacific drive which hugs the coast and takes in the Sea lCiff Bridge. The scenery was absolutely stunning and wee stopped to check out the Para gliders.

 

I also learnt something new today..........

The next destination was the Royal national grand prix circuit.....um er I mean National park :-)

 Unfortunately we had then had to do battle with the Traffic of shitney. We had a road rage incident, when a jerk in a van thought it would be fun to squeeze us up when we tried to merge......Anyway I very politely pointed out the errors of his ways and offered to shove my boot up his ass, which he declined and speed off. Feeling much better we continued on for the old pacific highway, again in an effort to avoid the dreaded highway one.

 

The old pacific highway has for years  been a favorite haunt of Sydney bike riders and even though it is now severely speed restricted it is still a nice ride. We had to have a pie at The famous Pie In the Sky.

 

We would have liked to stop at the Road Warriors cafe, but we were a month too late, having been shut down a month before. apparently it is going to reopen at some stage in the future.

it was then into Gosford and out through the Entrance before checking out some of the big thingies at Newcastle.

Then it was into great lakes country.

 
At Forster we decided to go for a short walk to check out the beach

I shoulda brought my 640 :-)))))

We were very tempted to spend the night in Forster and I was keen to check out the Big BUZZ fun park, but our Friends Donna & David had a lamb roast waiting for us in Comboyne and it was getting late.

In fact we got caught out by thee shorter days up here and one fo mt famous short cuts was in order. This had us lost in the Comboyne state forest in the dark and the lamb roast was getting cold.

But at least we weren't on the evil highway 1

Oh and then the weather closed in and it started to rain, But eventually we made it to Donna & Davids and had an awesome roast dinner. Thanks guys, it was a great feed after some of th crap we have been eating.

Tomorrow is the final day of our trip and it looks like its going to be a wet run over the Oxley and waterfall way, but we are coming back down for Donna & Davids wedding, so we will have another crack at it then, Final update coming.

Day 23 Comboyne - Home

As they say its not over till the fat lady sings and never has a truer word been spoken. A day of high drama, but more on that later.

Our final day and as suspected the rain had set in. We had breakfast at the cafe in town, which opened up early especially for us which was nice.

We had a couple of pucker moments on the diesel soaked road on the Oxley highway, but I have been wearing the same undies for a week, so a few extra marks wont matter. ;-)

We stopped for fuel and coffee at the Ginger Creek cafe

Then rode through the rain to Walcha, Uralla and in Armidale where we came across this couple of enterprising kids selling Apple cakes on the side of the road. They were trying to raise money to buy some musical instruments for the band they had put together and I  thought it was pretty cool to see kids doing something for their money. We slung em a couple of bucks and wished them well.

We stopped at the excellent Fusspots cafe in Ebor for lunch and then another quick stop at Russell Crowes Nymboydia Hotel where we met this guy, who swore black & Blue that his name was Pappy Smear. Not sure if thats true or not, but he was certainly a funny bugger.

The weather cleared nicely for our run over the ranges on the way to Grafton and thats when we had the scariest moment of the trip.

About 10 k south of Grafton at Coutts crossing we were cruising along at about 90klm/h when from out of nowhere jumped Skippy the dickhead Kangaroo, who had decided a game of chicken was on. He sprang across in front of us and i swerved left . Skippy the dickhead Kangaroo then performed a perfect 180 and came back at us.  Dickhead and I locked eyes and I think that we formed a special bond at that very moment......Then we smashed into him, sending dickhead spiraling through the sky. I have no idea how we didn't crash. I managed to hang onto the bike even though we launched some 50 feet.....oh ok maybe 2 feet....through the air. Skippy the dickhead had struck the bike on the right side, with the front wheel, rear brake and my foot taking the bulk of the force. I initially thought I had broken my foot the pain was so intense, but its ok and just a bit bruised and banged up. Dickhead didn't fare so well.

 

I am going to miss Skippy the Dickhead kangaroo as I honestly feel we became good friends.

Amazingly the only damage to the bike was a bent rear brake pedal which I was able to straighten out and a bit of dickheads fur and guts spread about. There was even some of dicheads fur on Sam's boot.

 

I was able to straighten the brake pedal, took a couple of pain killers and we set off gingerly up highway one. (my new favorite bit of road)

Obviously we were very lucky. It could have been much much worse and we arrived home at around 9pm very tired but glad to be back after an amazing trip.

So there it is 23 days 10 000klms and some of the best times we have ever had. The pain in my foot will pass, but we will never forget this trip. We met some fantastic people, caught up with some old friends and generally had a great time. At times the weather seemed to be against us, but in hindsight it didn't stop us from doing anything we wanted to do (except for Cockle Ck but I have a plan for that) and in fact I reckon the dodgy weather added to the whole experience. Tasmania is an amazing place and i would recommend it to anyone, particularly if you are a bike rider, the roads are just brilliant. And so are the people. Whenever 3e stopped people would come up for  a chat and who could forget Captain Frank and his crayfish, which he gave to us without a second thought.

We hope you have enjoyed coming along on our holiday, we received dozens of emails, comments, texts etc and while we didn't always respond, we did read them all and had a good laugh at some of them. Oh  and yes I do have more photos of Sam Naked and no you cant see them. :-)

[Incidentally we just found out that a 13 year old girl was attacked by a great white at the very beach we were at just last Sunday, which is kinda freaky. Fortunately she is ok.]

 I will load all our pics into the photo album over the next few weeks ( Snappy Sam took over 3000 pics) so make sure you take a look.

So whats next I hear you ask? We are already planning for new Zealand, this time next year and hopefully USA /Canada mid 2010

I also hope to have a run on the 640 through the Flinders Ranges and SA in May and Buzz is talking about a ride next weekend and the boys are heading to Minnie waters and and and and I'm off to soak my ass in a bath full of Paw Paw Cream....

See Yas