Finally, the November 2021 "Not a Ride" report

Hi all, sorry, it's about a year late

https://nswbandits.forumotion.net/t7026p25-tasmania-november-2021


After not being able to guarantee our return into SA after Davo1063 and I took the extreme decision to cancel the ferry, cancel the first 2 nights in Ararat, delete the Grampians and country Victorian leg of our planned trip and fly into Hobart 2 days earlier than we had originally planned on landing in Tasmania.
Flights into Hobart were much cheaper than Launceston, as was car hire.
It was decided to modify a couple of our original planned days and head straight up the middle past Great Lakes and stay at Cradle Mountain for 2 nights before picking up our original itinerary the day we left there
We had not planned on staying at Cradle Mountain as it was going to be too much to carry suitable hiking/walking gear as well as everything we needed to squeeze onto the 2 bikes, a SUV made it a breeze

Day 1 

Adelaide - Hobart - Cradle Mountain

after an early flight we landed in Hobart, Taxi to the city to pick up a shiny red "not a motorbike" loaded our gear, bought a cheap esky and some freezer bricks and we were on our way



I didn't take too many shots that day, here's one at the great lake with our "not a Bandit/not a motorbike" 











the roads that could have been.........

I think everytime we saw a bike it was a unanimous "bastard" from us



Day 2 

We spent the day exploring the area, caught the shuttle bus, did a few of the shorter walks etc, it is a truely beautiful place and one of the reasons that by the time the trip was over we had partially forgiven COVID for not allowing travel back into SA













Cradle mountain accomadation?
* The most basic we had for the trip, it was a shared bunk house, it was also the most expensive we had per night

Suprisingly, the food at the tavern was resonably priced, and the Chicken Schnitys, OMG, bloody awesome!!



Day 3

We headed from Cradle Mountain up to Burnie where for the first time we joined our intented route by bike

On my last trip with Gus we didn't head West of Burnie, this time with the forest loop fully sealed we had intended to do that on 2 wheels, would I go back on 2 wheels and do it again? In a heart beat!!



Burnie







Stanley







Wild West Coast

















That night we stayed in Smithton, the Air bNb was nice, a little appartment on top of a car port/shed, modern, clean and relatively cheap split between 2







We finally got our 1st feed of seafood in Tasmania, what a disapointment, it was less than average at best, travel tip, when in Smithton, the Fish and Chip shops are crap!!


I'll try and get a few more days up over the weekend

Some lovely shots there mate.
Am tossing around the idea of a trip down there probably around mid Oct till mid Nov 23
Need to sort out a few other trips first, could be Feb 24 yet.

Day 4

Smithton - Hellyer Gorge - Waratah (where we had originaly intended to stay at the Bischoff Hotel like Baz and I did in 2018. An extended day saw us take in Reece Dam and Queenstown before heading back Nort to Tullah for a night in an AirBnB house







Hellyer Gorge









Waratah, I highly recomend the pub to stay at if you are over there, it has a dedicated bike shed (locked) with dry racks for boots, hanging space for jackets and a drying cabinet for wet weather gear









Reece Dam













Quenstown and the road out towards Hobart

Day 5, 

Tullah to Strahan, not a long day but a lot to see on the way including the amazing West Coast Heritage Museum at Tullah




Early morning walk in Tullah







The blue house was our airBnB for the night



Zeehan











Hogarth Falls



Strahan

While disapointed not being on the bikes, we were able to do a lot of things that would have been too hard if we were riding

Day 6

Strahan and the Gordon River Cruise, what an amazing experience!!

Day 7

Strahan to Queenstown/Heritage Railway to Ouse

More nice pics, thanks Chook, will definitely have to figure out a date. The oval looks the same today as in 1985 when I was there last.

Day 8


Ouse - Gordon Dam - Richmond

This was a day that we were thankful not to be on the bikes, if we were ir would have been cancelled and we would have headed straight for Richmond, it was cold, bitterly cold and it rained, it pourded, and then it rained some more. At times it was miserable to just get out of the car



 

Day 9

Richmond - Port Arthur 



It would have been miserable on the bikes if we had them there. We drove on roads that morning that were covered in ice, we arrived at Port Arthur pretty much first and it was freezing with piles of hail stones in the corners of buildings

What a magnificent place, we were there from open to close and still didn't quite get to everything. If I ever do it again I think I'd stay in the area an extra night and spend at least 1 1/2 days there

Day 10

Port Arthur









Saltwater Bay historic site

















Tasmans Arch















The Dog line



Tesselated pavement





View from our airBnB in Hobart (Nelson) for a few nights

Day 11

Tahune Forest walk, Hastings Caves



































Hastings Caves

Day 12

A cold start to the day at Mt Wellington (IIRC around -10 C)a drive through the picturesque Huan Valley and visit form member Gus

















Some of Gus's handy work, a man of many talents

Day 13 

Hobart sight seeing













One of the many Australian Pubs alledging to be the oldest, either way, it was old and has a very interesing museum upostairs as we found out on our last day in Tasmania while having lunch there



I didn't get a decent shot of the tower from outside, a very intersting place and so long as heights and closed spaces dont bother you, well worth the climb to the top

Day 14

Hobart to Bischeno, Campbell Town and Launceston

This was a day we modified after leaving the bikes home, we were meant to go up the middle through great lakes but did that on our 1st extra day at the start instead

Day 15

Hobart - Bridport - Low Head - Beaconsfield - Hillwood 

A nice mornings drive up to Bridport, across to Low Head, then onto Beaconsfield to vist the Mine Heritage Centre before catching up with barry_mcki, his lovely wife and their puppies for tea

Day 16

Lilydale falls, St Columbus Falls, St Helens

Day 17


Mole Crek, King Solomons Cave, National Motor Museum of Tasmania

I can't recall all of the roads we did that day, I hadn't saved the route and tried as best as my rapidly fading memory to recreate it

The terrace house with the yellow doors was our airBnB in Launceston's CBD

Day 18 

Launceston, Ross, Oatland to Hobart

This would have been the day we left Launceston on the bikes for Devonport and the ferry to Melboune, instead we headed down the middle to Hobart for another night in an apartment on the edge of the water in Glenorchy. The hosts live in the house above, the gentleman was left with our esky, ice bricks and any left overs. It was just around the corner from the Cadbury factory, unfortunatly tours ceased during covid

Day 19

It was time to bid Tasmania farewell, we had a few hours to kill after dropping off the rental in the morning so we headed off in different directions, catching up for lunch at the claimed "oldest licenced pub in Australia"

Would I do it again?

In a heart beat, but back on 2 wheels next time.

Do I regret not being on the bikes?

No, not at all. While I did on day 1, a bit on day 3, we got to do and see so many things that would not have been possible on the bikes, in some respects, perhaps it was a blessing as I may have never done it in a tin top otherwise. We also had some aweful riding weather, if I was on the bike, the Gordon Dam leg would have been cancelled due to the weather, we would have ridden in snow and hail on the way to Pt Arthur. We would have spent halfd the trip drying out our gear in th ewettest spring most locals could remember.



19 days, 18 nights, 4414km, $655 in petrol (split between 2), a lifetime of memories.