Tour of Tassie 2018

Part 1 getting to the Apple Isle


1st day Getting there,  Adelaide – Horsham – Melbourne  –  Devonport

I’ve done Adelaide to Melbourne in a day quite a few times before, it’s a long boring ride but very doable. I decided with the 5:30pm checkin for the Spirit of Tasmania there was no point in busting my arse and chancing something going wrong so I decided to break the ride in Horsham for the night then head off through the Grampians on the way to Melbourne, that was the plan anyway. ........................................

The week leading up to leaving Adelaide the forecast for those 2 days was climbing higher and higher I rang the pub I was booked into and asked was there any chance of a early check in, all good, anytime after 10:00am


Day 1 Home (Adelaide to Horsham)





I was all packed up the night before, up at 4:00am, down to the gym for a walk, light back/core session and a stretch before breakfast and a shower.

By 6:15 I was riding out my driveway Horsham bound, the temperature was already warm but not unpleasant, by Murray Bridge it was starting to warm up and at about 8:00 am I pulled over at Coonalpyn for a stretch, coffee and another look at the Silo Mural, it was already 27 degrees



Back on the bike, about a ½ hour up the road I saw a couple of former work colleagues so stopped and said g’day,  a further ½ hour on and it was time quick fuel/stretch/rehydration stop at Bordertown, the temperature was already over 30 at just after 9:00 am

Back on the bike and it was bloody hot, by the time I got to Nhill I had to get my helmet and jacket off for a while and drink up.

Just after Midday I rolled into the White Hart Hotel in Horsham, it was already 36 degrees, I tucked the bike away in the grog shed for the night and spent the next ½ hour in a tepid shower followed by a cold lemon squash and a attempted walk down the main shopping strip, @ 38 degrees and windy that lasted about a whole 5 minutes.






2nd day getting there,  Horsham to the Spirit of Tasmania

After a very hot night with just a fan in the room I headed down to the gym about 150 meters away at 4:30am, I couldn’t get the bike out of the shed until 7:00, by then I had emptied my room and had all my gear outside ready to load up and go.





Nothing other than Macca’s was open at 7:00 so I headed straight to Ararat for a refuel then a feed, from there it was one more stop for a stretch at Rockbank on Melbourne’s outskirts.
The ride into Melbourne started off pretty easy then I hit the Westgate Carpark, FFS, why have an “expressway” if it doesn’t move, normally I’d have filtered but with the Bandit’s “fat arse” fitted to carry all of the wet weather/cold weather gear I thought I might need it wasn’t possible a lot of the time.

After a wrong exit to try and avoid the gridlock I ended up trying to negotiate my way through the CBD, other than plenty of scantily dressed eye candy on a hot Melbourne’s day it was a bastard of a crawl. Finally I got out near my meet up spot with Bazza (Anytime Fitness Gym, St Kilda) refuelled and hit the gym showers.

Feeling very refreshed I spoke with the manager and ended up leaving all of my riding gear hanging up in there airing out while I turned the Bandit into a Chinese laundry to dry out my skins and towel





Soon after Bazza arrived on the Queen Mary



Then a call from Spanna to say he couldn’t meet us for lunch (work got in his way), something about a busted boiler.

Baz and I found a nice cafe for lunch, then a few cold squaush/lemon lime bitters and a nearby local, madmax and mrs madmax (Kim) arrived after a hour or so for a catch up as well, so much for a attempted Bandit meet, there was my Bandit with 3 varieties of BMW.

Not long before 5:30 and escorted by madmax and Kim we departed St Kilda for Station Pier and our ride to the Apple Isle

1 Bandit, 3 Bavarians



Our room for the night



Melbourne skyline from the Spirit







A passing container ship in Port Phillip Bay



We were blessed with a very calm trip, great buffet feed and a few cold beers were also enjoyed

Great write up so far Chook .

Liking it so far Chook - but no pics of Tassie or the aforementioned eye candy in Melbourne. 

I'll add a pic in case yours just happen to match. 



Please, focus on the bike! 

Ewok1958 wrote:Liking it so far Chook - but no pics of Tassie or the aforementioned eye candy in Melbourne. 

I'll add a pic in case yours just happen to match. 



Please, focus on the bike! 

I haven't got to Tassie yet Ewok, plenty of Tas to come when I get stuck into it.

As for the Melbourne eye candy, sorry don't have the technology to take shots while riding like some your's is pretty cute but she'a a bit over dressed to what I was seeing

https://vimeo.com/308321355

Part 2

Day 1 on Tassie, Devonport – Cradle Valley – Hellyer Gorge – Burnie – Waratah


After a very smooth trip, a early night and a pretty solid sleep I woke somewhere between 4:00 and 5:00am and snuck a look out of our port hole (actually a big square window) to see the silhouette of land, I knew we were close to Tasmania at last.

I lay in bed until I heard some creaking, it must have been the ramp slowly starting to lower as we sailed up the Mersey River towards our dock. Soon after we got the wakeup call on the PA system (about 5:10am) letting us know we’d be ready for departure by about 5:50. I quickly threw some clothes on and headed to the bar for a couple of coffees.
We got dressed into our riding gear, packed up and headed to the lounge to finish our coffees and wait for the departure call.

Pretty much on schedule we were called to head down to the bikes ready to depart.

We found it a pain in the arse getting all of our gear together to take on/off the bike from the vehicle deck

Lesson 2 learned, get a small bag and have everything you need for the boat packed into it before you get there, ocky (bungee) strap it on to the seat for quick easy getaway

We arrived at the bikes, packed every thing onto the bikes and undid the restraints. Baz reached for the zip pocket on his tankbag (secured on his top box) and there was a look of horror, the pocket his keys were in was unzipped and there were no keys!
(1st minor catastrophe for the trip, mine was a few days later, more about that when we get there)

As everyone else departed Baz retraced his steps, checked with the office, nothing, luckily he had taken the spare plastic key along, that key soon had the bike started and we were on our way ....................................



A short ride to get away from the 1st few cafes I’d heard the majority stop at and on to the “All Things Nice Bakery” which is open 24/7 and had a nice egg and bacon breakfast and coffee.



It’s a bastard getting wet weather pants on over size 13 boots on the side of the road so I decided not to risk riding up towards Cradle without it already on. Baz decided it was too warm to wear it unless really needed so left his off.

It was still well before 7:00 but with the Sun rising before 5:15 it was well and truly light enough to get going, first stop was for the Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre and we’d decided to take one of the lesser roads there.

We headed out of Devonport on the B14 through Spreyton and Lower Barrington, at Barrington we turned off of the main road onto the C143 and passed through Nowhere Else and West Kentish, continued past Lower Crackpot and turned left onto C136, left onto C132 where we started to get a few rain spots. I was up front, Baz was hanging back a bit so I was keeping a eye out in my mirrors at the end of straights for him. We went through some nice twisty stuff and when I came out I slowed right down and watched my mirrors, the spots had turned into real rain but I figured with my pants on, my Dri Rider would be enough to get me to Cradle dry. After a couple of km at 50kmh and still no Baz I thought I’d better pull over and wait, I stopped on a nice long straight and waited, and waited and waited. After about 10 minutes I jumped back on turned around and went for a search, found him in probably the only spot on that stretch anyone could have stopped at, he was getting his wet weather gear on. By this time it was pissing down and without it he would have looked like a drowned rat. A couple of minutes later and we were back on our way to Cradle Village which is a few km off of the main road.

We arrived at the Cradle Visitirs Centre with light rain still falling, I headed out for a toilet stop and we both tried to work out if there was anything we could do that didn’t take ½ the day up, there wasn’t

Lesson 2 learned for next trip (and there will be one), allow a day to do the Cradle Mountain visit, probably a day trip out from Waratah where we stayed that night.

Back on the bikes and head North with the intention of riding back into Waratah via Helyer Gorge, the clouds had parted where we were and the sun was shining, it was a nice uneventful ride to the junction of Murchison Hwy, Waratah Rd and Ridgely Hwy.



 

The main Queenstown to Burnie Road goes straight through from the Murchison and becomes the Ridgely, the Murchison Hwy turns off and continues on through the Hellyer Gorge, we’d planned on coming back that way. I suggested to Baz we do the trip in revers so we can realy enjoy Hellyer Gorge in case the weather turns nasty again later, so that’s what we did.

What a spectacular ride, travelling through a mix of  fully enclosed overhead by the forest, nice twisties, spectacular forests, great views from the ridge tops and best of all the weather was very kind to us, it was a great late morning ride. We had 1 small stop at the Helyer Gorge rest area .......

 

 

....... before continuing on to Burnie

The ride stayed just as enjoyable all the way until we hit the North Coast at the mouth of the Cam river where the Bass Hwy crosses it, a right turn and we followed Burnie’s beach side suburbs into the main shopping area for lunch and a bit of shopping, for me, a good duffle bag that folds up into itself from a camping store and a couple of octopus straps from Bunnings, Lesson 1from this morning completed. I also ended up carrying all of my wet weather gear in it. on day trips both when the panniers weren’t on and even when they were, if I had to get to it I didn’t get everything in my panniers wet as well.
(side note: they are rebels at Burnie Bunnings, the onion is still served on top  )

Back on the bikes and headed down the main highway to Waratah where we are booked into the Bishoff Hotel for the night. This place came highly recommended from about ½ dozen South Australians who had stayed here before, I’d been told the way they cater for motorcyclists is 2nd to none.

Mid afternoon we rode into the small former tin mining town of Waratah, the town is quite spread out and in a big U shape at the top of Valley, we rode through the most populated side of town to the Bishoff Hotel (named after Mt Bishoff which now shows the scars of years of tin mining),  to the left, a beautiful old pub built into the side of the hill, across the road to our right, a spectacular valley with a waterfall flowing at the head of the valley.

Bishoff Hotel



 

View from front of pub



Valley across the road from the Pub



We soaked up the view and then went inside to check in. With our room keys to the upstairs pub rooms we were also give a key to the motorbike shed, back out the front and a short ride up the hill on a dirt driveway and we were at the old storage shed. We got the bikes in, parked them up and started to check out what the owners have done for motorcyclists
• Rack with coat hangers to hang jackets
• Old electric heated  drying cabinet for wet jackets, gloves etc
• Drying rack for wet boots made from cut off tubular fence, tops capped so no damage to boots
It is a short walk across to the rear entrance to the pub, the rear entrance is straight into the top floor where all of the rooms are situated

Motorbike shed, Bishoff Hotel



After getting ourselves showered, cooled down and refreshed we went for a walk around town, it is full of history and a very interesting place to just browse around

Waratah water wheel



Top of waterfall near water wheel



Valley, Falls, Walking trail, other side of town





Abandoned machinery



Town information Signs







Old town buildings





Town Park/Lake







Back in the pub and a couple of cool pints, I went for a walk through the pub and found this old Australian Airforce propeller with a lot of history attached to it

Propeller from crashed plane at Bishhoff Hotel

http://www.3squadron.org.au/subpages/Demon_Down_Tasmania_1937.htm








The Bishoff Hotel had closed for a while and was bought by a motorcycle enthusiast and his wife who live in Lismore, NSW. Their 2 mid 20’s daughters run the pub pretty much 365 days a year while mum and dad still reside in NSW. The parents had arrived not long before we were there to escape the Northern heat for summer and assist in the pub for the peak season. All 4 are fantastic hosts and I’d stay there again in a heartbeat, the girls are a credit to themselves and their parents, I don’t know too many 20 something year olds that would take on that much responsibility and thrive at it.

I’ve left a review in the “Other States” section of Ride Reports


Cheers until Part 3

Chook

Enjoying the ride so far Chook. 

Ewok1958 wrote:Enjoying the ride so far Chook. 

and even a few Tassie pic's for you

PART 3

Waratah - Savage River - Waratah - Zeehan - Strahan - Lake Plimsol -Rosebury - Queenstown

Even though the bitumen stops at Savage River mine site, we’d been told the Savage River Rd was well worth the ride so we decided to do it in both directions straight after breakfast.
One thing the Bishoff hotel doesn’t do is breakfast but they don’t need to, the local road house does a awesome spread at a very reasonable price, they open at 7:00 so we planned getting there about opening time.

I woke and packed up my gear, got dressed and walked outside to fog.

Morning fog in Waratah





We got to the Roadhouse right on opening time but there was no one there to open, about 10 minutes later a lady arrived apologising for being late, the wait was worth it, great feed to start the day at a very reasonable price.



After breakfast we jumped on and headed for the Savage River Road, this road put a great big smile on my dial, great scenery, nice twisties, nice higher speed curves, it was worth the hour and a half out and back to where we had started.

Savage River Rd









After a stretch in Savage River we headed back to Waratah, had a stretch and coffee back at the Roadhouse before heading off on the rest of the day’s ride.



The next hour or so was as good as it gets for a main highway, nice sweepers, great scenery, we stopped before Tullah when I pulled over to take these shots





After passing through Tullah, the same mountain but more room to stop





We continued on to Zeehan and then Strahan for a lunch break

Strahan









After lunch and refuelling in Strahan we headed back up towards the main highway, instead of turning right and heading to our destination, Queenstown, we headed back towards where we had started the day turning of the Zeehan Highway and taking Anthony Road up past Lake Plimsoll, so glad we did it, what a great ride, another road with a bit of everything, I can remember  going through some nice sweepers with the lake view thinking “does it get any better than this?”

We rejoined the main highway between Tullah and Rosebury retracing our morning ride for a while, this time we took a break in Rosebury ....



.... before continuing on to Queenstown and our digs for the night, The Empire Hotel, which at $60ea for a single pub room ended up being our most expensive night of the whole trip.

Empire Hotel Queenstown







Million dollar view from sixty dollar room



After freshening up we had a walk around town.......















.........nothing on the pub menu jumped out at us so off we went to the local fish and chip/pizza shop, in hindsight, should have got pizza or stayed in the pub, mine was average at best, Baz was not one little bit impressed.

Part 4

Queenstown – Glenorchy (Hobart)

I woke early so decided to head out for another walk around town, it was a coolish morning and I started to wonder if I should have dressed in mote than shorts and singlet, upped the pace and soon warmed up enough to be comfortable.

Queenstown is a town of contrast, barren mountains showing the damage down by mining, lush rain forest, spectacular traditional architecture as well as some very quirky old buildings.







When I got back from my morning walk I started to pack and dressed for riding, Baz and I went down stairs for the included continental breakfast, basic but sufficient.
The bikes had been locked up in the drive through bottle shop, once we got the breakfast cook to open it up we got them out onto the street and ready to pack for our trip to Hobart.



Soon after we were back on the road and headed for Rosebury, a suburb of Hobart out near Glenorchy where we had hired a 2 bedroom apartment for the next 3 nights through Airbnb.



I don’t think anything can prepare you for the climb out of Queenstown, the first 4 km up to a lookout that looks back over the town. It would have to be the narrowest, tightest piece of “major” highway I have ever seen. We stopped to look back over the town and it was well worth the delay.











Back on the road and over the range through Gormanston, along the banks of Lake Burbury, and into the National Parks. A hour or so we came across a nice road side stop in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park where we pulled over for a stretch and a much need visor clean.

Photo credit - Baz


Photo credit - Baz


We continued through the parks and onto Derwent Bridge and our second stop for the day at The Hungry Wombat cafe.



After a coffee and a bite to eat we were back on the bikes, the ride was a mix of sweepers, nice twisties and spectacular scenery in every direction. Past Taraleah and Wayatinah and onto Ouse (I assumed it would be pronounced  House, but the locals told us it was pronounced oose) for a stop, by the time we pulled over it was getting quite hot and humid.

Photo credit - Baz


The rest of the ride into Hobart was very warm, we had another fuel stop at New Norfolk and arrived at our destination within 5 minutes of the earliest check in time. I should have taken a photo of the driveway, it was steep into a semi enclosed/fenced carport, plenty of room for 2 bikes but a bit tight to turn them around so we reversed down the hill which was ok for me but Baz’s short legs and the physical size of the Queen Mary and he had toi be very careful, by the time we left 3 days later he was doing it like a pro.

The apartment had 2 bedrooms, Lounge, Kitchen, laundry, Bathroom and separate toilet. Bloody good value for well under $50 a night each!

The view  from apartment along the Derwant wasn’t too shabby, it was close to the main expressway into Hobart.



I took the opportunity to get a load of washing on before we headed to the supermarket and got ourselves a premade salad, steak, breakfast cereal etc, etc,  that night it was steak and salad for tea washed down with a few beers.

A lot of the names are familiar , but a lot aren't  , so plenty to see over there . ( we also had an abundance of road kill to avoid in some places )

paul wrote:A lot of the names are familiar , but a lot aren't  , so plenty to see over there . ( we also had an abundance of road kill to avoid in some places )

We had roadkill every where we went difference between there and here is the size, much smaller over there

Part 5, day trip to Gus and more

We had 2 day trips planned out of Hobart but the weather was threatening to get very hot (yep, even in Tasmania), we also knew in a couple of day’s time when we were heading up to Launceston via the coast the weather was most likely going to be stormy and wet as the spin off from the Tropical Cyclone headed South.

We had a rethink and dropped some of the planned riding, biggest section the ride up to Great Lake and back then we decided to do the run down to Port Arthur as a extra on our 2nd day trip instead of pre Launceston the day after.

We gave Gus a ring to make sure he’d be home and arranged to catch up and check out the little slice of paradise he left Sunny Queensland for.



We thought we’d do a ride past the Hobart CBD as we had to go past it anyway, we left our Airbnb, hit the main highway towards Hobart and stopped!! Hobart has a big long parking area in the morning not unlike Melbourne’s, only 3 to 4 lane wide though.

We eventually managed to navigate our way through the Hobart peak hour and into the CBD, it was chaotic so we tried to get out of there just as quicker than we had arrived , we managed to find our way back out on the highway and were finally heading South, we followed the Channel Highway which was a nice ride, not spectacular as far as twisties etc but still a nice ride with plenty of corners and great scenery.

At Woodbridge we decided it was time for a stretch and a coffee so we found a nice little cafe.

I can’t recall where these shots we taken but it was on the way to Gus’s where we’d stopped for another stretch





We headed towards Cygnet knowing we were looking for Abels Bay and Eggs and Bacon bay, I was to busy looking at my GPS and missed the Eggs and Bacon Bay turn off so we ended up turning off the highway on the Abels Bay Rd instead, that soon turned to dirt and we wound our way along a nice scenic part of the Huon River, we found Gus’s rd without a problem, headed up checking all the gates for his number and came to a dead end with properties further on than his. We turned around and as we got to the next T junction there was Gus waving from the top of the hill, his entry was off the side road.

There’s a pretty steep dirt road up to his gate, it looked worse than it was to ride but I reckon if I lived there I’d want my old XL500 back for a everyday ride and a V Strom for the more serious trips.
We parked up near Gus’s man cave and admired his collection, Gus and his wife Carol invited us down the hill to the house for Scones Jam and Cream, bloody hell, they were awesome, no bakery was going to live up to that morning tea for the rest of the trip, It’s amazing what you can achieve with a couple of shipping containers with a roof over the top creating a lounge between the containers, they’ve really created a little bit of paradise in a very beautiful part of the world.

We headed off from Gus and Carols through Eggs and Bacon Bay, back on the bitumen we headed back up to the highway, through Cygnet, up to Huonville and then followed the other side of the Huon Valley down to Dover



From there we retraced our path back up to Huonville, up the Huon Highway until just after Lower Longley where we turned off of the highway on to Huon Road, through Longley and Fern Tree.

When  we started to hit the suburbs we were still a long way above sea level and stopped to admire the view over Hobart.





From there we headed back into Hobart, over the Derwent on the Tasman Bridge, bloody hell, that bridge is steep and it gets real windy up on top.

My last bar on the fuel gauge had been flashing awhile so I was looking for somewhere to stop, heading up the freeway the bowser symbol  started to flash as well so I knew it was time to find fuel.

We left the freeway and rode into Cambridge where we had to turn off to go to Richmond, right at the intersection there was a tiny little BP on the wrong side of the road.

I was hot, I was tired but happy to see fuel, I pulled into the driveway, 2 of the 3 bowsers were on nice level ground, the 3rd was on quite a slope, even tired and without my glasses on I could see that one said Ulimate. I stopped a bit short of the pump, reached for the hose and started to fill up, 17.5 litres, and suddenly even a bit sunburned I think I went white, I could smell diesel.
(remember I mentioned on day 1, “1st minor catastrophe”, when Baz misplaced his key, this was number minor catastrophe # 2)

I went and let the owner know, tried to call the RACT to use my RAA membership, they would only tow it to a bike shop for draining and flushing. The owner of the servo offered me a piece of garden hose and a 20 litre drum, I managed to get a nice mouthful of diesel but did nearly fill the drum, 2 litres of 91 unleaded, sloshed it around and started the siphon again, believe me, diesel isn’t as bad in your mouth as petrol. After filling it with 95 and paying for my fuckup as well as the fuel I needed.  (he only charged for ½ the diesel, it was going in his dads ute)
Also, just for the record, that old pump didn’t have the extra safety flap that most diesel pumps have now.

I must have got nearly everything in the tank out as when I refilled, just a smidge under 19 litres, I nervously turned the key and hit the start button, fired up and purred like a kitten, Baz said he saw one small puff of black between there and Richmond

Finally at Richmond and parked up at the oldest bridge in Australia

Photo credit Baz






Baz got his good camera out and took a whole lot more photos than I did, after that we headed back to where we were staying and got ready to go out for a “nice” pub meal ...........

Mine was ok, we had seen a number of people take the pork belly back, that concerned Baz as that was what he had ordered, the concerns were real, who serves pork belly with the skin (crackle) removed?

The next night we ate in again, at least we knew it would be edible!

Part 6

Today was our 2nd day and final trip out of Hobart while we were there. Tomorrow we would head up the East Coast and across to Launceston tomorrow.



It was another hot day, the ride out of Hobart and up to Oatlands was uneventful, the road is the main highway North to Launceston so typical of main highways,  not spectacular and we’d be taking a different route the next day anyway. It was still a pleasant and relaxing ride. I’d read that Oatlands was a historic town with lot’s of early architecture, a lot built by convicts, that was the main reason for the trip up.

Oatlands didn’t disappoint, after a nice coffee in a local cafe we went exploring, the architecture and old stone work was great to see and some of the gardens were quite quirky.







Finally we came across this gem, the Callington Mill









The mill and its surrounding grounds alone were well worth the ride up from Hobart





After a good look around town we headed back South along the main highway before turning off onto Mud Walls Rd, we had a few stretches of nice twisty stuff on this road, a bit South of Campania we cut across to the Tasman Highway via Fingerpost Road, once we wre on the Tasman hwy we headed South to Sorrell for a lunch and stretch stop.

After lunch we headed down the Arthur Hwy, stopping for a short break to see the Tessellated Pavement at Pirates Bay





Then onto Tasman Arch for a quick look.

We arrived at Port Arthur and went into the visitors centre, it was already mid afternoon, looking at the tours and prices we’d need a whole day which we didn’t have, in hindsight, another 2 nights somewhere down that way after we left Hobart would have been ideal, next time .......







We hung around for a while, took photos of the little bit we could see and then continued around the peninsula before heading back to Hobart

Hot and tired we called into a supermarket before getting home, Grilled Fish and salad cooked in house was a far better option than the dish Baz had served up at the pub the night before

I'm loving re-living this adventure through Ian's pictorial narrative. I'll post up any of my photos that aren't already posted when Ian is finished.
yeah a bit longer next time taking in some attractions, hopefully on a different bike.

We found the same thing , so much to see &  do on such a small state ...................great photos .

Part 7

Our original plan had been Hobart – Pt Arthur very early, a few hours there before heading up the coast a bit and across to Launceston from just North of Swansea. We’d rearranged our days for the hot weather the previous 2 days and already headed down to Pt Arthur even though it had left no time to go in and experience it fully. A few people had told us about a great little motorcycle museum in the coastal town of Bicheno, I’d also heard Elephant Pass was a great ride from the coast up the mountains.



There was a threat of rain and even storms, a spin off from the North Queensland cyclone so although we left in pretty nice weather but very unsure as to what was in store for us for the day.

We retraced the road we took home 2 days earlier to Richmond, from there we continued pretty much North and took another road that we had taken the previous day on our way South from Oatlands, after a quick squirt across to the Tasman Highway we headed North, this was all new riding for us. Not far up the road and just under 50km from where we left this morning the rain was really start to threaten, we hastily pulled into a road side stop at Whitemarsh and put all of our wet weather gear on.

Back on the road, it was very dark and it was still trying to rain, we could see some serious looking rain at times in the distance. It amounted to next to bugger all and by Swansea (80 km further up the road) we were both cooking in our plastic wrap and stopped to strip it all off again.





A nice break and feeling decidedly more comfortable we were back on the highway heading inland a bit before hitting the coast again at our next stop, the Bicheno Motorcycle Museum.









The museum is at the rear of a small spare parts/repair shop, it’s not huge but still has a very impressive collection of bikes from many eras, it is well worth the visit and small entry fee.

After drooling over 2 wheeled classics we headed off, refuelled and went looking for a place that I’d been told did the best scallop chowder bar none, we found it but I really wasn’t feeling something that big. We ended up with easily the best Fish & Chips we’d had for the trip, nice local Flathead.

The weather was again looking a bit threatening and in under 30km we were turning off of the Tasman Highway and heading up Elephant Pass to St Marys, this was the narrowest, windiest main road we had encountered and it was covered in moss, the edge of the road is the drop off and it rained the whole way up, not just a bit, it pissed down! What would have been a very enjoyable ride on a nice day ended up being a very cautious crawl and really not enjoyable at all.

This screen shot does not do the road justice and I’m sure it took us longer than the suggested 19 minutes, it definitely felt longer than 16.5km



We continued on anther 20km where we pulled into Fingal to get rid of the plastic wrap again, I was soaked but not from the rain, it had been like being wrapped in clingwrap in the sauna since we’d left the face of the range.

Just over 50km later and a fairly pleasant ride we turned North onto the Midland Highway, it continued to get warmer and more humid the further North we rode, it was ok while we were moving but sucked if we were stopped, and yep, we stopped, stuck in the middle of nowhere at road works a number of times.

We finally made it into Launceston and let the GPS direct us to another Airbnb residence, this time a pre 1800 cottage that I had to remember to duck my head to walk through doors, I only hit my head once in the 2 nights we were there, I must admit I was chuckling (evil grin) imagining Ewok negotiating them after a bottle or 2 of red



At $43 a night each, less than 1km from the CBD, less than 50m to Sporties Tavern, 2 Coles supermarkets within 500m and a cafe strip at the end of the street it was a bargain, nothing fancy but certainly liveable for a couple of nights.

We pulled into the one way street that the cottage is on, turned a blind corner to find a Concrete Truck parked across the road at a building site, around the block and we headed into King St the wrong way but at least we were there.

A nice shower, washing on, a walk to Coles for some basics and a few coldies at Sporties on the way home.

This local seemed very relaxed with his glass of wine as we passed him going home.



I’d arranged with an old class mate of my younger brother and his wife to pick us up and take us to what they said was the best steak house in Launceston, The Jailhouse Grill, it was nice, had a good feed, bloody expensive but so it seemed were your average pub meals in Tasmania.

After tea we were treated to a guided tour of some of Launceston’s sights, I must admit it was nice to sit in a car and be driven after over a week of sitting on the Bandit.

We started to walk onto this swinging bridge and Kevin gave it a fair old rock, that was it for Baz, I went part way out for a look

LOL we went on that bridge ...............we refrained from forcing excessive movement though . There was a photo somewhere there of a flood they had  , and it even made the swimming pool  there disappear . 

Nice write-up Chook. Shame Elephant Pass was a washout. That moss would have been off-putting - bad enough in the dry let alone the wet. 

PART 8, day trip from Launceston

Another day we had to modify, rain was seriously threatening anywhere near the East Coast according to the forecast it was pretty safe from Scottsdale Qwest so we decided to head for there and recheck the radar/forecast before continuing.



Reasonably early and we were on our way in very pleasant conditions, we left Launceston’s suburbs and headed out on the Tasman Highway. About 45 km out of town we came across a big rest area with a lookout (Sideling Lookout) , we pulled over, used the rest facilities and got a few snaps of the bikes and the view .......

.............................. and wow, what a view it is!!







Back on the bikes and on our way to Scottsdale, a few nice twisties on the way down then a very pleasant ride along the valley.

We stopped in Scottsdale for a while, I had to de chewy my LH boot and LH foot peg, not bloody impressed, every time I tried to move my left foot after the lookout my boot was stuck to the pegs.

We also both off loaded some gear we knew we wouldn’t need for the rest of the trip at the local Post office, I had been way over cautious preparing for the possibility of some wintery weather in December, still, for the cost of postage I think I’d rather be safe than sorry.

We headed out on Golconda Rd, past Lebrina and onto Lilydale where we had a break and I refuelled (The Queen Mary is nearly good for 1 fill to the Bandit’s 2)



From there we headed up to Pipers River, across to the Tamar River, down the E Tamar Hwy, across Batman Bridge and up the W Tamar Highway to the Beaconsfield Mine and Heritage Centre.















The mine centre was a fascinating place and well worth the visit, thourouly enjoyed it.

After a late lunch and a couple of hours in the mine centre we headed back down the W Tamar Highway to out cottage in Launceston, it was pretty warm and humid by the time we got back.

We walked around to the “Pizza Pub” for tea, we’d already had a shower or two and it was threatening to rain quite a bit more, all inside tables were fully booked but after some procrastinating we decided to risk the outside dining area.

A few beers washed down a very nice pizza and we decided to walk it off, we went to Prince’s Square, or as the locals refer to it, The Hanging Park, apparently it’s got a pretty sordid history from the early convict days.



Back to the cottage and fingers crossed tomorrow’s weather isn’t going to be the 60-80mm of rain predicted

I thought I'd better get stuck into finishing this before I forget all of it, stinking hot and no good to go outside again on my 2nd day off after 9 straight

PART 9, day rained out, a night with barry_mcki

Launceston – Hillwood

The forecast had promised rain, lot’s of rain, 60 – 80 mm right across the top of Tasmania from Devonport to St Helens. We’d been watching the forecast for a few days and had rearranged our day trips expecting for this day to be a wash out. I’d contacted the owner of our AirBNB to arrange a late checkout due to the weather, she was happy with that, 10:00am checkout became 2:00pm

I’d had a early night and as soon as it became light was wide awake, a quick look at the radar and decided there’d be no rain for a few hours I chucked on my gym gear, ,motorbike gear over the top of that and headed for a early morning session. I hadn’t been there long and down it came, an hour or so after starting it backed off so I made a break for it, down it came again, by the time I’d done the 2km back to our digs I was setting my riding gear up in front of the fan to dry it out.



I headed around the corner to grab a couple of coffees from one of the local cafe’s, these guys tried to convince me they were doing it for charity, yeh right ...............



We hung around, packed all our gear, watched TV, watched the weather radar, cleaned up, watched TV and the radar again and eventually gave Barry a ring to make sure he’d be home when we arrived.  Sometime around Midday we saw a break in the weather and hit the road for the 30 odd KM from Launceston to Hillwood. We managed the ride with only a couple of light showers, we copped more road spray than rain.



As we pulled up at Barry’s he was waiting to guide us into his man cave where we left the bikes and hung up our wet weather gear.

We were 1st greeted by Quinn, Barry and Karen’s 9 month old puppy, a still growing Great Dane that easily eyeballed me when I was sitting and then Barry’s better half Karen who we both met for the first time. Also pretty happy to see us was their little Westie who is “in jail” for his own protection from a very bouncy ultra friendly puppy.









Barry and Karen have found a great spot on the banks of the Tamar, just upstream a few km from the Batman Bridge, it’s a great location with a view you’d never get sick of and only ½ to Launceston for shopping etc.

We were treated to a great feed, a few quite ales and great company, it was a really nice relaxing way to spend our last night on the Apple Isle

Part 10, barry_mcki’s to Devonport, last day in Tas

Hillwood – Deloraine - Sheffield – Devonport - The Spirit of Tas

We woke to reasonably clear skies, went for a walk and checked out some local sights, it wasn’t cold but we’d had a bit of rain and the forecast was for a lot more later on.



It was obvious that before this became prime housing land it had a history in agriculture





Back at Barry’s, coffee, breakfast and a big High 5 from Quinn



We didn’t hang around too long, after a wonderful stay with great hosts we said our goodbyes and were back on the road trying to dodge the rain and get a bit more riding in on our last day



1st stop was in Exeter at the Bob Munro Cafe and Museum for coffee and a look at some classics and some great memorabilia, sorry fot the lack of bikes, my phone camera struggled in the poor light









From Exeter we headed away from the Tamar and past Glengary on the B71, onto the B72 under the main A1 between Launceston and Devonport and at Westbury we followed the old highway to Deloraine where it was time to stretch the legs again













From Deloraine we headed for Sheffield, the closer we got the worse the weather looked, just before town it really started to come down, time for lunch at a local Bakery, mine was OK, Barry took one bite and said it was the worst sausage roll  he’s ever had



After the rain slowed a fair bit we decided to just head for Devonport, we left Sheffield on the B14 and headed for Barrington, from there onto Spreyton and into Devonport’s CBD. The sun was now out with a real sting to it and we couldn’t wait to get the wet weather gear off, we parked up and went for a walk around town, had a look at our accommodation for the night ....



A slushy to cool down at Macca’s and a bit of a ride out to the heads and lighthouse for a look





Eventually we made it around to the bike shelter near the spirit and rearranged a bit of gear then finally lined up to board the Spirit, that was it for Tassie, what a trip, not long enough, still so much more to see and do and so many roads still not ridden, so many that need re riding.



Once on board we showered, headed to the bar for a few coldies and when the restaurant opened, headed in for another great buffett, I swear I put on at least 2 kg on each trip.



This was our last look at Tasmania as we sailed out the Mersey bound for Port Melbourne



We headed up the stairs to check out some live entertainment, the view of the sunset was superb!



We both had a fairly early night, it was another pretty smooth ride and before I knew it I was peering out the cabin window as we crossed Port Phillip Bay heading into Melbourne

Excellent finale Chook - you broke the restraint getting to eat though, you must have been hungry!