Down the West Coast

Monday, 19^th February

Deck three disembarked first and I quite enjoyed the half hour wait for Steve, watching the different vehicles, cars, caravans and motorcycles drive away was good entertainment. We collected our gas bottle and were soon on our way, just a short ride to the Big4 caravan park at Ulverstone. Once we had booked in I went straight for a shower. Wild horses couldn't get me to pitch the tent first. When the water went cold, I willingly inserted another coin and just stood there, enjoying the feeling of being clean again.

We spent the rest of the day becoming  acquainted with the town and replenishing our fresh fruit and vegetable. You can't take any fresh stuff to Tassie. We were quick to notice the cheap meals in one of the pubs - chicken parma for $5 at 5pm, $6 at 6pm, $7 at 7pm - get the idea? This information stored carefully away for future reference!

 

The Nut, Stanley, Tasmania

Tuesday, 20^th February 

In Tasmania, our idea was to set up basecamp in a few strategic locations, do some of the roads in that area, and then move our home to the next central location. We had three weeks to enjoy the apple isle and were looking forward to it immensely.

We took both bikes for a day out along the north coast, west of Ulverstone. We just meandered along, stopping in all the little towns and taking in the atmosphere of the place. The day was a mild 23^oC, perfect for riding.

We enjoyed our picnic lunch at Stanley, which included a pork pie, purchased from a bakery with a wild driveway, nearly causing an incident with my bike! The town of Stanley sits at the base of an amazing rock formation called The Nut. The Nut is probably the towns biggest tourist attraction and you can take a chair lift to the top to enjoy the views. We chose to do it the hard way and climb, in our draggin jeans again, and we puffed and panted all the way to the top. It is a very steep path, at times I was down to 50 paces before stopping for what seemed like a five minute rest - yes, it took a long time to reach the top. Some Japanese tourists, on their way down, were running, in thongs - scary stuff! The views from the 'summit' were spectacular. There is a pleasant, circular walk at the top which is well worth doing.

On our way down, we had a "growing old disgracefully moment." Where the chair lift passes close to the path, we threatened to steal passengers shoes. Some of them looked quite worried, great fun. Steve would say, with a poker face, "do you think these will fit you," to which I replied "yeah, lets give them ago." the unsuspecting person in the chair would invariably cross their legs and raise them a little so we couldn't reach!

When the day was done, we took the highway ride back to Ulverstone, although on WA standards they are still great roads to ride.

 

Jane becomes part of mural in Sheffield

Wednesday, 21^st February

We used The Bears "Australia Motorcycle Atlas - Top 100 Rides" throughout the trip. This is a great publication and is full of ideas and examples of where to find good roads. We picked ride "60" for the day which passes through the folkie village of Sheffield.

So it was to Sheffield we go, for morning tea of course! Sheffield is the town of murals. We are not into man made tourist attractions, however we enjoyed looking at the murals. They are tastefully painted on many of the walls throughout the town. We had a "Devonshire" tea in a "Scottish" cafe and were entertained by a traditional folkie playing a set of bag pipes. Who said Tasmanians aren't proud of their British ancestry? I had the pleasure of making friends with an Alpaca. He was working in the main street. Wore a little pouch around his neck where you placed a donation if you wanted to have your photo taken with him - very enterprising!

Then I relaxed, taking up the pillion seat, while Steve took me on ride number 60, a circumnavigation of Mt Roland.

In Tasmania we quickly became aware of the short supply of roadside picnic areas. Is this a conspiracy so the tourists spend money in the villages? There were plenty of road signs encouraging motorists to "stop, revive and survive the drive," but where was there to stop? We did find a lovely spot for a rest. It was not marked from the road, and the picnic tables were weather beaten and worn out. It was obviously no longer being maintained.

The ride was wonderful. The scenery changing from tall timber to mountain views. It was a great introduction to the riding that we were going to enjoy for the next three weeks.

 

Cradle Mountain

Thursday, 22^nd February

Nobody told the mossies that live in Tassie's temperate climate to stop treating tropical strength insect repellent like ice-cream! The only way I could protect myself was to keep covered up, this included a cap during the day and a beanie at night! Lucky it was cool enough to wear my draggin jeans, as they just bit straight through my light hemp trousers. On one occasion I chose not to wear my beanie and they just munched away leaving my head itchy for days. Steve is not so badly affected, he gets away with it, unless the bities are in plague proportions!

We were going to have a rest day until we heard on the news that there was a bush fire west of the Cradle Mountain National Park. The park was still open at the moment, but the fire was threatening to close the whole park. Cradle Mountain is one of those "must see" places. The picnic lunch was made and we were on our way within the hour.

We took the B15 from Ulverstone to Upper Castra and then a terrific road, over the ridge and through the valley to Wilmot. Despite enjoying quiet roads all the way to the Cradle Mountain Visitors Centre, there were hundreds of cars in the car park. The place is so congested that there are electronic signs telling you how many parking bays are available - very World Heritage - Not! We declined the offer of a courtesy bus to Dove Lake, and rode ourselves instead. We enjoyed the eight kilometre, twisty, single lane road, even though there were some idiots about!

Dove Lake is at the base of Cradle Mountain. There is an easy 6km walk which circumnavigates the lake, well worth the effort. We brought with us a change of clothes this time, no more walking in those draggin jeans. Cradle Mountain is one hell of a crag, and the views from the lake were beyond expectation. Unfortunately when we completed our walk a thunderstorm was brewing over the mountain, clouds swirling in from all directions. It seemed prudent to quickly bid farewell and stay dry, rather than admire the views a little longer and get soaking wet.

The ride back down was great and the roads quiet once more. We had a coffee in Wilmot, the new owners used to work at a favourite Ulyssian haunt, the Bakers Hill bakery just outside Perth in WA! Small world!

We were unable to ride past the Belgium chocolatier in Latrobe. I know I said that we don't like man made tourist attractions, but I forgot about the ones you can eat, those we like very much! Then it was to the pub for tea. Remember the cheap chicken parma? We settled for Thursdays extra special of Thai curry king prawns and rice, plus chips and salad, for $10 a pop! The food was always great value in Tassie.

 

Friday, 23^rd February

Being a tourist on a motorcycle is a tiring occupation! We desperately needed a rest day, which turned out to be a day spent cleaning, washing and taking on stores. I held onto the carton of beer while riding pillion, an activity which must surely be illegal! Staying in the caravan park with us were some interesting travellers. Marko, from Holland, had cycled all the way from southern Queensland, and Jo, an English backpacker, had been on one of those "survivor" style reality TV shows. It was great to hear of their adventures and we enjoyed their company immensely.

 

Hells Gate, Macquarie Harbour

Saturday, 24^th February

It was time to move our camp site to Strahan. We took the B17 through Gunns Plains which was a fabulous ride. We stopped at the George Woodhouse Lookout for some home made refreshments. There is a commemorative plaque attached to a large boulder. Maybe they scattered his ashes here? George was a local farmer and apparently the lookout was his favourite place. No doubt he spent many hours in a state of meditation and contemplation, and we could quite see why. You could look out, far and beyond the valleys below. It was a great spot to take a break, however, we didn't ponder long as there was no opportunity for a girl to take a pee!

A light drizzle set in before lunch, not heavy, just enough to need the wet weather leggings for warmth. Thank God for the person who invented the "cup-a-soup." We ate our packed lunch sheltering under a lean-to in Rosebery, dined-in for afternoon tea in Zeehan and had another delicious seafood basket in Strahan for dinner. The Tasmanian seafood must be the best we have ever tasted. Strahan was the first place where there was incredible pressure on the camping facilities. There just simply wasn't enough to go around. What was it like after the 2006 AGM, with many more campers taking an extra week to tour the island?

 

Sunday, 25^th February

Sunday dawned a perfect day, not a cloud in the sky and the lightest breeze, just enough to make it comfortable. We did the four hour "sunset" cruise on the Gordon River and it was fantastic. Steve and I can be hard to please in this department but it exceeded our expectations. It was a beautiful, calm, warm afternoon. The cruise included a tour of Sarah Island, the penal colony which preceded Port Arthur. Then we were taken further up stream to view some spindly examples of Huon Pine. It must be one of the slowest growing timbers in the world. Later we were treated to a forest walk where we saw a three thousand year old fallen Huon Pine. It had a girth wider than I dare to remember! We found ourselves saying "wow" a lot and could quite see why the area is world heritage listed. What does puzzle us is the amount of Huon Pine artefacts for sale when the timber is protected.

While we cruised back to Strahan they served the most delicious cold meat, smoked salmon and salad I think I have ever had. We ate our moneys worth in smoked salmon alone! Before the cruise ended, we were taken to Hells Gate, the entrance to Macquarie Harbour. We always thought that the entrance was called Hells Gate because of the dangerous state of the ocean. However the entrance was named by the convicts because it represented the gates to hell. Hell being the life they would lead on Sarah Island.

If you ever find your way to Strahan, take the Gordon River Cruise, you won't be disappointed.

 

Cheese and biscuits for lunch

Monday, 26^th February

We departed Strahan for the long ride to Lake St Clair National Park - a whole 170km! Its easy to be fooled by the distances in Tasmania. Because the roads are so twisty, you may only average 45km/h. This can turn a 170km journey into four hours on the road!

The road leading out of Queenstown took us a little by surprise. It is very steep and comprises a succession of hair-pin bends, perhaps 100 of them. They come at you one after the other for what seems like a very long time. We were lucky to cop them going up. We'd hate to have to tackle them going down, in the wet! While we were in Tassie someone lost it on one of these bends. The rider was ok, the bike was a total write-off.

The day was all about the ride, however we did enjoy the walk up to Donaghy's Hill Lookout, the views over to Frenchman's Cap were spectacular.

At Franklin River

We set up camp in the Lake St Clair National Park. A beautiful setting amongst very tall trees. There were many long distance walkers in the camping area and the atmosphere was great. Just one word of warning, the shower tokens don't just operate the hot water. They operate both hot and cold. So make sure you have a spare one with you because when the token runs out, the water is turned off and you might just be left all soaped up and wondering what to do. It was the one and only time we ever came across this practice. Usually only the hot water disappears. You can at least complete your shower in cold if necessary. Come on Lake St Clair, give us a break, with all that fresh water around how about letting us have a cold shower for free!

It was here we had our first close encounter with brush tail possums. After dinner we went for a light stroll to the visitors centre. It was nearly dark when we returned to camp and the possums had already come out to play. One little guy had the lid off our food container and was munching away at what ever he could lay his fat little hands on. Even when we clapped our hands he just sat there as if to say "and who are you?" They have a nasty habit of taking one bite out of everything. They even got into the remaining few slices of our fruit cake. I think if we hadn't nearly eaten all of it there would have been possum pie on the menu for the next week! We cleaned up and kept the food box and eski locked in the trailer when ever there were possums around.

 

Tuesday, 27^th February

We enjoyed a short two hour walk not far from our campsite. The scenery was a little disappointing, we probably needed to take the ferry and go deeper into the national park for more spectacular views. In the afternoon we made a nuisance of ourselves socialising with the walkers. And we thought we were doing it tough!