29/01/12 (Overcast morning - Hot sunny day)
Did I just write that ?? Hot sunny day ?? I actually got sun burnt in the face - through the visor !! It was cool as I rode, and, while I wouldn't really go so far as to call it hot, I did get sun burnt in the face !! Buggered if I know how as I was either inside the museum at Beaconsfield or riding, but looking at my face in a mirror, I'm cooked !!!

Every occasion I woke up last night I could hear the sound of the waves rolling onto the beach. Magic !! I managed an early start (0800) and picked all the secondary roads to Beaconsfield, only hitting the Harley roadway through Devonport. The back roads were magic as usual and went through forests, cattle and sheep farming areas and crossed numerous small one lane bridges. Even, at times, feeling frozzled as I went through the heavy forest roads with no sunlight reaching the roadway. It's hard to describe the feeling of going through one sharp corner after the other. This is the place to come for GOOD motorcycle riding !!! Even with a trailer on !! :-)

I arrived at Beaconsfield early. I was the first one into the mine museum today

Paying homage to the miners of old 

Collapsed pump shaft

One wall left of the old winch house

They lived a hard life

Clacker valve in the pump system taking
water out of the mine. This was one of several
stages pumping water out from 1300m
below ground !!

An apple peeler and core remover :-)

An old engine used in timber milling. It
runs !! Rubber added later to protect
the roadway.

This I spied on the way back from
Greens Beach. It's in MILES !!

What an interesting way to spend most of the day !! Not just the exhibits of life 100+ years ago, but the rescue of those two fellows and looking at the recreation of the space they had and the luck the rescuers had in finding them is astounding !! Looking at some of the early mining machinery makes you appreciate just how innovative people can be in designing and building machines to do a certain job !!  The early mining engineers were simply astounding !!


I was going to stay at Beauty Point (named after a cow named Beauty drowned there !!) but when I arrived there I had no phone signal and knowing the imaginations of some people I thought I would try Greens Beach. Still no signal !! Decided to head south and about 25k out of Launceston, in a little place called Legana I spied a van park and, looking at the time, decided to call it a day. Still no signal !! Can't be right I thought. I took out the sim and replaced it,. 100% signal, #%$%!! I probably could have stayed at Beauty Point !!

I asked for a shady spot as I wanted somewhere relatively free of dew :-) I got a place under a Casuarina tree (probably something else but that is what it looked like) that was in full shade, Beauty !! Setting up camp is getting routine now :-) Unhitch trailer, jack up the rear wheel, apply chain lube, cover the bike for the night, set up  the tent, pump up the mattress, etc etc.

30/01/12
I woke up at 0500, sun was up, Ripper !!  By 0545 clouds were rolling in. By 0630 it was raining !! When I saddled up for Launceston at 0845 it was still raining. I met up with Jim & Carolyn in Banjo's (a bakery & coffee shop), it was still raining !! And it rained, and it rained. It eased off at about 1600, so after a day of doing just about nothing but read and drink coffee I headed back to the van park. Talk about a lazy day !!  I have just 4 days left in Tasmania !! 4 days !! It seems as if one day has rolled into the next and now it's almost time to go !!  Bloody hell !! I WILL have to come back next year to see everything I didn't see this time and to revisit some of the things I did :-) (But a bit later in Febuary to catch more of the fruit in season !!

25/01/12 (Overcast and cold morning - beautiful & sunny day)
Had a great sleep. Slept in until 0630. Getting lazy :-) Checked out the clutch cable and decided to call Shearwater Motorcycles for a new cable. Yep, they had one in stock so off I headed. 100 - 110kph road most of the way with good Harley sweepers. I noticed that the bike had a slight vibration on the tighter corners at speed. Hmmmm ??

When I pulled up at Shearwater I checked the back tyre. Yep, replacement time !!! Luckily, even though it was a job that I could do, I asked them to replace the cable whilst they were replacing my back tyre. (It had done 16,200km). It turned out the cable was the wrong one !! Lucky, as I would have ridden back to Burnie before replacing it myself !! The mechanic tried two others before finding the right one :-) With the new pirelli tyre, fitting, the installation of the cable and a new RHF blinker I was $410 broker !! The mechanic had wiped the tyre down with acetone to remove most of the wax but said to take a bit of care for the first 80 - 100k. The new tyre had a harder compound in the middle and softer sides. Perfect for straights and curves !! :-). On the way back, after the tyre had warmed up a bit I really lent the bike into the corners. Bliss !! No vibrating in the corners :-) No worrying about how long it would last :-)

Poppy Anyone ??

About 10k out I decided to have a look around some of the back roads and came across large paddocks with signs all along them saying 'Keep Out - Use of this product may cause death'. What the hell was it ?? I stopped and had a look, poppies !! Some were flowering and they were white, not red, but they were, I found out, medical grade poppies !! Apparently Tasmania grows over 50% of the worlds legal medical grade poppies.   By the time I arrived back to Burnie it was late (1600) so just looked at and admired the new back tyre, oiled the chain and covered the bike for the night.








27/01/12 (Drizzly wet morning - Fine & Sunny afternoon !!)
When I left Burnie it was a grey overcast morning with light icy rain :-( 40k out of Stanley it stopped raining and I was back lighter layers :-) I had been travelling through dairy country for some time. You could smell the silage, and the cows !! The Nutt stood out some 20k out of Stanley. I drove straight up the the Nutt car park and had a look at the walkway that led to the top, Hmmm  Was I going to tackle THAT steep climb ?? That cable car looks interesting ! I've only got motorcycle boots so the cable car it is !! :-)

The Nutt at Stanley !! 

What a climb !!

The bay from the top of the Nutt

Stairs, Stairs and more %^%$ Stairs !!

The Stanley wharf

The other side, looking Westward 

It's a long way down,

The car park.It was a good 2k walk around the top..  Apparently it was heavily covered with trees when people began to settle there but most of the area was denuded to be used as building timber and the cleared area ploughed and used to grow potatoes !!  What a climb to get  few spuds !!!

The township of Arthur River

From there I headed to Arthur River for a squiz. From Stanley to Merrawah ( about 16k out of Arthur River was dairy farm after dairy farm. Beautiful looking country with rolling hills and cows !!  Everywhere !!! As you passed the milking sheds all you could smell was cows !!

The Arthur River Tourist boat

 Arthur River was a small place straddling the river. Mostly gravel roads and no CBD at a ll. Not even fuel !! I still had more than enough to get back to the next fuel stop. I camped there for the night. As usual, it was bloody cold !! a hot coffee and a bowl of hot muesli in the morning fixed my shivers though.





28/01/12 (Bright and Sunny Day)
From here I headed back to the 600ha sinkhole in the Tarkine national forest called 'The Dismal Swamp', a delightful name, I thought.. It was different to the national forests in the South to the state. Bloody big trees but much drier. Hardley any moss and not much in the way of tree ferns. Most of the pathways were timber decking with a fair bit of soggy ground AND one thing I had not noticed before - mosquitoes !!!!! Hungry little beggars so I did not stay as long as I would have liked.

Tarkine forest

Can just make out the edge on the other side !!

From here to Smithton to restock and then toward Beaconsfield. Mostly by any side road I saw that would keep me off the Harley Roads. I stopped at a small beach for lunch. Bricklayers Beach it was called but no bricks or bricklayers to be found :-) From there to a back road that ran along the cliffs. Occasionally, between the roadway and the sea, there were homes surrounded by large huon pines which went almost down to the water !!  Be-au-t-iful !!!  Some of them were for sale. What a beautiful place to have  home, overlooking the Bass Strait !!

The area where the houses were overlooking the Bass Strait

 A bit further on I took a detour to a site overlooking the sea. It was called Table Cape. Like the Nutt at Stanley it was a volcanic plug. The volcano had eroded away leaving the much harder plug. What a fantastic view !! You could almost see forever !! Down to the right, across the poppy fields was a lighthouse. !!

More poppies and the Lighthouse

All this casual riding and detouring entailed talking to fellow motorcyclists about the great roads and have I been to ???. and to ???  What a great lazy day !!. I gave up trying to get to Beauty Bay and decided to head to the coastal town of Penguin and to follow the coastline, literally !!  Fantastic curvy roads, little beach
, small parks, homes and interesting small shops all along the road. I ended up passing a van park at Ulverstone, looked at the time, and decided to stay there for the night. The beach was just behind the low shrubbery so I should be able to hear it tonight :-)

23/01/12 (Forecast -26c)
Frozzled!! Woke up at about midnight feeling bloody cold, actually, more than cold!! Had the picnic blanket in the tent so spread it out and put my air mattress on that. That was better but it was still so cold that I'm sure that the brass monkeys had shrunk :-) I got up to a misty morning and heavy dew over my tent and a clear sky. Tarraleah is in high country and had a hydro power station in the river below.

See the cleared power lines on the hills. The power station is at the
bottom and these pipelines are pumping water UP the hill

These are moving water to the next power station

On the way out of Tarraleah. Very thick timber !!

I left as soon as my tent was close to being dry. (I dragged it out into the full sunlight and rotated it a few times). I then headed to the 'Wall in the Wilderness. You should see my back tyre !! It's almost round again, getting light on it tread, but getting rounder !! In an area through another National Park, where there was probably not one section you could call straight I came across a sign that said something to the effect 'recommended 35kph for next 10km'. I had to smile as most of the road I was travelling on was only 35 - 55kph already !!  Fantastic even pulling a trailer !!

I pulled into the 'Wall in the Wilderness" and was about 300m away from it when a car came flying out of there, sliding on my side of the road !!! Shoot !! I headed for the edge of the road and went down !!! Bugger !!! They kept going and when I picked up the bike I had the FRHS blinker broken and water leaking from the water pump!! Crap !! I rode up the the buildings with water spraying over my boot. Was I a happy chappy ........ NO !! I had a look at it and could see where it was leaking from. Luckily not from the actual casting but from a steel insert.

The Steel Wedge tail eagle

Another  view :-)

 I went into the 'Wall' for a look. What a fascinating place. Certainly a very skilled wood carver. It is a work in progress but what he has done so far is absolutely fantastic. No cameras allowed so the only photo I took was of the iron wedge tail outside. What an amazing effort by this man !! AND his son !! I saw a double pulley block with four drops of rope, all carved from a single piece huon pine. For sale for ONLY $3500.

Back to the bike .... Derwent Bridge roadhouse was only 1.5km further on so I travelled there to access the damage. Water spraying over my boot !! I was watching the temp gauge VERY closely. I started to pull the pump housing off, catching most of the water in a milk bottle. As this was happening out came the owner of the small roadhouse. His name was Glen and he was a biker as well. He took me into his workshop to show me his pride and joy. A Yamaha R1 with all the hot stuff on !! Then he showed me what was left  of his previous bike, a Yamaha FJ1200. He had done that up as well and had come to grief on a dirt road. His wife would not let him repair it. She told him to get a new one, hence the R1. He came back to my bike with a substantial socket set and gas bagged while I pulled the housing off. The steel sleeve was held in place by an internal screw and when I pulled it apart I could see that the steel sleeve was slightly bent. There was no seal in it which was what I had expected.

I cleaned everything up, washed it with metho then smeared a thin coat of heatproof silicone onto both surfaces before reassembling the pump housing. After a couple of hours I re-installed everything, filled it with water and fired it up. No Leaks !! I was smiling again !!

Glen gave me his card before I left and said that if something went wrong, call him and he would come & pick me up.

I had travelled about 10k down the road when I noticed that my boot had become wet again !! Bugger !! I pulled over and has a close look while the engine was running. It was not leaking from my repairs but from one of the other hoses where I had not put the clamp in exactly the position. Once I had repositioned the clamp it stopped leaking !! I was paranoid for the next 40 odd k, but that fixed it !! No more leaks :-)

A view from the road before Queenstown

A view of Queenstown !!

It was a bit of a shock when I saw Queenstown !! It looked like someone had come along and defoliated the countryside. And they literally had. It started of as a gold mine until they hit almost pure copper !! They mined copper from here for years. After the forests in the National Parks, this was a shock to see. Once on the other side of Queenstown the foliage was back to normal (?)

 I pulled into Strahan at about 1600. Booked into the van park by the bay then had a quick look at the town. Except for the wharf area which catered to the tourists, the rest was very small. I was surprised as I had been expecting something bigger.

Sunrise at Strahan

Sunrise from near the van park

I set up for the night and was relaxing with a cold cider when a Canadian couple pulled up on one side and a Queensland lass travelling in a van on the other. After they set up, the Canadian couple came across to look at the trailer and to just gas-bag and then the Queensland lass did the same. It was after 2200 before we all retired to our respective abodes :-) It was the first night for some time that I was not cold.

The sea breeze blew all night.  In fact, I slept with only a thin blanket !! A change from Tarraleah !!



24/01/12
Early wake up (I wish I would stop that !!) and leisurely departure from Strahan. Had been waiting to hear from Jim. Headed towards Burnie and Sandy's place. The roads became more like Harley roads again except for the small sections of heavy forest where they became interesting again. Not as much to see along here. Mostly pine plantations and a lot of them were being harvested. Went through a large tract of gorse country along the West coast. That was very different to the tall timber country .

Sandy's place on outskirts of Burnie

From her front fence

As I was getting close to Burnie, in one of my many gear changes I felt a small click as I changed gear. It felt like a strand of wire breaking. It was !! A strand had snapped on the clutch cable !! I was very careful after that. Only used the clutch to start rolling and to slip into neutral when stopping. All the other changes were clutchless !! ( I think I have changed up and down through the gears more in the past few weeks than I have in the past two years of owning the bike :-))

I arrived into Burnie, at Sandy's place, about 1500. I rang her, dropped off my trailer, then headed to her shop. After introducing myself I headed back out to her place to unload what I needed and to clean and oil the chain. It was another late night as we talked about Darwin and the people we went to school with. Luckily, she had to open her shop by 0700 the next morning and we called it a night at 2330.  Ahhhhh a proper bed !!

20/01/12
Went 51k South of Huonville to the tree walk. It started to rain almost as I pulled up. I sat in some shelter for 25 min then decided to give it away and headed back to Franklin. I was freezing, but after changing into dry clothes, and feeling warmer, I headed to the wooden boat school.

This was built over 30 years ago
and is being refurbished

 Man, what an interesting place !! This was the place that the Japanese chef, Tetsuya Wakuda, had his  boat built. They only build one big boat at the time and it takes 18 months or so to build. Each new boat is started with one boat builder as the teacher and three to six students. That includes the theory side as well and when the boat is completed the students receive a Diploma in Boat building...  Each boat is generally started 'on spec' and is usually sold before it is completed. What a great experience that would be. They start by building a 3 to 4m boat first before starting on something in the 7 to 10m range.

The hull is completed. It's interior & decking is next.
It's for sale !! Any buyers ??

Building a dingy :-)

This one is over 75 years old and was used
to carry people from Franklin to Huonville.
It's being restored and fitted with an electric
motor.

21/01/12
Packed and left early. It was overcast and very cool so on with the thermals again. Went into Hobart and purchased a phone from JB HiFi and in went my sim. No Numbers !!! Put the sim back into the HTC, yep they're there alright. Back into the LG. No numbers !! %^%)^ !! Went through the menu to the 'import from sim' option. Yes, I want to import from the sim. Great !! "import successful" it proudly informs me. Great, Hooray !! Went to Address Book, NO NUMBERS !! ^$%*# !! Will have to extract the important ones manually...

 Met up with Jim & Carolyn at the Salamanca markets. It was the markets 40th anniversary and they had a group from Brazil playing. The three of us all had a bratwurst with sauerkraut and sauce/mustard. (Yum Yum Rekisha :-))

1937 Riley

In the park, under the shady trees (by this time it was warm and I had divested myself of all excess clothing :-)) was a car show with cars ranging from 1937 through to the 70s. Jim and I spied a 1937 Riley 12/4 that had a TARGA (1) sticker on the side. What a fantastic car it was. The pics do not do it justice. The owner came over and filled our heads with the history of the car, the work he had done to it, what it was like to drive, how fast it had been driven in the Targa, the parts that had to be made, etc etc. Fascinating stuff. Meanwhile Carolyn sat on a bench nearby, waiting, patiently :-)

Beautiful !!

Twin carbs - 155kmph

From there I cruised to New Norfolk and camped in a van park alongside the river. (New Norfolk because most of the original settlers came from Norfolk Island).

The bike is running well and appears to be a little more frugal on the fuel consumption. I'm running in the high  5.8 to the low 6.0 - 6.2/100km which is very good considering I'm towing a trailer !!

22/01/12
I left New Norfolk about 0730 after refuelling and having a few truckies and trike riders wanting more info on my trailer. It seems to draw comments every time I have refuelled lately :-) Headed for the Mt Field National Park. Good old curvy roads again. I stayed off the main highway and stuck to the secondary roads whenever possible. I started to pass acres and acres of hops growing. Though it took me a couple of clicks to work out what it was. After several kilometers I went through the 'don't blink' town of Bushy Park and then more kilometers of hops. (for all the Cascade and Boags they brew:-))

View from the Possum Cafe where I had a coffee

I spoke to someone at the Possum Cafe, where I had stopped for a coffee, and they said that Bushy Park was the hops center of Tasmania !!

Luckily I had purchased a pass to enter all the National Parks in Tasmania as they not only wanted an arm and a foot but also your first born to enter the Mt Field Nat Park !!!. Display it in your window they said. I'm riding a motorcycle I said. You have to display it they said, so stuck it in the phone pouch on my tank bag :-) then put my jacket to cover my helmet and tank bag from prying eyes :-)

Giant Ferns everywhere there's water nearby

First waterfall

Stairs stairs and more stairs !!

275 meters tall !!

Mossy mountain goat country :-)

There were several walks to choose from. Three water fall walks and a tall trees walk. (So... Alanah, take note :-)) !!


 I took a 90min walk which encompassed two waterfalls AND the tall trees walk. They even had a section of long steep rocky stairs to get to the second waterfall. 


That should keep Alanah happy, knowing I'm not just sitting on my butt riding my motorcycle :-)  Man !! The trees were tall !! It was an amazing walk in amongst those trees and ferns. I must have taken several dozen photographs !! Amazing !!

What was amazing also was the change in the countryside. I went from the thick tall timber at Mt Field, over some very high hills (?) into country that was extremely hilly but no trees.

Cattle, sheep and hay. A change from the heavy forests

It appeared to be cattle, sheep and hay. Kilometers of this type of country and then I started to climb again and when I reached the top, not only was it much colder but I was in heavy timber again !! The roads through the cattle/sheep country was just full of slow sweeping curves (for Harley riders). Once back into the dense forests it was back to full on road bike curves. Short, sharp and plenty of them. Beautiful !!

The wandering caravan sets down for another night.
There's deer in that paddock.

I pulled into a little place called Tarraleah at about 1530 and called it a day. It's a quiet place with the whole tent area shaded by large trees and lawns.

18/01/12 (Forecast 22 - it was raining)

Jennies Driveway

Woke up to the sound of rain !! Went out to the verandah for a looksee, it was bucketing !! Aparently there was blustering winds, thunder and lightning through the night ?? I slept through it. I can't believe it !! Rugged up in wet gear and in 'thermals' I went to Huonville this morning to get some additional gear to finish off Kate & Adam's place. The driveway was a little slippery going down. Keeping the bike from sliding was interesting.



 Arrived back about 0945 and came off the bike twice going up Jennie's driveway. Almost busted a gut trying to get the bike upright both times !! (The concrete was slippery and there was no traction on the wet grass). Pulled a muscle in both shoulders and felt pretty cactus for a while. Went and saw Ruth & John and have left my bike there. Their drive is not anywhere as steep.. Bugger !!


Anyway, finally finished Kate & Adam's place about 1345. By then I was back into shorts and a light shirt as it was warm and sunny again :-) Off to the Cygnet area tomorrow and after that  I'll fix up some of Jennie's drive.

Looking East from Kate & Adam's House

Looking North to Ruth & John's property

Looking South from the driveway

From across the river on the way to Cygnet.
 Can just see the house, it's the one on the right

Apples, apples, apples

19/01/12 (Forecast 23 - woke up to clear skies)
A cold crisp morning with a promise of a warm sunny day :-) Took my wet gear just in case. The pants were in the back of my jacket with the back protector and the jacket in the front of my 'hot weather' jacket  to keep the wind off my chest.  I went through some serious apple growing orchards, huge areas of cherry orchards ($4/kilo) and then acres of strawberry fields (forever). All that before Cygnet !! I went down to the water front and was amazed at the amount of oysters clinging to everything and anything !! Everywhere !!

Oysters on the pylons, on the rocks - everywhere

Cygnet harbour

Just out of Cygnet heading to Kettering

God !! What roads !! Corner after beautiful corner !! I was only upright long enough to set up for the next corner. I went through some curves so tight that I was only travelling at 35k/h at times :-) The road to Kettering went through some beautiful forrest country with steep gullies and bloody big trees. Magic, just magic. I called in to the Kettering ferry terminal just 2 min too late to catch the ferry to Bruny Island.

Ferry Loading. I was too late !!

I decided not to hang around and left Kettering. I noticed a roadside fruit & veg place and stopped for a bit of a look and spied some sourdough fruit bread. It felt good and solid (like a good clay brick) and I imagined how good it would taste, so into my jacket it went. Off to Snug then Margate. As I was coming out the other side of Margate I spied this train with about 8 carriages. It had been turned into a small roadside stop and each carriage sold something different !! One sold various sorts of boiled lollies, another preserves solely from europe. Another was a refreshment carriage where you could get a coffee or cup of tea and another was a fish & chips place. Another was a bookshop !!  :-)

The train stop :-)

From there I headed back to Franklin via a tiny place called Sandfly. Between these two places were several beautiful farmlets of 10 - 80 hectares for sale. If only....... I thought for a brief moment, then remembering how cold it could get in winter !!! Brrrrrr. I thought the better of it.

I arrived back at Jennies place about 1530 and before I got stuck into mixing up the premix she had bought for me I cut a thick slice of the sourdough fruit bread. It had to be the best fruit bread I have eaten. Absolutely !! Damm it was good !! Just had to have another one !! I started filling in some of the worst patches in her drive.

I ran out of premix real quick. She could have bought twice as much and it would'nt have been enough. Still, it was an improvement..  After cleaning up the equipment it was time for a cup of tea and a thick slice of that fantastic sourdough fruit bread :-)