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.