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 !!