040112 After waiting on tender hooks (are there any other?) I received a call about 1145 to say the bike would be ready by 1400. That made me feel MUCH better :-) Not my pocket though :-)

Waiting Waiting

We went there at 1400 and then had to wait about 30 min before they brought the bike out. Was I glad to see it !! Alanah walked down the exit ramp (which was steep as) while I  motored down and got about 15m down the alleyway when the engine conked out !!!!  As  I tried to start it I could feel my leg get wet and a bloke standing nearby was waving at the  to bike and telling me not to start it !!  I looked down and fuel was running everywhere !! It turned out that the fuel line had not been seated properly... It had a positive snaplock fitting so it appears that whoever put the tank back on failed to secure it !!.

Once that little drama was over we hooked up the trailer and headed to the ferry terminal. OMG !! What a big sucker it was !! Alanah was peckish again so we wandered over to the shops for something to take. She spied a lasanga which I shared with her. It was dammed good that's for sure.

I was amazed over the number of vehicles, large and small, that were lined up. Each vehicle had to declare hazardous materials and when it was our turn we had to hand over the small gas bottles and empty out the bottle of metho I had for the metho stove.


Eventually we were onboard but because we were towing a trailer we had to line up with the  cars and vans and were tied down with them :-) The bike and trailer setup draw comments where ever  we go and in the lineup people came up to enquire about the setup and eye the trailer over :-)

Waiting in line to go on-board

Cars in front of us

FINALLY onboard the ferry and in our seats. Nothing to worry about now !! The bar had a couple of fellows playing guitars. Mostly "The Eagles" stuff. They were good.

Trying out the mini pillows

Goodbye Melbourne

Alanah was peckish again. Lucky we had food !! :-)

Didn't sleep to well and woke up to a slight swell about 0200. Was hoping that it would get stronger but after about an hour it was back to smooth sailing again. I think I finally crashed out and then at 0530 they turned on all the lights. How rude !! Berthed at 0600 and we all went down to where the vehicles were. The bike was still tied down with chocks on the trailer wheels. Everyone is full of smiles and again people commented to our setup...

Hello Devonport

Off at 0620 and a fruit & veg check on all vehicles we were on our way in Tasmania. About 1km we spied a place to eat and after a good breaky we were ON OUR WAY... (after grabbing a stack of info and a large map of the island).

Oh yes !!  We looked for somewhere to stay. Alanah rang a place and we were able to get a place in Launceston for $85 a night. I looked online for something cheaper and came across a special, a twin room with ensuite for $30 a night but if you booked for two nights you got the second night for free !! I booked online and was telling Alanah about it when she said that it was the same place !!!  The same place !!  $30 for two nights (booked online) compared to $170 for two nights (booked by phone) !! Unreal.  The room is reasonable considering and the manager had me put my bike in a secure lockup for the night.

On the way to Launceston we detoured a couple of times. The countryside is fantastic !! Hills and corners everywhere !! We stopped at a cheese factory, sampled different cheeses and then stopped at a rasberry farm where we bought a large container of rasberries. Yum yum !!

At the Cheese factory. Strange cows !!

Thats where we had lunch. Right There !!

Opposite where we're staying in Launceston

The last few days I've been having problems with the GPS. It kept turning off.. I bought a small multimeter at Supercheap in Launceston and found that while there was power coming out of the plug, there was non coming out of the socket. Picked up a new socket and everything is hunky again.
So.... Tomorrow is day two of Tasmania !!

Bike and trailer going well and we're looking forward to rest of our holiday :-)