Ride report - Tasmania, Australia March 2013

[Nickj]

8/3/2013 Boarded the Spirit of Tasmania 6:30pm to set sail to Devonport. 2 Buells, Yamaha FZ1, CBR 1000, VFR 750, GPZ 900R, Moto Guzzi LeMans, Yamaha 900, a Harley, a GS 1200 and my Honda Varadero. 11 bikes and 13 people...

The sound of the boats thrusters woke us up at 6:00am as we were pulling into Devonport Harbour and we docked at 6:20am. We were previously warned to be ready to ride out at 6:30am and it was like the MotoGP grid with bikes everywhere. If you weren't on at 6:30, you nearly got cleaned up! After a few short stops, we ended up at Ulverstone for breakfast at a nice little cafe. We set off about 8:30am for the famous Cradle Mountain. Along the way, we came across 1 casualty who had gone off the side of the road and was trying to push the bike back on the road again. He looked ok so we moved on, a little more cautiously.. We stopped to group up at the turnoff to Cradle Mountain National Park and was greeted by sone light rain. We quickly donned the wet gear and set off for the Cafe. All parked under a shelter, we headed inside for some morning tea.

Then, back on the bikes, with wet gear on, we headed for Burnie, where we stopped for lunch at Maccas. From there, heading to Smithton, we turned off and went up to Dip Falls. A short steep walk to the falls followed while we took some pics of the falls.

We all needed to sit down after climbing back up the track to the bikes. We then headed off for Smithton, our accomodation for the first night at the Bridge Hotel. Not 5 star, but quite comfortable. After a few beers and a missed dinner appointment, we went over for dinner at 7:15pm to find a rather full restaraunt.

Day 2. Had a bit of a sleep in and got on the bike about 8:45am. A quick trip to the supermarket for some lunch and drinks - since we were going where there weren't any shops, then off to the bakery for brekky. The trip today would take us along some 160km of windy dirt road, in fairly good condition, apart from some areas. The terrain was strange. One minute stark high country type, next minute, a rain forest!


Along this route, we also found some guys on a bridge who were obviously there to protect us.

We headed off for Reece Dam  and had a look around there. Then we headed for Zeehan, shortly into the trip, the heavens opened up. We stopped and I got my dry liner and wet pants on.. Only to be sweaty as shortly after due to no ventilation. We stopped at Zeehan briefly and then at Henty Dunes. Back at the accomodation, Strahan Holiday Park cabins. I had realised that there was something wrong with my steering and after checking, found the steering head bearings loose. I went up to the local petrol station and the guy was good enough to open the workshop for me. We found some suitable tools and pulled off the bars and triple clamp to expose the steering head bearing nuts. They were still well locked together, but needed to be pulled up a bit.
Day 3. The long haul from Strahan to Strathgordon -  home of the famous Gordon Dam. We stayed at the only establishment in town, a nice chalet.




The ride down here was awsome, some of the best riding I have done. The view at the dam wall was nothing short of spectacular in the early morning and the ride back towards Queenstown was great too.


From Strathgordon, another big days riding to Beauty Point on the north shore.
2 of us again took the dirt road around the western shores of Great Lake. This was only about 30km of easy riding dirt roads.

Some of the group were leaving us so we got them as close to the boat as we could. Beauty Point was real nice comfortable house accomodation by the sea.
Day 4. 2 of us with dual sport bikes again seperated from the road  bike group and headed for the north east corner. A wind farm at Musselroe Bay was the attraction here. I think this is where the wind is made - we were accompanied by 70 - 80km/h winds most of the way which made riding a little less enjoyable. Lunch consisted at the local small town general store and was a Chicken and Camambert pie. Quite nice! We were heading for St Helens on the east coast on this leg and apart from the wind, was a good ride. We had a great dinner of seafood in the Paddle Wheeler floating restraunt.
Day 5. This time, heading for Nubeena in the far south east. Again, a coastal town. I chose to break from the group and enjoy the coast road ride and some sight seeing.
I managed to encounter a large Wedge Tailed Eage who sat around long enough for me to take some great photos.

I also stopped en-route to have dinner with some friends. After dinner, I had an 80km ride to Nubeena and needed to arrive way before dusk. The reasn for this is the amount of roadkill is amazing down here and particularly at dusk. I managed to follow the same vehicle all the way to Nubeena which protected me from any woolly animals.
Day 6 and a ride to the south west side of Hobart - Dover. A very small fishing town where we stayed in the local pub. On the way out, we stopped in the lovely old prison colony called Port Arthur. This was the home of a terrble masacre in 2006 when 35 people were killed and 23 injured when a lone gunman opened fire in a crowded cafe. After leaving here we rode the coast road

before branching off to take on Mt Wellington, the tallest mountan in Tasmania. I had seperated from the group so I had to resort to GPS navigation via bluetooth headset for my riding instructions. I had not used this on the trip and was surprised shortly after turning it on, that one of the boys rang. Felt kinda weird riding and talking on the phone, but it was very clear. So clear, I stopped quickly and rang my wife whilst riding. She didn't realise I was on the headset until I told her.. Anyway at the top of Mt Wellington, things were a little different. Quite cold in fact @ 1450m above sea level. ABout 1hr later, the boys arrived and we walked around for a while taking photos of everything in sight.


Day 7. After a good night sleep, the promise of rain was a ibt of a downer on the day. We donned our full wet weather gear and headed off for Devonport for the boat home. A big 360km ride north, it took till lunchtime for the rain to come down and come down it did. We had to stop for fuel on the way which was a nice but quick break from the heavens. We managed to find the freeway agaon and headed on the final leg to the boat capark. A nice little cafe opened up for us and we had a late lunch and a walk around the area. On the boat, we found our room which was a forward facing room. We showered and went to the bar for a beer, some light dinner and then off to bed for an early night.
Day 8. 5:45am wake up call had us heading for the garage at 6:30am for the mad ride out. Again, the day was very overcast and the promise of rain ensured the wet weather clothes were on My journey was 105km to my house and I only encountered a little rain on the way.
A fantastic 2700km trip around Tasmaina was had by all. My rear tyre is now worn down and needs replacing again.. I feel I am a better rider for my experience way down south and would do it again one day. I hope you enjoyed the trip as much as I did.

Nick

[loudpedal]

Nice report mate
Keep them coming

Loudpedal

[Aussie dero]

G'day well it's been a while since iv'e been on this site ,are you a fellow Aussie?I live in Emerald Queensland,great ride report,beautiful photo's.Noel

[Nickj]

Gday Noel

Yep! I'm in Gippsland Victoria. 100km SE of the CBD. I bought the Varadero in Dec last year, changing from an ST1100 previously. i've done just over 10,000km on it since then..


Nick