It turned out to be a bloody great idea!... Dean and I had 1 week in Tasmania sailing on Friday night of the March long weekend.
7 days of continuous sunny dry weather in Tasmania!.. unheard of!
The text message from TT Line was interesting... " Due to an unusually large number of motorbikes crossing tonight, we ask that you commence embarking at 5pm!..
As we approached Port melbourne every bar and pub had a swarm of bikes parked out the front as groups gathererd for pre sailing drinks.. it was going to be a lively night.
Fortified by a load of fish and chips and a few beers, it was time to hit the queue and head up the ramp into the bowels of the ferry
Travelling steerage is bearable if you manage to anaesthetise yourself at the many bars before heading into the ocean recliner lounge for a night punctuated by snoring and farting till just as youve finally got to snooze, the bleak announcement that we are due to dock in half an hour and the Le Mans start to exit the ferry begins... All that rush to get ashore but East Devonport at 6am on a Saturday morning is a bleak prospect.
With a barely edible greasy breakfast on board, it was off heading east first of all to Port Sorrell
and then on to the Tamar Valley first stop Exeter where the sheep can be seen eyeing off the chops in the butcher's window looking for a lost relative maybe..
We headed downstream from there to the Batman bridge crossing to the East Tamar and down to Launceston to stay with friends, Georgie and Andrew who rode with us out to Mole Creek on Sunday for a pub lunch.
Andrew rides a Honda screamer and Georgie hangs on!
We took note of the Mole Creek railway ..... doesnt run so often these days... but one day...
Off further East on Monday through Scottsdale to St Helens on the East Coast
Scottsdale could be in a 1970's time warp... like so much of rural Tasmania.
St Helens and the East Coast are delicious riding, coastal scenery, villages spared the invasion of opportunistic money.
There were bikes at every coffee stop along the way
After a night at Bicheno,
it was off to Port Arthur
and then back to Hobart for a couple of days....
MONA is compulsory and memorable... if you dont know what it is, look it up!
On Thursday, it was off to the west coast heading up the Derwent Valley to Derwent Bridge and lake St Claire at the southern end of the Cradle Mountain Overland trail .
The road threads through the mountain wilderness with glimpses of Frenchman's cap and other iconic peaks.
The day ended at Strahan on Macquarie Harbour... and more fish and chips.
The last stretch back across the north of the state to Devonport for the evening sailing started well until Zeehan when a coffee stop became a roadside repair... another few bits had fallen off.. but were easily replaced from a hardware shop that had escaped being "Bunninged".... cost of replacement bits .. 12 cents!
Despite this slight missadventure, we arrived at Devonport in time to explore the Surf Life Saving Club and refuel for the crossing back to Victoria...
and then more queues...
and another flat calm crossing... so much for the horror stories about Bass Strait.
March is a great time to ride in Tasmania... Book now for 2015
Doug
