A couple of weeks ago I flew down to Tasmania (Launceston) to finalise an online bike purchase. If all went well I was going to catch up with an old friend, go for a little ride around some of the best bike roads in the country, then catch the boat back with my 'new' ride. Here's how it panned out...
The bike was a bit more worn than I'd hoped, but as i'd pretty much committed myself to the purchase i had to negotiate a better deal... after some wrangling I managed to get the seller to pay for my return trip on the boat (for those not in the know Tasmania is an island south of the mainland) - a not insubstantial $270.
The bike as advertised:
- TasRS.jpg (100.26 KiB) Viewed 2020 times
So I rang my friend (an ex girlfriend I hadn't seen for years) and arranged to catch up at Launceston - the bike was at Perth about 15ks south. From Lonnie the ~60min ride down to her place (at Derby) was uneventful but somewhat damp and in failing light - not the best riding conditions on a new-to-me 30yo bike. The road was up/down/around like most down in Tas. But we got there safely and in one piece, including the bike.
Woke the next day to frost but brilliant sunshine was pouring down the valley... should be a good day.
This was the view from her veranda. Derby is an old tin mining town with about 250 residents. Now their income mostly comes from timber getting (and growing weed, actually it seems there;s more money in weed than timber these days).
- DerbyView.jpg (61.03 KiB) Viewed 2020 times
We went for a ride 'round the nearby district - mainly mixed farming and logging (not unlike most of Tas, I guess). Rode to Legerwood where these sculptures were carved with a chainsaw from a row of old trees that were going to be just cut down and removed. the trees were planted to commemorate some locals that died in WWI so the scuptor depicted them 'at war' and 'at home at work', ie as loggers, railway men, carpenters, farmers etc. I subsequently saw a couple of other examples of this sort of work in nearby towns and met an artist that reckons he had the original idea but the bloke that done the work at Legerwood somehow got the contract from the local council. I checked out this bloke's work and I've got to say it was much better (sorry no pics). He was philosophical about it but a little pissed off... can't blame him - there's little enough work in Tassie, let alone for an artist.
- RS@Legerwood.jpg (64.81 KiB) Viewed 2020 times
More to come (as can't attach more than three images, they say)...
