Not A Mid Life Crisis, Just An Extended Tour (Part VI)

DAY 9

Well, I have had leave booked from mid last year for late February/early March so what better way to use it than to go back and ride my bike?! Especially as we were having biblical amounts of rain here in Brisbane. Try ~ 500mm per day, for the last four days in a row. My flight to Launceston was delayed two and a half hours because of rain induced carnage to the network, plus a tarmac shutdown because of lightning. When we did eventually start to taxi it was via a circuitous route because 01R/19L and it's associated taxiways were flooded! Yep, if the new runway hadn't been there Brisbane Airport (BNE) would have been closed!

That is the Prime Minister's air force VIP jet being towed from the international terminal, through the floodwater to dry(er) ground before it could start it's engines and taxi safely under it's own steam. Yep, it was WET and I was happy to be bidding it good riddance!

The immediate downside to being two and a half hours late meant that I wouldn't get into Launny with a couple of hours of daylight left. I was planning on using this daylight to ride somewhere and stealth camp. Now, in the darkness there was no way I was riding far with all of Tassie's kamikaze wildlife just waiting to take me out! So, as soon as we landed and were taxiing in I was on the phone to the only place that I thought would be open at 2130 on a Sunday night - The Country Club Casino. Yep, they had a room at a not too ridiculous rate and I knew I could grab a beer and chill as the casino never sleeps....

They let me park right by the front entrance as this was the safest place to leave a bike. 

If you've never been there it really is a beautiful place with it's golf course, tennis courts, horse riding etc etc. Give it a look if you are ever in Launny - you won't be disappointed! (I've got no affiliation. I just think people who are doing it right deserve recognition)

They weren't wrong about the bike (thankfully) with it being unmolested despite me leaving my soft luggage attached. After a buffet breakfast I was off into a slightly cloudy morning after gabbing a quick photo by the casino's fountain).

There was actually a forecast for rain pretty much everywhere in the state but the radar looked clear to the northwest and that section of the state had the least chance of rainfall at 60%. 

So I headed west toward Deloraine, grabbing fuel at Carrick.

Then it was through Deloraine, Chudleigh and Mole Creek. I took a moment to look at the pub and it's outlook toward the Great Western Tiers here. Andy had stayed and said the hospitality was great. I'll have to check it for myself but it was too early today to stop.

I had missed "A Day At The Creek" by a day! Probably a good thing.😏

I followed Liena road which turned into Mersey Forrest road, then into Oliver's road. The road was still damp through here from the rain last night so I took it pretty easy. It was pretty country though, mostly under tree cover. I stopped for a comfort break and to enjoy the Bellbird's ringing notes echoing through the bush and the fresh mixed aroma of gum and pine trees. Pure magic!

Just after turning onto Oliver's road (after the above photo) and dropping down toward the Mersey River crossing I encountered my first two cars for the day. Annoyingly, both were on my side of the road. The first by a little bit but the second was on my side well and truly AND still coming across! FFS! I don't know what they were looking at/doing but after what seemed an eternity they jerked back onto their side of the narrow road! I actually got it all on GoPro - I just need to get myself some video editing software. Curse Microsoft for disabling the "excellent for my purposes" Windows Live Movie Maker.😞 

Fcuk it, here is an unedited chunk of that section of forest. Skip it if you want but I does give a good feel for what this bit of Tassie is like.

 

A quick stop at the Mersey River lookout to look toward the Central Highlands. A guy on a noisy CBR600 came barrelling past while I was taking photos but I didn't get one of a fellow traveller, unfortunately.

The road became quite twisty and climbed up over a shoulder. I really had no idea where I was but rounding a tight bend I was greeted with this view.

It turns out I had just rounded Mt Roland, the quite famous backdrop to the town of Sheffield. Dropping off the hill the road was super steep and twisty but importantly, it was dry!

At the bottom I followed the road signs toward Cradle mountain but less than 2km up the road was a turn back to the right that said "Lake Barrington". "Yeah, I'll take a look at that" I said to myself as I had all day and nowhere in particular to be, what with my shell on my back (camping gear) and all. 😀

The road rose and fell, twisted and turned and after a bit I was thinking maybe Lake Barrington was a long way off. It was just 16km up the road but 16km can take a while to cover in Tassie!

The road down into the lake is super tight and it was wet and mossy so it was a slow descent. Safety first! 

I was beginning to wonder if it was worth the effort......?

Yeah, totally worth it!

Climbing out of the lake I stopped at the Tasmazia and Lower Crackpot coffee shop. I needed a break but I also needed to chase up a rear tyre. The Mitas E07+ was starting to look a bit thin.

Jason from Launceston Honda was pretty helpful. While they didn't have my preferred tyre in stock (and couldn't get one from the mainland in 5 days!? WTF?!) he had a Michelin Anakee Wild. I initially said don't worry but after a couple quick reads of Google reviews and looking at the tread pattern I thought it might be ok. So, OK, book me in later in the week. Tassie is so small that I would just loop back to Launny when the Mitas was totally shot, which awesomely fit in with my plan of having no plan other than to not go to the southern end of the state this trip. The view of Mt Roland from my table during these calls helped keep me pretty chilled....

Seeing the sky darken out to the east I decided it was time to high tail it west. I backtracked to the C126 but not before a quick stop at Staverton for this photo. Here comes the rain!

I wound down the C126 to the Lake Barrington crossing and it was another nice bit of road. Unfortunately I was stuck behind a truck and dog doing 15km/h most of the way down. Oh well, plenty of twisty roads in Tassie to make up for that.

I smashed it out to Cradle Mountain and was a bit gobsmacked at how commercialised it had become! Last time I was here was in 2000 on my honeymoon. There was much less development and you could access Dove Lake with views to Cradle Mountain in your own vehicle, for free. now you need to pay to get through a boomgate Fair enough if you plan on spending time there walking etc etc but if you just want a quick peek from a motorcycle? No thanks.

I didn't even stop. Back on the road out of there I spied a road heading up a hill to the left and the sign stated "Cradle Mountain Hotel". I couldn't remember seeing a pub here previously so thought I'd check it out. 

It turned out to be a couple of big tin sheds. The visitor centre had a cool mural on the side...

While across the carpark the Hotel was spewing forth a line of little old ladies to board a bus. Good on 'em!

A quick breather and phone call to home then I was back on the bike, heading west. About 20km up the road was a lookout signposted "Cradle Mountain". As there were two bikes parked there I thought I'd pull over for a look. It turned out the lookout was a 200 metre walk up the hill...so I just chatted to the guys for a few minutes then headed west again. 😄

At the A10 (Murchison Highway) I turned right and headed north. A late lunch/restock in Wynyard seemed like a good idea. And I would need to go through Hellyer (Hell Yeah!) Gorge to get there.

I wondered if it was as good as I had remembered from our 2003 trip? Here we are standing on the same corner, March 2003. 

All I can say is YES, Hellyer Gorge IS as good as I remembered! The initial section heading north is quite open with a few trickily speed sign posted corners - they are tighter than the signs suggest! Then into the gorge proper and the corners just go on and on (well, for about 10km anyway)! I had a clean run, catching just one car at the bottom of the gorge, who kindly turned into the picnic area pretty much as soon as I caught them - giving me a car free run for the climb out!

The road got quite a bit busier as I approached Wynyard. To be expected really. I stopped into the local Woolworths for some food and water then headed to the waterfront park to chill out for a while. It had turned out to be a cracking day and the many predictions of rain had been completely wrong. Just getting on with it and not worrying about the forecast had worked for me again!

I headed west out of Wynyard, following the A2 (Bass Highway) just inland of the coast. It was nothing special and quite busy but I did crest a hill to see a farmer harvesting some sort of crop. A cloud of bright red dust was following him and combined with the backdrop was stunning. I whirled around and headed back to try to capture the scene but he had changed implements and was just towing a bin back to the other vehicles by this stage, without his plume of dust. It was still a pretty scene that a photo just doesn't do justice, nonetheless.

I cruised along for quite a while, not detouring into Stanley - I could see the "Nut" from the highway thanks, until I eventually came to Smithton. I don't mean this in a derogatory way but Smithton sort of had an "end of the line" feel about it - probably because it is at the end of the line. There isn't really anything north or west of here, but I was going to take a look at whatever was or wasn't north or west of there anyway!

Following my nose out the Montague road it wound through pleasant open fields, through clumps of trees and through the almost nonexistant Montague itself. I had a plan to go to the most north westerly point of Tassie, Cape Grim. I followed the road to the end of the line (for me) which was this gate.

Bugger! So close! 

Still, it was beautiful out here. Well worth the look.

There are also a shiteload of wind turbines up here. I was probably lucky to come up here on a relatively calm day. Tomorrow, those turbines would be earning their keep! (but more on that tomorrow)

The ride back into Smithton was quite enjoyable now that I knew the road. Quite scenic too.

I pulled up at the Bridge Hotel for a beer and to enquire about a room. With how full the motel car park looked, well, I didn't like my chances. First a beer, then to sheepishly ask the question about rooms. Nope, all booked out. Oh well, it was tent time for me then. The River Breeze caravan park hadn't looked too bad as I rode past earlier so it would do.

Downing my beer while looking at my rear tyre it became apparent it was getting quite thin on tread. How would that effect my plan for tomorrow?

I decided to worry about that tomorrow. Time to set up camp, nicely protected on the western side by a stand of trees. 😉

I strolled back to the Bridge Hotel for a couple more Boags and a huge parmy that had me puffing as I walked back along the dead flat footpath to the van park! I certainly wasn't starving this trip!

I was done for the day and turned in just on dark. 440km for the day was pretty good considering how twisty many of the roads are here and how often I was stopping to take in the view.

To be continued......