A View from Above: Not A Mid Life Crisis, Just An Extended Tour (Part VII)

DAY 10

During the night the wind picked up and was fairly howling. Remember those sheltering trees to the west that I mentioned yesterday? Yeah, well the wind was an easterly so they did absolutely nothing to stop the tent being shaken like I was camping on the ice shelf in Antarctica! Throw in a few showers of rain and the shaking of the trees behind me as each gust tore through their branches and you can probably imagine how many times I woke up that night !😳 Eventually I shoved some ear plugs in and managed to sleep until about 7am but the damage was done.

Poking my head out of the tent it was pretty gloomy looking. The tent was a bit damp from the showers and I was hoping the wind might help dry it. This wasn't going to happen though as the air was quite humid. In fact, even though it was "blowing dogs off chains" it wasn't at all cold. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt as I packed up.

With more showers coming I retreated to the camper's kitchen to organise my things and to charge a few devices. The rain blew into the open eastern end of the kitchen from time to time which sent a chill up the spine each time and re-wet things I was trying to dry. The camp cat kept harassing me for a pat so I gave in, chatted on the phone top Steve (my brother) and patted the cat.

I wasn't really sure what to do today as the radar showed significant bands of rain pretty much all over Tassie. He was looking on Google maps fopr me and suggested a twisty bit of road that did a loop through the bush off the C218 from Trowutta to the C124 at Kanunnah Bridge.

Right! Sounds good! I kitted my gear out with their inner wet liner and proceeded to sweat my way out the C218. I figured I would probably just do this loop and come back to Smithton for another day as the north west corner of Tassie still looked the driest. I had 3/4 of a tank of fuel, so didn't bother topping up.

As I left town the roads were still wet and with the wind ripping at least 30 knots I tip-toed my way between various dairy farms, on cold tyres south toward Edith Creek. Once south of Edith Creek the road began to be more sheltered and it's surface improved markedly. Before I knew it I was at the intersection where I needed to go east.

The Tarkine Drive. Yeah, I had heard of that but had no idea where it was. Well, now I knew. It was 'ere!

The road immediately wound it's way up the hillside. It was a lush green and spectacular but with a wet surface I took it pretty carefully. I like this photo because if you look carefully you can see what is coming up on the GPS screen.

It also wasn't overly wide.

So I needed to be on my toes.

But it was puuurty. You may also note the road surface was drying in places. It wasn't raining and hopefully the wind would clean the road up for me.

The road topped out and went through some open farmland before plunging back into the forest. Along here I had a little explore of a gravel track that was leading off to the left, into the forest. It traversed a logged area on one side with forest on the right. Had I planned it better, I could have followed Folly Road (turns out that is what it is called) for many kilometres through the forests and popped out near the north coast. (See map attached (far) below for the red spur off to the left/north)

Anyway, I turned around after just 2 kilometres and came back to the Tarkine Drive. It twisted it's way down to the Arthur River crossing, which was quite picturesque. I set my drone up to grab some photos but the DJI Go4 app on my phone kept crashing as soon as I would open it. Hmmm, hadn't done that before. So, away went the drone back into the top box. Glad I'd been carrying that for 4000km! So, it was a self selfie, not a drone selfie.😣

Despite the wet surface, the road was actually quite grippy. I hadn't experienced any slips at all and I wasn't riding uber conservatively and I was running almost a knobby up front. I guess the road surface being new was course and modern tyres - well, they are better than we deserve!

I cruised up to this sign and thought I just had to look at what Milkshakes Hills reserve was.

Initially it was 3 kilometres of awesome damp gravel! Damp gravel is sooo grippy! Arriving at the picnic area I discovered a little covered bbq area and walking trails heading off into the forest.

No walking for me today though! I backtracked out to the road and continued on. The road wound up over another range which gave way to views across the valley (not well captured here)

What the above photo does capture though is the amount of leaf litter on the road. Here, it was on the roadside but in the more sheltered places it covered the road quite significantly. While again, I didn't have any grip issues, I can see that in a few years a combination of the leaf litter and the moisture is going to make this road a mossy, slippery lottery. Get here soon and enjoy the 1000 bends while it lasts.

I didn't stop now until I got to the Kanunnah bridge but the road was bend after bend after bend. The road here does a loop so that long traffic from the south can make the left turn onto the bridge safely. Pretty cool!

While chilling out I wandered over to the bush to the left of my bike. For those of you interested, here is what it looks like under the tree canopy around here.

I spoke to Steve again here as I amazingly had mobile reception (thank you Telstra) and he checked the weather down south and threw a few ideas at me. I decided to go check out the Western Explorer route but for that I would need fuel and a food top up. Back to Smithton it was!

The road from the Kanunnah Bridge back to the intersection at Trowutta was magic! Not particularly twisty but initially the ride through forest, then the views across open fields to huge stands of plantation eucalypts and the many patterned rows of plastic "bumps" on the road to, I assume, warn of animal crossing hot spots all added to a remote, yet comforting feeling I had riding along here.

Back near Smithton it was windier than ever. In fact, about 5km south of town a huge gust blew out in front of me, luckily out of a farm driveway for it carried a massive amount of dust with it which gave me a one second heads-up, and I was almost blown off the left side of the road! Think leaning like you are going through a 45km/h bend but still tracking straight! Faaark! I had a massive squirt of adrenaline from that one and was thankful to have kept the bike on the road. 😬

Back in Smithton it was fuel, food and feed me - in that order. The petrol station had a nice quote on the wall that I almost got blown over while trying to get a photo of it. Did I mention it was windy?!

Then it was Woolies for some camping supplies and the local bakery for a pie and coffee. They are still in the grip of covid fear down here so it was all masks and nowhere to sit at the bakery. It sucked when all I wanted to do was sit down and enjoy lunch out of the bloody wind.

Heading south again I took it VERY carefully until I was behind the shelter of the forest, south of Edith Creek. At Kanunnah Bridge I stopped for a moment on the western side to remove my rain liner from my jacket. I was sweating like I was back in Brisbane and it didn't look like rain was any longer a threat.

The road south of Kanunnah brisge went through the Balfour Forest Reserve and was clearly a logging road that had been recently tarred, like the loop I had done this morning. It is also designated The Tarkine Drive from the signs I saw and loops back up the west coast.

My target though was The Western Explorer. I wasn't sure what to expect and was a bit aprehensive as I didn't want to do anything too difficult on my own. Turning onto Norfolk road, as it seems to be called, I was pleasantly surprised to see a wide, well made gravel road.

Initially there was a bit of traffic kicking up dust and the road surface was quite rocky so I took it easy. After about 10 kilometres of fairly flat country the road began to undulate a bit. Thank god, as I was thinking "is this it"?

Then it got very hilly and the road wrapped itself around tight climbing and descending bends. This was more like it! The really steep climbs were sealed, to prevent erosion I assume. Then the route wound through some sparse eucalypt forest which was bloody spectacular. The photos don't do it justice.

Before exiting to more of that open, scrubby tundra like grass. It still wound it's way up and over hillsides which gave the occasional outlook.

I didn't see anyone after that initial busy 10 kilometres which added to the feeling of isolation. I had the place to myself! Just the way I like it!!

Looking forward....

Looking back....

The road surface turned to what looked like crushed granite (it isn't though, apparently it is crushed silicon from a mine?). It was a bit damp and silky smooth, so the grip levels were superb and I found myself up on the pegs and roosting out of corners like I was on a chook chaser. It was so much fun I sort of forgot to stop for any more photos before I got to the ferry crossing at Corinna. Sorry about that!

Suffice to say that the southern end of the Western Explorer is stunning and I WILL be returning for another go before I bring the bike back to the mainland.

Arriving in Corinna I wandered into the cafe/bar/reception to ask about the ferry. "Yep, you can buy tickets here. It is $13 and just press the button near the ferry to call the ferryman when you are ready to go" I was informed.

Now, selling the ferry ticket in a bar is a form of entrapment I am sure....

Initially I sat down to enjoy the beer and have a rest on something that wasn't bucking and lurching around.

But somebody boarded the ferry and I could see another vehicle waiting on the other side. I thought that I had better be ready when they got back so that I didn't call them out in another 15 minutes.

So, once the other vehicle had disembarked, I rolled onto the ferry. It was a short ride across but sorta cool. 😎

The ferry skipper asked where I was headed. He seemed to like it when I said "dunno" and he suggested that if I was self sufficient I should try the free camping at Reece dam. Just turn left onto the C252 at the next intersection. Cool. Will do!

The road out of Corinna was more crushed silicon and a bloody fun ride. I dutifully turned left toward Reece Dam and enjoyed a few twisty corners before arriving at the single lane dam crossing. This is obviously a little used road (which I would discover tomorrow much to my joy) and I loitered at the dam wall for a good look and some photos (which were not so good).

Crossing the dam wall I took the right into the boat ramp/parking area. I soon found a secluded grassy little spot on the edge of the forest. This'll do!

I was all set up by 5pm today and was thankful for the short day. This touring Tassie is tiring work!

I was lamenting my lack of foresight to grab another beer or a glass of wine to enjoy with my cheese and bikkies while I chilled out here. Oh well, this can be my alcohol free day (shhh😏).

After it cooled down and I was sick of chilling, I wandered around the edge of the dam, checking out the boat ramp. Some other campers rubbed it in and flew their drone to get some sunset photos/film. 😖

(Turns out the Android 12 update had screwed with the DJI app and DJI have not updated the app on the Play Store - I needed to do a side load of the app once I returned home)

I also wandered up the steep access road and marvelled at the patterns of the moss growing on the rock embankment. I wondered to myself how many years after the dam's construction it had taken to grow like that? Unfortunately, again, the photo doesn't show how it actually looked.

Back to camp for a cuppa and a choccy before heading to bed early. Yep, after the lack of sleep last night I was out like a light before the sun had fully set.