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

Monday, April 25, 2022

Not A Mid Life Crisis, Just An Extended Tour (Part XVI) - The Sydney Contingent Arrive

Day 21

The Deloraine Town Cafe’ was open this morning so that was the location for breakfast and it was good. While we ate three guys turned up on immaculately restored Kawasaki Z900s. They were from Hobart had spent the weekend lapping the island out through Queenstown, then up here and were headed home today. So, not just show ponys.

The plan for today was to end up in St Marys on the east coast. The road going crew were going to lap up and over the A5 to the Central Lakes then back down before heading out through Scottsdale, Derby, St Helens and St Marys. Steve was keen to do some dirt so we were heading back toward Ben Lomond then via Upper Blessington. We fuelled up and went our respective ways.

I managed to get us there this morning without detouring into Launceston. We took our first break at Upper Blessington to take in the view of Ben Lomond.

Then we headed east through the forest toward Mathinna. Steve led so he could set a pace that was comfortable for him and I tried to stay out of what little dust there was. It definitely wasn’t as wet as last time I rode here. It also didn’t feel like it took long at all to get to Mathinna, unlike when I was on my own and this section felt like it took forever. A quick lap of Mathinna then we headed out the road to Ringarooma. Stopping just out of town we took a few photos where the road entered the forestry.

The bright red mushrooms were sprouting along the sides of the road here.

Pressing on we were soon on the dirt. I had ridden this bit of road twice now so hooked

along pretty quickly. It was very dry and hence dusty so Steve hung back a bit to avoid it. I waited for him at the corner of Mt Albert road.

This was new road for me and it was very wide and had a great surface. Another all weather logging road build for big trucks. We followed it for quite a while as it approached, then skirted what I guess must have been Mt Albert. Shame I didn’t take a photo of Mt Albert!😆 It was behind me in this photo.🙄

A bit further up the road we came to a left turn that would take us to The Pub In The Paddock at Pyengana, Powers road. It looked much narrower and quickly disappeared over a rise, into darkening forest. I knew from experience that it would be tighter and steeper. This might be interesting!

And it was! It mostly went down, reasonably steeply but what made it challenging on the big bikes was the surface. It was covered in a deep layer of fresh gravel. Being loose and narrow we had to use the camber into the corners to help turn the bikes - not a problem on left turns but we were hoping like hell there was nothing coming on the right turns. There wasn’t any signs of traffic on the surface and our luck held. In fact, I was having fun sliding out of turns and and fish-tailing my way up the loose climbs. I knew Steve would be sucking seat cushion on this bit and when we finally broke out into open farmland at the bottom and stopped to chat he was buzzing!

We followed this double track for a few kilometres as it wound it’s way through this lush green farmland.

All too soon we popped out on the sealed road and took a left to The Pub In The Paddock. It was reasonably busy outside so we joined the throng and had some hot chips washed down with a Little Rivers beer.

We wondered if the other guys might catch us here as we had been taking our time this morning with plenty of photo stops. But no, there was no sign of them so we rolled east, toward St Helens. The road from Launceston to St Helens is a cracker with thousands of bends and we enjoyed the eastern end of it.

Rolling into St Helens Steve suggested we go and take a look at the Bay of Fires, just 10 or so kilometres north of town at Binnalong Bay. “Why not”? So we did! (Steve has photos on his blog, so check there)

I did take this one on the way back, just on the northern outskirts of St Helens.

Passing through St Helens we saw Dave filling up his thirsty Tuono at the BP so wheeled around and joined him. After a short wait where the others didn’t ride past, we decided to press on to tonight’s digs. The road south out of town was very busy. Throw in some road works and it was bloody boring…until we turned up the climb to St Marys. This is a narrow twisting climb along a road cut into a mountain side and despite a couple of slow cars, was fun. We popped out at the top and rolled into St Marys and went straight to the pub to check in.

The others weren’t here yet but by the time we had jumped through the shower they had arrived. Steve and I went for a stroll around St Marys which didn’t take long as it is a small town. It is a pretty one though. Most buildings were sporting these cool little windmill characters.

The bikes were tucked out the back of the pub and we enjoyed another night of great hospitality as the pub staff were super friendly and helpful. A great place to stay for sure!