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Published: March 16th 2023
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Day 4 Leaving Queenstown after a breakfast at a local cafe, we were soon onto forest tracks - these were quite muddy as forestry operations were underway. We came upon some forestry workers who generously let us through a locked gate (after we asked them nicely). This allowed us to continue for quite some kms of great rocky roads before exiting onto a sealed road where we came into a small town with 1 Swedish themed restaurant. We stopped here for a very tasty Swedish lunch of salmon open sandwiches. Continuing through the town of Derwent we then did some more gravel before arriving at our very nice Air B & B house in Blackmans Bay overlooking the water. This was near the town of Kingston. We ordered a Chinese house delivered takeaway which finished off a good (less cold) day of around 355Kms.
Day 5. We left Blackmans Bay and headed into Hobart to a motorcycle shop where Ian & I had new rear tyres fitted (Brenton was vey critical of Ian's tyre as he reckoned it was a road tyre - photo attached). While these were being fitted we all had breakfast in a
nearby cafe. Leaving Hobart we were soon on gravel roads and our route lead us to a road which was really a track. This was basically a pile of loose rocks and very steep - so a serious test. We all made it to around 75% of the uphill and stopped for a rest. Bryan, Ross and myself decided at this point it was outside our comfort zone so we went back carefully down hill making it safely to the bottom. We then worked our way around this track taking a gravel road of around 50kms into the town of New Norfolk where we had arranged to meet Brenton & Ian. Meanwhile Brenton's bike refused to start after a stop further along the track and had to be jump started. In New Norfolk Brenton had the battery tested & it was fine although flat. Obviously a charging problem so Brenton headed to Hobart where a Suzuki shop confirmed a faulty stator and ordered one to be fitted in 2 days time and recharged his battery. Meantime we "turnbacks"" plus Ian kept on our route which involved more gravel roads through more forests - all enjoyable riding. We arrived at our
destination of Geeveston where we had booked to stay at "The Bears Went Over hill" a quaint private hotel with great facilities. We dined at a local Tapas type bar which interestingly only had a Tasmanian alcohol license, so we drank local produce only. Brenton joined us around an hour after our arrival. We had done around 305kms
Day 6 Out of Geeveston, we had plotted a new route to Hobart bypassing Jeffries track and using some of the roads we had used the day before. The track we had plotted was a great gravel forestry road but unfortunately after around 15kms we came across a "road closed" that stopped us in our tracks. This was a major washout so we decided discretion being the better part of valour, we retraced our steps and started plotting another way around (on the fly) Unfortunately although I was determined that I had the route sussed, we did many ever-decreasing circles before ending up in Huonville for lunch. This was very nice but unfortunately not where we wanted to be and worse, exactly where Bryan predicted we would be. Rerouting, we carried on, eventually rejoining our original route and then heading to the ferry for Bruny Island. Arriving on the Island we did a loop on Northern Bruny Island, which was short, interesting but very dusty. Crossing the neck between Islands we came across a busy restaurant "Get Shucked" where we had a tasty oyster and/or salmon lunch. After this we headed south down the East coast before turning onto a gravel road crossing the Island. This turned into a track in places but was a good challenging but enjoyable ride. Into Hobart we skirted Mt Wellington on a winding sealed road before chancing another "No Through Road" which was short & worked out ok. We had booked at the Black Buffalo Hotel where we had 2 comfortable apartments. We caught up with washing etc and had a forgettable meal in the hotel restaurant. Around 400kms today which was about 95kms longer than planned due to our navigational issues.
Day 7 A rest day today so we caught up with some bike maintenance, oil changes and in Brenton's case a front sprocket change which caused some later problems as the counter shaft sprocket nut was semi-stripped. More on this issue in later days. Bikes reassembled we Ubered to the waterfront area in Hobart and enjoyed an excellent lunch in a Japanese restaurant. Back in time for a relaxing evening complete with a "home" cooked meal.
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John Mckenzie
non-member comment
Fun times
Hey Mike it all sounds like another big adventure and staying in your comfort zone is a great idea(older/wiser). Doesn’t sound like the temperature over there is that great- now that we’re finally getting some sunshine, but autumns already affecting our light hours. Stay safe and happy travels. John