TravellingStrom

Well, it was bloody cold last night. As I mentioned at 9.30pm it was -1C, well I did not stir nor get out of bed until half seven or so and this is what I saw, the sun had been up for a while, but my bike was more frozen than me!

In fact I reckon I need fur like this little wallaby, I would hate to have seen the temperature before sun up, brrrrr 🙂

Anyway, after a few hot cuppas I managed to pack up and get on the road after the bike had thawed out. I went and paid $22 for a pass to go and see the Cradle Mountain from the Dove Lake shore and it was a very narrow and windy 10km to get there as well 🙂 If I had more time I would have done a few walks, but I wanted to ride today and cover some territory. The lake was not quite 100% smooth, but it had some reflection.

After the photo shoot, I headed east towards Deloraine and it was some shocking roads in the first 50km or so, every corner on the road had gravel on it, some all over the road not just the inside track 😦 They had used the white sandy gravel for the verges, but had not sprayed it with tar or anything, so all the loose stuff gets scattered by cars and trucks etc. They obviously do not even go around with a cleaning crew as it could not get that bad in a day or even a week 😦 Anyway, much care was taken and I survived mostly unshaken.

A turn south at Deloraine and add some riding gear which I had removed earlier as I was now heading up towards the high lakes country and the temp dropped accordingly, still a clear day though 🙂

There was a section of dirt up here as well, around 30km all up, not too bad and easy done and some nice lake views, the colours were great due to the clear air.

The road became straighter and faster as I got closer to the turnoff to Poatina.

Then coming down the Poatina Pass there were a few very extremely tight hairpin curves, I was nearly at a standstill just to get around, well I should have been on two of them as the gravel trap on the road nearly caught me, but just gave the back end a step out, quite scary really and just missed an oncoming car, but got away with it. Of course I was more careful after that. There were some nice views, this one shows some strange crop circles, no idea why this was done this way.

Right towards the bottom I spotted an Echidna on the road so I stopped and tried to help, but he was not having anything of the sort, but I took a few shots.

After that the run into Launceston was pretty tame roads through a lot of fields etc.

I stopped here to visit the Harley Davidson Museum, but I was too late as it was closing in 15 minutes, it was a Saturday. Never mind, I stayed and used a table and did some blog updates and emails etc as Optus was in town.

I left around 4pm after chatting to a local bloke and got into Devonport around 5.20pm, which gave me time to hit the pub for a few drinks and a feed and watch the cricket highlights. Boarding the ferry was quick after this, no delays and met Mandy, she had been on the same ferry last week and recognised the bike. We ended up chatting for a fair while in the upstairs bar about bikes and travel, this was her first extended ride since getting her licence, good on ya Mandy 🙂

Day – 417km
Trip – 25,071km

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