Being back well over a week from our Tassie tour, it's the highest time to summarize that wonderful trip. It wasn't our first time in Tassie; we had been before, but then moved around by camper and car. Doing it on a bicycle was so different - and in many ways, better. Some of the stretches that were a bit boring to drive through, were the best when doing them by bicycle. You go slow, you enjoy the landscape, the nothing, the slight rolling hills, the endless pastures. In terms of physical challenge, Tassie was fine. There were some hills (well, quite a bit), but seldom too steep, and never very long.
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| One of my favorite impressions from this trip |
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| Getting to Tassie from Melbourne on the Spirit of Tasmania. It was a great choice to get there. However, for the trip back, the tickets were outrageously expensive... |
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| After the first day of rainy and windy cycling, we were rewarded with a beautiful evening. |
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| One of the nicest camp sites we had, in Bridport |
What we had underestimated, was the cold and this in combination with short days - the sun went down before 6pm. Daytime was usually great, with temperatures between 15 and 20C. But came 4pm, the sun started to loose its power, and temperature started to drop quickly. By 5-6pm, it was chilly, definitely when sitting still outside the tent. Combine that with a never ending breeze (or wind), and evenings were cold - definitely for people like us, used to living in the tropics. It's one of the main reasons we mostly stayed in caravan parks. Tassie is full of beautiful free camp sites; but after a day cycling, and it's getting cold, you want to have that hot shower, and it's so nice to be able to comfortably sit inside in a camp kitchen.
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| Coffee break, it was getting sunny and a bit warmer... |
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| Very good description of the Tassie tour: empty, winding, slight uphill road, surrounded by unspoilt nature, with a signal reminding us that Tassie can be cold... |
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| Sunny weather, yet quite chilly thanks to a strong breeze |
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| When in the sun and out of the wind, it was perfect! |
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| Warming up in the evening at the open fire, one of our nights in a B&B. We did a few B&B's: in Derby after the very wet and cold day, and through the Midlands where it was close to freezing at night |
All in all, the weather has been very nice. We had a few days of rain, one day very heavily with stormy wind as well, but mostly nice, sunny autumn weather. If this is the normal April weather, it's a great time to go for a bike tour! Having said that, we did choose to go via the East Coast to start with, because the weather in the west was much colder, wetter and windier - and that's notoriously so. That was clearly the right thing to do... Nevertheless, we were lucky that the weather was beautiful and stable on our way back from Hobart, because that made it possible to ride through the Midlands, which was absolutely one of the highlights!
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| East Coast scenery |
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| One of the many magnificant sunsets |
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| Camping at Maria Island; the metal bin is to store food safely, so possums and tasmanian devils wouldn't tear the tent open |
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| When in Australia, you just have to ride via some of these dirt roads; this is one of the nicest stretches we did! |
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| Good sense of humor... (and look at that blue sky!!!) |
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| Mesmerizing Midlands |
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| Morning fog over the Great Lake at Miena, 1050m asl |
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| No comment... |
In total, we covered a bit more than 800km. Our average days were a bit less than during our previous tour; we wanted to take our time. Also, the cycling days were quite short. We typically left around 9-9.30am because by then, the sun had properly come out and the temperature was becoming pleasant. We tried to finish cycling latest by 4pm, to allow some time to settle, get showered, maybe walk around a little etc before it was dark again - by 6pm. If you count some time for breaks, lunch, making photos, it means there are maybe 4-5 hours of cycling in a day - if that much. Put in some hills, some headwind and the distances below are what you get!
| Route |
KM |
| Launceston - Low Head |
58 |
| Low Head - Bridport |
63 |
| Bridport - Derby |
57 |
| Derby - St Helens |
74 |
| St Helens - Scamander |
25 |
| Scamander - Bicheno |
60 |
| Bicheno |
0 |
| Bicheno - Mayfield Bay |
62 |
| Mayfield Bay - Triabunna |
36 |
| Maria Island |
0 |
| Triabunna - Richmond |
65 |
| Richmond - Hobart |
33 |
| Hobart - Shearers Quarters |
68 |
| SQ - Miena |
88 |
| Miena - Poatina |
60 |
| Poatina - Mowbray |
64 |
| Total |
813 |
As usual, it's hard to say which are the real highlights. Every day, every ride has some things which are special, memorable, and these can depend on very small and by itself insignificant things. We really liked Derby, although that was when it was cold, stormy and rainy, but the area looked gorgeous. We had a fantastic camp spot in Bridport. Maria Island was certainly one of the best parts; we didn't cycle there - although you can do this and it can be very nice - but the hike, the nature, the wildlife were so much worth it. We'd love to go back there and stay a bit longer. And finally, the ride through the Midlands between Bothwell and Poatina with stopover in Miena, was fantastic for tourbiking. It is not the most promoted tourist area of Tassie, and not many people go there at all - in fact, many people wonder why you would want to go there - but for us it was an absolute highlight. Highly recommended for anyone touring Tassie, although for the Midlands there is 1 strong advise: if the weather doesn't look good you might want to avoid cycling there.
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| Leaving Hobart towards the Midlands; some showers, some clouds, some sun and definitely: lost of wind (headwind). There always seems to be wind in Tassie! |
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| Uphill, dirt road, just amazing cycling! |
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| Did I already mention the sensational sunsets? |
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| Sheep territory; the say there are more sheep than people in New Zealand, but that is certainly true of Tassie too |
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| Misty Midlands morning |
Finally, a paragraph about carbon footprint and human impact. Tassie and certainly also mainland Australia seem to be less concerned and less aware yet of our impact on the planet. You will still get plastic bags in shops without any question (and sometimes even surprised looks when you bring your own bag); takeaway food is often in polystyrene or at least, plastic boxes; and strangely enough, there is a lot of litter along the roadside. Yes, even in Australia, even in the so natural Tassie!!! Bottles (plastic, glass), cans, coffee cups (wow, the amount of coffee cups that are disposed of daily), lunch boxes (McD and KFC are strong contributors in this category), plastic bags, etc etc. Somehow I really did not expect that there, but it definitely was. Put next to that, the old and heavy cars on the road. It seems in Australia, you need to drive an SUV or small truck. It needs to have a heavy engine and make a big noise. I guess petrol is still way too cheap?
Besides litter, the road(side) is also full of... dead animals. It comes in all sizes, shapes and stages of decay; from clean white bones to smelly heaps of... well. On some stretches of road, it was as if we were riding through an animal cemetery. Incredible. They say it's because wildlife is so abundant in Tassie. I hope at least that's true.
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| Dramatic rainy landscapes on our way to Derby |
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| Tassie is quite a historical place too |
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| One of those roads, which were not that inspiring by car, but great for cycling |
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| Tassie is well known for its abundant fresh seafood. At this seafood shack in Bisheno, we had yummy oysters, and a really good dinner of fish and chips |
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| The fascinating painted cliffs in Maria Island |
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| Yes yes, another sunset; on Maria Island this time |
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| Cycling lanes into Hobart. In all the cities in Australia we rode through, there are a lot and mostly quite good cycling lanes, and we hardly ever felt like we were riding in busy, dangerous, built up areas. |
And finally, here's the list of posts about our Tassie tour:
Now back in Kuala Lumpur for a little while, already getting ready for the next journey: in Europe. Soon!
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| We'll be back! |
