Touring Tasmania on a 250cc.

[CosI'mFree]

In October 2009 I did a trip around Tasmania, Australia on a 06 Kawasaki VN 250 Eliminator and this is the link to my blog Fab's Motorcycle Trip to Tasmania

I did the return trip from my home on the NSW Central Coast to Tasmania and back in 20 days and covered a distance of 4300 km.

After riding for a few days down the Hume Hwy on my way to Melbourne,the twisty roads of Tassie where a very welcome change and the scenery was almost just as good!

After docking in Devonport in the morning at 6.00 am and disembarking by 6.30am I started to make my way through the north coast of Tasmania.
Riding through the beatiful costal towns of Ulverstone, Penguin, Burnie and Wynyard to finally reach Stanley were I spent my first night under a Tasmanian sky.

Stanley is an old historic fishing town with a lot of charm. The main road in town is full of 19th century buildings that really take you back to what it would have been like when early settlers first came to this island.

A visit to the local cementery really brings it home when you see all the headstones with lots of children and young people dying from dease and accidents.

But the thing you can not miss is the main attraction of the town, and that is "The Nut". The Nut is this huge rock outcrop that is visible for miles around and the best way to discribe is like this....It's Uluru by the sea.

It's got it's own chair lift that takes you to the summit and it is a must if you're in town I reckon.

[CosI'mFree]

After leaving Stanley in the morning I reached Arthur River around 3.00 pm where I set up camp in the local camping ground after getting some essentials for the celebratory dinner.

It was my 42nd birthday and for the first time in my life I was going to spend it completely alone, by myself with a couple of JD's, reading "Lois on the Loose" and listening to Leon Gieco in my iPod.

Life does not get much better than this!!!

[CosI'mFree]

Made a hearty breakfast before leaving that morning back towards Wynyard where I'll start heading south towards Cradle Mountain National Park.
But before that, I had to go and see "The End of the World Lookout"
A local told me that the sea that day was calm! They don't call this part of the world Tasmania's Rugged West Cost for nothing...


On my way through Smithton I heard that a local guy from South Forest had died when his motorcycle hit a ute head on not far from Stanley the night before.


Around the time I would have been sipping JD's in my tent in Arthur River this poor fellow was laying on the road dead. I thought of what his family would be going through, what they'll be telling his kids...

[CosI'mFree]

The following morning I went and did the Enchanted Forest Walk at the National Park before leaving for Zeehan, Strahan, Queentown and finally Tarraleah where I would be spending my next night.

This section of my trip was through some of the most incredible twisting roads I've ever been on.
Think of the most winding stretch of road you've ever been on and then imagine doing it over, and over, and over for I don’t know... maybe one or two hours.
And then when you thought it was all over there's that sign again with the wiggily arrow that says "Next 45 Km".

For ever more every time I see those road signs I'll think of Tassie....

[CosI'mFree]

The following day saw me arrive in Hobart where I met up with my HU contact there for the weekend and enjoyed what the city had to offer with a visit to the Salamaca Markets and "soup bowl" sized cappuccinos.

After that we went for a ride along the loop road that takes you from the City through Kingston down to Margate and Huonville then south all the way Southport, the southernmost point you can ride on seal roads in Tasmania (That explains Annisa's pose I guess?).

It was a great afternoon of enjoyable riding with easy long sweeping bends that just kept coming one after the next, again and again and again....

[CosI'mFree]

The following morning, Monday, I was up early and ready to take my guided tour walk though this amazing historical site. If you're ever in this part of Tasmania and are a bit of a History buff like me? Port Arthur is definitely for you.

You'll learn a lot about what was it actually like living in a penal colony in the mid 1800's and how it has shaped the country Australia is today.

Port Arthur at the time of its establishment was a radical new experiment in criminal's punishment, where the first steps were taken to change the "lock them up and throw away the key" attitude with one of trying to rehabilitate convicts by way of teaching them a trade so that they might actually be of use to society when their sentences were completed.

Something that is at the heart of today's penal system in all western countries. Or at least it is supposed to be....

[CosI'mFree]

The reality is that if you were to find yourself a convict in the 1800's and sent to Australia, you'll have probably want to be sent to Port Arthur.

If you were prepared to do your time and not rock the boat, Port Arthur would have been a picnic compared with other penal colonies at the time.

Well behaved convicts were allowed to roam free around the colony doing jobs and practice their religion at the non-consecrated church where Catholics & Protestants alike attended services.

Although you'll never know it happen here if it wasn't for the memorial site at Port Arthur, in 1996 a terrible crime was carried out by a lone gunman who on a spree of violance cut short the lifes of thirty five inocent people within the area of the former penitenciary.

Twenty of those killed died in the Broad Arrow Cafe where the memorial stands today.

[CosI'mFree]

The colony was also very profitable and for much of it's lifespan it was self sufficient and a lot of products produced here were shiped to other parts of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) & the Main Land.

All this offcourse, the fruits of free convict labour.

The Island of the Dead as the name suggests, is where the dead were buried. Convicts were buried on the lower side of the island on unmarked graves and the rest, being military, civilians and clergy buried on higher ground.

Seems like even in death the social divide was very much alive and kicking....

[CosI'mFree]

I woke up the next morning and as I bent down to put my boots on, I nearly hit the deck as the whole room started spinning around.

At first I didn't think much of it but after I got up, it progressively got worst. I think all the walking around Port Arthur the previous day in the sun in my heavy motorcycle gear and not enough drinking of water had really caught up with me and I was dehydrated.

The night before when I arrived at the local caravan park and asked for a tent site, I was offered for an extra few bucks to stay in their shared backpacker's cabin, which meant not only not having to pitch the tent but also a bed and a TV in the kitchen area.

As it turned out, it was Melbourne Cup Day, and outside the weather was really crap. Rain & wind where going sideways (first day of rain in this trip) and as I looked out the window feeling really dizzy I said to myself..." Yep, I am really sick today".... and decided to stay put.


Replenishing my body with plenty of fluids, I endulged in that great aussie tradition that is Melbourne Cup Day and watched Corey Brown riding "Shocking" win the horse race that stops the nation.

[CosI'mFree]

After my forced lay off the day before I woke up Wednesday morning feeling a hell of a lot better. The weather had done a 180 degree turn too and I was starting to think the motorcycle gods where firmly on my side.

The lost of a day’s riding meant I was going to have to cut my trip short and will miss out on riding all the way up to St Helens and then northwest towards Derby, Scottsdale and Launceston.

From Swansea, I cut across straight to Launceston where I had lunch and then off for my final leg in Tassie towards Devonport and my last night in this beautiful island before boarding the Spirit tomorrow morning.

[CosI'mFree]

In contrast with my crossing into Devonport ten days earlier, where there would have been at least thirty or forty other motorcycles, I was the only one that day making the crossing back to Melbourne.
Being a weekday the boat was not as crowded.

All in all, I could not have asked for a better trip in arguably Australia's premier mototcycling state in pretty much perfect weather all the way around.

And the bike? It did not miss a beat. All I had to do was turn the key each morning and it would be ready to go with me on my little adventure.

It is such a beautiful thing to get up each morning, jump on a motorcycle and ride somewhere, anywhere!
I've travelled around Australia by car and campervans and although travelling is always enjoyable, when you travel by car, you're just another tourist and locals just want your money.

It didn't matter how big or small the town was where I stopped in for petrol, lunch or for the night. Every time somebody would want to start a conversation....Which way you're heading?.....where're you riding from?.....what kind of bike is that?

In Lois Pryce's book "Lois on the Loose" she quotes "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maitainance" as saying something along the lines of....."Travelling by car is like watching a movie but, travelling on a motorcycle is like being in one"....and I think I could not have come up with a better line myself....

[V-Anna]

I can't believe I missed you posting your ride report!

Looks like you had heaps of fun and it just makes me appreciate miore where I live. I hope I'll manage to do that trip around Tassie this summer and might even use my birthday in March for this occasion.

It was great riding with you that day and you are welcome to come back any time.

Cheers, Anissa

[toteusuntmah]

great trip and also great photos

[Alexlebrit]

I somehow missed this first time around, but great to see Tassie again, it took me right back to my back-packing days, nursing a beaten up Holden HQ round Tassie 20+ years ago. It hardly looks like it's changed. I remember the time a logging truck sent a stone flying through the windscreen, that certainly switched us from watching the movie to being in one.

[CosI'mFree]

Originally Posted by V-Anna

I can't believe I missed you posting your ride report!

Looks like you had heaps of fun and it just makes me appreciate miore where I live. I hope I'll manage to do that trip around Tassie this summer and might even use my birthday in March for this occasion.

It was great riding with you that day and you are welcome to come back any time.

Cheers, Anissa

Hey Annisa....thanks! although next time looks like I'll be coming with a few more people so I think that the local camp ground or hotel would be more appropiate.....
Since I got back a few mates & family have finally decided to get off their rear ends and get into touring all of a sudden.