Saturday July 30
We arranged to meet at 10am. We come out a bit early and the boys are gathering to take us for a ride, Foggy on his nice 900 Sport Ducati, the air cooled original style. Richo on his GS1150 BMW, Stan on his Honda Blackbird and Biddy on the 650V-Strom Suzuki, commonly called a ‘wee-strom’. The boys lead us out of Hobart, across the bridge and up to Gum Tree Hill Road, a typical motorcycling twisty road, then down out of the hills onto Richmond for a look at the old bridge built by the convicts. Then it’s off again along back roads to Orford for coffee at a regular haunt for the locals. Foggy and Stan say their goodbyes and head home, Biddy and Richo take us North on the East Coast, We have a great run and then head up Elephant pass which has just re-opened after landslides closed it for some time. The road is still covered in gravel, dust and sand, but it’s still pretty good. We don’t stop at the Pancake place where most bikers stop. We continue on and then come down St Mary’s pass, then turn South for ten kilometres to the Iron House Brewery. He have a great lunch overlooking the ocean from the warm confines of the brewery and tried some of the local drop – just one for a taste, no more. We then trickle into St Helens for the night. We have a room each at the local pub – nothing flash but a good bed and a great view over the water. A good feed at the RSL of local natural oysters and red wine hits the spot.
Just on 300 kilometres of some the best roads in Australia
Sunday July 31
Today is a run up the East coast, North East Tassie is something special. Great roads, forests and rolling hills with the occasional small village thrown in. We all enjoy the ride, the day and bask in our efforts. We get to the Ferry Terminal in Devenport as many have done. Standing in the drizzling rain lined up with all the tin tops and trucks. Finally it’s onto the ferry, the car decks are bustling with deckies tying bikes down and directing cars to squeeze up on each other. Three big blokes squeeze into our small cabin again and head to the restaurant. I figure we deserve to celebrate. Georg and I bore Stephen with our stories of our road trip and it’s off to bed.