We had choices to make today….two options:

1. Ride to Lake Dobson on a predominantly dirt road, climbing over 900 metres in 16 km ( meaning the return trip would be downhill)

2. Chill, laze about, have brunch at Waterfall Cafe in Mt Field NP when it opened (about 1 km walk from our pub), do the three waterfall walk (6 km) then back to cafe for iced coffee and then chill more back at the pub.

So it was a tough choice…..beautiful weather and we chose to chill, as the following two days are both going to pretty tough going.

Walking down to the National Park we cut the corner to head to the old National Park railway station.

When I was about 10, I was staying with my maternal grandmother in Hobart, along with one of my school friends. She took us on a day trip here, travelling by train. It was a wonderful trip, well before the days of OHS, commercial litigation etc. My friend and I had a ball on that train, sitting on the step of the open train doorway nearly the entire trip. Our legs dangled free and I still remember some of the bridge crossings. Try and do that today!

A local tourist business now runs these self propelled carts, on the train line, from Maydena (12 km up the road). Looks like fun.

Yummy brunch was next.

The Three Falls Circuit starts behind the Mt Field visitor centre taking walkers through the rainforests found on the lower levels of the National Park. It is a 6 km loop with a mixture of gradients ranging from gentle to steep.

Here is the data graph and map for the walk.

The first waterfall is only 300 metres into the walk, following a well maintained path through rainforest.

There are a variety of trees including eucalyptus, sassafras, myrtle and blackwood. Some of the fallen trees have massive bases.

At night there are glow worms in the area.

Russell Falls is a spectacular two tiered waterfall, with a lookout point at the base.

A set of stairs lead up to a lookout point maybe half way up the waterfall height.

Well constructed stairs take you to a further viewpoint at the top of the falls.

Horseshoe Falls are a short walk further. A nice waterfall but I’d rate it number three today.

We noted a trout swimming in the creek.

Returning to the main circuit, the path winds its way through a somewhat Gondwanan landscape, with some incredibly old trees predating Abel Tasman’s first siting of Tasmania back in the mid 1650’s. We did the extension loop through the Tall Tree forest.

More lovely rainforest.

Lady Barron waterfall is reached after descending through rainforest and crossing numerous small creeks. The falls are named after Lady Clara Barron, the wife of a Governor of Tasmania.

Tony hopped over the safety barrier for the above photo hence this photo.

The next part of the walk follows the watercourse before leading to about 270 stairs that climb, climb, climb out of the rainforest.

Once at the top the path gently descends back down to the visitor centre via open forest of eucalyptus that have been subjected to bushfire sometime in the past.

An interesting plaque re the world heritage listing and cultural heritage.

Time for an iced coffee and watching a cheeky bird cavorting in front of a sign telling us to keep the wildlife wild.

Back at the pub I have taken some photos. $95 per night and last night there was one other guest, not sure about tonight. A traditional old pub Aussie style, that was constructed in 1920, but currently owned by an English guy Joffe.

An early night tonight as we will depart early tomorrow for a longer ride of over 120 km and upwards of 2000 metres climbing. Thanks for reading, Ooroo!

How many Grannies ride 900 km to see their granddaughter? Not too many I suspect, but yesterday we would finally arrive at my eldest son’s place in Acton Park, on the eastern shore of Hobart.

We left Port Arthur heading towards Dunalley, retracing our previous day heading in. There we would take a different route towards Hobart.

The air was still, with the forecast NE winds not yet being felt.

We had an excellent ride out to Eaglehawk Neck with minimal traffic. There Tony and I parted ways to tackle the climb out.

As we paid for dinner the previous evening a local lady, Audrey, upon discovering our ride around Tasmania, had exclaimed ‘but how will you get to the top of Eaglehawk Neck’? ‘It goes up like this’ indicating steepness with her hand.

Tony chose to head straight up the highway and I chose to climb Pirates Bay Drive to the lookout. My way was longer with a steady gradient of 6-8 % whereas Tony’s way was up to 10%. We both made it ok and met at the Tasman Lookout for a last look over the Peninsula.

The coffee van guy was there setting up but would not sell us a coffee for another 30 minutes so we were not waiting and pushed on, as todays ride was undulating.

We rode straight on to Murdunna to stop at the roadside house for some breakfast.

As we finished our breakfast and headed off, the first of the NE breeze was noted. At Dunalley we turned off the Arthur Highway heading towards Carlton River.

Fulham Rd followed the coast in a westerly direction then bearing north westerly. Our next stop was Carlton Beach where we stopped to visit my cousin Phil P and his wife Marcia. Phil has been kept very busy in supposed retirement converting bikes to electric. His own bike has ‘incredible speed’ capacity. He converts around 5 bikes per week.

Leaving Carlton Beach our next stop was to my Uncle Stuart and Aunt Janine who live in Lewisham up the top of a very steep hill (21%). I walked that bit!

I had not seen either for around 15 years since my Nan’s funeral and that was far too long a gap. I had been a junior bridesmaid at their wedding in 1972 when I was 10.

We sat outside where they have amazing views, these photos not doing it justice. The gaps show the two causeways we will shortly ride across.

I think next visit we will drive up to their house.

Leaving their home we headed towards Forcett and Sorell. The Arthur Highway was very busy by now and quite narrow, and we just put our heads down and concentrated on the slight verge.

From Sorell there are two causeways to cross, and fortunately both have dual pathways keeping us separated from the fast traffic.

We skirted around the Hobart airport boundary, through Seven Mile Beach, up a final hill and then we arrived at our destination. Granny arrived to a lovely hug from Sienna.

Today has been our one and only scheduled day off the bike. A busy day that included coffee at a cafe, waterfall walk at Strickland Falls, weeding the garden, covering fruit trees and playing with Sienna.

You need to think laterally today re my blog title….do let me know if you ‘get it’.

We started with a healthier breakfast today.

Leaving Orford we were on the Tasman Highway for about 15 km following the Prosser River. A narrow and winding road but quite pretty. It would have been far nicer without the constant buzz of traffic dashing off to work.

As we peeled away from the river, the road widened, and the wind arrived. The wind was to be a fairly constant nuisance today as it was a SW, and guess what direction we were broadly heading?

As we reached Buckland we turned left towards Nugent.

I do have memories of Buckland being the coldest place ever from my Army Reserve training days. We conducted a 24 hour medical triage exercise there. It was freezing! Sleep was rostered for about 2 hours each during the period, and the sleeping bags were rubbish. I also peeled more potatoes than I care to remember during my mess duty. In addition I wrongly diagnosed a patient as being alive, when apparently she was dead…..well they had a pulse and nice pink skin colour….🙈

There was a solid climb to Nugent as seen here on the climbing graph. You can see that right from Orford we gradually climbed and at the 20 km point it became steep. There were numerous 12 percent pinches and it was hard ( remembering we have extra weight on the bike with all our gear). Maximum gradient was around 12 percent.

Fortunately the steepest section was bitumen but from the first peak and descent it was back to gravel.

We rolled along undulations arriving at Nugent. According to Wikipedia the main feature of Nugent is its hall where locals hold gatherings. Hmmm….this is a two building, no houses town. Here they both are.

There is a sign on the door of the club….home of the Nugent Roosters. No football oval to be found…think I will stick with Cat Scratch Fever alternative facts.

Back onto dirt, it was well maintained and compacted with some great scenery.

We turned left onto the Arthur Highway at Copping, and by then it was blowing very hard, and we either had a head or side wind with the South westerly. Certainly we needed to concentrate extra hard to hold our line. Traffic also increased significantly.

At Dunalley it was howling and again we had trouble holding the bike steady. An interesting place on a narrow isthmus with the Denison canal and a swing bridge that allows boats easy access between the two bays. The canal was originally hand dug commencing in 1901 and taking 4 years to complete.

The Tasman and Forestier Peninsula are both important habitat for the Tasmanian devil. The local devils are free of disease and there is a conservation project aimed at boosting the population. the narrow isthmus at both Dunalley and Eaglehawk Neck assist in this regard.

We battled on to Murdunna and stopped for lunch at the local road house overlooking Norfolk Bay.

On the approach to Eaglehawk Neck there was a signed option for Pirates Bay Drive. We ummed and aahed and decided to take it and wow, we were pleased we did, as there were brilliant views from the Tasman National Park lookout.

The bonus was being able to ride up to the coffee van counter.

After a great descent, we arrived at the Tessellated Pavement.

Eaglehawk Neck is only a 30 metre wide isthmus. It was once guarded by a line of ferocious dogs to prevent convicts from escaping across the Neck from the Port Arthur penal colony.

Port Arthur was our destination today and we decided to head straight there rather than doing a loop to Nubeena due to the wind, thereby shortening our ride by 20 or so km. On the upside, we could wander around the Port Arthur historic site.

Port Arthur was a 19th century penal settlement established by the English to house their most hardened criminals. Life was tough. 1646 prisoners died and are buried on the nearby Isle of the Dead. The prison closed in 1877 and fell into disrepair until its value was realised as a tourist destination.

Etched into the psyche of adult Tasmanians were the dreadful events of 1996 resulting in the death of 35 people. The memorial is moving. The Broad Arrow cafe ruins remain in the background.

After 1996 I vowed never to return. Many years later I did as I was the manager of the Tasmanian Swimming team at the Australian All School Championships being held in Hobart, and the educational day was to Port Arthur so I had no choice. Today I found the memorial still stark and moving.

A great ride again, some 97 km and over 1200 metres climbing. Progress was slow but we made it in one piece. Tomorrow we have a solid climb to get out of Eaglehawk Neck and head to the outskirts of Hobart to my eldest sons home, catching up with family en route.

Thanks for reading, ooroo

A beautiful start to the day as the sun rises above the Hazards.

We headed north to the Bush Mill to grab some food, before turning south towards Triabunna and Orford.

Today was shorter, a mere 60 km with around 500 metres climbing. The views for the first half was beach after beach, with the omnipresent Hazards and later, Maria Island.

We stopped at each beach turnoff, including Cressy, Spiky, Kelvedon and Mayfield.

I particularly liked this view at Kelvedon Beach looking towards a farm building and Maria Island poking its head behind.

Roadworks were occurring on the northern approach to the Spiky Bridge so we could not ride over it today.

Built by convicts in 1843 the bridge was made from field stones laid without mortar or cement. The parapet features field stones laid vertically, giving the bridge a spiky appearance.

Three arch bridge is a short walk, or bike push at Mayfield Beach. The bridge was built in 1845 by convict labor from the nearby Rocky Hills Probation Station, as part of the old convict built coach road that connected Swansea to Little Swanport.

The bridge spans Old Mans Creek and has the current highway built over the top, some 10-15 metres higher.

Just after we left the Mayfield Conservation area we came across an echidna, not keen to be photographed as it tried to bury itself. Great to see one alive, as sadly we past one earlier that had been killed on the road.

Another beautiful view as we approached Little Swanport.

We had not planned to stop for coffee until Triabunna mainly because we did think there would be anything. When we came across this cafe in the middle of nowhere, we thought ‘why not’. We had time to kill today so we chilled here for 30 minutes or so, until 3 guys on motor bikes arrived and we offered up our table (there was only one).

The owners dog came over for a pat, making us think of our two loved dogs Simba and Jack hoping they are going ok at the kennels.

The Highway is quiet here. Traffic overall was not too bad today with one major exception. One idiot driver of a red convertible Mercedes, registration starting with MHH…I was hoping we might see the car in Triabunna or Orford so we could have a chat! He came within inches passing us, making no attempt to leave a 1.5 metre gap.

Triabunna is the gateway to the Maria Island National Park. Decent looking ferry and we’ve added that trip onto our local bucket list.

Another dog came over for a pat. This is Archie who walked ahead of an elderly lady walking with her frame. She told us Archie belonged to her grandson and that he is a good boy. I think she meant the dog.

We knocked off another hour at Triabunna making the final 7 km ride to Orford, located on the Prosser River. Another very quiet town. Interestingly the jetties are all privately owned.

So a short day but tomorrow is a tougher day as we head to Port Arthur. We have a few different possibilities route wise but will make our mind up in the morning depending on the weather. The forecast is potentially problematic wind wise, so we will see how bad it is and tweak accordingly.

We are planning another early start, having purchased breakfast supplies. The wind tends to be kinder earlier in the day.

Thanks for reading. Ooroo.

Up early, ate, packed and headed south at 6.40 am. The day was looking great and we were keen to get cracking as we had about 125 km to ride, all on the Tasman Highway. No options for quieter roads.

It was quite cool and at 2.94 km Tony realised why he was feeling cold. He had left his gilet hanging over a chair in the kitchen at our accomodation. Worse still, we had locked the unit and put the key into a box, and reception did not open until 9 am.

A few phone calls later, the jacket was retrieved and we headed back out like Groundhog Day. What is an extra 6 km on such a beautiful day?

Just a glorious morning.

We arrived in Scamander, and the local supermarket has a series of metal characters.

Scamander is a small town, with lovely vistas and a great coffee shop.

Off we rolled, making good progress and riding at a very chilled pace. That is the beauty of cycle touring. If you get the daily distance and destinations right, and you are lucky enough to have the weather gods on your side, it is very pleasant as you have all day to ‘get there’.

An agricultural region, this old farmstead was quite impressive even at a distance.

Approaching the Chain of Lagoons.

The Chain of Lagoons was very pretty, with an expansive camping area, surprisingly quite busy.

I like the chains on the chairs, taking a seat I enjoyed looking out at the beach and ocean.

Today was all about beaches following the East coast south and it is hard not throw a few more beach photos in. The beaches were all fairly secluded with few people visible.

Arriving into the town of Bicheno marked 75 km of our ride, and whilst a bit early for lunch, we had some anyway.

Bicheno has some wonderful geological formations.

At the junction of the Tasman Highway and the road to Freycinet National Park is this kitsch cafe. They sell good icecream though! If you ever desired a frog souvenir, they will have it.

First glimpse of The Hazards. We had originally planned on cycling there, but there was a distinct lack of reasonably priced accomodation. At the time, the minimum there was well over $200 for the night, plus it is an in/out ride that did not overly appeal.

The biggest climb of the day was Cherry Hill, and it provided lovely views of Freycinet.

What goes up, must go down. This is the descent looking towards Cranbrook.

So here we are now in Swansea, a very quiet town on the shores of Great Oyster Bay looking towards Freycinet. This is the view from our room.

The beach here is not as great as earlier beaches. I realised today that this area was the scene of one of my great faux pas in life.

When I was at Uni, I did some sailing, crewing for a Uni friend Peter H on his beautiful wooden enterprise class dinghy.

This particular weekend we had the Tasmanian Championships. I was sharing a room with his mother, my former Home Economics teacher at high school. She gave me some ear plugs to wear as she said she snored badly. She did not exaggerate.

The following morning we had our first race and we had our best start ever. We were flying, and before we knew it, it was all over. Another dinghy crashed into the side and apparently it was my fault as I should have seen it coming. Whoops!

Major damage was inflicted. Some 25 years later I worked with his wife at the LGH. She went home and told her husband and he said ‘ she wrecked my boat’. Ouch.

For dinner we walked up the road to the old Bush Mill passing by this wonderful shoe in the local primary school yard.

Today we rode the Tasman Highway the whole day, and we had three close encounters. Firstly a black van with Victorian registration that came within inches, then a B Double who underestimated his length before cutting us off requiring evasive action not only by me, but the cars coming the other way, and finally an arrogant black Porsche driver who also buzzed us closely.

So it was with a smile on my face as I watched these kids playing football in the middle on the Main Street, that is also the Highway. Swansea is a sleepy town after hours.

A fantastic day on the bike, with the wind behind us for most of the time. 128 km, nearly 1000 metres climbing. Tomorrow is a shorter day so we will chill a tad…besides, we cannot get access to our bikes until 7 am. I needed to negotiate a more secure arrangement for the bikes than the rear of the building, outside!!

Thanks for reading, Ooroo.

We awoke early, had breakfast, packed and were in the road by 6.40 am.

We had discussed various routes with Angela, one of the pub owners the night before and had decided to take the dirt road option to St Helens. Why? Well certainly not due to my ‘ love’ of dirt roads, as you would all know now that dirt is not my favourite option.

We chose it simply to minimise traffic.

Heading off on the same route as the previous day to head to the Cape Portland wind farm, we descended and crossed the Ringarooma river and today the dog was not present.

At the two km point we veered right to start our dirt adventure. We were heading to Anson Bay some 25 km away and despite the dirt, it was a pretty well maintained road, even by my highly judgmental gravel index.

I love these signs. Our kangaroos are super strength, able to lift the front of cars up. They are also bigger than cars it seems. International tourists must be shocked when they see the local wallabies. The wombat is relatively larger again. Mind you, both animals can render significant damage to a car.

Our route formed part of the Great Eastern Drive promoted by local tourism authorities.

We enjoyed this section, the weather was cool but pleasant, we were protected from the winds and the scenery was pleasant. The road dissected the Mt William National Park. Neither of us had been before and made a note to return and head up to Eddystone Point.

As we entered Ansons Bay the road thankfully was bitumen as it was a steep descent, to the so named remote paradise. What a pretty bay.

Just behind the bay was this lagoon.

Back at the bay one needs to maximise opportunities to rest. This was one of my least comfortable choices.

Further along the bay was a boat ramp and jetty.

After the steep descent into Ansons Bay we figured there would be a climb out. Dirt climb through lovely virgin bush.

We rejoined the main dirt road and another very steep descent to this flood crossing, reminding me of Spellman’s Rd, near home. Tony has the route in his Garmin and could see what was ahead, reminding me to drop into my granny gears.

Oh my goodness….17 percent climb out and it was a bit much with the bike weight for my knee and I bailed about half way up, walking a few hundred metres before riding at a mere 11 percent. I was astounded that I actually recleated my bike shoes back onto the pedals, but riding was easier than walking!

Just finishing the climb

Some interesting areas passed including conservation and farming land.

A lone wombat sign. So far we’ve not seen any live wombats but sadly have found 3 dead roadkill.

We ventured upon the newly opened Derby to Bay of Fires MTB track half way point. Plenty of bike racks, two tables (you cannot sit as nothing to sit on) and a wash station.

Given you can’t sit and chill at the table, I might as well rest.

We arrived in St Helens around 11 am, plenty of time to chill, starting with a nice coffee. After checking into our accomodation we headed to the local supermarket to grab dinner and breakfast supplies, walking along the new foreshore path.

So this photograph is really for one person, who will laugh. Leon White! We found your stolen donut trailer!

Day 4 done and dusted. Tomorrow we head down the East coast to Swansea, overlooking Freycinet and the Hazards.

Thanks for reading, Ooroo.

What a unique bed head, made by the pub owner from wood acquired from the Portland wind farm. Appropriate as that is where we were planning to ride, and that is Tony checking out the wind forecasts.

Not looking great. Better get moving!

Leaving Gladstone we descended to the Ringarooma River. Looks like a great place for a dip on a hot day.

What goes down must go up when cycling, and I laughed as I noticed Tony being chased up the hill by this dog. The dog was barking, and when it stopped, started howling. Not sure if it was seeing Tony off, or wanted to join us.

Looking ahead towards her coastline.

We had a pretty good ride up until the last 5 km before the wind farm. Then we had a northerly headwind, confirmed by the turbine blade positions. The picture below shows a good aerial shot providing perspective.

We rode to the very end of the gravel road, and found this walkway and great little beach.

Heading back along the road we turned off to Little Musselroe Bay. The shots below are from the boat ramp (fairly rugged construction) with some delightfully located ‘rustic’ shacks.

Further along the same road, we rode into the campground, and that was really nice.

There are two shacks off the campground and position, position, position. Tony went past the ‘do not enter’ sign and took these two photos.

The Tebrakunna Visitor Centre was to be the next stop a few km past the campground, up a hill with extraordinary wind exposure! The centre was excellent and well worth visiting. It was a welcome respite from the winds (inside the centre).

Mannalargenna was born c1780. His clan was the pairebenna and his homeland tebrakunna ( Cape Portland). Mannalargenna was a revered bungunna, formidable warrior, and in his older age, considered a seer.

Before the arrival of the white colonists, he and his people had lived an uninterrupted cultural life world. Throughout the 1820’s mannalargenna led his warriors in a war of resistance. Ultimately the story is shocking, with the decimation of his people too sad to write about. They were hunted and killed and their clan of over 10,000 reduced to 300 and then they were shipped off to Flinders Island.

Some wonderful examples of aboriginal arts see on display.

The wind farm has 56 turbines, 80 metres in height. Each turbine blade is 44 metres long and each turbine has 3 blades weighing 7 tonne each. Each turbine can generate 3 megawatts.

The average wind speed at the wind farm is 9.1 metres per second, or approximately 33 km/h, so hardly surprising the farm is very windy and is regarded as a world class wind resource. The turbine blades feather and stop turning at 90 km/h ( 50 knots) but are designed to withstand wind gusts of more than 250 km/h.

We later checked to see how strong the winds were that we were experiencing on our ride out and found out that it was 48 km/h gusting to 67 km/h. Close to non rideable, and questionable safety wise.

We continued to battle staying upright and the gusts continued throwing us around. We rode in the middle of the road, as we had good visibility both ways and it provided us with a few extra metres from the left gutter margins.

A welcome reprieve was a necessary stoppage to allow this herd through.

No more pictures were taking heading back to Gladstone as we really struggled, and put our head down and counted the km down . We had intended to visit Little Blue Lake, but keen to get the bikes, and us, off the roads. It was scary riding in this wind and I did my best to control the bike and stay on it. Progress was slow.

We are the only guests at the pub, and the pub is closed on Mondays. The owners were at a private appointment in Bridport, and would not return for another two hours. Once we arrived back we killed time sheltering from the wind out the front, with a direct view of this renovators delight across the road.

This old church is for sale a few doors down. Not well maintained externally but internally quite nice and only $130,000.

Tomorrow we head to the East coast. We are hoping the forecast winds are a bit less…and intend to set off early. Most of the ride will be gravel, so it will be a slower ride, regardless of the wind possibilities. We have chosen it as the main road is quite narrow and windy.

Thanks for reading, Ooroo!