Tasmania on a Tenere

2012-12-18 Styx-Mueller

Distance: 320km

The plan was to explore more of the Gordon dam power line tracks out around Styx River and Mt Mueller...

Route:
<iframe src="http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1057192/embed" height="768px" width="90%" frameborder="0"></iframe>
(click "Map" up the top right to change it to Satellite view)(click "view full route" up the top left to see the mile markers on the route, or to download the GPX file, or KML file to view in Google earth)

Took my usual route out through New Norfolk to Moogara to ride a couple of parts of the lines I missed last time:

The view over the Derwent Valley: (not too great, it was a rainy day)


Looking down the lines where I was headed towards the Styx:




A 5 min video along the grassy tracks that follow this part of the lines: (nothing particularly exciting)
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yZBThcMBu-Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

To be continued... .. .

I then headed around to the Styx Valley and explored a road that goes around the southern side of the valley... (70km to 84km on the route) ... Quite good views up an down the valley in places, it was a fairly new road with massive amounts of land recently logged on either side:




Cable logging across the valley:


I then headed down to Styx Rd and cruised along to about 100km on the route where I turned down a side track that leads to Styx River:

5 min vid, about 1 min of Styx Rd goodness, then a few hundred meters down the track to Styx River;
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Nice little spot:








The track goes across the river then up a very steep hill following the power lines... I was tempted to ride across, but with the deepish water and small rapids I figured I better wait till I have someone else with me... It would be much fun trying to recover the bike on my own if I dropped it:


To be Continued... .. .

I then headed along Styx road towards Maydena where the power lines cross the road again, about 112km on the route, then headed down Mueller Rd around to the powerline track (the track is gated at the Styx Rd end)... Turned out it was a nice semi-crappy track, lots of ups n downs, a bit of mud, GREAT fun:





















9min video along the powerlines with a few cuts, first 2.5 mins heading back towards Styx Rd to where it's gated, the rest is heading the other way towards Mt Mueller and Scotts Peak Rd:
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Then it was across Mueller Rd at around 124km on the route and up a track towards Mt Mueller, the road doesn't go too far and ended among some huge trees, no wonder they put a new road in here!:


The Tenere looks like a toy!




Then it was back around to Mueller Rd and back towards the Styx, I explored a couple of spurs along the way... Some screenshots from around 140km on the route:


As much as I love these awesome forestry roads, I can see why the greenies (tree huggers) are kicking up such a stink about this area being logged: (without forestry we would never see these areas though, no roads)












Turned into another road that goes into the Maynes Hill forests on the eastern side of Mt Muellerat 145km on the route)



It seems they definitely don't want people coming in here! ... Not to be outdone I headed around the other side of the forest and found a way in off Styx Rd

BTW, a new toy to help with track exploring, a cheap 7.7" Toshiba Android tablet, very handy for checking aerial pics and maps, a lot easier than doing it on a phone:


I ended up doing about 40km around Maynes Hill, (151km to 192km on the route)... Interesting place...

I went up one spur that wound it's way up a hill through a tall forest, at the top I came across this: (167km on the route)

It said "Moratorium Now".... I didn't think too much of it, figured the greenies must have protested here at some stage.... Funny though, I had the feeling I was being watched.... The weather was crappy so I didn't hang around...

When I got home I did a search to find out what the rock sign was about, turns out I was basically at the foot of the tree where a girl had been tree-sitting 70m up a tree for the last year and a bit, her tree is about 50m up the hill from where I was..... No wonder I felt like I was being watched


Scroll down to the bit about the Observer tree:
http://www.habitatadvocate.com.au/?p=10260

It seems she had to come down 10 days ago (after 15 months up the tree) due to a fire near by:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-07/tree-sitter-down2c-smoked-out-by-bushfire/4558356?section=tas

Seems it was arson, an unhappy logger I guess, lol
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-...n-in-southern-forest-fire/4566566?section=tas

A 2 min vid heading up to the rock sign and checking it out:
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I continued on and made my way to the back side of the blocked road:

No surprise this road was blocked with the protesters busy around here...

Stopped at a cool serpentine quarry:




Almost looks like bubbles of lava:


Serpentine:


Quartz+serpentine






Then I headed back to Styx road to start making my way home....

To be continued... .. .

Excellent posts, as always. Defintely a good motivator to plan a trip down there in summer

Even I'm subscribed to this thread I couldn't help keep checking it for updates during the last two months...
Good to see the reports are back , they are awesome.

Thanks for the comments :) They help motivate me to finish this report off so I can get onto the next big one

I had been out for about 6 hours in the crappy weather so I figured I would just make my way home back along Styx Rd...

Every time I pass the power lines at this end of Styx Rd I get the urge to ride up the ridiculously steep track that goes up the hill under the lines (198km to 201km on the route)... I've passed it about a dozen times in the last year or so and every time I think to myself I HAVE to ride that one day!:


One trip on the Dominator I poked around to try and find a way in but one track was over grown, and the other was gated... I don't have a decent photo looking up so I'll use one that was on Google Earth...
Photos do it no justice!

Credit:>> http://www.panoramio.com/photo_expl...hoto_id=41770757&order=date_desc&user=2072992

It's about as steep as they come, according to the map the top part rises 100m in altitude in a 322m stretch:


Anyway... I went up the access track to have another look at the gate:

To my amusement it was broken, I chuckled to myself and continued on to do this monster hill-climb so it could be crossed off my bucket list

It turned out to be really easy, the hump on the Tenere seat everyone complains about makes it the perfect beast for climbing hills, you don't have to put any effort into staying forward on the seat...

At the top I found another gate:


No drama, I was just happy to get this far... There was a bit of a muddy track around the gate but with the wet weather I gave it a miss, I'll try to get a key for the gates around here one day and explore this area with permission...

The view down the hill:


Styx Rd, where I started, runs left to right across at the bottom, the tracks heading off into the distance were ones I explored earlier in the day:


Crawled my way back down very slowly, this wasn't a track I wanted to lose traction on and start sliding, it was no drama and we made it back down safely ...

8 min video, up and back down, first 1min is from styx Rd around to the gate at the bottom of the hill:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/I8vyVf82aew" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
(the wide angle lens on the GoPro makes everything look flat)

It made my day! VERY exhilarating!

To be continued... .. .

After that little detour I was going to head home... But... at 206km on the route I noticed a single set of tyre tracks going up a track I've wanted to explore in the past but have never been able to due to a gate... Since there was tracks up there I figured it was worthwhile seeing if the gate was open, and it was Gotta strike while the irons hot so I took the opportunity to check out this area:


Lots of nice tracks, some slow, mossy, and overgrown, some open and fast:












Around 216 on the route I came across a shrine/memorial for a deceased forestry worker, dated in the 1970's form memory:


Speaking of memorials, on the Adamsfield and ClearHill ride a did a few months ago, posted on page 2, I took some photos of a memorial:

My mum was going through the photos and realized she's good friends with the deceased mans wife and brother... SMALL world! ... Apparently he was killed while debarking logs, one shifted and crushed him... Sad for a young family...

Anyway, on with the last part of the report...


There's fungusamongus:




After poking around for about 30km I was fairly close to the power lines over on the southern side of Styx Rd so I figured I might as well have a quick poke around so I have a bit of an idea where I want to go next time I come out here:


Around 237km on the route I made my way up a power line access track, rarely used, few small trees to hop over:




Got to the lines and made my way to the lower, northern end, just up from Styx Rd:


Looking down towards Styx Rd/River where I stopped earlier in the day, the track on the far side is the one you access by going across the river: (I'll have to do it one day)


Looking south back up the track:


4 min vid heading back up the lines and down the other side of the hill:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3dOIT1BFOyw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Made my way back up the hill and over the other side:


There was a track going down the hill I think, but being so late in the day, and slippery, I wasn't game to head down there, there was other tracks going around to the bottom anyway, I'll head around there next:


Making my way around to the bottom:




(245.5km) Looking up to where I turned around just up there near the rusty pole ^^^ ... There's a track through there somewhere




Made my way up to another pole access track, it was as steep as hell and slippery, figured it can wait for another day: (around 247.5km)


4 min vid up and back down this track.. I could have probably make it up there but it was too late in the day to tempt fate:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rTeTfnVaATE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Started making my way home with 1 last detour, up around 250km to 261km on the route just to check the lines a bit further south/east...

Where the lines change direction at around 255km on the route:


Looking south from about 257km on the route... there's some ok looking tracks heading that way but they'll have to wait till another day:


Then home via Styx Rd and Plenty Valley Rd...

That ended up very long winded... sorry... I'll head back out there at some stage when it's dry to conquer the rest of the power line tracks I skipped

What an incredible area to explore!!!

Awesome shares FLICKIT ... most enjoyable!
Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the Comments :)

I've got a 7 day trip to document but I'll add a bit of other crap in here first, and a couple of short road rides.. (it's all part of the story/time-line)

:)

My Brother in Law (known as "BIL" from now on) has been toying with the idea of getting his license and a bike for the last few months... He did the course and got his license in December and we found a good learner bike for him.. We went with another XT so we wouldn't have to double up on spare parts, most the parts I carry for my XT-Tenere will fit this bike also....

A crash damaged 2010 Yamaha XT660R with 730km on the clock:

(photo from the ad)

Basically a brand new bike that had been dropped, replaced by an insurance company, sold at auction, then bought and sold (to us) by a wheeler dealer... Got it for 50% of the new bike price... Good deal IMO, and well suited to a learner who doesn't need the added worry of damaging a pristine bike ... It appeared it had been dropped in course gravel, it had decent gravel rash down the right side and was missing the tank plastics, headlight cowling, screen, and radiator guard...

We gave it a good check over and polished the gravel rash out of the headlight, then set off for his first ride, 200km out towards Gordon dam :
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We went out here because it's a good sealed road with very little traffic... He did well, no dramas, a couple of little wobbles when taking off but that's to be expected:


We passed "DirtisGood" on his Italian Stallion along the way, another Tassie inmate that was doing an over-nighter out at Lake Pedder:


His second ride was out the same way, 300km out to Gordon Dam:
<iframe src="http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1111853/embed" height="500px" width="90%" frameborder="0"></iframe>

No dramas, he did well... I've posted pics out here before, so I'll only add a couple:






Third ride was a short gravel ride:
<iframe src="http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1131532/embed" height="500px" width="90%" frameborder="0"></iframe>

I wanted him to have a bit of a ride on gravel on the standard tyres so he could get a bit of a feel for the bike sliding on gravel, before I put decent D606 knobbies on it... Figure it's better he get the feel of poor traction at low speed, rather than the higher speed needed to make the knobbies let go... and so he'd appreciate how good knobbies are compared to the standard dual-sport tyres...

Along the power lines out the back of Moogara:


Styx river at about 63km on the route:










At about 69km on the route, up on the northern side of the Styx Valley:


Fires burning between Molesworth and Lachlan:




All good, no issues

:)

To finish off this page so I can start the big trip on a new page I'll do an update of the new mods...

Part of the reason for the above short gravel ride was to test the side cases on the Tenere with a 20kg sack of horse pellets in each side... These cases were originally on the Dominator... They're mounted on OTR racks using OTR mounting kit (a lot easier than making custom mounts like I did on the Dominator, the joys of having a newer bike, gear like this is available at a reasonable price)... I mounted them as low and as far forward as I could, trying to keep the weight low and forward of the rear axle... Turns out they're perfect, no complaints... The bike rides better with a good load IMO...

Post about the cases and mounts:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=20977803&postcount=4207



I got a hand-me-down HTC Desire HD android phone from BIL, so I've retired the old iPhone (never been a fan of iTunes and such).... And I was given a Spot-2 for xmas by someone that didn't realize I already had a Spot Connect , since it had 12 months service on it and my Spot Connect was due to expire, I've switched to the Spot-2:

The spot was just taped on for that test-ride, it's in a RAM mount now... and I'm not going to bother buying a waterproof case for the phone, I'll just wrap it in a snap-lock bag when it rains...

The Memory-Map app I use for navigation runs fairly well on Android but it doesn't seem as refined as the iPhone version... Occasionally it will crash just after start up, probably due to me having about 20,000km of tracks loaded into it (can't blame it)...

I cut 70mm off the standard screen to try and cut down the wind buffeting my head around, here's a post about it:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=20971207&postcount=4196

(phone and spot-2 wrapped in bags for rain protection, the Spot is waterproof, but I rather be safe than sorry, rain hitting it at speed could probably work it's way around the seals)

The Tenere also got a new rear D606 tyre and the cush rubbers were repacked with inner-tube rubber...

BIL's XT660R got a set of D606's tyres, a B&B rack with my old Ventura soft bag, a set of SW crash bars, SW center-stand, a ram phone mount with waterproof holder for his Samsung S3 phone, a cig-lighter socket wired to the battery to power the phone, a new headlight cowling with a tall screen, and an alloy radiator guard... + I gave the bike a good going over greasing bolts and brake pins, and all that type of standard crap... (+ all the 1000km service items like oil change and filter and such)

We also had a 22.5L Gillimoto plastic tank to go on his bike, but they're not an easy fit, once I realized there was going to be issues I just put the old tank back on, it wasn't worth stuffing around with the day before we left...

Well on it's way to being an adventure bike

I originally planned to do this trip solo, taking in the roughest and gnarliest roads the Tenere and I could handle, camping along the way... Once BIL was on board it had to be toned down significantly, he had only done about 600km total on a bike, and only about 50km of that was on gravel... It was still going to be a great trip, with a few gnarly roads, but I had to be careful not to break him
(my sister would kill me if he came home smashed up)

The plan was to stay at hotels and motels, between the 2 of us it was affordable, I'm a lazy bastard and would rather not carry camping and cooking gear if there's an easier option...

Accommodation was booked:
D1: Welborough
D2: Deloraine
D3: Warratah
D4: Arthur River
D5&6: Queentown

The route we ended up doing was:
<iframe src="http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1182518/embed" height="768px" width="90%" frameborder="0"></iframe>

7 days
1915km
Elevation change: + 40km / - 40km
40 hours moving time
Average speed while moving 48kmh

Every day the planned route had to be cut down, parts were skipped for one reason or another, road closures, fuel, lack of time, and a minor accident... Most days were cut short and we ended up hightailing it on sealed roads to where the accommodation was booked...

All in all it was an awesome trip... I think BIL is hooked, he did great considering his lack of prior riding experience...

A couple of preview pics:


















I'll try and get this written up over the next couple of weeks... There's 30 hours of video and thousands of photos to sift though

To be Continued with Day-1 ... .. .

Looking forward to this, I'm sure it will bring back some great memories...

ps I think I recognise this spot

Cheers

Another trip ! great !
Tasmania should be renamed to Greenland, what a beautiful place, love the green and forest.

Keep an eye on BIL's XT660 rear subframe, they break when too much load is placed too far back, like on BILs bike. A few years ago me & my buddies had four XT660s and three of them broke, one of them was brand new and only needed a few miles off road with a 10 kg bag to break.
It was an easy fix, cut the broken subframe & insert a 10 cm steel tube inside the subframe's tube, then weld it.


Stgo-Ushuaia 143 por tierras2004, en Flickr

:eek1 I didn't realize you went through there, but checking your report, you did! lol ... Day-14, Great road hey That road was the highlight of the trip for me...

A preview:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/y0NUpzYpTd4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I need to re-read your ride report, it was the ultimate tour of Tassie!
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=759832

Just realized why your RR didn't come up when I searched for info on that road, you spelt it wrong
(not a bad thing... I'm cautious about naming it, if too many trips come up with a google search the authorities might barricade it better)

Thanks Goti, BIL had 12kg on the back, I'll have to check the subframe and maybe look at some strengthening... He'll probably put a hard case on there soon so it may end up with a bit more weight up there...

Thanks for your comments :)