2 Week Tassie Adventure

luvly RR, thx very much

have put a link pointing this way at post 1 of
Tasmanian Riders Hub http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=218696&page=1

dq.

Great stuff guys , shame about the weather !!! looking forward to the rest
Phil

Day 5

Well, the previous night was one of those nights from hell. Wind and pouring rain mean that the flat area we had chosen to put the tents up on basically became a sort of shallow lake. We lay (floated) in the tents until around 8am when finally the rain stopped and we trudged out. Needless to say the tent floors didn’t cope too well and there was quite a bit of wet gear around with no real hope of drying it out



We couldn’t be stuffed trying to get another fire going so just packed up all our stuff and headed into town. However, we did had an ulterior motive … yesterday at the world’s best hamburger shop we’d spied a sign advertising big breakfasts ... and true to their world the wonderful lady who runs the place put on a great spread



Our plan for the day was to firstly visit Montezuma Falls. At a little over a 100mt it is one of the highest waterfalls in Tasmania. We struck out on the main road to Rosebery and found the turn off about 10kms out of Zeehan. It was labeled as a medium grade track for 4x4’s but looked pretty wet (lucky we were used to being wet )



Much of the track follows parts of the old North East Dundas Tramway, which was a 2’ gauge rail track that operated from the late 1800’s. So there were lots of cuttings



And a few creek crossings




It was at one of these that we met two 4x4’s coming the other way. The first guy forded the creek, and then gunned it up the hill on the other side where we had pulled off to wait, almost collecting us as one of his front wheels left the ground. The second guy seemed to know what he was doing and just idled up in low gear. However, the majority of the track was made up of a series of big puddles and holes from the constant rain



One sinister looking lake near the end looked a bit daunting, but by that stage we just plowed on through



Finally, after about an hour, we arrived at the end of the track (around 14km all up)



From there it was just a short walk until the falls came into view



A swing bridge spans the creek immediately below the falls



And allows access to the base of the falls on the other side



Knowing what to expect made the trip out a lot easier but one nasty spot where 4x4 drivers had placed logs to aid with traction led to Paul having a lie down after slipping on a submerged log



Once at the main road we headed back into Zeehan and fueled up at one of the two unmanned fuel stations. These take credit cards and seemed to work ok (as long as some people can remember their PIN number that is :ddog)
Strahan was our next destination and the rain stayed away for a bit. With a sign to a lookout ahead I indicated and began to pull over in gentle sunshine in the hope of getting some nice shots of the coastline in the distance. As we drove up the short track to the lookout a loud battering began on my helmet. What tha? …. It was hailing!! Down it came for about five minutes and then it turned to rain for another five, then it stopped



We actually both pissed ourselves laughing, what could be next? From there in was a short run into Strahan which lies on the massive Macquarie Harbour that leads to the mouth of the Gordon River. We found it to be quite an attractive, albeit touristy place



One of the more popular attractions is the historic train service that runs from Strahan to Queenstown




Our interests were not so mainstream, so we headed off towards the ocean beach for a look. Access to the beach was quite easy and the sand was hard packed



The recent days of bad weather had taken their toll on the adjoining coastline and large chunks of soil and sand had been undermined



We continued for a few kms along the beach but could see in the distance that water was right up close to the edge of the shoreline so decided to turn around, not wanting to ride through salt water like in the TV ads.
Queenstown was our next destination so we took the Lyell highway and headed off. I had been to Tasmania by car about 30 years ago and the memories of traveling through the moonscape that surrounded the mines of Queenstown back then were stuck in my mind. As we approached we could still see the barren hills but some re-vegetation had obviously taken place.



As we made our way into the township the rain stopped and this appeared. We were hoping it was a good omen..



With a lot of wet stuff still in our kit we decided to check out the caravan park as a place to possibly stay and dry out some gear. We were also looking to do a day trip out to Mt McCall/Bird River the next day and staying at the park would give us the chance to leave some things there and lighten the bikes.
As we passed through the town it became obvious that it was a depressing sort of place. There were quite a few shanty type houses (complete with satellite dishes in some cases) and I couldn’t help but think of the comparisons to Queenstown in New Zealand – one of the prettiest towns I’ve ever been to



The caravan park was no Hilton



But it did have one godsend … in the back corner was an empty shed of sorts, that we soon took over as a makeshift dry area



After we unpacked our gear and set up our tents Paul found the reason for his blood soaked sock



The first of quite a few leeches that made their presence felt during the trip. The lady at the caravan park was quite helpful and offered the use of her backyard to wash our bikes up before the trip out to Mt McCall the following day. This is a requirement of the National Parks Service before obtaining a permit to visit the area. The aim is to try and reduce the spread of Phytophthora fungus



Once all our jobs were done we headed into town and grabbed a counter meal at one of the two pubs that sit across the road from each other. Then it was back to tents for an early night

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To be continued&#8230;

The west side of Tassie is rugged for sure, we were there last jan & it pissed down the whole time we were on the west coast.

Great RR waiting for the next instalment

Cheers Terry

Tassie is Heaven. Your RR is proving this fact. Top ride. Keep the photo's coming.

Don't you just love them DRs keep it coming guys
Phil

I use to tell tourists in the cradle valley(when complaining about the weather) that if they didn't like it come back in 5mins 10 on a good day

Fantastic ride report.

I rode in this area in 2007 with a group of mates and sure enough it poured, hailed and was freezing cold all the time, every day! :huh

Just like your mate, I had a big off on the track to Montezuma Falls from tangling with a submerged log. 4 broken ribs and a rooted shoulder was the result but just wrapped up with 3 kidney belts and had to ride out through that shit until back to town.
Mucho pain, freezing cold and dark to boot.......ahhh the memories.

I can't wait to see the rest of your ride report.

safe travels guys.

Great report-keep it coming

I see they also sell South Australian drinks!

I was in Tassie in the second half of January last year; I arrived the day of the big floods in Queensland, Victoria and Devonport, but I had two weeks of lovely low 20s degC weather and very little rain.
This year I was over in Adelaide and the Riverland, and yes it was stinking hot.

Hi,

I am curious to know how you created the maps of your route. I off to Tasmania in a couple of weeks and would love to have the same information... What do I need ?

Thanks

Andrew

I was over in Tassie during the queensland floods as well, in fact there was flooding in the north of Tassie when we were there.

I noticed the FU iced coffee as well

Cheers Terry

Farmers Union is everywhere these days, apart from highways and planes it is the only good thing to come out of S.A.

Hey, what do you mean? SA's the only place I know that's got a reversible freeway

Cheers

ps more to come soon..

It's pretty easy. You just need to set up an account on the Ride with GPS website then upload your GPS files (it allows a number of different formats). If you don't have a GPS it's a bit trickier but you can still generate usable files for route planning with some software applications. If you're after the actual file logs of our trip I'll be posting them here soon. Shoot me a PM if you want more details and I'll pass them on

Cheers

Day 6


Once again we awoke to steady rain but by now we just took in our stride. The first stop was to the National Parks office where we needed to organise our permits for the Mt McCall track. I had rung the week before and found out that the office was only open between 8:30 &#8211; 9:30am so we were on the door when they opened. After inspecting the bikes the ranger (who was quite a nice guy) told us they had to get another wash as they still had some crap caught up under the motor. At least they supplied the hose



We had already purchased a National Parks Pass on the ferry (lasting 2 months for $30) that gave us entry to all the parks so we just needed to fill in an indemnity and collect the key. With a wry smile the ranger wished us luck with the weather and we headed off south towards Lake Burbury. The road began as bitumen and then turned to wide gravel after the lake. After about 40km we came to an intersection, where a track to Bird River headed off to the right.



A short distance later we came to the locked gate



Now, this wasn&#8217;t any hidden lock. As well as having to be double jointed you have to hands of a pygmy to enable you to get both of them up to undo the concealed padlock




After a bit of cursing we (actually Paul, because I was too busy laughing at his antics) got it undone and we continued along the track. Initially we passed through some forest



Then as we wound our way higher up the mountain we entered low cloud and it was impossible to see more than a few hundred metres. Unperturbed, we pushed on until we reached a steep rocky downhill section not far from the end. We poked down a way and then stopped to check it out



It was quite steep but the main concern was the water that was running down over the rocks making the whole thing very slippery (it never looks as steep in a photo )



After a bit of discussion we came to the conclusion that risking a fall in the slippery conditions wasn&#8217;t worth looking into the cloud at the bottom. It was disappointing that the weather was the way it was, as I had heard stories of the great views provided from the track. Oh well, we had more important things to consider &#8230; like turning the bikes around on the side of the hill and getting back up the slope. With a bit of push and shove we got them pointing back up the hill and with rocks flying I managed to slip and slide my way back up to flatter ground



We then got on the bikes and started headed back. Once out of the cloud we found a cleared area just off the track and stopped in the rain for a bite to eat.



Once back at the gate we were able to get the lock open a little quicker and then took the turn off west along the Bird River Track. Like the track to Montezuma Falls it to follows the route of an old railway line that once ran from near Queenstown to the now abandoned settlement of West Pillinger on the banks of the Macquarie Harbour. It&#8217;s an easy 5km track that cuts through some fantastic rainforest along the way




At the end of the track there is a small hut with some interesting information about the history of the area.



It&#8217;s then just a short walk through the forest



to the bridge over the Bird River. Although some sections have been replaced, much of the original Huon Pine structure is over 100 years old



Once past the bridge the walking track continues on for another 7.5km to Pillinger but our soggy feet only managed a look around the river



before heading back along the fern lined track



From there we travelled back towards Lake Burbury and got a bit of a shock when a Tasmanian Devil wandered across the road in from of us not far from Darwin Dam wall. We managed to ride up onto the dam wall which gave a good look at the lake to the north



It had been raining pretty much the whole day and as we passed along the ranges we could see in the distance waterfalls that were forming off the sides of the hills




As we got closer to Queenstown we rode into cloud once more and the waterfalls were closer to the road :eek1



Pretty well soaked through we dropped the key back to the National Parks office and returned to the caravan park. With four days in constantly wet boots my feet were starting to show the strain



After hanging in the shower for an eternity (no shortage of water here one would think ) we did some washing and got all our wet stuff in the dryer



We then popped into town to grab a few things (including some baby powder for the feet ) and had a great meal at the Mt Lyell Motor Lodge before heading back to pack away the washing


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To be continued...

Champion effort ! ... It's a nasty bit of track, you were wise not to tackle it in the wet :) ...

Great ride report

Good to hear Greg, saves me nagging.

This will be our first Tasmanian tracks. Hopefully it will shame some of the locals into posting their tracks.

Sounds like a great ride.

Cheers
Peter

Excellent RR
makes me so jealous ,did 2 weeks in Tassie in 09
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=446414

went on similar path
thanks guys


Rowdy

Day 7

I was woken pretty early by a howling noise over by our &#8220;drying shed&#8221;. After struggling out of the tent I found that the source of the noise was in fact Paul :eek1:eek1:eek1

The howling had turned into sobbing and it was all over this



The seemingly gentle cat that he had befriended near the shed the day before had turned the tables on him and got its way into his cask of port - the whole lot was gone After I stopped pissing myself we packed all our nice dry clothes into our bags, pulled down our soaking tents and headed off through the rain into town. In scenes reminiscent of the Zeehan takeaway shop we had seen a sign at the Mt Lyell Motor Lodge the night before advertising their breakfast so we thought we&#8217;d give it a go. What a deal it turned out to be ... $15 for cereal, toast, fruit, eggs, bacon, tomato, juice and tea/coffee + a free paper to read



Not only that, from the warm surrounding of the restaurant you could look out the window at what it would be like stuck out in the rain



Of course there came a time when that&#8217;s exactly what we had to do, so we took the bit between our teeth and headed off towards the east on the Lyell Highway. The first section of road out of Queenstown was steep and winding and not much fun as the rain continued to fall. As we headed further east we passed through a lot of fairly wild countryside that makes up the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. It would have been nice to appreciate it a little more but much of our focus was on the new shiny black repaired sections of bitumen that always seem to be in the middle of a tight bend. We stopped briefly at a spot where the road crosses the Franklin River to take a look (along with a whole bunch of tourists) but it was nothing too special



It wasn&#8217;t long after that we passed Lake King William and then the small town of Derwent Bridge. We were sick of the bitumen so once we reached the intersection with Fourteen Mile Road we turned south on the dirt and as we did something magical happened &#8230;. It stopped raining! Not only that, it turned out that except for a brief sprinkle one morning, it was the last time we saw rain for the entire trip
The flowing dirt was our first real experience of a road used for logging and we were on the lookout for big trucks barreling around blind corners. After 22 km (or 14miles funnily enough) we rejoined the Lyell Highway having missed the section that passes by Brady&#8217;s Lake.



It wasn&#8217;t long before we pulled into Wayatinah which was our last scheduled fuel stop before heading cross country for a while. Luckily it was only 12:15pm because I noticed a sign as we filled up informing customers that they generally closed between 12:30 &#8211; 3:00pm :huh From there we picked up Florentine Road and travelled down through the valley



We were still on the lookout for logging trucks as we passed through a variety of working forests



This took us through to the Styx State Forest



Where a great road led along the Stxy River



This area is famous for the massive trees (Eucalyptus Regnans) that once dominated the much of this landscape and debate still seems to rage regarding their felling



To view a few of the giant trees we parked our bikes near a loop walk



and headed into the forest to find a couple of beauties that grow here




They&#8217;re big alright - with one of Australia&#8217;s tallest at 97mt found in this forest. Getting a photo is not as easy as it sounds



Yet others just seem memorized :huh:huh



With our fix of big trees fulfilled we turned off Styx River road and headed east then south through a maze of logging roads, many of which weren&#8217;t on the maps. I&#8217;d been given a gps log through this section by a Tassie inmate so we were sweet (thanks DonQx!)



Now, as well as being the source of great mirth and a talented camp (bitch) coordinator, on these trips Paul also takes great pride in his skill of finding appropriate campsites. As it was getting later in the afternoon we began the search for a site as we travelled south towards Judbury. This often involves travelling down tracks that finish as dead ends or are too overgrown for camps. It also seems to be the time, that pretty well like clockwork, I&#8217;ll be confronted with a scene like this



What is even more amusing than the string of expletives that follows are the wide ranging reasons for the &#8220;lie down&#8221; in the first place. They range from things like &#8220;my foot got caught on the peg&#8221; or &#8220;my blood sugars low&#8221; right through to &#8220;I don&#8217;t know it just fucking fell over. Now put the camera away before I shove it up your arse and give me a hand&#8221; :ddog

Despite a few promising leads we ended up at Judbury without finding a spot so continued on to Huonville where we found a nice waterside café



Here we devoured a trendy (but very nice) burger while we contemplated our options for the night



After consulting the maps we came to the conclusion that much of the surrounding countryside was farm land, so we decided to head along a four wheel drive track we found on a map that looked to head into the Snug Tiers Nature Recreation Area. Hopefully this would give us a through route across to the coast where we intended to head the next day.

Things didn&#8217;t start too well as we couldn&#8217;t locate the correct turnoff near the little town of Cradoc. Eventually we hit on what we thought was the correct road only to come to a Private Property Sign by a local abattoir. A likely looking track headed off nearby so we gave it a go and found ourselves on what we thought was the right track. As we passed through thick, young forest the master spied a track heading towards a high point



Once we broke out of the tree line we came to what ended up being one of the top campsites of the whole trip



A grassy flat spot on the top of the hill, nobody for miles and surrounded by forest



As night fell and we sat around the fire, the lights from the township of Cygnet could be seen through the valley in the distance. A fantastic ending to a great day (and no rain in sight!)




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To be continued&#8230;