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November 21st-30th, 2001November 21st; Orford to Bicheno
Gently rolling hills for most of the ride with pasture lands and sheep.
A few cattle, a few vineyards After Swansea a slight downhill and flat to 72 km at Cranbrook with some vineyards. From here a climb over a hill and then beautiful views south to Great Oyster Bay. Across the bay is Freycinet Penisula with a national park and beautiful Wineglass Bay.
Bicheno was originally named Old Fishery but was named in honor of James
Bicheno who was Colonial Secretary from 1843 to 1851. It was a coal mining
and port town, but the mines all closed. Today it is a holiday resort
town. November 22nd; Bicheno to St Helens
An easy ride along pretty coastline today. Flattest terrain in a while with more pastures and forests. Several times I heard a "twang" of an animal through a fence, but didn't see what it was. Yesterday afternoon Brendan and Wendy came into Bicheno. It was fun to catch up with them, particularly given that we've come through some of the same areas. Since we left Eucla, they've seen more of Tasmania and I had my side trip to Alice Springs. Last night was also a penguin tour. Small fairy penguins mate and raise their chicks on shores of Tasmania. Each evening, hundreds of penguins come ashore near Bicheno after a day spent fishing. They seem to gather in bunches until there is a group and one starts walking with the rest following. They were surprisingly used to tourists allowing us to observe them walking, fighting, courting and even look inside a nest box. Flash photography damages their eyes, but the guides used lower power flashlights to point them out. A slightly later start this morning. Nice quiet road with a few settlements but not much in the way of towns. An occasional gentle rise to climb over but mostly flat. I met a cycle tourist from Korea riding around Tasmania and also saw several riders out for a day ride. The Korean cyclist warned me of steep hills after St Helens.
St Helens is a tourist town whose population jumps from 2,000 to 12,000 in season. This area started with a tin mining boom and also was an important fishing town. Still has a nice harbor and busy main street. There was a fitness promotion going on downtown. I watched that for a while before checking out the internet cafe and visiting the local history room. Looks like the weather and terrain will change in the next few days.
Tomorrow is expected to start with drizzle and turn to heavy rain. November 23rd; St Helens to Scottsdale
I rode out early. During the morning it alternated between light rain and dry...averaging out meeting the "drizzle" forecast. A few rolling hills during the first 27 km to Pyengana. Pasture lands some with giant rolls of hay wrapped in plastic. I stopped at the roadhouse in Pyengana and talked with the owner. It was a "Ma and Pa" operation with "Ma" still in the shower, so no brekky yet. Same folks had been there two years ago, but they were now trying to sell the place. He explained one big issue was the GST (goods and services tax, a recently introduced value added tax). Administering the GST was complex since it applied only to some items. For example, frozen chicken is GST-free, but cooked chicken is subject to GST. Suntan lotion is exempt, which surprised the proprietor. He had to keep track of GST...unlike US sales taxes, prices can only be quoted inclusive of GST. Despite his GST grumbles, he had supported John Howard's Liberal Party that introduced change to the tax system. It was flat for 4 km past Pyengana. At 31 km, a long 7 km hill began to top of Weldborough Pass. I don't know the elevation of the pass, but guess it would be close to 1000m. At top of the pass a nice descent down to Weldborough at 44 km. Weldborough was site of the "Worst Pub". I stopped for a coke and chance to look around the pub. Many cute jokes, drawings and pictures on the walls. From there, a slight rise to Weld Hill (373m) and then another descent. Some more rolling hills brought me to Derby at 66 km.
From Derby a few more hills into Braxholm. More of a farming area. Also an increase in log trucks passing and going to a mill outside Scottsdale. Also in this area I saw hop farms. Scottsdale is located on top of a small hill. It is a
regional city with main streets arranged in "T" pattern with
shops. It stayed mostly dry this afternoon with heavy rain forecast
overnight and tomorrow morning. November 24th; Scottsdale to Bridport
Route to Bridport had rolling hills but was mostly downhill. Passed a few poppy fields with "Danger" signs posted. Otherwise mostly forest with some fields. Bridport was a quiet tourist town with a nice beach. It had started as port town for the tin mining. Saw a few fishing vessels, one with large lights to attract the fish. Some 40,000 tourists visit each year, though only 8,200 overnight stays. As I entered Bridport, it rained lightly and then heavily. I ducked under an awning to wait out worst of the storm.
November 25th; Bridport to Georgetown
Several of the streams were named Piper including: Little Piper River, Pipers Brook and Pipers River. At 33 km I stopped at the only store in a settlement named Pipers River. Calm winds this morning with gusty winds after I arrived.
Georgetown was founded in 1804 and claims to be "oldest town in
Australia". This claim is based on a technicality, though. Both
Hobart and Sydney were founded earlier but are cities and not towns. November 26th; Georgetown to Devonport
Left Georgetown early and started down the East Timor Highway for 19 km towards Launceston. A few rolling hills. Traffic was busy and fast with several overtaking lanes on the hills. At 19 km I turned west on smaller road and at 25 km I crossed the Tamar River on the stylish Batman Bridge. At 29 km another turn south and to Exeter. A few orchards but many less than I would have expected for the "apple isle". Apparently with introduction of better cold storage techniques, Europe now can use its own apples year round. Incentives were offered for Tasmanians to remove unproductive orchards. Seems like vineyards must have proportionally increased as I passed a few again today. Exeter had a nice "Country Kitchen" cafe for brekky and newspaper. After Exeter more rolling hills. At 49 km Glengary had signs for a maze, but I passed on it.
Franklin was top of the hill and was start of a nice rolling descent. Farms were replaced by forests, with some clearcutting in the area. Had two or three more rain showers as clouds came through. More hills to climb as well. At 84 km more open farming areas and also stronger headwinds across the open areas. My speed slowed with increase in winds. This area is known as "Australia's market garden" with 40% of Tasmania's vegetable crop including onions, potatoes, peas, carrots and beans. At 101 km I rejoined the busy highway one and then
over the bridge and into downtown Devonport. This completed my loop around
Tassie, hooray! Found a place downtown and then walked through the
downtown pedestrian mall. Tomorrow I'll look further in Devonport before
taking the ferry from here back to Melbourne. November 27th; Rest day in Devonport
Downtown Devonport has nice pedestrian mall and shops. I dropped another set of photos in the mail and checked things at the internet cafe. My further travel bookings were affected by September 11th events, the travel agency making the bookings went bankrupt. I'll need to sort it out further in Melbourne, but as far as I can tell, I need to start over again with bookings.
November 28th; Ferry from Devonport to Melbourne and rest day in Melbourne
Last night I took the Spirit of Tasmania back from Devonport to Melbourne. Had dinner with Brendan and Wendy and chance to catch up on our around Australian cycling. A good sleep in the four person shared accommodation berth.
November 29th; Melbourne to Korumburra
Some of these little towns of Brighton, Mentone, Mordialloc, Edithvale and Chelsea had a small town center. At 33 km I stopped for brekky in Chelsea. Also along this way was a commuter rail track. At 44 km, I briefly got lost in town of Frankston before finding my route inland. I stopped briefly here at Monash University. From Frankston a few gentle hill along the back roads via Baxter, Pearcedale and to Tooradin. After beach communities this now had farms and country estates. A few km before Tooradin, I joined M420, the South Gippsland Highway. The highway was two lanes each way with peek-a-boo shoulders. A bit disappointing ride after better roads earlier in the day. At 68 km, Tooradin was along the bay and had a few small lunch places, post office and shops. I had lunch at Pelican Cafe, though it was seagulls not pelicans outside. After lunch back onto busy road for another 24
km. Along the way was a small roadside area with fruit vendors. This
was site of large drainage works that drained 60,000 hectares (250 square miles)
of peat bogs making it very fertile farmland. Also here was an observation
tower one could climb to look over the swamp. A few kms past the swamp
tower, I came past a cyclist leaning against his overloaded trailer on side of
the busy freeway. He was riding from Melbourne to Sydney. He
certainly didn't pick a pleasant place to stop, so I moved on fairly
quickly. At 93 km the road split with Phillip Island straight ahead and the South Gippsland Highway to the left. After this point, I started getting more hills. The road would sometimes be located along tops of the hills and sometimes in valleys. A brief stop in historic town of Loch before ending the day at Korumburra. I saw an echidna on this road as well.
November 30th; Korumburra to Yarram
Meeniyan was at 29 km with a wide main street. In middle were a sequence of war memorials. I stopped for a bit and finished reading a novel from last night on benches in middle of the town. Also at Meeniyan was a turnoff to Wilsons Promontory National Park. My guides indicated this popular park had lots of hiking, wildlife and hills. Decided I would pass for now. Also in this area was a "rail trail", former railway converted for mountain bike, walking and equestrian use.
After Foster a few very gentle hills and then the road flattened out. Giant rolls of hay sat in the fields wrapped in plastic. There were a few small towns but mostly farmlands. Rain mostly stopped and a tailwind helped me along. Reached Yarram by mid-afternoon despite longer stops in Meeniyan and Foster. Yarram had wide split main street with shops on both sides. Several interesting looking old buildings. Decided to stay here for the night and walked through main street. The sun even came out in the afternoon. |
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