The Ride
Only a short 11 mile hop today over a 300m hill to Rosebery.
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| 01:21:51 | 10.97 | 8.0 | 36.3 |
We're now well and truly into Western Tasmania, mining territory, bad weather, and people who don't like Greenies (well according to the movie, the last Tasmanian Tiger).
The Camp Site - Rosebery Cabin and Tourist park
Officlal Web Site
The day of arrival was nice weather - until the evening.
When I arrived here, I enquired about a camp kitchen. The guy in charge told me I couldn't use the camp kitchen as it was intended for miners who were staying at the camp site and it was full of their stuff. So I was very disappointed as it's less convenient (and weather dependent) using my stove by the tent.
On my last day there I discovered there was another camp kitchen tucked away in the far corner of the site that anyone could use. The man never told me and left me to cook in the rain outside my tent for 2 days.
Tent Woes
The first night the weather closed in, as it often does in Western Tasmania, and it rained, and rained and rained. It rained so much, my tent started to drip, on the inside. I fell asleep. By the time I woke up, I was in a lake of water inside the tent, with the sleeping bag and everything soaking wet.
I think the tent has paid the price for sitting in the Australian sun too long. The silicon tent layer had been damaged by UV and was ineffective. Water was coming right through the fabric, not the seams. For the record, it was a Black Diamond Lighthouse Tent. I can't recommend a tent like it or with the same lining, it's useless for serious camping.
The Town - Rosebery
A larger town than anything I've seen since Deloraine. Cafes, Servos, Supermarket, everything you need. But just a big mine and nothing to see, except Montezuma Falls nearby.
The High St in Rosebery. The view back towards Tullah, that's the hill I climbed over.
The People
Actually the owners of the camp site were well meaning and helpful, despite not telling me about the camp kitchen. They let me re-pitch the tent under a car port, and I was able to get into one of the Miner's cabins for the last night, which helped me and the tent dry out a bit. When I finally left, they saw me off!
Also for the first time, I met a lot of other cycle tourists here. A British girl from Birmingham, an American couple and a guy from Germany who was having a lot of trouble with punctures. We were all heading in different directions though, I didn't expect to see them again. We all had a good chat and shared experiences in the public camp kitchen.
Montezuma Falls
The reason I stopped at Rosebery was to visit these falls. They are very famous in Tasmania as the water drops 110m.
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The ride was a sealed road climb up a quiet lane, big hill of 300m or so, followed by a trail along an old mining railway line. The trail is very rough in places. It rained all day and I got very wet.
Today was the day I discovered my blue Gore-Tex coat wasn't actually waterproof. Damn that coat, I was stuck with it for all of Australia now. It cost £150 back in the UK, a TK Maxx special reduced from £600. I could have got a better job from a £5 plastic coat :) I did actually get a refund for it later and bought a much better new coat instead (also Gore-Tex, which seems to work).
There is this scary foot bridge just by the falls. It's called that because it's as wide as your foot. And it sways all over the place. Realistically only 1 person can go on there at once.
What was particularly scary was, during taking this photo, if I dropped the phone, slippery and wet as my hands were, it was gone. There was no way I could get down to that canopy let alone find a phone in there.
It's a shame the weather was so bad, but I'm glad I got to the falls.
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