The Ride
Bruny Island is not part of the "Giro Tasmania" but I was tempted to go there by recommendations from others. The ride is along quite busy roads, even taking the Sandy Bay road near the coast. The first ride was to "The Neck" camp site.
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The road to Kingston is hilly and dangerous in places. I was forced off the road by a bus that overtook me, realised it was having a head on and pulled in. That was probably the most dangerous moment of my trip.
I caught the Ferry at Kettering to get across to Bruny Island.
The Ferry doesn't take long, just a few minutes.
From there there's a few more hills before getting to the flat area between the North and South parts of the island.
There's a tribute to a famous Aboriginal woman Truganini whose family were murdered by colonialists and who was disgracefully treated herself.
The pinch point is especially good for photos with 2 difference beaches coming together, and there is even a lookout place built for this and a place to watch turtles.
The Camp Site - The Neck
I had intended to get to the Captain James Cook Caravan Park at Adventure Bay, but
that was just a bit too far and I'd had enough. I later found out that
was fully booked this first night anyway so I would have had to return
to The Neck.
Exhausted, the first night I stopped at The Neck, a free camp site. Oops - it's not free. I didn't notice. You are supposed to place donations into an envelope and post it in a box.
But there is nothing there. No water, drop toilets. What are you paying for?? Camp sites like this are free in the rest of Australia. Come on guys.
The Hostel - William Carte Drive
The next day I cycled a short distance to Alonnah to find a new place to stay.
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The next 2 nights I stayed at a hostel in Alonnah. I basically had the room to myself. The hostel was really nice and even had resident parrots. It was run by an English chap called Bernard. Sorry I don't remember the name, but it was on William Carte Drive, Alonnah.
The Water Shortage
The Neck camp site promised water in the Camps 6 book. However there was no water. The whole island was dry in fact. I had to beg for water off various people. At shops, and from people with RV's (Campervans). See them under "Characters"!
The Characters
A special mention must go to the woman who works in the Store at Alonnah (the place that used to be a Servo). I asked for water very politely and explained I was cycle touring and I had run out. She said "Well, we have to pay for our water.... ", and ummed and arred with much sucking of air through teeth. I managed to get a litre out of her very begrudging clutches.
Still that was better than the store at Adventure Bay. Driven even further by commercial demands than by compassion for fellow humans on bikes, they flatly refused to give me water when I had once again run out and told me to buy bottled water at top rates.
One guy who came up trumps was a campervan owner at The Neck. I asked him for water and he said, yeah no problem. He proceeded to unravel a shower head from the back of the van and used it to fill my bottles! I drank it but boy I was desperate!
I met an American guy, John from New Jersey, who decided to canoe to Hobart. I think he had already canoed around half of Tasmania, he was totally crazy and wasn't aware of currents, tides and didn't have any emergency equipment such as radio, phone, flares, buoyancy aids.
At one point he pulled up outside a millionaire's home, and tried to go through the garden with his canoe. However he was stopped by savage guard dogs. Undeterred he managed to scramble over the walls and fences with his canoe in the next door neighbours yard.
I really expected him to be on the news, dead or missing. I wish him the best! We spent a day cycling around Bruny Island and it was good fun.
I met Lee again, who I previously saw at Mole Creek. She was doing photography on the Island, a great place to do it.
Adventure Bay
I did a tour round the Island, covering Adventure Bay amongst other places.
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This is where Captain James Cook landed. It is the most popular area of Bruny, and a very beautiful bay. There is a well stocked store here (including plenty of bottled water ahem) and the Caravan Park.
At the end of the bay is the remains of an old camp site, now reclaimed by nature and the lovely albino wallabies. (The camp site was destroyed by a careless camper who started a bush fire that destroyed most of the peninsula).
Mt. Mangana
John (the crazy American canoeist) and I continued the tour of Bruny, cycling across the South island crossing the mountain in the centre, Mt. Mangana. A dirt track road rising 430m it was incredibly steep in places. In fact the Hostel owner Bernard said there was no way we could cycle it. How could I refuse that? We got up it with a few breathers.
Coming down from the mountain, my disc brakes started to overheat. This has never happened before, or since. The effect is first a burning smell,. then the brakes start to work less effectively, and the brake disc was glowing. Because of this we had to slow down a lot on the descent. Kangaroos were jumping out from everywhere so it was a good idea anyway.
The Ride
I took off with Windhund heading towards Hobart, Tasmania's capital city.. We thought about cutting across via Molesworth but the area was suffering from large bush fires.
So we followed the river into Hobart using the cycle path that follows the old railway line.
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Because of a ferocious head wind, the going was slow, but the terrain was flat. The ride took us past the Tasman bridge. Good time for a photo.
The Hotel - Montgomery's Hotel
This is a YHA hotel in central Hobart near the seafront.
I attempted to sleep in a dorm. That didn't work as a guy snored very loudly. Some other guys dispersed, one even took his mattress with him. I grabbed my air mattress and tried to sleep in a bathroom.
I can say hand on heart I'll never try to sleep in a dorm (or a bathroom) again. The second night I booked a room for myself, determined to get some sleep. It cost $150 but I slept like a baby.
The City - Hobart
Well it was fun! My stay coincided with the boat festival so there was a lot going on with many tall ships in the harbour and exhibitions showing model replicas, e.g. the Mary Rose.
The harbour had many excellent sea food places. There is lots of choice eating out in Hobart. It's great just to sit on the harbour wall and watch the boats.
The Characters
There was a funny Japanese lady called Nagi in the hotel who Windhund and I were chatting to while making dinner. The evening passed away with a lot of fun and laughter!
Womble also joined up with us on the second day for some deep and meaningful conversations!
The Ride
It was a drag out of Hamilton then downhill for a good way. Finally I am away from the Western Wilderness and into proper civilisation.
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Incidentally I had a chance to go to Mt. Field National Park today but decided I didn't have time and headed towards Hobart. I have heard Mt. Field is well worth visiting from other tourists, and has a very spectacular waterfall called Russell Falls.
However I have heard the Possums are the most aggressive you will find and camping may be a problem there as the little cuties try to tear your tent apart to get to your lovely food inside.
The Camp Site - New Norfolk Caravan Park
Official Web Site
This is a big site and there are plenty of trees to shade the tent plus good security for the bike with an iron fence to lock it against. The facilities here are very good.
The Town - New Norfolk
This is a good sized town and you will find many cafes, supermarkets and everything you need.
There is a very pretty river running through, you can walk along it.
There is an outdoor heated swimming pool which has an unusual length - 50.3m, which is 55 yards. In years gone by this was the standard length for an Olympic swimming pool! The owner told me that he has occasionally had professional swimmers train there. They get to the end of the lap and think their stroke length is out as they fall short by 30cm!
Regardless of the length, I had a very nice swim on another hot day!
The Characters
I met Windhund and Womble. Two cycling tourists, Windhund from Italy (Dolomites, near the German border) and Womble from Queensland. We spent what seemed like days here before I left with Windhund to go to Hobart.
These guys taught me a thing or two about how to prepare camp food...
Windhund's expertise with bike repairs is only rivalled by Bush Mechanics.
During my visit, it was Womble's birthday. We got him a cake and some beer to celebrate.
They were really good lads and we had a great laugh, fooling around in the camp site. So much so, apparently people complained! Even though we were quiet at night.
It was also Windhund's wife's birthday the next day. We spent approximately 2 days trying to record a "Happy Birthday" video for her, with hilarious results. In the end we failed, and sadly she never got the message before her birthday ended.
The Ride
I didn't really want to leave Wayatinah; the stay there was very nice. But time was passing quickly, I had a ferry booked to return to the mainland.
This day was extremely hot, and although I stopped at Ouse along the way to refuel, I was absolutely spent when I got to Hamilton.
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The Camp Site - Hamilton Common
This is a public camping area. Amazingly, there are toilets and showers on this site. It is the only free camping site I saw in Australia with both toilets and showers.
Plus it's situated amongst trees for good shade, and a nice little river. Very pleasant.
The Town - Hamilton
This town had been in the news lately as one suffering very badly from the Bush Fires. I passed through only about a month after they had happened. In the town itself there was very little sign of anything being wrong, but it was possible to see much damage on fields a few miles away.
I had hoped to help with the Bush Fire Relief effort but sadly I was not allowed due to my visa.
Hamilton has a Newsagency selling plenty of groceries, and a cafe and servo.
Here you can see smoke in the distance as the Bush fires rage on.
