Tasmania Cycle Tour – Day 21
Strahan to Rosebery
78km, 1,225m elevation
Before leaving Strahan this morning, I spent some time exploring more of the town and going for a walk through the forest. Strahan is a beautiful place and classically coastal – a tranquil bay surrounds the town, there is a marina full of boats, and you can walk for hours along the beach. It rained heavily last night and continued until the early morning, making everything feel fresh and new.
This is part of a month-long cycle tour around Tasmania. If you missed the start of this journey, here’s how it all got started.
Not far from Strahan there is a huge sand dune! You can walk all the way from the forested road to the ocean, never leaving the sand and enjoying going barefoot the whole way. We took the opportunity to do some yoga while enjoying this landscape that contrasts so much with nearby Strahan.
The cycling from Strahan to Zeehan is gradual and not too difficult, although there are a few hills thrown in for good measure. There was very little traffic and I felt especially lucky to be on a bike as I rode through the shady forest and listened to birds sing.
Past Zeehan the landscape becomes much hillier with lots of short steep climbs and blazing fast downhills. The road passes under verdant green grassy hills that reminded me very much of Scotland.
As I was grunting up one of the larger hills a car pulled over in front of me. A very nice fellow got out and offered me free fruit and water! He saw the hard work I was doing and, being a cyclist himself, wanted to help out. What a nice thing to do!
It feels great to be back on the bike and discovering such beautiful scenery after a few days of thick bush fire smoke. Tasmania desperately needs rain and it has finally started to fall. Let’s hope it continues tomorrow as I head into a hotspot for bush fires.
If you’re planning your own cycling trip in Tasmania, you can see today’s track and download the gpx from strava.
Eating Snow Around the World 
I agree Justin, Strahan is a beautiful place. Sounds like you’ve had such diverse weather there. I must admit there’s not been much on the news over here about the bush fires, which is surprising. Hopefully the weather in the next few days will be good for you and for cycling. Rain sounds refreshing. Keep enjoying the yoga!
I think the rain is making a big difference. The smoke was so thick when I was in Queenstown, it got to the point where you could hardly see one block away. Now that it has rained a fair bit, you can still smell the smoke, but it’s not so overpowering. I hope it keeps raining (at night!)
I hope it keeps raining for you as well, at least at night! Here in Melbourne it’s been raining non-stop for the last couple of days. Where are you off to next?
That’s a great question, Miriam. I can’t decide! Back to the East Coast to make a complete loop? Or keep exploring the rugged and natural west?
https://eatingsnow.ca/2016/02/02/1000-km-of-cycling-in-tasmania/
Wish I had your decision to make … they both sound great. Well, I’ll look forward to reading where-ever you set off to, whenever you get there.