Cycling Tasmania – Day 31
Bridport to Gladstone
60km, 360m elevation
It was hot today! I remember reading about how cold Tasmania can get before I set out on this cycling trip. One couple even said it snowed only a few weeks later in the year during their visit. I must have chosen the hottest summer of all as only a few days have been cold and some, like this one, have been scorchers!
Continue reading “Obscure history in Tasmania’s remote northeast”
Cycling Tasmania – Day 30
Low Head to Bridport
79km, 820m elevation
Only three days left in my Tasmania cycle tour! A complete loop around the island I won’t quite finish, though. I decided to spend more time exploring the remote West Coast and northwest, knowing that I’d come up short on time to make it all the way back to St Helens where I started. That’s ok. I really enjoyed the remoteness and beauty of the west.
Continue reading “Back to the East Coast of Tasmania”
Cycling Tasmania – Day 28
Marrawah to Stanley (via Forest)
80km, 640m elevation
Tasmania is known for exceptionally strong winds. I’ve been very lucky on my cycling trip so far, having gotten only one day of really strong winds and much of that was either at my side or my back. Well, today my luck changed. I battled through a headwind for most of the day, still enjoying myself but working a lot harder than usual.
Continue reading “Headwind to Stanley”
“The woody interlacing branches, even when not an inch in diameter, will bear the weight of a man laden with his knapsack. But woe betide the luckless wight who, while travelling through this scrub, treads on the treacherous mossy disguised twig or branch which has decayed. Should this not infrequent case happen, down to unknown depths he may drop, while the green treacherous mossy carpet springs into its place like a trap, concealing the engulfed explorer. It is to be feared that one or two of our missing mining prospectors have met their fate this way…”
Continue reading “Corinna Wilderness Experience and Pieman River Cruise”
Cycling Tasmania – Day 23
Waratah to Corinna
68km, 1,290m elevation
It was a difficult decision but I couldn’t resist heading deeper into Tasmania’s remote West Coast, even if that means I’ll run out of time to cycle a complete loop around the island. The Tarkine Wilderness is one of the world’s last intact expanses of temperate rainforest, something truly rare and beautiful. How could I turn down the opportunity to experience such a special place?
Continue reading “Deep into the Tarkine Wilderness”
Tasmania Cycle Tour – Day 22
Rosebery to Waratah
63km, 1,340m elevation
I reached the 1,000-km mark on my Tasmanian cycle tour today! This is a great milestone for me – the longest cycling trip I’ve ever done. And it’s not over yet…
Continue reading “1000 km of cycling in Tasmania”
One great thing about travelling in Tasmania is all of the unique accommodations you can find. In Norfork Bay, we stayed in a B&B built by convicts in 1838 as Australia’s first railway station and later used to ship convicts between Port Arthur and Hobart. In Queenstown we discovered another great lodging full of history and character. The Penghana B&B is a grand old mansion that was once the residence of the town’s mine manager. It’s strategically situated on top of a prominent hill where the manager could see everything happening throughout the town.
Continue reading “Tasmania’s B&Bs are full of character”
Last night as I was leaving Queenstown’s Empire Hotel after a great dinner I ran right into a wall of thick smoke. For a place that usually gets 3-5m (10-15 feet) of rain each year (!) it sure has been dry and hot on Tasmania’s West Coast and fires are raging as a result. That throws a big wrench into my plans to continue cycling west. The smoke is so thick that it’s seriously affecting visibility on the roads and I’m getting a sore throat. This morning I decided it’s probably best to wait for the smoke to clear a bit.
That’s alright – I had no trouble finding lots of interesting excursions to keep me busy.
Continue reading “An unexpected extra day in Queenstown”
I’m taking a day off cycling to explore a sleepy town in the rugged mountains of western Tasmania. Most tourists pass by Queenstown without stopping, turned off by the barren landscape, but it was once a thriving mining town with immense riches – the richest mining town in the world, in fact.
Continue reading “The richest mining town in the world”
Eating Snow Around the World 