Hobart - Big city life.

So we have arrived in Hobart after a long day of once again sweet roads. It seems the roads in Tassie were made by a drunken road builder who liked pretty scenery. They wind all over the place and every hundred metres is another lookout with magnificent views. We are situated on top of a steep hill which has been interesting to traverse up. We tried running up it one night but were dying by the time we came close to the top.

The first day we went to the Cadbury factory (for breakfast as it turns out) for a video (they don't do tours anymore apparently) and then lots of chocolate. We then travelled down to the Tahune Air Walk, which is a ride in one of our books. A fantastic ride in and of itself (I only got video footage of the way in unfortunately, because the way out was a bit faster :) ). The Airwalk itself was pretty cool, with massive trees towering above us, even though we were over 20m above the ground. There was also an overhang which swayed when you walked on it. If you are a bit scared of heights, these kind of views on a small bridge swaying backwards and forwards can be a bit daunting.



There was an additional story which I won't go into here because it's Pickle's story, and a great one at that. let me just summarize...(apologies to anyone a bit sensitive to the male form.)



We have had some great food here in Tassie. The fish, and all the seafood in general (I'm told) has been fantastic. Admittedly, we have been eating pretty well, but if you like seafood and food in general, you'll be spoiled down here. One eye fillet steak was reportedly the greatest steak in the world according to our companion Stu and with constant comparison, that's gotta be pretty good. It could be because this is the first holiday I have had in forever but it seems to be the theme of Tassie in general that everything is better. Better food, better roads, better views. Spoon (aka Guy)says he is considering moving down here it's that good.

The second day was mostly spent shopping for some neccesities, followed by a trip to the Cascade brewery. Kinda interesting to follow through the exact setup of how they do things, but the best bit was definitely the tasting. They have a beer called 'First Harvest' which only gets released in May each year due to being brewed with fresh hops flowers. Tasty beer, but you have to order in the cases if you want any and it goes quick. The kegs they keep on site so poor mugs like us can taste and dream. Spoon also found out about the ciders, including Mercury Black. It's an 8% alcoholic cider which is only sold in Tassie. We managed to pick up 'four six-packs' to drink later because they can't sell it by the case. We made the intelligent decision of taking a cab to and from the brewery so we were able to laze around in the greatest beer garden I have ever seen and a try a few additional samplers before heading back into town for more great food and a few more beers in a few more pubs.

Waking up on the third day with a bit of a sore head, we rode down to Port Arthur to check it out. Despite expecting a pretty boring ride, we still managed to find a few nice corners along the way. There was some massive festival about half way which resulted in a massive traffic jam until we managed to get past it. After a few scenic stops, we got to Port Artur after 2. A tip though; if you ever go, leave early and plan to spend the whole day there There is tons to see and the walking tour is only an introduction. It was only Ren & I in the end who went in, as the others want to go for a swim/check out the Tassie Devils. A swim woud have been great, but I was there for one reason so I wasnt going to miss it. It was fantastic to go through and see an old prison which helped to found the current prison system, but very creepy to think what it would be like to a prisoner there especially the solitary cells. A tiny pitch black cell which you were only let out every few days at night for an hours excercise and to clean your toilet bucket. We managed to get in a lot but it was dark by the time we got back, something the other boys with tinted visors couldn't afford.

We are now heading to Bicheno for a bit of an east coast break to check out some of the national parks.

Bacon Challenge Continued

So we met up with the boys (Rene Pix and Stu) in Melbourne on Friday arvo it had been raining when they got in and they were parked right under someones balcony by there front door, we ate some fish at a place right by the spot to get onto the spirit of Tasmanian. After waiting in the line to get onto the ship for like over an hour (because a car in the line broke down) we finally got onto the ship we quickly got our stuff into the cabins and then checked out the view from the top outside deck t was very cool being 7 stories above the water. after we check the view we went to find the bar, had some drinks ad then headed for the games room, we played some buck hunter! witch was made much harder by the fact that the ship was swaying at the same time, anyway no one got sick and we all headed to bed.

The next morning we got into port right on time at 7am, luckery we found a 24 hour bakery right near the boat that did bacon and eggs and the Tassie bacon challenge began the challenge was to eat bacon everyday for the 2 weeks we were there and it was awsome. after the bacon the riding started and after getting a new tyre fitted to Rene's bike we headed to strahan. Imediatly it became clear why we came to tassie as the roads here are awsome! before we had even left the city the speed limit went to 110 and stayed there most of the time. the ride to strahan was twisty and nice but the most amazing thing was the scenery, it changes every 5 mins, we went from hills to plains to forests and everything else. The next thing i noticed was that the weather changed even more then the scenery, now i have seen 4 seasons in 1 day in Canberra but in tassie we had 4 seasons in 1 hour, by the end of the day we had all used the wet weather gear and Patty and Pix had already had a onesey race (a onesey is a one peace plastic rain suit) and a video of the race will be on the official DVD and believe me it is very funny. first night ended like most of the nights in Tassie, that is drinking and cards!

the next day we got up and went on a gordon river cruise it was very good and we got some sick photos the cruise included a rain forest walk and a guided tour of sarah island. the trip also showed me just how much i like being on a boat, it kicks ass now all i have to do is make enough money to buy one.

the next day we got up and headed to Hobart on the way we got to ride the bendiest road in the country it was funnily enough bendy.....very bendy we got to Hobart and rode up a very big hill to our hotel

anyway that all i can be bothered writing tonight Paddy will be doing the next update shortly

For now Good bye and keep eating bacon

Partial update

Hi Folks,

While we have a couple of bytes I thought I would add a little update about some stuff organised so far. I'll get to all the Tassie stuff in the next post, but there is too much to go into tonight (aka I am too lazy). I'll throw in a few extra updates as I go along which will give you an idea of what it's like. For those who haven't been to Tassie before, I'll give you the quick spoiler. It's Awesome.

But before that, I'll go into the Melbourne adventure.

We got into Melbourne pretty late after once again having trouble with the GPS. Spoon accidentally deleted his Aussie maps after trying to sort out what the problem was. We haven't fixed it so far, but he should be able to sort it out when we get back to Canberra.

We stayed with my Aunt Frances & Uncle Lee in Taylors Lakes. Once again, we are most appreciative of their hospitality. It's great that we know people in most Major cities we are going through, because it's been fantastic to get a break from the travel and hotel rooms.

The next day we headed into town for what turned into one of the most troublesome parts of the whole journey. I had been having some minor technical difficulties with the bike which I tried to get sorted in Adelaide, but had to get sorted in Melbourne. When I rocked up to the bike shop in the early afternoon, they hadn't recorded the booking. There was an email from the Adelaide shop which they eventually managed to find, so I left it with them for the afternoon to figure out if they could sort it out. Guy and I then went to the main bike shop which we had been assured had several cables we were looking for to use the moulded earplugs we picked up in Adelaide (Fantastic investment btw). It turns out they hadn't dealt in Autocom parts for years. We then rocked along to a electronics store to see if we could cannabalise our current systems to use a 3.5mm headphone jack. Buying something similar was a guy who just happened to be a member of the Ulysses Motorcycle Club. His name was Chris and he offered to take us back to his office a few blocks down and try and source the actual cables. He and his team from ACP Solutions jumped on the net, grabbed all the Autocom dealers in Melbourne with their numbers. They then let us use their phone to call around try see if we can get the part. As it turns out NO-ONE in the entirety of Melbourne had the part in stock, they all had to order it in. As we were leaving on the Ferry to Tassie on Sunday, this was pretty much useless to us.
Thanking them for their fantastic assistance, we headed off to grab some food and I headed down to the Melbourne office for a bit of a stickybeak while Spoon headed home to try and install the headset mod. I managed to get to the office at 5ish to say Hi, then caught up with my mate John for a few beers in a few pubs in Fitzroy.

Saturday was a lazy day of doing very little other than sorting out anything we had held off due to being on the road (including both of us modding the headsets). Once again, I love the Earmold Australia headphones. They cut out sooo much noise (a little too much to be honest).

Sunday we said goodbye to Frances & Lee early and headed down to Phillip Island (it is 'The Island' after all). This was the first day we actually got rained while riding on for more than 30 secs, and it poured down. A 200k journey took us most of the day, due to roadworks (What is the deal with all the roadworks in Vic!!!) and rain etc. There was a heritage vehicles race on at the track which was pretty cool. We stopped in at the Phillip Island G.P. museum due to the rain which was really interesting. We ran out of time for anything else unfortunately, but worth it for the track.

We headed back to Melbourne to meet up with the other Boys coming to Tassie and say Hi to Sarah who is now living down there.

That will do for now, Guy or I will no doubt update you on the Ferry to Tassie and our first stop Strahan.

OMG Great Ocean Road!!

So we didn't end up riding the grassy tram, but we did ride the Great ocean road but before that.

the morning run down to the Road was same old, a bit straight but not to bad. We pulled in for lunch somewhere at the very beginning of the great road so we hadn't really seen anything yet after the smallest $3 chips we have ever scene and some fish of course we headed off to check it all out. the next few hours were spent checking out the sites.

So here is what we stopped to check out

The Grotto: a mad whole dug out in the cliff face by the water it even had a little shallow pool in the bottom. as we stood there and checked it out someone emerged from the sea it was quite cool.

London Bridge:

the Arch:

Thundercave:

The blow whole:


Loch and Gorge: there was suppose to be shipwreck's here but i didn't see any, i could however see how ships may be turned into wrecks here as it is quite wild and the rocks have pointy edges

The twelve apostles:

After all the site seeing we decided to head up to Colac for the night partly because there was a mad ride that ended there in the atlas and partly because some of the old characters in neighbours came from there. The Ride up to Colac was truly terrifying, now before i go on you would think that a nice windy road through the mountains would be allot of fun and so did i when i saw the next 65k winding road sign, however just around the corner from that sign the road works begun. I have never ridden on a gravel road before and by gravel i mean like an inch thick of gravel but to make it worse i think it was the most windy 5 k strech of the mountain. Anyway for the next 5 or so k's i held on tighter then ever before looked out harder then ever before and swore more times then i have in the last year (and yes i know that's allot) but wait until you see the footage we have from the helmet cams and you will know what i mean.

So Colac was just how it was descried in neighbours ( a bit Dero) but a nice enough place. We camped in a caravan park by lake Colac (puddle Colac better describes the place right now) we setup the tents and then went in search of food. We managed to find a fine dining restaurant (i was surprised too) and the food there was actually really great. afterwards we had a few drinks at the tents and watched a moonlight screening of Lie to me on the laptop, oh and I discovered i can carry a bag of ice on the bike, pretty cool huh!

Next morning we woke, packed up, eat breaky at a cafe and headed off back through a different mountain road (equally as windy but with no gravel thank goodness) back towards the great ocean road again.

The next section of the GOR was awesome constant 40 -60 k bends not too long so you could carve it up nice and to top it all off an amazing ocean view the whole time. I guarantee you other boys we will be coming back to do this road again some time in the next year and i think you should all come with us! if your still not convinced i have some helmet cam footage that should help change your minds very easily.

We stopped for lunch at Lorne at a seafood restaurant on the peer, i had a seafood platter an it was fantastic! cant wait to get to Tassie though apparently the seafood they have there puts anything here to shame. After lunch we had a bit More GOR left, it was still good but the best bit was definitely Colac to Lorne after the GOR we pretty much had highway to Melbourne and bar a little GPS catastrophe (Basically rendering the GPS useless, although arguably it was useless already) the rest of the trip went smoothly. arrived in Melbourne about 1830 and have been here since then.

Oh just a little update as i have been meaning to post this figure for ages but so far on the journey we have covered about 2900 K's

K peeps that me till next time
Catchya

Surf at last

Adelaide

Ok so we are not there any more so i will try to remember all.

So Friday morning we rock into Adelaide, we new sort of how to get to Peters house so we headed over the the Klemzig station (Peter lives right near here). So i pull out my shiny new gps ready to be guided safly to my destination and guess what the street was not in there so we pull out the map, and no luck either so next was myb laptop and google earth but i had not installed the driver for the modem so at this point it was becoming a pain in the ass so peter calls and it turns out the there house was 3 streets away. anyway it was really easy to get there so it was all ok.

Adelaide was great we checked out the beach and the city relaxed for a while, and i even bought a new helmet, Oh and Pattys speedo got fixed........but you didn't even know it was broken as we thought it wise to not report on that till it was fixed. We also got to do some Mad twisties round the Adelaide hills (really twisty roads and very scenic too)

We left Adelaide on monday morning and Can i just say a Big thankyou to Peter and Martin for all your hospitality and patience with us while we stayed with you, we had a really good time!!

left adelaid Monday morning, well actually we didn't get away till about 1300 but we did get custom molded headphones and i highly reccomend them for anyone meating us in TAS. Rene has the details on where to get them in canberra.

Last night we stopped at Meningie. In Meningie they have a lake, a hotel and like 2 resteraunts so its pretty small but our room was right next to the lake so its pretty cool.

So yesterday and today were pretty similar. Windy and sort of straight but not too straight and still nice and scenic so it was all ok. we did pass back into Vic today so unfortunatly we are back to 100 not 110 oh well



Currently we are in a caravan park in Portland in the backpackers section (it was cheap and we are the only people here anyway) they have a tram here and the tracks go down the grass, tomorrow we will see if we can ride it. Anyway i am gonna go now cause i wanna watch a movie or somthing so i will catch ya all Laterz!

Arrrival in Adelaide

Hi Everybody,

So we have completed the first major leg of our journey. Adelaide! We have made it to Pete's house, where we will be staying for a few days. It's going to be good to get a break from riding. It's been fun mostly, but long treks since we left Wangaratta. One of these days I'll put up what distances we travel, but until then i'll just keep updating the google map lol.

After we set out from 'Wang' we had breakfast in Glenrowan and checked out Ned Kelly's Last Stand. It was pretty cool how they laid out the positions where everything went down wiith descriptions etc. Worth a look if you're ever down that way. They had some kind of animated show as well, but we were out of time and it's always better to picture it in your head anyway.

After that it was pretty much trying to find the least boring way to travel west. A whole lot of straight bits and a whole lot more wind. If you've ever watched those guys counterbalancing their boats against the wind, it felt a little like that. I'm very happy that we decided to stop in Wagaratta rather than continue on, because the winds from the day before were supposed to be twice as bad. We stopped in a tiny little place called Karang, which had the traditional 5 pubs in close proximity with little else to speak of. Stayed in one of the pubs and had a good night. Great food and a pretty barmaid to serve it up with a smile and good conversation.

Thursday was similar, in that there was a lot more straight bits but at least it had a few nice curves. Coming up to the South Australian border there was some strange corners we were warned about. For whatever reason, when coming close to train tracks they switched into moderately tight S bends. I heard its supposed to be about lining up the road with the track. A great break for us Motorcycle riders, but quite dangerous for trucks if they are not paying attention. They have had a few run off the roads on the second bend apparently.

Another strange attraction was a sign telling us about the 'Pink lakes'. Of course we had to find out what they were on about, so ended up travelling down about 13kms of dirt off the main road to the first one. Sure enough, a pink lake appeared.

I must admit, I was a little disapointed that it wasn't a pink water lake, but it was cool nonetheless. There is something intruiging about a thick layer of pink salt covering that much ground .

The great thing about travelling on roads in this fashion is that sometimes you find stuff like that which you didn't know about. Travelling through towns where their only claim to fame is that one famous person was born there. Passing by the 'Australian Willow for cricket bats project' was particularly humorous for me. Another highlight was when Guy almost hit two huge Eagles who had decided to rest next to the road. Not because he almost hit them, but because we were so close when they were taking flight. Also, take a look at a map of Victoria sometime. I swear, naming towns is what people did before they could make up names for World of Warcraft characters.

As I discovered to my delight, I had forgotten that the Adelaide Fringe festival is on! We went out last night to check it out and the city was packed. There were a few cool things to see but becuase we just couldn't be bothered waiting in lines, we just had a look around. We saw some buskers performing which was pretty cool amongst other things, but we were still pretty buggered from the ride, so didn't stay oput too late. We will be heading into the city again today to grab a few things and will have another look.

Apologies for the length of this blog. I assume I'll get lazier as the trip goes on, but for now you can just skim through lol.

The beginning

Hi Everyone.

I think Spoon has covered most of our trip so far, so I'll just throw in a few extra details.

We left pretty late, around 11:30 and with a Woohoo through the Comms, we were off! We stopped in at Cooma for lunch and were off again quickly. Eager to get to the meat of the journey.

The first big grin moment was when we came over the mountain to Jindabyne and saw the very blue lake spread out before us. Apologies for not taking a photo, as it would take a thousand words to describe, but we were just getting to the fun roads and I didn't want to stop. Little did I know how fun the next section would be. Heading through Thredbo it was all fun and twisty, but you knew it was going to be a good day when you saw this...
In fact, it turned out better than anticipated. The boys who are coming through next week will get to see what we mean. For the rest of you it's a little hard to describe, but it's something along the lines of
The twisty bits through cut rock were my favourite bits. Nothing like flying through a long canyon to get the adrenaline pumping. It's about as close as I will ever get to shooting a torpedo down an airshaft to save an empire from a tyrannical emperor.

We stopped briefly to rest and take some more photos at a lookout which had yet another amazing view.


We stopped in at Tintaldra. Good pub dishing up great food. Mousakka and Chilli. Hot enough for Legs and Phil to appreciate. It was good to sleep under the stars. Nothing like waking up in the middle of the night to a bright nights sky.

Today we got up early to beat the wind that was supposed to be coming through. We pushed through to Albury, with more nice twisty roads winding alongside the Murray River, before heading to Wangarata to stay the night. Tomorrow we will look to stop in at Glenrowan and head northwest. This part of the journey will probably be a bit quiet, so I'll see about posting once we get to Adelaide.

Paddy.

It Has Begun

Man Day one was awsome. Started with a boring old run down to cooma nothing interesting there but what came next OMG as amazing. The road from cooma up to thredbo and through to khancoban, i'll post the pic but the sign said next 65km winding road and what a road. we stoped at a mad lookout in the mountains and checked out the sites before heading on. When we got to Khancoban they had a crazy shop that looked like it was built in an old school building so we decided to continue on rather then stopping for the night. So night one we stayed in tintaldra a quaint little town that seemed to have a pub and a caravan park and a B and b and that was about it, i didn't even see any houses. We stayed in the caravan park to so we could test our gear out, it all workd fine. We ate at the pub (really good food) Got some drinks and went back to the caravn park, and had some drinks and chatted with the other guys at the park, then called it a night.

Early to rise on day 2 (forgot the sun comes up early) we packed up and headed towards wodonga. We were a bit worried about the weather, as there was a severe storm warning today but we pushed on anyway and it turned out ok but it did rain a bit. aubry was looking dodgy still but we decided to push on again anyway. A short burst up the highway and i remember why we dont use them again, this strech was the most boring so far but it was only a short one and we just wanted to get there. So day two we finish up in wangaratta, a bit smaller about the size of QBN i think and seems really nice. anyway i wanna drink so till the next time we have internet access cya all later