Day 11 (Orford to Bicheno)

Day: 101km
Total: 787 km

This morning I woke up a bit heavy. I believe it to be probably a combination of waking up in the middle of the night from a few loud campers and also from consuming a bit of dairy yesterday. It felt like the food I had the night before had been stuck half way in my stomach. It's difficult to gauge whether its dairy in my system or because its sitting hours on end on the bike and only consuming sugary lollies.

After cycling around trying to find some public toilets I finally spotted one. This worked out well cause I then dropped my phone off to charge at the towns only cafe in Orford. I went back, had brekky, packed all my gear and then said bye to my fellow campers.

The ride was ok, tough at times as any 100+ride would be. Overall it was ok, although I was wrapped to pull into Bicheno. During the ride I stopped at a couple local farmer houses. One stop was a little wine and walnut house. This reminded me of something that Charles Darwin would have encountered during his travels around the world. In the house was a nice Italian girl. After chatting with her I learnt that she is working in the farm for her visa requirements. I think she was pleased to have someone come in to talk with her. She let me try a few walnuts for free, these were the best tasting and freshest walnuts I've ever eaten. I felt like I needed to repay the favour, so when a couple walked in looking at wine I said enthusiastically "The wines great here!!" the girl looked at me with a bit of a smile. Seconds later I was caught out when the couple asked me which was my favourite..

When I finally pulled into Bicheno I asked a local backpackers for any info in camp grounds and managed to find a site close by. Here I cooked up a few local venice sausages on the BBQ and had some tasty home made tomato sauce from a fellow camper. Good recovery meal I thought.

Pros - Met a nice Italian girl and had some free straight off the tree walnuts.

Cons - Digestive problems, potentially lactose related

Day 10 (Hobart to Orford)

Day: 92km
Total: 683km
Weather: 30 sunny

This morning I said my final farewells to Hobart and a few of the lovely people I spent time with there. I'm getting used to the farewell thing now, but its always a bit hard to leave. I think this is made even more so difficult by the fact I don't know where I'm riding, all I know is that at the end of the day I'll be buggered and I'll need to find a place to sleep. I had a good sleep at Louise's place again last night, and after a bit of bike maintenance this morning I was ready to go yet again.

I shot off in the direction of Orford, a coastal town east of Tassie about 80 odd km away. The path I took was along the Tasman hwy. This also involved riding over the bridge out of Hobart, daunting to say the least. A few people told me about a path on the side of the bridge, but from the direction I went I had no chance of getting on it. I also had no intention of wasting time trying to get on it, when with a bit of confidence and brute force on the bike I got over the bridge pretty quickly. I actually had a bloke yell down from the bike lane above, in great shock, "Geez!! Great courage, good effort!!!". Made me realise at that point that I was perhaps part of a select few that have actually cycled side by side with cars on the bridge.

After some hard yakka on the freeway I stopped and ate some lovely cherries and apricots at a local cart on the side of the road. I'm loving the fact I'm here for fruit season, as this was one thing I was disappointed about when leaving Melbourne. I didn't realise that Tassies climate still allows for the same seasonal fruits as Melbourne. In saying this I haven't seen any pomegranate, or fig trees. I have seen a lot of orchard gardens around Tassie. Pears, apples, cherry plums (delicious), abundant apricot trees and also nectarine or something similar.

The organic scene, combined with a fresh clean sea side feel and close to some mountain ranges, has really made me contemplate moving to Tassie. Perhaps in the future when I'm a bit more settled I could look at it as an option.

After a bit of hunting around and after a refreshing swim I found a free camp ground 2km out of Orford. The site doesn't have any services, just a secure area to camp in. At the site I set up near by a married couple and a bit further away an old bloke who enjoyed his beers and his fishing. I had a good chat with them on different occasions. The old bloke has a camper van and travels around by himself fishing, sleeping in and enjoying his beers. He said his wife doesn't like to join, proclaiming she's "Un-Australian!"..

The other couple spoke about ethnicities in Australia and how they believe many aren't assimilating. I could understand points of there discussion, and other points not. A bit later on after the conversation the bloke saw my bike with the Aboriginal flag dangling behind and all of the sudden looked a little awkward..

Tomorrow I'm planning to ride 100 odd km's into Bischeno.

Day 9 (Rest - Hobart)

Today was another good easy rest day. Lazing around, not doing much. I went into the Aboriginal office of Tasmania to learn more about the Aboriginal culture here. I was curious about how or if different nations existed, such as on mainland. I knew not to expect much as I've been told many times Tassie doesn't have much of a culture left.

In the office they had aboriginal words up on windows, on pamphlets and other places around the office. Didn't look any different to a Koorie office back in Vic. The girl at the reception was very helpful. She informed me about a festival this weekend, where they cooked up local foods and had Indigenous artists from around the country, and also locally. I was hoping to volunteer some time but with my time schedule I won't be able to make it.

Tonight was great, I had a delicious pizza that my self and a few others cooked up. I had a good time with two German girls. So far in this trip I've met a few Germans and all have been really nice.

I said farewell to a few tonight as well. I look forward to coming back here. Tomorrow il be leaving for Orford, up on the east coast.

Day 8 (Rest - Hobart)

Today was the perfect rest day. I didn't do to much, besides eat a lot of junk and laze around. It was aided by the great sleep I had last night and the great dinner that my foe friend put on for Task and I.

I caught up on a few things today, organising Uni for when I return to Melbourne at the end of my trip.

I picked up the extra part for my tent, which was great. Now I can sleep easy again knowing my tent will be set up properly.

Later on this evening I went to a local gig in Hobart with Louise (my foe friend) and brought along another guy I met in a hostel here in Hobart earlier today. The guy from the hostel was from Taiwan, but he is a surfer who has been living here for a few months and has adopted the Australian style well. Together we were easily the most main stream looking in the bar. The crowed was very alternative to say the least, a real raw Indy scene. A lot of b.o in the air, dreadlocks, if the clothing wasn't mono-coloured such as black or another dark shade it was checkered or sporting some form of activism that could be easily seen. In theory this scene should have been my ideal crowd, but I still felt somewhat out of my comfort zone. I must admit I prefer this scene then the wannabe pop, rich white kid mentality, that exists around most Melbourne clubs. The thing I realised here though is that I am not trying to fit in a scene, merely just doing what I think is best - good music, comfortable clothing, healthy living and appreciating the environment, which in turn means adopting a natural lifestyle. No other strings attached. The only thing that really connected me in the bar, besides my coast monkeys tee shirt with a small Sea Shepard logo on the back- which is more stylish then promoting activism- was the joint respect towards the natural environment.

I thought about it, it would be great if this appreciation and respect for the environment carried over to all scenes. It is not something that needs to be categorised as a trend, fashion or style as this only limits genuine sustainable growth. A friend once told me that at least these crowds, even if not genuine, are encouraging environmentally benign practices. This down fall though is it will not be an effective generational change, if like other trends that have came and gone in the past. Although for some reason I think this environmental scene is here to stay..

Tomorrow plans are to check out aboriginal office and ask a few questions, hopefully check out the Truganini reserve and organise a few other things.

Day 7 (Hamilton to Hobart)

Day: 84km
Total: 590km
Weather: High 20's with afternoon rain and occasional cold breeze

Last nights sleep was pretty good. I was spewing cause I left the pole that holds the top part of my tent up at Derwent Bridge. I must have left it in a mad rush, after sleeping with the wallabies, and with all the ants and mosquitos trying to eat me alive in the morning. There was no chance I was heading back for it, but now I need to try find another pole.

The riding today was pretty good. At some points it was very difficult with the wind, but due to my hard work in the last couple of days the distance was shorter today making any hard riding more bearable. It started raining quite heavily in one section. I thought about stopping to cover my gear up, but I was averaging 30km/hour so no chance pulling over in those conditions. The wet surface must have made easier for the wheels to spin.

To my pleasant suprise I had an email from someone involved with FoE. The email offered a place to stay for when I'm in Hobart. To my luck that was tonight and also to my luck the lovely lady said it was ok to stay tonight. I had no real idea where I was going to stay tonight, as most hostels are expensive and from what I've gathered big cities don't really have camp grounds.

It was weird riding into Hobart. It sort've felt like the ending of a bear grylls episode, when he makes it back to civilisation. My attitude quickly dampened when a massive truck held down the horn as he drove past me on the freeway 3km off Hobart.

In the Main Street of Hobart I grabbed some food and sat down for a while. Trying to figure out what I was going to do over the next few days. I googled some cheap hostels as a back up if the place I stayed at didn't work out. The only place I tried was a little bit out of town and was luckily in the direction of where my FoE friend lives. It was crazy, I managed to bump in to my Japanese mate from Strahan. I couldn't believe it, I saw his bike and and then saw him inside. As I explained what I was doing he had a big smile and stated that we had a promise to meet again.

After speaking with my FoE friend she said that it was alright for Task (my Japanese friend) to stay as well. So Task and I cycled off together and have spent the night in Hobart South. We had a great dinner, an unbelievable dinner, with a great dessert. Half the food was picked straight out of there garden, which was a permaculture style set up. I was stoked, it was funny cause when Task realised we had beds he must've thought the exact same thing as me. He said in his broken English "as long as we have roof to protect us from wind", which I thought was very true. After dinner Task and I did the dishes. I am really glad he came along, as he used the same initiative that I would with the dishes and also very appreciative. I have traveled with other people in the past that never do dishes after meals and also have to be pushed to show appreciation for kind gestures.

Now after a great night I'm in bed getting ready to catch up on a few things tomorrow.

Day 6 (Derwent Bridge to Hamilton)

Day: 110km
Total: 410km
Weather: 30degrees

I am feeling good at the moment. I did feel really tired earlier today, especially on the leg from Tarralea to Ouse. There were no shops, stops or fuel houses in the section and it went for about 70km. It was better then yesterday, which was 90 or so km without any food stops. The great thing about Tassie is that you can access fresh water anywhere, so on a number of occasions I'd fill up the bottles on the side of the road at a freshwater inlet. I also come across a lot of fruit trees in the town if Ouse. This was great, I loaded up on apricots. Every house seemed to have at least 4 different fruit trees, with some also having a veggie patch from what I could see.

After stopping to finish off the last of my muesli that I brought over from Melb, I kept going for 70odd km straight. I finally got to the little town Ouse around 17:30 where I drank a litre of milk with some raspberries mixed through to make a type of milkshake. I have been off the milk for a while, but needed some quick protein and something to fill me up, so hoping it sits well tonight.

I'm now at a campsite in Hamilton, it's about 30 odd minute drive from where some of the wild fires have been. A lot of the fireys are staying in this town as emergency backup, and also to collect goods etc. Its a very small town, just one pub and a hall. Seeing the way these fireys work and also the people volunteering their time has shown me another side to our country and its people. In respect to this I know these guys are working all the time and that it was a lot more severe with the black Saturday fires a few years ago. This particular moment though shows me how we work and genuinely commit our full support in times of need.

I had a bit of a shock the other day when I was in Strahan. In my stay there a group of bogan Aussie guys came through on there motorbikes. The Japanese guy I made mates with had been copping a bit of slack off them cause his English wasn't so good. Fortunately I wasn't there when it happened, but it made me feel embarrassed and also annoyed for this guy. It was his first time overseas, and his first real experience with foreigners. He asked me if Australian people don't like Asians..

When I was in Japan a stranger escorted me to the three different trains I needed to catch, as I was staying an hour and a half out of the city. This was without even asking.

Now I'm about to get some sleep and hopefully feel good for the next 75odd km to Hobart tomorrow!

Day 5 (Strahan to Derwent Bridge)

Day: 130km
Total: 298km
Weather: 26degrees

Today was an epic ride. I rode from Strahan (west coast) to Derwent Bridge (central highlands). I managed to get in around 20:15, just before sunset. I was expecting a few shops in the main strip but there was only one pub and a servo.

I couldn't find the camp ground near by and was to knackered to look for it so I set the tent up in some bush land a km away from the servo and pub. It's right in the thick of the bush land. This is the thickest vegetation in Australia that I've ever camped in. Right at this moment I think a wallaby (as I haven't seen many roos here) is directly next to my tent. I can hear it jumping and sniffing the ground. I'm hoping to god it doesn't jump on my tent and rip it open. There is also a lot of tassie devils and snakes in this area. It's I directly next to the largest natural reserve in Tasmania and also the national park Lake St Clair.

The ride down was huge, it was perhaps the toughest test I've had to date. It took me 9 hours of riding, through long winding and hilly roads. Physically I was ok and mentally I was also but I often had to remind my self to keep pushing. I contemplated stoping in the national reserve as I was riding through it for 58km. From hard work I got here just in time.

During the ride I met a few locals that were standing on a bridge over a beautiful lake. As I saw the lake I had contemplated a swim so when I saw those fellas on the bridge I pulled up straight away. They weren't to sure if they should jump, but after a little convincing they both jumped and I followed suit. After this it was a long ride through the franklin-smith natural reserve. This was the most archaic bush land/ rainforest that I have ever seen. It may well possibly be in the whole world. It is what you would imagine looking at the environment 200 million years ago.

I'm going to get some sleep now cause this wallaby, or whatever it is, is sniffing around my tent perhaps from the noise in making.

Good fortune - Made a good friend with a Japanese guy in Strahan
Bad fortune - Dropped my glasses coming down a hill and didn't want to lose momentum and get them