The Blog of Geoff, Nattie, William,Toby & Jack

Dove Lake, Cradle Mt:

Back at Devonport, ready to board:

So much cooler day, no rain and a very bearable temperature. The clouds actually looked pretty ominous as we set out North West to Scotsdale via The Bay of Fires! Some really beautiful scenery (again) along the way with windy roads and valleys, suddenly into rainforest regions – magic!!

Here’s a pic of the outside of our hotel in St Mary’s:

Yummy pancake at the famous elephants pass cafe:

The Bay of Fires:

We woke with a mild hangover and the feel that it was going to be another hot day. We fuelled up and made our way for 300km to St Mary’s with a much needed stop for a swim.

After that we went up to Lake Leak and chilled out (ad much as we could)..then the Elephant pass with lots of tight corners.
Mayfield Beach – time for a swim. 37 degrees! Approx 110km North of Snug.

With the forecast for today to hit the mid 30’s we knew it was going to be a little challenging in all our gear. We made the ascent up to Mt Wellington, approx 1300m above sea level where it was incredibly windy. Parking our bikes so they didn’t blow over took some time! Wind gusts of up to 75km/hr was full on but we had a blast and it was a really clear day!

Onwards to Tahune and the famous air walk.

Another hot day. Great accommodation at the Snug Caravan park where we were lucky to get the last cabin, a room each! Bliss!

We made it to the Snug Tavern with minutes to spare where we again had a great meal then joined some of the colourful locals for more than a few drinks. This resulted in both of us feeling a little dusty the next morning!

We weren’t completely amazed with Huonville so decided on Snug for the night.

Tahune Air forest Walk:

Today we woke to amazing blue sunny skies!! Heaven! We did a round trip of approx 350kms, Westward out to Strathaven and Mt Pedder. The dry roads made it a lot easier to navigate the twisties and once out of Hobart the open road and breath taking beauty of the wilderness was amazing. We’ve seen a lot of road kill along our journey, mostly roo’s, wombats and possums but today we had to avoid a pretty big live snake crossing the road!

The trip out to Lake Pedder and Strathgordon lead us to the end of the road, the Gordon Dam – Australia’s biggest dam, with a 140m drop! We walked down as far as we could, along the dam wall, incredible man made structure.

Australia’s largest dam, at Lake Gordon with a 140m drop:

After Lake Pedder we rode onto the beautiful Russell Falls:

A great night’s sleep on The Spirit of Tassie put us in good stead for today’s travels. We woke @ 5:30am for a 6:30am disembarkation. The absence of rain on our arrival into Devonport was appreciated. It was a chilly but not freezing start where we made our way to Ulverstone, Penguin, Burnie and Somerset. We visited Ridgley as it was the town where Steve’s Dad Laurie grew up.

Not far after Ridgley we found ourselves in the beautiful Tassie country side as we rode towards the Hellyar Gorge, dry roads resulted in lots of enthusiastic air fist punches with a ‘how good is this?’ going through our minds.

From the end of the 25km Gorge ride we made our way onto Tullah via the McIntosh Dam, a few good photo ops here.

After Tullah we headed further south towards Queenstown and then the final desination of Strahan. The windy road that lead us from Queenstown to Strahan left us feeling a little weary so after a meat pie and drink/relax in the park we made it onto The Wilderness Lodge, Strahan. Brian the owner greeted us and this accommodation already had won me over, old styled cottage with a beautiful view over the Gordon River. Tonight we’ll head into the town centre for some dinner and a drink!

Tomorrow – Strahan to Hobart!

A beautiful but chilly start to the day at just 6 degrees.

The view from our hostel balcony:

After weaving our way down from Eden on the NSW far south coast we started off with sunny skies! It really was great to start out without our wet weather gear on and begin to dry out our previously damp jeans from the previous day!

Approx 17km down the coast we took the Imlay Rd turn off and headed towards Cann River, then onto Lakes Entrance and Moe. The fine weather wasn’t with us for very long before we hit more rain, after Bairnsdale. We had luckily donned our wet weather gear just in time to hit some torrential rain, which was in and off until we hit Moe, we’re it was torrential.

After a brief stop under shelter in Moe we then headed towards Mt Baw. The spectacular scenery was breath taking through windy rain forested rds. We should have filled up with petrol which left us needing to take a slight deviation to Neerim Junction in the nick of time before the friendly shop owner closed up for the night.

With a full take of fuel we then began the ascent of Mt Baw Baw with the weather beginning to close in on us again. With very wet and very windy roads that took us 150m above sea level and 55km from Neerim Junction we were forced to take it slowly.

We got to the top of Mt Baw Baw and Kelly’s Cafe Lodge & Cafe to be met by hospitable and youthfully enthusiastic ‘Dan’ who worked here all year through. Even though he’d closed off for the night he was obliging and made us
Calamari and chips… we were starved.

Bunking down in our hostel type accomodation was a vast improvement on Eden, as we had the entire hostel o ourselves!

After approx 600kms it was a case of a quick feed, then bed. Tomorrow will take us back down Mt Baw Baw and will end at Port Melbourne where we will get on the SOT to head off for our next little adventure… The Apple Isle!

Awesome day.

Eden lookout:

Imlay Rd:

Lakes Entrance:

Moe:

Raindrops on Geoff’s bag:

Nerrim Junction at dusk:

The sun didn’t last long as we headed South West into Victoria. Quick refuel for us at Cann River bakery!

Ahhh! Clear sunny skies! Will allow our jeans and gear to dry out!! Next destination, Mt Baw Baw Victoria.

After a beautiful trip down to the Southern Highlands through Bundanoon, then on to Candello, Merimbula with a massive, dramatic thunderstorm,we made the 550km to the picturesque Eden. Having never been here before it was a sight for sore eyes, not that my eyes were sore 🙂

Our accommodation @ The Great Southern Inn was essentially very basic – a tiny room which consisted of a bunk bed, shower and toilet. The somewhat unusual stench in the room wasn’t noticeable after a few minutes! Limited drying space for our wet gear will more than likely result in a damp start tomorrow! The local hospitality we’ve already experienced has been good with the offer to lock our bikes up in the bottle shop over night. Thanks Darryl!

Dinner time on the balcony over looking the coast line wasn’t hard to take either, with the help of an icy cold beer. Cheers!

About 10km out of Cooma! Looking dodgy! It was a good time to stop ad put the wet weather gear on, as the clouds opened up within minutes of this shot being taken.

We wanted to stop in Tarago for a coffee but it was a little too quiet, so Bungendore it was! The ride down through the Southern Tablelands was beautiful!

With approx 4400kms ahead of us, clear sunny skies as we leave Sydney – spirits are high!

There hasn’t been a Mild Hogs Tour that hasn’t started at Jane and Steve’s place in Eastwood, so why break tradition! After a typically heart warming welcome and hi to the boys we enjoyed a yummy steak sandwich for dinner followed by a few red wines…. ahhh! Great company and the serenity of the Chambers abode! 9 hrs to go!

It’s amazing really when you think about it how little you actually need. Here’s my rack bag packed and nearly ready to go!! This is all I will have/need for the next ten days!!

Well! With several emails back and forth between Steve and I today, and me being about 10% packed…the excitement and anticipation of MHIV is building! We’re just hoping for a good dry start, with no rain between Eastwood and Eden.Given Sydney’s abmismal  Can’t do anything about it if it rains, but from past experience starting out a Mild Hog adventure in rain tests our spirited enthusiasm! Big thanks to Steve for working tirelessly on the maps and the itinerary! Geoff got his bike serviced today and now has a brand new rear tyre and new front brake pads. Better to be safe than sorry…