G'day ya all !!!
Leaving Hobart, lovely situated at the river with mount Wellington behind it, I rode to Port Arthur. My campsite that evening was again a beauty .... again high above on a cliff, this time I think a 100 meters above the ocean.A steep, vertical cliff 2 meters this time from my tent and the vieuw....amazing !!!!
Next day to Port Arthur for which you had to pay 25$, I read in my Lonely Planet.
Now, when I eneterd the entrance I saw there was a lookout, just left from the gate so I went to see what Port Arthur looked like before paying 25 $. And then I saw this path, going down this little hill, over a 1 meter high fence and in you were !!!
That easy ! So I parked my bike and went down this hill, looked around and had a great time
Cycling up north this time along the eastcoast of Tasmania where are some stunning beaches and believe it or not, on one of the most beautifull I camped.
I only had to climb 30 meters down a steep rocky hill and that 3 times, 1 tome for my bike, second and third with all my luggage but there I was, this little lagoon, maybe a couple of hundred meters wide and so nice....the ocean so blue ! That night I made a nice campfire and thought about bbq-ing marsmellows, that would be nice but I had none so instead I roasted some bread, I did it many times wwhen I was a kid, ' fikkie stoken en brood roosteren, haha, hoe zwarter hoe beter ! ' So I had a great night and the waves came not closer then 10 meters this time
Next day I bought a sack of marsmellows ...
2 nights later again on a beach but with a strong wind, no campfire that night and the waves ? 6 meters from my tent, also not too bad hi hi.
Next day I left the sea to go inland again and that day my stick was confiscated by the police...What happened, in a nutshell cause its a long story : I cycled along this house, a dog came running to me so I shouted at him to bugger off,to a upcoming car I made the slow down signal. The shouting didn't help and the dog ran behind me closing on my left so I stopped, pulled my stick and yelled even harderr at the dog which scared him off, the dog ran away, in front of that car, the car didn't stop which I will never understand why not but rode over the dog which was not nice to see, leaving the dog bleading and lying still on the road. Screaming people from the house and they started to load the dog into their car to take him to a doctor. So me and the car drove away, a last wave to eachother. 20 minutes later when was eating some bread along the same road a car drove by, very hard, made with smoking tyres a U turn, raced towards me, braked with blocked wheels, jumped out, grabbed an iron stick and started yelling at me that I killed his dog and many more things, mostly cursing. He kept on coming at me and I backed of, furter and furter telling him to calm down and tried to explain that his dog actually attacked me and I only defended myself but he wouldn't listen, kept on cursing and in between called the police, with which I was very happy. at least he wasn't going to smash my brains with that ugly iron stick ! So the police came, heared 2 stories, believed mine more ( there was some history with this man ... ) , asked me in between where my helmet was but I was telling what happened so I said : ' Lets concentrate on this story, okay ? ' and he didn't argue hi hi and after my statement I could cycle on, without my stick though, confiscated as a weapon. I told the nice officer one of the first things I would do is find me a new one couse I really did't want to ride without, telling him that it allready saved my I do not know what in eastern turkey.
So with a strange feeling I rode on ...
1 km further found me another nice wooden stick.
That afternoon found again one off the most beautifull campsites on earth ...
Situated in this lovely valley, covered with yellow long grass, some trees and a vieuw on Mt Barrow in the distance...picture perfect ! I did't have enough water though so I rode on and there was after 800 meters St Patricks river ! "river" was 5 meters wide with clean crystal clear water, good enough for me to fill my waterbottles and return to this great camp site I found.
So that evening I made another campfire and ... I can proudly say that that night I became a master in bbq-ing marrsmallows ! Brown and crispy on the outside, hot, sweet, soft and pink on the inside, just the way I like it !
Sitting there in the middle of nowhere, a million stars above me was really something special...I think I never saw more stars in my life than on that evening !
An easy ride next day, only 40 km, brought me in Launceston. Needed to wash my clothes so took a backpackers hostel.
Tomorrow cycle back to Davenport and the the ferry again, back to Melbourne.
And, with a little more than a month to go and only a thousand km to Sydney and after hearing many people ask : " arre you going to Byron Bay as well ? " I checked it out on my map. Only 800 km north of Sydney ! So my new plan is now to cycle to Sydney, take a bus from there to Byron bay or maybe even Brisbane ( another 200 km north ) and the cycle back along the coast to Sydney, sounds great huh ?!?
Have to go now, I want to walk cataract gorge here in Launceston and also have to go the supermarket, with 4.00 pm on the clock a busy afternoon
Greetings !
