Just about to leave this afternoon. Glad that I’m driving this time, blowing a gale in Tasmania today. On the ferry now, wind blew all the way from Hobart to Devonport, should set sail soon.
Thanks Dan, I know! Hardly anyone onboard. Surely not as rough as the old “spew cat” from George Town.
I have been on quite a few rough crossings. With 5- 7m swells. Your crossing should not be as bad. Around 2m+
something to do on a ride https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-26/back-country-skiing-the-hard-way-in-tasmania/11446382
so, for a great weekend, I headed over to Fingal >>> Bed-in-a-Shed <<<, met with 2 mates from down South, bunched a few tracks from Chris Boden's book 4wd tracks in Tasmania into a nice loop. Turned out great (after the rain front went through). Fingal - Mathinna Oval - Mt Albert Rd - St Helens (lunch) - Mt Albert Rd to Granite Knob Rd - Upper Scamander - South Sister Lookout - St Marys (early dinner at 'Feed the Dragon' Chinese restaurant, fantastic!) - Fingal. Bed-in-a-Shed : hosts Darren & Louise; saying WOW!! barely captures the ambience, warmth and friendly hospitality. Super competitive pricing. https://www.bedinashedtasmania.com.au/ Chelles (Fingal) offers very tasty fast food, also Steak Surf & Turf, Huge burgers, Keto-friendly meals. Ping's Feed the Dragon (St. Marys) offers succulent & tasty dishes, almost homestyle. We received platters-to-share with each other of fresh spring rolls, chinese veg in garlic/chilly broth, fresh dumplings, blackbean beef ... accompanied by bottomless cups of Jasmin Tea. Being mostly noobs on dirt roads, this was a pleasant easy route for us, good sight seeing, only got technical a few times when we preempted the gps directions and turned off the main drag too early. Nice though. Interesting few dead ends. ... Friday's dark clouds and rain bands ... ... were long forgotten by Saturday morning ...
Yep, plenty of stuff to ride in that area from cruisey dirt to technical, white knuckle, will I survive this downhill track. You could spend a week in that area.
Anyone joining St2St-2019 in two weeks time? Enduro hardcore or adventure softcore ? https://m.facebook.com/pg/Sthelens2strahan/posts/ https://tasmanianmotorcycletours.com.au/motorcycle-tours/
Never heard of it....what's "St2St"? The links aren't really clear or concise as to what all-or-any of it actually is. Times/ places/ $$/ who/where/what... that sort of thing.
Oops, not sure why Tassie Motorcycle tours haven't got the details up anymore. Enduro St2St is in its 13th year ... Here's a quick summary fom the blurb Bruce sent me: It's a 4-day ride. Leaving St Helens around midday on Thursday 24th. The main part is Enduro focused, accompanying Adventure tour alongside, meet up with enduro riders at o/night locations. Day1: St Helens - Argonaut Rd - zigzagging via Ben Lomond - forestry roads to Bridport - o/night Day2: backroads to Batman Bridge - Asbestos Range - Devils Gullet - Gowrie Park - o/night Day3: backroads from mountains to sea to mountains to sea to mountains to Stanley - o/night Day4: Marrawah - Arthur River - Western Explorer - Corinna - Granville Harbour - Trial Harbour - Strahan & surrounds - o/night Cost (Tassie Motorcycle Tours): $990; included: 4 nights accommodation incl Strahan, all meals (brekky / lunch bbq / dinner), support vehicle (carries our luggage) & crew. Accommodation is a mixture of Air BnB, Gowrie Park lodge, and Strahan Village tourist park. They will provide a hot BBQ lunch each day along the trail somewhere, with evening meals being catered by nearby restaurants or hotels. Excluded: Fuel & drinks Contact: Bruce, Tasmanian Motorcycle Tours, 0421 099 857 / 0408 809 856
Thanks....there's something to work with. Still, the "St2Stt" tag is a baffler. St. Helens ....to....Strahan??..maybe? Any indication of routes? Not trying to be difficult, just trying to get a vague handle of what this is all about...and happy to be thrown a few "loopy ones", I'm pretty familiar with Tassie roads and ADV-tracks/ attractions etc after around 70.000k's on the Apple Isle.
St Helens to Strahan. Yes. ... perhaps it would be better if you contact Bruce directly for details re Adventure route, or AMA"s Facebook page for St2St for the Enduro details. I haven't got any further details like road nrs/coordinates etc. Bruce described his route as interesting and quite manageable for noobs and recent BMW offroad course participants such as myself. That's all I was interested in. Sorry if that info is a bit meager ...
Having done 70.000ks of our roads and tracks I think you can rest assured you've probably ridden most of the route... Hmm $1000, at that price I'll happily carry my own stuff and find my own food and accommodation, each to their own though. I do notice you can do the hard route in one day, starting at 4am, hope someone tells the wildlife....
True enough. This time round, it's the price I'm willing to afford as offroad-noob, my 2nd time going for longer stretches on gravel. Not yet as confident as other more seasoned off roaders, it's my peace-of-mind placebo. Might be able to spot a few more tips & tricks too from the mob on handling, cornering on gravel and that sort of stuff. Watching it on youtube can get me only so far. To me it's an extension/cementing of what Chris & Adam (BMW offroad instructors) showed us last August.
I did the Evercreech ride with the boys from TMT, they set a pretty testing trail thru there, I wouldn’t call it hard but it certainly wasn’t tea-and-bickies. $990 seems a lot but there’d be a massive insurance component.
I always know that I've still seen nothing much of Tassie when tripping over the map that Flickit occasionally posts.
