PEDALPUMPKINS: June 2007

Hello everybody, here is the second part of the pumpkin trip in the wonderfull tasmania, i guess the pictures are not as stunning anymore partly because of the lack of photographic weather but the love to tasmania was growing more and more nonetheless...

This time we made a photo of our map so you guys can see where we went (the black line from bottom to top).

So, where did we stop?... ah jah: after spending this foggy night in Queenstown we saw that queenstown in daylight is not as bad as we thought and we met some lovely people there in the library where we put our last pictures on. After doing that we took it easy and cycled through lush forest along to strahan, a beautifull little town in a bay. The weather was, except of the cold really sunny and we found a nice little spot in the bay opposite of the town to camp. There was no campground and we thought we would have to sleep in the brand new disabled toilet in the park (the park itself was really lit up at night and big no camping signs) but after looking around a bit you always find a spot! So we just enjoyed the sun and the sea for a whole day, did some washing and more importantly some drying, and had a really good treat (fish and chips). The place itself is a small pretty fishing village and was a great place for us to relax and have a day off from the hills, we even managed to find a man with a power hose to clean our bikes!

Our next day we headed due north towards Zeehan quite late in the morning, past the coast, not far we stopped at what is called the Henty dunes, a 2km sand dune between the sea and the forest. A quite strange sight and special to this area. It was mostly up and down up and down through forest, and just before sunset we pitched tent at the top of a hill. This was one of the best places we have slept, totally in the middle of nowhere, so still and quiet you could hear the sea crashing 20km away!

Corinna was our next destination and we had heard that it was only dirt track for most of the way, sure thing it was, and a quite dramatic drop down. We knew it was going to be one of the most remote places we had been, and to get there we had to stop at the river side and ring the bell for the small boat to come and pick us up to take us to the other side where we found a tiny village, we learnt only 3 people live in. however they did have a few tables and chairs in the small wooden general store and we treated ourselves to a toasted sandwhich, where George tried to motivate herself for the next pending doom of more dirt track! 60kms of a road designed purely for 4wds was the route Nils was determind to conquer, after a coffee I was slightly more optimistic but this was quite short lived with the presentation of hills, hills, hills and gravel! Nils loved the challenge and we made it half way before setting camp at the river side on a wet and damp evening ready for ...yes more dirt road and hills! Well i can safely say if i ever do this route again i will be sitting in a car, enjoying the ride and not with both eyes on the ground hoping not to fall off my bike! Instead of killing Nils i plugged myself into the i pod and just rode waiting for the end whilst he cycled along happily and enjoyed the track. a very challenging day and experience,I am now very happy that we chose this route with a great sense of achievment.

So far to this day we had been very lucky with the weather, we knew it would have to rain sometime and it sure came that afternoon in time for us to find a camping spot in Arthur River. we managed to find a great spot in the eating hut where an electric bbq had been installed and a wooden bench. within 5 miniutes we had called it home and taken it over by emptying the contents of our wet bags and hanging it all where we could find a spot and made what seemed a luxury of toast on the bbq! sleeping next to it as a personal heater (the tent was too wet). Early and rainy we were awoken by the local walking group who we think may have wanted to use the dry facilities but they kindly left us to it and we packed in good time and set off before 9oclock. wet rain gear on, we got to the next village for breakfast...a coffee, massive bag of crisps and an ice cream and decided to do the next 50kms regardless of the weather to our first big town since we left Hobart.

Smithton. The road getting here was the flattest we have experienced in Tasmania, and tail wind the whole way, only taking us an hour or so to get there, through lush green farming land. Nils and I Tried making friends with many of the tassie cows, think Nils could quite possibly have been one in his former life, his cow talk is great! We saw many parrotts which seemed to play chase with us and managed to find a cosy cafe out of the rain for the afternoon for a slap up burger meal! Due to the weather we decided this would be the stop for the night and after asking wether the place had a cinema and being laughed at the next question about a camping area was also granted with the same sort of response. Not quite sure where we were going to sleep that night and keep dry we stopped off at the petrol station to fill up the gas stove ready for probally what was going to be another damp night with pesto and pasta.

Well, something magical happened, after inquiring with the man at the station if he knew of anywhere cheep to stay, with no questions asked he offered to let us stay at his home which was just at the top of the hill. Andrew gave us his address and explained that he would be home later but his children were in and they would make us welcome. Wow, this sort of generosity and kindness is not often seen and we knocked at the door to a beautiful house in the country, where his wife showed us where we could have a hot shower, wash our clothes, our own tv with many dvds to watch and home made veggie soup if we were hungry. Thankyou so much for this pleasure, honestly you have a wonderful home and family and it was so great to have met you. You are a special family and i do hope that we will hear from you, safe travells Andrew to Africa. It would be fantastic if you could let us know your e mail address for the future, and our home is always open for any of you to stay or visit, we will just have to decide ourselves where this may be first!

Long time no shop and not many people for us to see, exactly 3 cars passed us in 2 Days

A lot of nice little rivers with very clear water that tasted fantastic

the 'fatman barge' takes you over to corinna, so when you press the button one of the 3 people living there walks down to the river, starts the ferry and gets you over with the only cable ferry in australia!for ca. 500 meters, 10$ each, i know why it is called fatman...

the general store, cafe and information centre in one, owned by mr. fatman as well

these two creatures where following us, we couldn't escape, ha ha!

beautifull campspot between strahan and zeehan

laying in the grass, hearing only the sea and enjoying the sun

good example for the busyness of the roads , terrible!

still waiting for fatman to come...

the pumpkins enjoying the sunset...everybody agreed it was a great happening

we still don't know why clouds look like ganja leaves in tasmania...

the fog was staying in the valleys till about 11 o'clock and created little islands

so much space to cover with outdoor gear, great!

...george is so small i always have to be carefull not to pack her in my panniers...

we smelled really badly but the water was colder than you could ever smell

old pioneer graveyard in zeehan

mmhhh! banana custard, the best friend of the cyclist on special!

the little harbour of strahan

washing and drying...everything!

strahan, three big katamaran cruisers made us not want to be there in the season

henty dunes between strahan and zeehan

strahan with the old skelleton of a ship build by prisoners

sudoku

Hello everybody, we arrived safe in Hobart Airport and managed to assemble our bikes. Our first trip was only a short one to Hobart City where we spent the first night on a childrens playground hidden underneath a tree. The views from the plane onto tassie and the impressions from Hobart were already very exciting and the people very friendly. So we didnt want to wait for long and kept going the next day early towards the central plateau, uphill of course, George loved it! The weather was nice for half of the day, about 3 Celsius but the sun turned into rain in the afternoon and we ended up staying in the lovely Town of Bagdad, on the cricket ground of the community centre. Wet but happy we started our pasta and tomato diet this evening before we peeled our 5 layers off to go into the tent early at 8 o'clock. On the next day were more hills, but a very beautifull landscape up and higher towards the great lake, about 1100 climbing meters, the last 20km on snowy and icy roads, yipieeehh! Along the way often drivers stopped and asked us if we need help, and when it was dark, the temperature dropped to -5C, George was getting no further up the hill we gave in and got a lift the last kms to Miena. This was the highest point of our trip, snow everywhere and he dropped us off the only known establishment...the pub! This 4 people there thought we were crazy that we are going to camp in the snow on the lake, because the temperature dropped the night before to -11c...after a beer Tim invited us to stay in his 'small' hut for the night. Delighted and excited we of course said yes and once we had finnished our beer from infront of the open fire off we peddled behind him inthe snow to find our bed for the night! wow, what a supprise, we definetley had landed on our feet and the small hut actually was a tidy,cosy and warm cabin with a kitchen, bedroom and a sofa.....wahoooo! Thankyou so much Tim for your hospitality and kindness, we couldnt of asked for better, it was so nice we asked to stay an extra night with the magnificent views of the lake and beautiful landscape, who wouldnt?! we spent the day walking to the only general store in the area, 4km away, and in the evening we were invited to tims for scallops of which he had dived for himself..yummy. reluctently, we woke early the next day to start our next adventure, stopping along the way to Duncan and his wife (an English couople who has found solice at the lake side), who convinced us to stop for a morning coffe and home made scones again thankyou and they were beautifull, although leaving later than planned well worth the hour and some great advise.

In this great landscape we decided that we will extend our trip a little bit, and cycle up along the west coast, through the Wild Rivers National Park. The sun was out for us and the drop down from the great plains was breathtaking. We had a great ride and finnished on the beautiful Lake St Claire for the sunset. A possum kept us up this night trying to steal our food, whilst everything froze over. The sunrise again was a sight out of the tent, with all the sparkling frost and the morning mist over the lake.

This day was to be the most memorable so far, as we rolled down into the national park through the forests and along the snowy topped mountains. we had the sun bursting down, no cloud in the sky and beautifull views onto King William, Mount Gell, Frenchmans Cap, and Mount Olympus. very nice winding, and hilly roads, many with the hidden black ice and it didnt take long before George and Nils were on the floor because of it! luckily just the once and both partys were not injured!

At sunset we had already cycled about 70km and were planning just another couple of easy kms to the next village on our map to tuck into a well deserved meal, however when getting here we were presented with 1 street lamp and 4 houses! No general store open at 5 o clock or at all infact. Because we havent had any food left we had to cycle up and down another big hill to Queenstown, which filled George with deepest joy, after the speedmeter showed already 95kms for the day and the temperature foggy -3 C. But we made it anyway, the downhill luckily much longer than the uphill and nearly no car on the road like all the time. So we rolled down into this Queenstown, were probably no Queen would like to stay in winter, because it is a dead little Town drowned in fog and the smell of coal fires. But we managed to find a pizza place, after waiting for only an hour we got the luxury of some nice pizzas (+free garlic bread) and a little campground which was just as nice as the town! So we pitched our tent on the only 2 meters of lawn and while showering George started to feel her toes and fingers again...

Now we are sitting in the National Library of Tasmania in Queenstown and it is bloody expensive but warm and have been given free coffee and biscuits.

We hope you enjoyed our little report, we enjoyed our trip so far, below some pictures for you!