Pedaltours Western Tasmania bike tour, January 10-15, 2003

In late 2002 I found myself in need of a bike tour, and without the time or energy to organize one myself. With the weather heading south, I decided to follow it; turning my globe upside down, I searched for an appropriate place for a week-long bike tour. I decided that I didn’t want to deal with language issues, which eliminated South America, (mi Espanol es no muy bien) and I felt that it wasn’t the best time for a white American to be touring in Africa, so that narrowed it down to Australia and New Zealand.

Searching on the Internet and through my Adventure Cycling magazines, I was able to find a few tour groups which do supported tours Down Under. I was looking for something which was challenging and majestic; there are many good options in that part of the world, but the one that fit my schedule and other criteria best was Pedaltours tour of Tasmania. The trip could be done either as entire circuit of the island (which is about the size of Ireland), or as the eastern or western half. The eastern half sounded more historic, with lots of British prison colonies and towns; the western half sounded more natural, which fit my desires better. So I signed up for the western half of the trip, 6 days of riding from Launceston to Hobart via Strahan on the western coast.

After a 14-hour flight, and several days in and around Sydney, I took a short flight into Launceston, and was ready for the start of my trip.

Day 0: Launceston

Flying into Launceston, Tasmania, is, in itself, an amusing experience for a city boy. The airport is tiny, and “baggage claim” consists of going into the garage and waiting for the truck to pull up. It’s a city of 50,000 people, second largest on the island, but very small by any American standard. (Of course, that was the point). Here I met up with our guides, a father/son pair, Bob and Damien, with the improbable surname of “Boocock.”

Day 1: Launceston to Silver Ridge Retreat

Our first riding day featured mostly mellow roads, encounters with actual Tasmanian Devils, and a wilderness lodge where we got to see a platypus, wallabies and possum.

Day 2: Silver Ridge Retreat to Cradle Mountain

The morning after the first day is always the hardest. Fortunately the next two days weren’t all that big; we were scheduled for about 60k today, up to Cradle Mountain, the most popular national park in Tasmania.

As is the norm when I tour with a group, I was running late and wound up being last on the road. The hearty breakfast had energized me, so despite my legs being somewhat tight, I was able to catch up with the rest of the Bay Area group, and we rode together to the top of a moderate rise, where we learned that “Fatigue Can Be Fatal.” (This became my mantra while battling 60kph headwinds a couple days later).

Day 3: Cradle Mountain to Tullah

The morning started with a beautiful hike up towards Cradle Mountain, then a fast short ride into the small village of Tullah.

Day 4: Tullah to Strahan, via Reece Dam

Since Tammy had the bright idea to do 60 extra klicks, we had to get rolling pretty early. Claire continued to waffle throughout breakfast on whether she would do the extra mileage, and even after we were on the road she hadn’t totally made up her mind. But when it came time to make the decision, she turned the same direction as the rest of the gang. We were going to be isolated from humanity for almost 100 klicks, until we rolled into lunch at Zeehan.