Day 21 Ride ReportAs I suggested yesterday today I headed east. I saw a Toll ship approaching Burnie port so I pulled into Blythe Heads at Heybridge to try and get a photo of it. I did, but upon looking at today's photos on the laptop realized it wasn't any good. I also had a look for these penguins but didn't see any.
I opted to take the C102 today and pulled into the first lookout at Round Hill. With three viewing platforms at that one you get a good a view in all directions.
I even got a better shot of the ship I saw at Blythe Heads. By now it was in the port.
Next stop, Natone.
There I spotted a Buses R Us bus parked up. I've seen quite a few of these all over Tasmania now but this is the first time I had been able to photograph one. It may not interest many people here, but the South Australian version of Buses R us went into liquidation quite some time ago so seeing them here was a bit of a surprise. The photo was more for showing to workmates as opposed to posting on Ozstoc.
In Upper Natone I saw mostly cattle but there was one goat.
I hit the Ridgley Highway at Hampshire. I've seen a lot of that highway now.
I pulled into this rest area at Guildford every time I've gone through here. I know there's a comfort stop there but today it was nice to see it dry for a change.
I looked inside the building for the first time today, half expecting it to be locked but was pleasantly surprised how clean it was inside.
This was the purpose of today's ride. Riding to Cradle Mountain. This lorry driver waved to me as he went by.
Belvoir Road was an awesome ride. I snapped this from the top of the Black Buff lookout. That too gave you a 360℃ view after a 200m walk to the top. It was windy as shiraz which made taking photos difficult. I could barely keep still.
The vandalism seen on Google Street view is no longer there.
Speaking of Google Street view, Biggles said we past one of their vehicles in Latrobe after lunch on the Sheffield RTE. I must admit I didn't see it, but it's in my list of places to check that I past such a vehicle this year. I also passed out outside Bridport yesterday.
It seemed like a good idea at the time.
I saw this sign and thought yeah I'll check that out.
Turned in to find it was closed.
This sign reminded me of working at Raging Thunder Adeventures in Cairns in the early nineties. Our Barron River white water rafting trip relied on the power station releasing water for us to have enough water for the trip. As a result some days we had one trip, others two or three.
I've lost count of how many bridges I have walked across now. Kicking myself I didn't walk across the Batman yesterday.
The lookout may have been closed but I could ride up to the top of the dam on the other side of the river and saw this boat.
I only wanted the photo of the locality sign but the locals were interested to see what I was doing.
I refuelled at Mole Creek which was a bit of a hassle. I put the nozzle in the tank waiting for it to pump only for a lady to come out and say it won't pump until I swipe a card. I told her I wanted to pay cash to which she said you can't. "Why not? It's legal tender" was my response to which she said "It's not my store, I am just looking after it for the owner". Then she disappeared out the back. Eventually some guy came out asking "what's this about legal tender?". I explained I wanted to pay cash and he said okay, how much do you want? Well I want to fill it up so I don't know. I had this problem in Zeehan on tuesday. Anyway, I got fuel and moved on to the purpose of being in Mole Creek, bagging the big Tasmanian Devil. I couldn't actually park in front of it because the ground was too soft.
The ground in front was so soft because they are doing road works. This lorry sprayed the dust as I was mucking around taking photos. Today is my first day I've really got bombarded with insects since arriving on Tasmania so he was welcome to 'wash' the kwaka.
I went to Deloraine to check out some of the things Diesel showed us but couldn't photograph because it was a group ride.
I rode through Latrobe looking for the big platypus (which I had seen before) but missed it on my way to Spreyton. I was going to Spreyton Motorcycles to buy some chain lubricant as my current can ran out. Cue people to remind me that ST's don't have a chain. Pulling out of there the level crossing lights went off so I stopped and snapped the train.
I've yet to see a level crossing with boom gates in Tasmania.
I was back at base by 1330 so quite early for me. Now I am off to plan a course for tomorrow.