Pearls On Wheels

Thanks for another wonderful journey.

Maydena is in the wilderness.  Beyond lovely autumnal valleys and beyond Field National Park (the first National park in Australia). A warm welcome and a delicious dinner from our host Anthea's kitchen.   We had a lovely breakfast and set off to Strath Gordon and Australia's highest hydro dam. Ooops some trees across the road blocked our way. It is early Sunday morning so the chances of it being cleared soon seem slim. We turn round and ride to Westaway and stop for coffee alongside the Derwent River. We ride through lovely countryside.  As we approach the outskirts of Hobart... the signpost says MONA... we are lured to this amazing gallery. Museum of old and new art. This is a private gallery.  The art works are provocative. Some are stunning.  Some are stunningly unsettling. You can take a peek at their website  Mona    Some are eye-catching - this water fall spelled out words.  This library contains white books.

A chilly, wet ride today. Our first rain in 9 days. Not many Photographs today. We rode through Queenstown into the Franklin Gordon World Wilderness site. Misty views of forested hills and mountains. Lunch at Derwent Bridge Pub. The temperatures ranged from 8.5degC to 14degC so the heated jacket and cloves were put to good use.

We rode the  West Coast Wilderness Railway  train journey along the king River and through the rain forest to Queenstown. A journey on a restored railroad and trains that began their lives servicing the copper mines at Queenstown. Andrew the guard does a grand job. He keeps us amused with his commentary during the journey.  All aboard... The first part of the  train journey follows the King River. Tannins make it dark brown. Efforts are being made to remediate the river after decades of mine waste have rendered it lifeless. During the lunch stop the steam engine was readied to take us to Queenstown. We went for a walk in the rainforest. The mosses and ferns made us feel as if we were on a walking track on the west coast  of New Zealand. Alan, the engine driver... and a motorcyclist. We loved his big wave and extra Toot, toot... when we rode through Queenstown the next morning. The byproducts of the mining process have reduced

Stanley , on the North West coast has lots of restored old houses and shops on the main street.  Like all the towns we have passed through Stabley boast a Tidy Town sign.  The townships in Tasmania really are tidy. The green and red roofs are typical of many we have seen throughout Tasmania. When I asked someone what the roof colours were he said if I wanted a green roof I should ask for "Roof Green",  and if I wanted a red roof then ask for  "Roof Red". The cream walls and either red or green roofs reminded me of house colours in the New Zealand Countryside when I was young. We had an early breakfast and enjoyed the company of a couple of Perth bikers. Woody and Dave. Woody is an expat Kiwi.  Motorcycles cause conversations... We rode through lush farmland along the NW coast and headed inland... to mining country. First stop, tin mining - Waratah. We stopped for lunch and were impressed with the local history displays. The mine has

Morning has broken...  Last night when we rode (slowly) up the drive in the dark we spied opposums, rabbits and a wallaby.  Kirk said that the opposums get to the walnuts on the tree a week before they are ready to harvest. Only one half-eaten walnut remains. The mist has begun to lift as we set off.    JW - a man who made me laugh today. He took us in the shuttle up to Dove Lake. and   Cradle mountain . Today we discovered that there is an annual pass to the Tasmanian parks. The Tasmanian National Parks service need to know that Hayley in their Cradle Mountain headquarters is the one of the best national parks employee we have encountered on this trip.  A wallaby looking for a cuddle. He spent quite a while cleaning up in preparation. A video will follow soon. We had lunch at Wilmot at the original Coles grocery store. We rode 341km today. The temperature ranged from 11.5degC to 18degC. The roads were wonderfully winding. A warm welcome at S