One day cycling in Tasmania: 30 pictures of life on the road as a cycle tourer

Our day's goal is the Baker's Beach camping in Narawntapu National Park, only about 38km away as the crow flies, according to MapOut.  

Unfortunately, crossing the Tamar River entails quite a lengthy detour down to the bridge, and our total daily mileage is more like 77km...

...with a mountain range to cross that includes a hill at 15%.  As you can see from the Mapmyride graph, we worked pretty hard.   

6:00am, woken up by a crow who has discovered our tent and is telling the world about it.  Michael opens the fly and stares hard at the bird, who flies away.  Back to sleep.  

8:30am, think about getting up, 

9:00am get up, have breakfast in the tent. 

Packing up the gear

Teeth-brushing

Water bottle filling.  In Tasmania, we've each been carrying between 4-6L extra, as water sources are few and far between. 

Contact inserting.

Good to go!  Time check: 11am.  Not our earliest start, but not our latest either!  But packing up and brekkie always seem to take us 2 full hours, no matter what we do.  

On the road.  This was a quiet country lane with a ferocious headwind.  Wish Mapmyride could graph that!

Stopping to knee tape.  We took too much time off in Thailand, and then started too strong in Tasmania, so for the past week or so, I've had to tape.  

Making friends along the way

Where the blacktop ends... most days in Tasmania, we've spent at least a few hours bumping along dirt or gravel.  

Pit stop, 1:45pm!  First public toilet of the day, a welcome sight.  

Making lunch in a park under the Batman Bridge

Visited by a kookaburra

Crossing the very windy bridge - not a pleasant experience.  Happy to have a separated walkway, but the cables of the bridge supports are attached to the sidewalk, making it too narrow to pass with a loaded bicycle (or a wheelchair, or a stroller, or a cargo bike). 

The Tamar River

Checking directions

Buying apples from a roadside stand.  The owner came out and talked with us, an 81 year-old woman whose father planted the orchards in 1912.  

Biking past vineyards

Stopping in Beaconsfield to buy groceries, and of course, chocolate! (Notice that Michael has a chocolate bar in his hand, as well as a tray of chocolate cookies on the bike behind him). 

Time check: 6:30pm.  Somehow that took all day, and we are still 21km from our destination, over a mountain range, quite possibly entirely on a gravel road signposted "Only maintained for fire access".  This sort of thing seems to happen to us with alarming frequency.  

At the top, after climbing a hill with an over 15% grade (see elevation chart above). 

And heading down the other side, time check: 8:15pm

Beautiful sunset by bike.

Arrived in Narawntapu National Park, where four kinds of kangaroos abound.  Coincidentally, dusk is the best time for viewing them.  We couldn't go 100m without seeing at least one, usually two or three.  There's one hopping towards me right now.  

This is the only day of our whole trip where we actually set up the tent in the dark.  

Making dinner

Calling it a night.  Time check: 10:55pm.  Exhausted!