Tassie 2024

[nev]

It was 30 degrees the day our Spirit of Tasmania ferry scheduled from Geelong to Devonport. Departure times have changed a bit since they shifted to Geelong, and ours was scheduled to commence check in from 7pm and depart at 9:30pm. It was a slow hot slog around the M80 ring road. An accident and a broken down car causing all sorts of mayhem in the afternoon peak hour. We left home just before 5pm and arrived in Geelong about 90 minutes later. There are a Maccas and a KFC both near to the terminal, both with car parks full of travellers getting a meal before joining the loading queues. We joined them then headed to the new terminal. There is a large undercover staging area for vehicles, so we were able to park in there in a column with the bikes who had arrived ahead of us. In all there were close to 90 bikes scheduled to do the crossing tonight.

There were a handful of WA registered Postie Bikes on board.

For old times sake, I wore the daggiest item of clothing which I own. Back in 2005, only a few months before austouring came into existence, Glitch organised a bike tour of Tasmania. It was a collection of people mainly from the old usenet group or the netrider forum, which was still in it's infancy then, and still very much Melbourne centric. There must have been about a dozen of us who took the trip, and Glitch organised tour shirts. They were very outstanding, in that we really stood out in them, and a few of us were telling other passengers on the ship that we were a 10 pin bowling team called the Tassie Gems.

Well some of us still have the shirts in our wardrobes, and I resurrected mine and put it to use as my ship shirt. (I only told one stranger on the Spirit that I was in a bowling team this time).

Loaded up with drinks for the evening

We slept pretty well on the ferry as the seas were quite calm compared to some other crossings we've been on.

When we were planning this trip, I asked Jo if there was anything in particular she wanted to see or do in Tasmania during our two weeks, and her only request was to take a ride on a steam train.... That's an easy request to cover off I reckon. In fact, it's probably too easy....

 

[nev]

I hadn't really planned out much of a route for our trip. In fact, when we got off the ferry I still hadn't planned which direction we were going to go, clockwise or anticlockwise, although I had planned a route map for day 1 which was basically a big loop around Devonport, so we could decide later in the day where we'd aim for.

Now, it didn't take much effort in searching on google for Steam train rides that Jo might be able to take. The obvious one was the West Coast Wilderness Railway, which runs out of Strahan and Queenstown. But there are a couple of other smaller less frequent trains, and so I decided, what the heck, we'd ride on 1, but why not try to see every steam train in the whole state, it can't be that hard, can it ?

First stop was the Don River railway museum in Don, which is a small suburb only a few minutes ride from the ferry terminal in Devonport. It was too early for it to be open, but there were trains to be seen through the fence.

After that we tootled around some backroads, taking in the sights from a lookout near Ulverstone.

There's a miniature railway in Ulverstone. Again, too early, and possibly its not operating at present, but we were there.

And just a few minutes further up the road is the Penguin miniature railway.

From Penguin we headed, south, inland, and came across this ripper letter box

Crossed the Forth River on the Cethana Bridge. Peaceful.

I didn't know it till we got into town, but there was a festival of steam happening at Sheffield, so the tourist railway there was running, and the whole town was full of people.

Lunch stop was in Deloraine, but not before another train ride by..

 

[glitch]

Love the pics...and that railway-thread running through the whole thing.
Had no idea there were that many railways around, even just around the North.

Great stuff...haven't got my bowling shirt on right now, but can I hop on?
More please!

 

[nev]

Lunch in Deloraine at a very nice cafe, and while we waited there I checked out the accommodation options within striking distance of here. They were few and far between.
It was the Saturday at the start of a long weekend, so options were limited. Nothing affordable within 50km or so of Deloraine, so I searched further afield, and in particular the town of George Town, which I had on my list of places which we might stay at on this trip, and I snagged a motel room for two nights at the pub there.

Not far out of Deloraine in Westbury I spotted a sign for Pearns Steam World, so took a short detour and a snap out the front. Didn't go in for a look, it's a machinery place rather than railway. Maybe next time.

Our trip to George Town took us up the West Tamar Hwy north of Exeter, where we stumbled across Bert Munro Cafe. It was closed for renovations, but might be worth a look in the future.

George Town was a nice find, right up the top of the east Tamar Hwy. Small but not too small, but not big town. It had a supermarket, and a pub and a couple of restaurants. The pub was right on the water and our motel unit was between the pub and the water. The weather was high 20s, but still not too hot. It was a nice spot to wander around and spend a couple of nights.

Everyone's a critic.

 

[nev]

The next day was a lazy day with no plans. We took a short bike ride down to Launceston.

There's a train restoration shed and transport museum in Launceston, but it was closed today, and in fact from the look of the rusty rails, I'm not sure any of their rolling stock had rolled for a while.

18 years ago, a motorcycling friend of ours, Jeanette, but known to everyone as "Cat" was visiting her family in Tasmania and was unfortunately killed in a head on accident on the motorway heading out of Launceston. It's a bit of a ritual to visit her marker on the side of the Highway whenever we're passing through.

And not far away we spent a few minutes with her in the cemetery.

The route back to George Town took a slight detour to visit an abandoned railway tunnel near a small town of Lilydale. The tunnel was dug in 1888 and used until about the 1960s. It is about 700 metres long and open to the public with all the usual warnings. There are small bubbling springs along the track on the way in, so it was a bit of a creek, and the feeling inside the cutting was that of a rainforest.

 

[glitch]

Hah, found the tunnel on Tunnel Road.
It's been a few years, a little less graffiti then, but still the same.
Had a good snooping around by the looks of it

 

[glipschitz]

18 years ago, a motorcycling friend of ours, Jeanette, but known to everyone as "Cat" was visiting her family in Tasmania and was unfortunately killed in a head on accident on the motorway heading out of Launceston. It's a bit of a ritual to visit her marker on the side of the Highway whenever we're passing through.

And not far away we spent a few minutes with her in the cemetery.

So lovely that you went to visit Cat.
I still remember how many of us made the trip down to Tassie for her funeral and the number of riders who came to her Scout group in Springvale for her local wake. There's a plaque in the Scout Hall in her honor.
RIP Cat

 

[Williamson]

Good read, thanks for posting.

 

[Hytram]

hang on.. whats this?

A real ride report


my FB memories today say I was in Sheffield 1 year ago
( was supppose to be in Lauceston for work tonight...I lucked out and got Geelong instead at midnight)

 

[nev]

So lovely that you went to visit Cat.
I still remember how many of us made the trip down to Tassie for her funeral and the number of riders who came to her Scout group in Springvale for her local wake. There's a plaque in the Scout Hall in her honor.
RIP Cat

Yeah, she certainly was the glue that held a few different social groups together. I can't believe it's been 18 years.