: : : ADVENTURE TRAVEL

 

CONTINUED…

On a tricycle
made for two

By KEVIN & AIMEE BEIMERS | The rest of the way down to Hobart was calm and leisurely. Actually, when I say "calm," I mean "slow". And when I say "leisurely," I really mean "one constant torrential downpour of rain the likes of which Tasmania hasn't seen in 30 years”.

I won't lie to you: it rained a lot. Wettest spring in 30 years. I mean, mainlanders tend to complain about the weather in Tasmania, but this month even the Tasmanians were shivering. I was shivering, and I'm Canadian, for goodness sake. I suppose you could say that the weather tried her best to make us pack our bags and get back on the boat, but despite her wrath, we still had a great time.

Taking a break at Campbell Town. Nick Osborne photograph

Following that, anyone else will have an easier time than us with the weather, provided your trip isn't scheduled for spring of 2033.

Aimee and I even got the chance at a snowball fight, and I'm not talking about inside the $4 Snow Tent at the Exhibition either. I'm talking honest to goodness snow.

The snow was located at the peak of Mount Wellington, 1200m above downtown Hobart, where we gathered one frosty Tuesday morning for an exciting, invigorating and extremely rewarding activity: The Mount Wellington Descent.

Organized by Island Cycle Tours, and hosted by the always enthusiastic Sam Denmead, the Mount Wellington Descent is a fantastic and unique way to see Tasmania's capital and the surrounding area. It takes everyone's favourite part of cycling, the downhill, and turns it into an all-day event!

Be honest. Can you picture the "Mount Wellington Ascent" being nearly as popular? Neither can I.

The stunning views of Hobart and surrounds from the top of Mount Wellington are unmatched, as is the energising feeling of travelling at windswept speeds

Sam provides the bikes, the van and an esky of Cascade fruit drinks, and the landscape does the rest. The stunning views of Hobart and surrounds from the top of Mount Wellington are unmatched, as is the energising feeling of travelling at windswept speeds, all without pedalling! Down the backroads, through a few offroad trails, past the Cascade brewery where we stopped for a snack and to strip off a few layers of clothing, and finally, through the streets of Hobart to end at Salamanca Square.

Now, I don't want you to think that this was just some cushy-tushy ride for grannies and neophytes. The offroading portion had its moments of terror, and I can safely say that we all came out the other side a little muddier and ruddier.

Best of all, from the end of the ride, we could look up and see the Mount Wellington up above us. We thought we deserved a reward after all the climbing we had to do to get to Hobart, and this was definitely it. All the better that the reward came from cycling.

After a week in Hobart and the surrounding area, it was time to return to the Devonport. We thought, hey, easy was pretty easy. We didn't do so badly on the way down, and we never like to ride the same road more than once. What do you say we kick it up a notch? Are we ready for Level Two: the east coast?

As it happened, we weren't.

Leaving Hobart was easy enough, if not slow, but we're used to slow by now. Slow is the nature of our trip. If we had wanted to see things quickly, we would have bought a VW bus like all the other tourists.

Mind you, I think even VW bus drivers need to get off and push when it comes to climbing Bust-Me-Gall Hill. Tasmania, you may consider my gall busted. You have won

About 75km east of Hobart, a landmark event happened: we had to actually get off and push. Every other hill so far we've encountered in all of Australia (okay, so there's not that many of them west of Townsville) has been matched metre for metre by the awesome power of the Penninger gear ratios. But a time has to come when no lube, grease or oil can save a chain attempting to turn a shark-tooth cluster capable of use as an effective martial arts weapon or wood shop cutting tool.

Mind you, I think even VW bus drivers need to get off and push when it comes to climbing Bust-Me-Gall Hill. Tasmania, you may consider my gall busted. You have won.

Although, somehow I didn't feel so bad when we arrived at the top of Bust-Me-Gall, and found out the hill had a name. I think people should be allowed to push their bikes up hills with names. Especially since the second hill we pushed up was very soon afterward. That one was called Break-Me-Neck.

So, we cut in early. At Swansea, time was getting short (I guess we can't travel the way we usually do when we have an actual departure date), so we made a decision to cut back to the Easy path before the Medium got way too medium for us to handle. Swansea was the fork in the road, since we knew between here and St. Mary's there was another hill with a name. The name was Mount Elephant Pass, and I don't know about you, but the words "Mount", and "Elephant" didn't fill me with self-confidence. Heck, even "Pass" was kind of scary.

By the way, if you manage to conquer Mount Elephant Pass, email me and let me know if the pancakes at the Mount Elephant Pancake Barn were worth the trip. I love pancakes.

As you've probably figured out by now, we never even considered trying Level Three. We didn't see the west side of Tasmania at all, and unfortunately, that's where some of the best parts of Tasmania can be found. The terrain and landscapes that really set Tassie apart from the rest of the country. Guaranteed you'll find them in the west.

But, as we've already learned many times over on this grand adventure, you have to leave something for next time. Uluru, Katherine Gorge, Monkey Mia, the Great Ocean Road. We've had to bypass all of these. And now, we've added Western Tasmania to the list.

So, next time then. Oh yes, Mr Chainbreaker, we'll be back. We'll be back one day with brand new clusters, chains, derailleurs, brakes and leases on life. We'll laugh right back at you on our way off the boat. "Hah hah!" you say? We may be limping away in defeat today, but we shall one day return, and respond with a resounding, "Hah hah, yourself!"

For as long as there are more places to go, as long as there are more things to do, and as long as there are more wiggly roads to explore, we'll be there to take up the challenge. ¶

ON A TRICYCLE BUILT FOR TWO Part 1 • Part II

For more information about their adventures visit their web site here and you can read more about their Australian travels at the Australian Cyclist web site here