Montag, 20. Februar 2017 | Laurens Corijn / Anthony Fairweather | Pazifik
It's our last day on tour as we head inland and onto the small country roads of rural Victoria. Endless fields of golden brown grass are dotted with salt lakes and interspersed with farming communities as we make our way towards Ballarat. This bustling town is famous as the birthplace of Australian democracy and boasts a fantastic public art gallery that makes for an excellent break from riding. From here it's just a short hour's ride towards our final stop in Melton, where we return our bikes and bring our fantastic adventure in Down Under to an end.
Back on the mainland we had some great breakfast in Melbourne, then set off to Geelong for the start of the Great Ocean Road, one of Australia's most famous roads. There were a lot of great sights and curves. Since it's very busy on this road, so everybody was free to explore themselves and head to the hotel by themselves. There's just too much to see if you want to stop at every sight!
Our last day in Tassie was spent with some of the best roads yet; amazing twisties and views while heading to Scottsdale! We then continued to the coast and had lunch in Bridport, at a very empty and nice beach. Finally we got to the ferry well in time, and set off over the Bass Strait for Melbourne next morning.
It's another sunny day in Tasmania as we leave Hobart's traffic behind and head north along the Great Eastern Drive. The road is full of fantastic sweepers as we make our way to Tasmanias East Coast and an excellent lunch of oysters and pizza by the sea. The tight twists and turns of Elephant Pass help us burn off some of the calories before we take the final stretch into Launceston, our stop for the night.
Tasmania is the state of Australia with the richest convict history. No other site represents that more than historic Port Arthur, where visitors can walk among the ruins of the old prison and read about the stories of convicts and their guards 150 years ago. Oh and the riding there and back was pretty fantastic too, one of our best days so far!
We rode out of the mountains to Hobart, the capital of Tasmania. There we shook the last of the grey weather and were welcomed in the city on the last day of the Royal Regatta.
After a relaxing night on the ferry we set foot in Tasmania at the harbour of Devonport. After breakfast at an old rectory we head out towards our first highlight of the day, Cradle Mountain National Park. The landscape changes constantly, from rolling farmlands to rainforest and to high alpine plains, all with in a few square miles. A short ride up to the shores of Dove Lake and we feel transported to Scottish Highlands. Along the way we stop for at a Wildlife Sanctuary to visit some of Tasmanias iconic inhabitants. From here we head southwest towards the remote western coast of Tasmania before finally reaching the old mining settlement of Queenstown, our stop for the night.
We wake to clear blue skies and set out on the longest day of the tour, 450km along the south coast of Australia. Our first stop is at St. Mary's Church in Bairnsdale to take a look at the famous murals painted just over a century ago, before heading of to Port Albert for a fantastic seafood lunch. We ride through gently rolling farmlands and finally arrive in Melbourne and bord our overnight ferry for Tasmania!
Day three was a bit longer again, we made our way to the second state of the tour, Victoria. The day started cloudy, which lead to a nice temperature, and eventually warmed up considerably when we headed inland through Buchan and down to Lakes Entrance.
Our second day was blessed with much, much better weather. We had sunshine and blue skies all day long, while ridng along some of the nicest coastline NSW has to offer. Heading inland temperatures even hit 37 degrees Celsius! Our day went by leisurely, leaving us with plenty of time to see the sights and to have a swim in the ocean at the beautiful Boydtown Seahorse Inn. Life is good here in Australia!
Australia is a country full of surprises, one of which is the rain and wind as we make our way through Sydney Morning traffic and onto the twists and turns of Royal National Park. Our route hugs the coast as we head south on Princes Highway towards the small town of Kiama, home of the famous blowhole and our lunch stop. The menthol scent of the eucalyptus trees welcomes us on our last leg of the to Batemans Bay, our stop for the night.