The Tarkine, finally a day without rain.
I left my Hotel in Smithon around 9 am, the sun was shining for a change, but the temperature was very cool, you do not feel it before riding, but once on the bike it feel very cold, I am wearing several layers, but the hands get numb, the Winter I think is rapidly approaching Tasmania, I was able to program my phone-GPS using the app Sygic to drive the loop of the Tarkine, but even doing this it seemed confusing, there are so many small roads, paved and unpaved and the GPS started requiring extra energy from the battery displaying a message warning me that the device could not be supported, I changed the connection from the bike to an extra battery I had with me exactly for this eventuality and finally I could get my bearings, trust the GPS and drive the loop of the Tarkine that I wanted.
The Tarkine is the main forest in Tasmania, it consists of rain forest and pine forests, according to the signs a total of 170,000 hectares which are intensely logged with an agressive program of replantation to make it durable forever. The roads that one follows are all logging roads, narrow, wet, not always well maintaned, for the first time I encountered a lot of large potholes.
I found one tree obstructing my path, no animals even when all these roads have a 50 km/hr speed limit in order to protect the drivers but mainly the Tasmanian devils that inhabit the area and are listed as endangered. I would not like to drive these roads at night due to the lack of signals, reflective lines, nocturnal animals, traffic hazards, etc.
And it was cold, the sun does not penetrate the vegetation canopy and everything is very humid due to the recent rains, as soon as there was a little bit of sun , the pavement would start vaporizing further difficulting the visualization of the road, and there were many logging trailers, therefore you are constantly warned to watch out for them, as they are big, wide, they drive fast in these narrow roads and most of the time are invading my side, there were a few cars from tourists and only 2 or 3 mobile homes.
There are many narrow bridges that only allow space for one vehicle, specially over the Julius, the Rapid and the Arthur rivers.
After exiting the Tarkine, I was directed toward Burnie my final destination for the day, touching a couple of nice way points before, one of them is the coastal town of Port Stanley with a large rocky promontory called The Nut, apparently it used to be a volcano, the town has a beautiful bay, his houses and buildings are very pleasant to see, there are good hotels and restaurants in the main street, and driving toward the Nut you can find several historic markers related to the convicts that were allocated to the area to work in the private farms and bussinesses.
Stanley has a large fishing fleet specialized in Abalone, when I saw that advertised in the menu of one of the sea food restaurants, I immediately requested that delicacy for my lunch, my surprise was to see many tiny abalones in my plate the size of a small coin, they were tasty, and I inquired about getting an adult one and was informed that even when Stanley is the biggest provider of Abalone maybe in the whole world, all the big ones fished from the wild are exported to the big cities of Australia, and here in the coastal restaurants you can only get mini babies raised in a farm!!!!
I complimented my lunch with a prawn cocktail and with a Hot Chocolate with a slice of chocolate and pomegranate cake covered with coconut. My waistline is increasing!
The next town is Wynyard with an old historic lighthouse, nice beaches, and soon Burnie appears; the size of the towns is increasing comparing with the ones in the West.
I am staying at the Beach Motel, $135 AUS and it is an old establishment with a Bistro and a small casino with slot machines, it seems comfortable. After today I have three more days in Tasmania, I will decide which towns in the North and Center are interesting to see, and I am very close to Devonport where I will take the Ferry back to Melbourne.
Victor
Rain forest in the Tarkine
Pine forest in the Tarkine
The Tarkine loop
Cold and wet in a lookout
The tree of the day to keep you aware!!!
The Nut in Port Stanley
Only baby abalone farm raised for the locals!
onvicts barracks, circa 1836
Historic lighthouse near Wynyard
The Beach Motel in Burnie
Cargo ship in Burnie
View of Burnie beaches
Baby abalone farm raised!!!!
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