More pictures - St. Marys to Launceston

Def. click and enlarge to see this bike. It is a tandem recumbent TRIKE with 2 front wheels, one back wheel, and then a 2 wheeled trailer. Pulled by a 60 year old couple. Those are solar panels on the top... you know... to charge the li/ion battery to power the 'asistance' motor. They said it was just for big hills. Mmmm hum...

Lilly Dale Waterfalls. We were camped out just a 5 minute walk from these falls in the forest. Really peaceful.

Blueberry pickin! It was $4.50/kg if you picked your own. So we did. We picked and ate berries for way too long. mmm. Man was that good. I finished my sack of berries today. For the metric + aussie conversion... just think for $3 US Dollars, we got a shoe box full of organic berries.

Tara climbing to the top of a HUGE hill. Photo doesn't do it justice. I wish you could see our faces after that one. Phew.

(above) Riding into the start of the Tasman Rainforest 2 days after we left Sam's house in St. Mary's. As promised by the name, it was raining quite a bit. My feet kept slipping out of the pedel straps and then I'd have to get off the bike and re-strap in and ... ugh. Rainy hilly beautiful all at once.

(below)looking preeetty gay in this shot. Tara tells me that maybe it is the flaming helicopter jersey and the way I am standing. I would have to agree.

Sam's house on a very very misty day. The properity overlooks the Tasman Sea and is at the absolute peak of a mount. THats buddy the dog there.

At the top of some massive "hill" that came out of no where. Phew. That background water is about 20km away-- the beach that we crashed at the night before.

Annnd, again- another hill rocked. I think that we are about 30km south of St. Helens here, if you want to google that one.

The beach ... somewhere?

So the last week has been one of lavish solar living at Sam's house, but sadly we must leave and cycle on. From St. Mary's we are going north to an area called "Bay of Fires" - named for when the settlers came and saw dozens of fires lit by the aboriginals. We'll spend a couple of days there, then cycle south west to the only other "city" in Tas, called Launceston. From there we will haul it to Cradle Mt. National park for a few days, and ... thats as far as we have planned for now. I'll put up some beautiful pictures of Sams house later on. So much work is being done that I havn't had an opportunity to get a shot without painters and plumbers everywhere. Miss everyone dearly

-g

ps. In other news, I think I am going to move to Melbourne in late March to try and work a couple jobs at a time in the city and make some actual money. Sadly, Byron just doesn't have the hours I will need to save up for Thailand. woohoo thailand!

coles bay, about 10 feet from our camp site

Swansea - camping on the beach. We were here for 2 days.

View from in the tent in swansea- about 6am

pictures

OH MAN. Tasmania is a wonderland of beauty and untouched beaches, forests and fields. Tara and I have camped out at countless beaches and national parks that hug the east coast. Watching the sun rise from your tent on the Tasman Sea sure beats the hell out of ... whatever else I would be doing right now. (Working and not being painfully strapped for cash for instance?)

My camera battery just died. GREAT. I am in St. Mary's now at a friend's house, so I will have the opportunity to get back online later this week to post up pictures and a couple videos I hope. This will have to serve as a "Im alive" post for now.

Day 6 of Tasmania

I wish I had more time to write, but it is $2.50/15 minutes in this small town of Swansea (on the east coast, half way up). This journey has already been the most physc. exhausting event of my life. I've been doing about 60km a day, which is not quite the 80-90 I had planned on, but I would say that about 75% of the tour each day is mountains. It's unbeliveable and pristine here. Wow. The second day of riding had 4 'hills' each one avg'ing an elevation of about 350meters. UGH. The down hill makes it all worth it though. Tomorrow we cycle to Cole's Bay. One of the most visited places on the East Coast I hear. It is 100km out of our way, (flat though I hear) so it better be nice. I LOVE THIS! I LOVE BIKES!

Day One in Tas: SUCCESS!

So Tara and I landed in Hobart, Tasmania in one piece. A cruisey 18km ride took us into the city center, and where we found all sorts of old town culture. Reminds me of Charolettesville a bit actually. Very old, but with a modern twist. There is a wooden boat festival the whole town is preparing for starting the day that we head outta town. Figures.

We found a fruit stand with fresh apricots and rasberrys. That was breakfast this morning.

Last night and tonight my home has been the rocky river's edge of whatever river feeds into the Tasman Sea. The sun rose over giant green pointy mounts and woke me up at about 6:45 this morning. Good though, nice to get the day started. It is about 90 degrees now at 4pm, and will dip to about 40 tonight. BRR. I jsut got camera batteries today, so picts are soon to come. I'm alive. Getting up a 6 tomrorow to start on a 6 hour trek to Maria Island. SEE YA!


FROM AN EMAIL I WROTE:
"I am leaving for Tasmania to cycle all the way around over the next 5 1/2 weeks. I have a cabin lined up that a friend owns-- he said we can stay there for a week or so for free. Saaweett. The cabin is 100% off the grid, solar and wind powered. Vege patch plopped down the 100 acre lot over looking the Tasman Sea, whole cabin build from reused and reclaimed materials.

I am starting out in Hobart with my bike, and cycling 120 miles or so to get to Wine Glass Bay (see pictures) then touring up the east coast to see some of the most remote untouched natural land left in the world. Or so "they" say. Going to stop off up North of Tasmania around week 4 and do some blueberry picking for $18/hr for 3 days to re-up my funds, then head straight south with the wind at my back hopefully to Cradle Mountain (Pics again). There you can drink water straight out of the glacier lake. The aboriginals believed that the lake is sacred b/c of the arctic winds that blow over that deposit special healing minerals into the water--- or something like that :)

All together, I think I am looking at clocking in about 1100 miles on my bike @ about 5-6 hours a day riding. Phew. I will be stopping off for picture breaks about every twenty minutes though I am sure. That and lots of energy bars, rice, water, and ... whatever else I can carry with me to eat. Avocados are like a dime a dozen down here, so they have become a staple part of my veg diet. Frozen bocca burger type food doesn't really exist here, so I have found myself eating a much healthier (less processed) raw diet. Mmm.

Elon Alum. Magazine wants to write an article about me and my trip through Tasmania, so keep your eyes out for that. Of course I will forward it to everyone the second I get it though. "