Day 47 - Bridport, Tasmania to Melbourne, Victoria - 274km

This was the 47th day of my ride around Australia and after everything I had broken jumping the bike (Forks, Handlebars, Spare Fuel Tank, Fuel Can, License Plate, Chain Guard, etc..) you'd think I would have learned my lesson. Luckily for you I'm a slow learner which keeps things entertaining. We rode North from Bridport to try and navigate an off-road trail between East Sandy Cape and West Sandy Cape and surprisingly the sand was too deep for us to get through. The hard packed road leading to it had perfectly shaped jumps in a variety of configurations. I started only doing small single jumps and the occasional tabletop but I couldn't help myself and soon I was doing bigger and bigger doubles. Nothing compared to the motocross track but pretty big for a 600 pound bike. I came up a little short on one and heard a crack. I think that was the Moto gods telling me it was enough so I avoided the bigger ones for the rest of the ride. At the end of the jumps and before the really deep sand we came along a very strange beach shack. On the side of the house there were very large filleted fish hanging from nails and dried out. Above the door was a hand painted sign that said "Bonnie Doon". (Aussies will know this one and the house did look like "The Castle") We backtracked and popped in to Launceston to do some quick electronic shopping before hiking down into Contact Gorge. On the way a Wallaby took an interest in my dad and we got some good photos of the wallaby trying to eat a piece of wood out of his hand. We took every back road we could find in the general direction of Devonport and there were fields and fields of large flowers with a skull and cross bone signs on the fences. We stopped and they were all poppy flowers that Opium, Heroin and other more legal drugs are made of. Very strange to see them out in the open and I imagine a few of the locals grab them from the fence line. Our arms were pretty tired from the seven days of straight riding and a rough 4WD track around Brushy Lagoon proved difficult in our worn out condition. We pulled down a trail to take a rest by the lagoon and a Tiger Snake was sitting right in the middle of where we needed to turn around. He went into a bush as I muscled the bike around while keeping an eye on him. (They are a very aggressive snake and known to come after you) Our last stop before boarding the ferry in Devonport was a little country town called Railton where we had our lunch. Two young guys walked in, a skinny one with bad tattoos + an awesome mullet and his chubby sidekick. I didn't understand a word they said but after ordering they sat in their truck, in the sun, windows up, engine off while drinking beer and waiting for their meal to be ready. Seeing those two completed my journey around Tasmania and we sailed back to the mainland and put the bikes into storage. While disconnecting the battery I found that I had broken the mounts off my skid plate and it was just hanging. It must have been that cracking noise on the jump. I'd like to think I've learned my lesson on jumping that bike but I know my self better than that.

Overall Tasmania had an amazing variety of trails and landscapes and is hands down the best place I've ridden on this trip. Anyone looking for a good week of riding should go to Tasmania and just explore. It was great to spend a week with my dad and I hope I have paid him back partially for all the motorcycle trips he took me on as I was growing up. Now time to plan the next ride!