January 17th - 18th

Bicheno - Swansea - Triabunna

I departed from Bicheno where I had camped at the side of a cricket oval after the mix up with the drunken fisherman and his wife and headed south towards Coles Bay. I was going to take a 25km side road off the Tasman Highway but this was the only road to take if I wanted to get to see Wineglass Bay.

I had an excellent tailwind and shot past four cyclists who had appeared on the horizon like they were standing still. I rolled wind assisted into Coles Bay and bought a day pass to the national park so I could leave my bike and take a hike up to the vista point and in to the walking range known as the hazards. The path up wasn't to bad but I do find continuous walking uphill really hard on my knees. This is perhaps a strange comment seeing that riding 60 miles is now considered quite normal. The view at the top was breathtaking. It put me in mind of a scene out of Peter Pan where you see the shape of the bay as Wendy and the boys fly with Peter.
If Tasmania is a possibility for anyone for a trip then I highly recommend this and many of the other walks from Coles Bay.

To get to Swansea would mean riding back the 25km to the junction where the road meets with the Tasman Highway. The tailwind that had been such a help of course was now a killer headwind, as strong as any I have come up against. Along the road back I knew there were a couple of free campsites that I could use if required but I knew if I could get to the junction that I could then use the wind to push me south and make Swansea. The wind was proving to difficult to continue in so for the last couple of miles before the free sites I decided to stick my thumb out and see if I could score a ride. I have hitched before but never on the continent that gave us Ivan Milat. Just to prove how different Australia is from the UK, I got a lift within 4 cars going past. Also just to prove you can not always take people on first glance this guy that pulled over, if stood in a line up of people to hitch with would have been the last one I would have chosen. Of course once he pulled over I couldn't very well say, sorry, I don't like the look of you! He turned out to be a really pleasant guy who took me about 5km further than he was actually going. I used the wind, made Swansea and pitched once again at the side of a cricket pitch with my own private bathroom, bench and Bbq.
The 3 B's, I'm easily pleased......