The Boss and I had been discussing some trips we could do, combining a bit of riding, doing some Island Dreaming and making use of our Freedom Machine. A short trip we thought might be fun would be to do a bike/drive relay to Southport one day, have a hike day two, then ride/drive back on day three. On Monday evening, after having a look at the forecast Di said, "What about going to Southport tomorrow?" "Okay," says I, and we started packing.
Day One: Cycling Relay ~ Hobart to Southport
I asked Di whether she wanted to ride or drive first up. She said she wanted to ride down past Dover through to Southport, which meant that I got the first cycling leg. We decided that the best spot for the changeover would be the lovely town of Franklin. Here's a screenshot showing the route and its cross-section ...
Home to Franklin
... and a few photos I took along the way ...
Apples ripening in the Huon Valley
St Cuthbert's Church in Ranelagh
Huon River at Huonville
Boats at rest south of Franklin
Passing the baton to Batten
My turn to drive
Di's ride was just a bit longer than mine, but with slightly less elevation gain. Here's her route ...
Di's ride from Frankin to Southport
Along the way Di took this great snap of Adamsons Peak as she was leaving Dover ...
Adamson's Peak
... and this lovely snap of a clutch of boats tucked into a very quiet spot near Esperance ...
A quiet corner
While Di was nearing Southport I set up at the the camper on an unpowered site at the caravan park, and when she arrived we locked the bike's under the bed ...
Home sweet camper
We had a quiet afternoon drinking beer and reading. Then it was dinner and early to bed ... always early to bed in the camper!
Day Two: Walk to Lion Rock with a side trip to the Whale
The first thing to do was drive to Cockle Creek, where the South Coast Track finishes and the return journey to South Cape Bay begins. The latter is one of the 60 Great Short Walks of Tasmania and has, justifiably, become very popular. (BTW, the list of walks with directions, maps, etc is now available as an App from iTunes.) Here's what the route to Cockle Creek from Southport looks like ...
Southport to Cockle Creek
South Cape, that narrow bit of land jutting out into the sea at the bottom of the map, is the southernmost point on the Tasmanian mainland.
From Cockle Creek it is about 7 ½ kilometres to Coal Bluff, which overlooks South Cape Bay, and about another kilometre along the beach to the campsite at the other end and Lion Rock. This little corner of paradise is a popular destination for intrepid Tasmanian surfers who like their adventures away from the madding crowds at more popular beaches. there were four young lads with their tents tucked in behind the dunes at the other end of the beach when Di and I arrived and sat down to have our lunch.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's a look at the route into South Cape Bay ...
Cockle Creek to South Cape Bay
Unfortunately, as you can see from the satellite image, there is a fair bit of clear-fell logging taking place right on the edge of the World Heritage Area. We - well mostly Di - took a few photos along the track ...
A Trio of Currawongs in a dead tree at the mouth of Cockle Creek
The sign for the track is a little way into the bush ...
It's this way ...
Initially the track is through mixed regrowth forest, but then gets into buttongrass and low scrub, where duckboards help keep one's feet dry when there has been a bit of rain about ...
As the coast gets closer, the soil becomes sandier and you get into some forest, with a couple of creek crossings ...
When we arrived at Coal Bluff, where the track bursts out of the forest and the ocean becomes visible, there was a group enjoying an early lunch ...
South Cape Bay
It was fairly overcast and across the bay Lion Rock looked somewhat menacing ...
Looking across to Lion Rock
... but almost immediately the sun came out and cheered things up. The waves breaking over the rocks below the bluff made for a pretty scene ...
South Cape Bay with Southwest Cape in the distance
... and Lion Rock itself became much more benign ...
That's better!
We walked along the beach to the other end where the rivulet comes out and enjoyed the view back towards the bluff ...
Looking back to Coal Bluff
... and had a closer look at Lion Rock ...
Lion Rock
Apart from the four surfers who bobbed up out of their campsite to say hello, we had this end of the beach all to ourselves. it was a pretty pristine and peaceful scene ...
There was a mysterious old piece of machinery lying in the sand that we hadn't seen on previous visits ...
What can it be?
After lunch we headed back to the base of the bluff where Di took a couple of photos of isolated bits of vegetation growing in cracks ...
Up the new, sturdy rock steps (which have replaced the rickety ladders) we went and back along to the start of the track.
Not quite fully done in, we thought it might be good to walk the kilometre or so along to the whaling memorial. Just a little way along the road there is a huge old flywheel which was used in the sawmill that once operated on the spot ...
A reminder of the early logging days at Southport
The purpose of the flywheel was to generate enough force to allow the saw blade to cut through the dense timber of the mighty Swamp Gums that once covered the landscape around Southport.
The site for the whaling memorial is quite picturesque and I really wished I had a good camera with me to better capture the scenery. Here is a view looking over to Adamsons Peak, which looks very different from this angle ...
Adamsons Peak in the distance
Swinging one's view slightly south and westwards, one can see the wonderful Pindars Peak and the Coxcomb Ridge on Mount LaPerouse ...
Pindars Peak
The whale sculpture is quite lovely ...
Once, this spot teemed with whales ...
... and I couldn't resist taking this close-up of its eye, barnacled eyebrow and all ...
Take a closer look
According to Di, by the time we got back to the car we'd walked 19.5 kilometres in a touch over 3 ¾ hours so we thought we'd probably earned a rest, a beer and an afternoon snack.
Day Three: Cycling Relay ~ Home to Hobart
It was my turn to take the baton. With a fair bit of wind overnight the canvas on the camper was good and dry so pack up happened nice and quickly. I had about 55 kilometres ahead of me, which I was quite looking forward to as I hadn't ridden the stretch of road from Southport north to Dover for perhaps 20 years. Unfortunately the wind had swung around to the north, meaning I was going to have to ride into it for the whole distance to Franklin. With cool temperatures, shade on the road and a climb of about 4 kilometres - albeit at a relatively benign gradient - to start with I felt it hard to hit my rhythm. Here's a look at the route ...
Southport to Dover
At least there wasn't much traffic on the road and the last part of the ride was relatively level. With the headwind I didn't feel much like stopping for photos but wanted to get a snap of this old Combie Van at the bodyworks on the southern edge of Geeveston ...
By the time I got to Franklin Di had her bike off the back of the camper. She wasn't quite ready to go so I continued up the road for a bit before looping back ...
Along the Franklin waterfront
With the biennial Australian Wooden Boat Festival - purportedly the largest wooden boat festival in the Southern Hemisphere - happening in Hobart over the past weekend and the Wooden Boat Centre located in Franklin, the town was quite busy both on both days we went through. Di was ready to go when I got back to her so I rode north about a kilometre with her to see her off then doubled back to the car again.
There has been an upsurge of apple growing in the Huon Valley and through to Cygnet, partly in response to the opening of of Asian markets and partly due to a growing appreciation of apple cider. A number of boutique cider producers have sprung up, including Frank's Cider in Franklin ...
Free Tastings!
At 45 kilometres, Di's ride home from Franklin was the shortest of our tour but the hardest as it had the most elevation gain. Here's what it looks like ...
Di's ride home
She was pretty happy by the time she got home, partly because she set a number of personal records, including some demon descending on the tight bends of Strickland Avenue ... and partly because I'd managed to park the camper on the shed (more difficult than usual because of a car awkwardly parked on the street) and get everything in from the car by the time she'd arrived.
And of cockatoos and kangaroos? Well, sadly the only marsupials we saw were dead on the road, particularly a proliferation of potoroos on the drive from Southport to Cockle Creek. On the other hand we were in a part of the state where Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos abound, and heard lots of them calling around our camp in Southport and on our walk to South Cape Bay. And as I was leaving Southport a couple of them landed in a tree beside the road to farewell me.
