Taking the sportster over to Tassie in early march for a week,have heard u r not allowed to tie yur bike on the spirit of Tasmania you have to let there staff do it is this correct,I have always tied my own bike before when travelling to the Uk and around Europe,hope they are carefully and aware of not scratching the tank etc.

Yep they tie your bike down. You can stay and watch them. And they are very good at what they do. I went over on the boat a couple of years ago and they uses soft straps off the bars with the bike on the side stand.. One advantage of on the bike is you are first on and first off.

 Sound good thanks lads

there good at what there doing no marks or scratches on mine

I've been over a few times, I have never had a problem with the bike being tied down, the staff have always been efficient and quick. The only problem is the engine fumes when you're getting off the boat. They always say "don't start your engines until we tell you to" but it doesn't stop a lot of people and sometimes the deck is so full of fumes that my eyes sting, I'm coughing and getting a head ache. I don't get the "idle the engine for 10 minutes" thing...

 Know what u r talking about Geoff they used to do the same on the boat over to the Isle of Man tt

Although i have heard the odd story or over reaction , i found it well organised , they did it in front of everyone with no real fuss or damage of any sort , done in 5 seconds while on the stand , 2 tie down straps , 1 either side from the bars to the deck only , don`t forget if ya ride a late model bike to put it`s security system into transport mode , it deactivates itself on the very next ignition cycle automagically (see ya manual) , if anything ya should be more worried about ya chrome spot rusting lightly , be sure to give it all a real good rinsing scrub all over and polish when ya get home and all will be sweet hey !
Take ya time , enjoy it and have a great , safe trip ya lucky bugga !
Beware of Tigers , Devils , Ghosts , Snakes and Drop Bears hey ?

Last time I went they used a single strap over the seat and bike was on side stand. It was suggested we take a bit of cloth to protect the seat. Would have thought that if bike was tied by the bars while on the side stand the rear wheel would easily let go. But lots of guys take bikes over and never hear off mishaps.

 Cheers for the info lads

Don`t know about that Burnzi , maybe they had complaints about marking the seats , out of at least 50 bikes i didn`t see one strapped by the seat both ways , we had a smooth trip down but a `rough as it gets trip back , either way the bike stayed put hey , same couldn`t be said for my missus guts though , it was rocking so hard ya couldn`t eat dinner or go out one side of the boat , luckily i went to the band room at the arse end of the boat and had a few Turkeys and passed out when i hit the sack , woke up seeing land and thought well that wasn`t so bad concidering , almost everyone else we were with went up front to see a movie and paid for it dearly !
Road home @900km straight through to Sydney in gail force winds and torential rain most of the way until Yass in Jan 2011 when everywhere was getting smashed by the floods , of the 13 days we only had 6 days of light on/off drizzle , the day we arrived home Tassie started flooding also , so pretty lucky to have mostly good weather while down there i guess , did over 2500kms in Tassie itself , had an absolute ball and can`t wait to get back down there , could spend a month or so there for sure !

I dont even wait to watch, just leave it to them. Never had a drama. Been over and back at least a dozen times.

 Will do,do the wallabies come out in daylight ?

Early in the mornings and later in the afternoons it can be wildlife central man and usually cool enough that a wallaby encounter is possible at anytime of day , though mostly between sundown and sun up !
I could be wrong but ya could get snow there in some places in march too and by memory it`s 90km speed limit most roads exept city streets or motorway limits , great place for cruisin` anyway hey , can smell the ocean , mountains , forest , poppy , lavender and roadkill in the air ?