Saturday morning stew51 and I decide to go for a ride I have to be back by 12 noon to got to work, stew's got a ride in his head and gives me a general outline, it's just after 9:15am when we hit the Brighton shell servo for fuel, that done we're off we take off up the Midlands highway and crank the bikes up to 110ks (more like 120 +) we are heading for melton mowbray about 37ks up the road, we gather up the cars  we come across  and before we know it we are there, we hang a lefty and head up the mountain for bothwell about 22 ks up the road, the morning fog and mist are just starting to burn off as we snake ourway up the eastern side of the hills, the bikes are humming in the fresh morning air the sun is starting to warm us up as we thunder along, bugger all traffic encountered and again we're there before we know it, so far been a good ride, we pull up in bothwell and stew points left down hollow tree road and says we'll go this way to hamilton which is about 35ks, off we go to the waving of some kids as they make their way into the football ground, the road has not that long been sealed there are no lines and it is just over two cars wide, stew opens his fat boy up so I do like wise on my fatboy it doesn't take me long to realise that this road was made with us in mind it is fucking   outstanding, long straights were you can twist the ear right off, long sweeping bends were you can crank it right over and stay there for extended periods of time beautiful cambers that just keep you on line diving down small valleys in the road and peeling back out of them at full throttle with the bike cranked so far over it was just taking my breath away, the scenery was good but totally secondary on this road we were taking the corners from the extreme right side of the road and just roaring through them with a  mostly unimpedered view of the road in front of us, then we came around a corner and the road was finished, the other most brilliant thing about this road was that for 32ks of top riding we did not come across one car in either direction, what an outbloodystanding road and ride.                                                                                                                              Next we hung a lefty and headed to new norfolk about 30ks down the road this was another quick ride and a good one as we snaked our way down along the river through gretna and rose garland as we dropped close to the river it got pretty chilly that just made me twist the ear a bit more, the ride through here was very autumly and scenic but still a quick ride, next thing we lob into new norfolk and are heading along the other side of the river towards pontville about 22ks up the road, the sun is now high in the sky and stew and I are as high as from the ride, the last 22ks are alright it's a pleasant enough last part of the morning ride, we hit the bottom part of th midlands highway and crank the bikes back up to illegal speeds, we pull in to my drive and park the bikes down by the shed it's 11:30am and we've just completed a full circle of 140+ks in just over 2 hours.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           This was by far and away one of the best rides I have been on it was fantastic. That Hollow Tree rd from Bothwell to Hamilton is something you have to experience, it is the best kept secret there is about fucking top roads to ride it may be short but is absolutely bloody brilliant.                            

OH So your riding again then. Sounds like a great ride. I am happy for you.

Great to hear you,re back on your feet , and wheels .

why is it every ride story from Tassie sounds like a winner. dam you blokes have it good down there

 I'm only Tasmanian by marriage I'm from Cairns.

lol@ chinabull! 309k's in tassy will see you go right around that place!!!! hahahahahahaha Good story Balh! always inspirational hearing it like this!.....

T1

 Hey Bahl, great story and glad to hear that you are back on the horse, betcha it has been great therapy for your recovery.  

You guys are blessed with so many great scenic roads over there.  

My wife and I spent 9 days over there on our Honeymoon, around Hobart, Cradle Mountain, & the Tamar Valley.  On our way to Cradle Mt from Hobart, we went through the Great Western Tiers up to Delloraine, and then across to Cradle Mt.  It must have been an extra 2 hrs travel time getting to Cradle Mt, but I said to the wife " we wouldn't have gotten to see such beautiful countryside, and drive such steep mountain switchbacks, if we'd gone Via Launceston".  

Unfortunately  the hire car that we were allocated was a 1.5L Hyundai Getz, damn gutless POS that was.  Definitely not suited to such steep terrain, better off left for city driving instead.

Any how we did to a cruise of the Gordon, & Franklin Rivers, and tour of Sarah Island, whilst based at Cradle Mountain, as well as a canoe tour of Dove Lake, in the St Clair National Park.

I definitely love to get back over there one day, as we have family friends living in Bridgewater, and Glengarry, so it would be a good opportunity to base ourselves out of those two towns. I'd love to be able to take the bike, but would most likely have to trailer it, as we'd have a couple rug rats by the time we ever had the chance to re-visit Tassie.

Fuck I miss them roads but not the weather

G`day all , good to hear ya up and about bahl hope the upcoming winter don`t give ya too much grief , awesome roads ya speekin of in the south , Did the GOR before getting on the boat and although i have only been once and hanging to revisit to see the places we missed and also down a few wild birds , we had 3 couples on 3 bikes and although 3 or 4 days were on and off light drizzle , had great riding weather , Day 1 we went from Devonport to Launceston , Beaconsfield across the Tamar and over to Scottsdale , stayed overnight then Day 2 across to St Helens , down to St Marys and The Elephant Pass , Bicheno , Swansea and down to Port Arthur for 2 pre booked nights , going to Hobarts Salamanca Market and Mt Wellington , Romney Hill , Bellerive Oval area , Day 5 we went from Port Arthur through Sorell , Richmond , Oatlands , Campell Town , Perth , Longford , Poatina Pass between the lakes and down to Bothwell for the night , Day 6 over to Hamilton , up to Derwent Bridge and across and down to Queenstown and to Strahan for 2 nights , Day 9 up to Burnie met and stayed with some more friends at Devonport for 2 nights and went back across to Stanley , the final day being the only total washout , we pretty much did a lap around and also a lap inland , as always more time would have been better of course , can`t wait to do it all again , great riding and all nice people too ! Got off the boat and road straight through , home to Sydney !

Yeah definitely a trip to remember for me hey , Sydney is surrounded by great runs too but gotta be early to beat the crowds , beauty of Tassie besides the scenery roads and people , is ya hardly pass another car in some areas , like where you described ?
Some of them areas will be etched in my mind as some of the best riding I have been lucky enough to experience , i can only imagin the riding to be had on trips overseas , riden all over Thailand , but Tassie is up there for me , and I reckon I still only just scratched the surface , many places I still wish to see and also like to fish too !
Hopefully get down there around the new year but no concrete plan as yet hey , will definitely let you know when I do , cheers mate

Yeah definately no need for any BS , the rides in Tassie speak for themselves and just have to be experienced to be fully appreciated !
Funny story , they sure do breed them tough in Tassie , we were riding from Bothwell over to Strahan , with a light drizzle when leaving early from the pub at Bothwell , we were all exited as the weather had cleared up nicely and we stopped for a feed at Derwent Bridge , great burgers BTW and talking enthusiastically about the next part of the ride down to Queenstown via what we heard they call the '99 Bends , awesome scenery on the way and great section of bends sorta felt like riding off the edge of the planet with Queenstown resembling a moonscape bellow , the Missus video the descent as we went (but can't seem to find the file now) , on reaching the bottom of the hill we pulled up as I had seen a drink vending machine outside of a hotel , as we grabbed a much needed drink and looked back up the mountain , a young Aussie fella possibly 10yr old riding his 3/4 BMX bike around the bikes checking them out , the Missus says Hello boy , he says Hi , I said how ya goin' mate , he says , alright , I said mad ride that one talking about the ride we just experienced , he laughs and said 'helmets are for softcocks , I said Oyyyi be nice mate no head to be cheeky , he said when its quiet my mum takes me and my mate up to the top and follows us down on our BMX's , i said what without helmets , he said Yep , I said wow now that 'is mad , he said in the Targa sometimes cars go over the edge and they just leave em there , I say really , he says yeah , I said wow , we're off to Strahan from here , how long does it take to get there usually do you know , he said my mates ol'man does it in (I'm sure he said) 38 minutes in his GTS it's a good drive , I said kool thanks mate and see ya later and off we went , he really brought us back to earth fast and after another nice section of riding , smiling as I was going thinking of the young fella saying it was a nice drive , well it was an even better ride , (I think) it was about 45 minutes later we rolled into the outskirts of Strahan , we later had a laugh amoungst ourselves at the bar , saying Gee they breed 'em tough over here , someone saying , it's a wonder our little mate didn't beat us to the bar , that kid sure was hardcore wasn't he !
Anyway it was a long weekend , so Strahan was fairly busy , but definitely a place I will be going back to for sure .