Itinerary
Towns listed below that have distances marked ( ) are those where food/drink is expected/known and those marked [ ] are points of interest

I flew from Sydney to Launceston, although it is also possible to travel in to Devonport on the Spirit of Tasmania across Bass Strait from Melbourne.  Check for details on the Links page.

I planned this to be a short riding day, as I had a very early start to get to my flight from Sydney.  I could have extended the day, but by the time that I had reached Hadspen, I was quite tired.  The nearest caravan park enroute is at Deloraine, and, although that part of the trip was relatively flat, I think that fatigue would have spoilt that part of the trip.

As it is now illegal to take chain lubricant (inflammable) on to planes, I had to ride via Launceston to buy some lube.  Remember to bring a screw top lube bottle to decant your locally bought product - read Tips page.  After Launceston, the next bike shop was at Burnie.

Hadspen is a small dormitory suburb and the only supermarket is small and next to the caravan park.  Launceston Caravan Park is on the corner of the old Bass Highway & Main St, Hadspen on E side of town.

This was an enjoyable day's ride.  Sheffield is the last town where you will be able to obtain a reasonable variety of supplies until you reach Burnie.  While you can obtain takeaways at Cradle Mountain and Waratah, the stores only carry a small range of provisions.  There is very little at Gowrie Park.  During the construction stages of the hydro scheme on the Forth River, it had been a large town where thousands of workers lined up to collect their pay at what is now the caravan park.

My original plan had been to camp at the caravan park in Sheffield, however, it had been closed for some time - even though it is still shown in all of their current tourist information.  The very helpful staff at Sheffield visitor centre find this repeated error to be quite annoying and were very apologetic.  They then directed me on to the caravan park at Gowrie Park.  Gowrie Park has a fully functional kitchen and dining facilities, as well as dormitory accommodation.  Check at Sheffield whether Gowrie Park is still operating.  When I was there, it was for sale.  Should the need arise, there is a park a few kms before Gowrie Park that has only toilet facilities and seemed to be well maintained for campers. 

The ride on this section of the tour, is by far the hardest of the whole trip.  5 kms from Gowrie Park the road descends for about 4 kms to cross the Forth River.  Then begins the most memorable and serious climb of the trip with a gradient of over 10% for a tough 4 kms climb up Gentle Annie - most of which I walked - in some places stopping every 50 - 100 metres or so to rest, and there was nothing at all "gentle" about it.  I was quite relieved to reach the end of the serious climbing a few kms past Moina.

By the time I reached my overnight stop at Cosy Cabins/Cradle Mountain Tourist Park - 3k from visitor information centre at Pencil Pines - I was quite weary.  The park had great camp kitchens, as well as a small kiosk with limited food and takeaways.  Across the road, it was possible to obtain a greater variety of takeaways and catch the regular 10-15 minute bus service to the drop off point at the Visitors Centre and further on to Dove Lake.  From there you can view Cradle Mountain, do the overland trek or just a walk of a few kms around the lake.  The visitor information centre has some interesting history of the area.  As this is alpine country, be prepared for sudden changes in the weather.

Another great day's riding through highland country, with clear felled pine forests mixed in among stands of pines, as well as through open farmlands and bush.

Waratah is an interesting small former mining town with a pub, general store/fuel/takeaways, and a few other businesses.  We spent a few hours at a local woodchopping competition that just happened to be on while we were there.  We wandered around the spread-out town and saw some interesting historical and geographical features before having a good evening meal at the pub.

We camped at Waratah Camping Ground - behind Council Office/Licensed Post Office which is open Monday to Friday 9-5. After hours a key for the amenities can be collected from the Waratah Roadhouse.

The road towards Burnie is one of the better ones for width, traffic volume and views.  Remember to look back at where you have come from.  The roadhouse at Highclere serves takeaways and has table service, while Ridgley is a town with a range of services.

We stayed at Burnie Holiday Caravan Park - 253 Bass Hwy, Cooee.  It was a short walk to a small supermarket, or it was possible to catch a bus in to Burnie at the bus stop across the road from the camping area.  There was a wide variety of accommodation available in the area.  The bus trip in to Burnie is worthwhile to have a wander around the town.

To pass through Burnie, it is best to travel as close as possible to the port area.  The freeway is not bike friendly where it traverses the city.  We took the coast road through Penguin and Ulverstone.  It was scenic and the traffic was not of concern.

Port Sorell had a good sized supermarket, about 1 km west of the camping area, as well as a bakery and pub.  We stayed at Port Sorell Lions Caravan Park in Meredith St.  During school holiday periods and long weekends, this is a popular location, so if travelling then, it may be wise to check beforehand.

On this trip, one of my fellow travellers spent a few hours wandering around the Beaconsfield mining museum.  It was particularly relevant at the time as it had been less than a year previously that the 2 miners had been rescued from the mine collapse that took the life of one of their companions.

Beauty Point is a sleepy town overlooking the Tamar River.  It has motels, a supermarket, a few pubs, and caravan park, etc.  Buy your supplies from the supermarket on the way to the camp site.  We stayed at Redbill Caravan Park on West Arm Rd - 1 km N of PO.  It was a nice park and only a short walk to the nearest pub meal.

I found the traffic on this section to be fast and the least considerate/safe of my whole trip.  It was a problem only between Batman Bridge and Mount Direction.

After riding 31 kms it is necessary to turn left at Mount Direction to leave the Tamar Highway.  At 33 kms take the first turn to the right after passing under a railway bridge.  This particular road was not signposted.  From there, you will pass through agricultural land until Lilydale.  Lilydale is a larger town with most facilities.

We camped at Lilydale Falls camping area 2.6kms N of PO.   It is necessary to collect a key for showers from Lilydale Newsagent and Takeaway.  However, if you only require toilets, no key is required.  There is also a substantial deposit on the key.  Drinking water at the Falls may be in short supply, and what is there may need to be boiled before drinking, so ask about it when collecting the key.  The camping area has sheltered cooking areas in a great bushland setting.

I was pleased to arrive at Scottsdale's excellent bakery to refuel with coffee and cake after some of the climbs of the morning.  The road to Bridport was a bit of a downhill run after some of the ups and downs to Scottsdale.

Bridport is a popular seaside fishing town with most facilities.  If travelling during holiday periods, it would be wise to book beforehand.  The Bridport Caravan Park follows the beach along Bentley St, and is handy to shops, pub, etc.  Mosquitoes were large and hungry at the time that I was there. 

The relatively flat ride to Gladstone looks to be an easy cruise through farming communities, and it was until I hit the gravel at about 43 kms.  Then it was about 13 kms of very rough gravel road.  Having said that, I was told that there is a new tourist resort planned to the east of Gladstone, and the locals were expecting that this road would be upgraded to cater for its guests and its construction.

Gladstone is a small village with a pub, store/roadhouse and an old school that has been converted for accommodation with cabins and a caravan park in the old school grounds.  Keys to the amenities there are available from the general store/roadhouse.  It had a camp kitchen.  The pub was quite pleasant and warranted a visit, even if only to wash down the dust from the road.

The profile for this ride looked like it would be a hard slog, but it was a great day's ride through rainforest and open farmlands.  The climb up to Weldborough was quite enjoyable.  I arrived there only to find that the pub would not open for another hour - at 11 am - so I continued on.  About a km or so from the top of the range, I was immersed in low cloud with very fine rain droplets making it difficult to see through my specs, and substantially reduced visibility for everyone.  Fortunately, there was very little traffic, and I was able to descend to Pyengana for lunch at the friendly roadhouse before the cloud cleared, only to be replaced by some light drizzle.

St Helens is a larger rural town with all facilities, although the bike shop was a general sports store and was very basic in its bike bits.  I stayed at St Helens Caravan Park - 2 Penelope St - 1.5kms S of PO.  I thought that the Park was expensive, but it was clean.  There are a number of other camping options in the area that may be considered.  Ask at the visitor information centre.  Buy your supplies before you leave the town to save some long walks.

The road to Bicheno was a lot of up and downs.  The "grey nomads" in their motorhomes were in convoy by the time I pulled over to the roadside for a morning tea stop.

Bicheno is a nice seaside fishing village with most facilities.  The Bicheno East Coast Holiday Park is at 4 Champ St -  only 300m W of PO and close by everything.  It had a camp kitchen with a communal fridge.  I spent a couple of days there - it was just a pleasant place to stay and the gale force winds of the time made cycling an unwise proposition!

This was my second trip to this part of Tasmania, and again through circumstances, I was unable to get to Coles Bay.  It is an additional 12 kms to the day's ride, but I had to arrange with the ferryman at Swanwick to get me across to Point Bagot before the wind got too strong to prevent him from doing so.  It is necessary to phone him on (03) 6257-0239 a day or so before you plan to be there, so that he can schedule your trip in his 10ft tinnie.  At the time I arrived, he had about 5 cyclists going west across the 200-300m stretch of water, and another 6 or so coming the opposite way.

Swansea is a reasonable sized town with the local caravan park at the northern end of town.  The Swansea Holiday Park is in Shaw St - 500m N of PO.  It had a camp kitchen.  A wander through the main street of the town is worthwhile, and will fill in an hour.  At the time that I was in Swansea, it was in drought and the camping area had signs recommending that you boil the water before drinking it.  I did that, and it was vile.  Unless things change when you travel there, I'd strongly suggest that you buy bottled water to drink and to carry in your bidons for the next day's ride.

This was another great day's climb up the range to Campbell Town.  The road was not too busy and its continual climb was generally at a comfortable gradient.

Campbell Town is one of the historic towns in the midlands and it is worthwhile having an extended wander around its historic places.  It was interesting reading some of the details of its pioneers that adorn the bricks along the town's footpath.  I stayed in the motel adjoining one of the pubs in the town, and I had an excellent meal in its dining room.  "Camps Australia 4" lists other places in the area to camp, but I wanted to be able to use a shower.

This route avoids much of the Midland Highway between Conara and Launceston.  There is a short section of good gravel through scenic sheep farming areas.  Evandale is an historic village that brings its history back to life at the annual PennyFarthing Festival.  Spend some time there and savour the atmosphere of this sleepy village.

At about 60 kms, you will pass the Launceston Airport.  You may arrange to fly out on this day rather than spending the night in Launceston.  I dropped in on my way past to ensure that they would have bike boxes for my flight the next day.  I guaranteed mine by buying one then so that it was definitely there for my flight.

I then continued down the hill in to Launceston where I stayed at Launceston Backpackers, 103 Canning St, Launceston.  There is a caravan park at Glen Dhu, on the southern side of the city, however, I chose the backpackers because I did not want to be packing a wet tent or gear for my trip home.

If time permits, it is worthwhile spending an extra day in Launceston to have a look around, particularly at Cataract Gorge.

Heading south or west from Launceston seems to include a climb of a few hundred metres.  With this in mind, I left before the heat of day to get up to the airport with the minimum amount of perspiration in consideration of my fellow passengers, as there are no passenger shower facilities at the airport.  Boxing the bike was no drama, and the airline staff were quite helpful with it.

If you came in via the Spirit of Tasmania, it will be necessary for you to get back to Devonport for your return journey.