Deane & Jack's Motorcycle Trip in
Australia and New Zealand
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Deane & Jack's Motorcycle Trip in Australia and New Zealand |
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March 27 - Queenstown to Port Arthur, Tasmania 404 km (250 Miles) |
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Today's ride started out in the mountain mining town of Queenstown, with the temperature at about 43 degrees F, so a little cold. We dressed appropriately, with several layers of riding clothes. Not long into our route we ran into heavy fog in the mountains. It was really cold, about 40 degrees F, but with the moisture of the fog. We both had very cold fingers and toes by the time we rode out of the fog. We're finding that Tasmania is very mountainous, and with the mountains comes cooler temperatures. As we went over the mountain range where we started, we found the mountains very, very rocky. These mountains are not at all like the mainland of Australia, with much rockier mountains on Tassie, sometimes with bare rock and sometimes pine covered. (Tassie is used both on the mainland and on the island, to denote a fondness for the Tasmania island.)
There is lots of grazing country on Tassie, but it is relatively dry now. We are starting their fall time, so this may be normal. At one point we stopped at a viewpoint for big pipes carrying water to a hydro electric power generating station. The interesting is that with large pipes, tunnels and dams, the use the water 8 times to generate electricity, as the water descends from the hither mountain collection places to the lowest water dams. Then for the 9th time, they use the water for drinking water. All very well thought out!!
We have seen one particular tree on Tasmania that we haven't seen before, and it is quite an interesting tree. It's color is a brilliant yellow, and it really stands out.
All in all, today's scenery was quite a bit better than yesterday's. A pretty day helped also, with mostly blue skies. |
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