Vanderpants Oz Tour

Distance: 47.11 km’s

Avg Spd: 11kmph

Max Spd – 52.7

Saddle Time: 4hrs :14 Min

Elevation: 777mtrs (all bumpy dirt road climbs)

Quote: DREAM – Dream lofty dreams and as you dream so you shall become – I must say that this is true – If you ‘lean in’ with a thought no matter how scary – the mind does amazing things and helps you think about how to get there – you’ll stumble along the way but you will get there – wherever that dream is….Whatever stopping you is just fear, the unknown, your own mind and negative things you choose to focus on.

Song of the Day: Karnivool – Deadman – this is probably almost my number 1 song of all time – it has everything I love in a song – a journey…killer riffs, a proper band that writes their own EVERYTHING, timing, beat changes and basically – EVERYTHING.

Album of the Day: Radiohead – OK Computer

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G’DAY Everyone..well what a day it was. I want to start off by saying that yesterday I bought milk, bread, yoghurt and ice cream. OMG I don’t think i’ve had toast in a month and i missed it….was soooo good.

Yesterday was spent feeling bad about missing out on a beautiful island and I was in two minds but I really needed to have a reset day, clean my bike (drivetrain etc), tighten a few things, do my washing (it’s been a month bwahahah), go to pharmacy and fix up a pannier. All this was done with a nap in between but it was nice to rest and also get all these things done. other than a nice walk around the place I stumbled across this place on my walk…they used to bury people here between 1846-1860 – from memory there are 8 graves there that’s accessible only in low tide (I couldn’t walk across but thought it was pretty interesting.

Other than that – it was a nice day off and went to bed early after watching a netflix movie. On the morning of the 5th (today – Sunday) it was supposed to be 21 but the heat in the morning felt like an Adelaide day was about to be a scorcher – it’s weird as I said before – Tassie is jacket on – jacket off weather and the sun is really hot here. Side note: i swear people who sleep close to me must think i’m eating a house down because all night all they must hear is packets rustling and me chomping and going ‘mmmmmmm’ – I am eating soooo much hahahaah

The morning was spent eating 4 pieces of toast, yoghurt and two coffees and I packed up and off I went. I knew today was going to be about 700mtrs in climbing but I did not count for 40 of it being dirt road hahaha. About 6km’s into the dirt road I thought…..hmmm how long is this road – and it was another 35km’s….it was poor condition and really tough riding. I thought…let the adventure begin – and decided to do it. I’m talking like 12-15 16% climbs on uneven terrain (i lost count) and I couldn’t pedal half of them as the bike was bouncing so much I couldn’t get traction. On the decents, it was so bumpy and loose that one loss of concentration and I was off the road. I had to walk a few of them but let me tell you – this road that I decided to go down was WELL WORTH IT…it’s the hard and unplanned ones that turn out to be the best and today was one of those days – one of my most challenging but I coudln’t get the smile off my face. A lot of people were stopping saying ‘you’re crazy’ or ‘you’re inspirational’ or ‘wtf are you doing on this road’ hahahaha. A couple people wanted to know my life story – I just end up saying – honestly…i’m just a red head pushing the pedals and i’ll Keep on going. Nothing special about that – just finding my way through tassie and honing my skills as i go.

Brunch, Lunch and Dinner were all SUPERRRRRB spots and I can’t explain today any better other than ‘a tough and amazing adventure’. 16 percent up – 16% down – 16 percent up – 16 percent down. If anyone knows cement hill…..well that’s 9% – that should give you an example. But today was some of the most beautiful forresty and oceans plus lookouts i’ve seen and only about 10 cars all day. With tough cycling days you gotta keep your happy hat on and remember why you are doing it and all the good things that have happened and also – that will happen in the future – easy to say – but sometimes you feel in the middle o nowehere toughing it out, looking at your water…bla bla bla – I work it out – I always do….just explaining the mindset sometimes – you gotta keep it in check – the happy times doesn’t come automatically all the time if you get my drift. reminds me of the film ‘wild’ with reece Witherspoon – I think I mentioned that before.

Brunch was spent here – no words needed…

Lunch was spent at a perfect spot deep into the forrest in this hut…I couldn’t find my coffee cup anywhere so rice cream can it was hahaa was kinda creamy and yummy actually LOL.

My average speed was 11 and it was over 4 hours of tough, hard bike handling, beautiful scenery kinda day and as the sun is setting….I am in my campsite and there is NOOOOOOONE here and the view is SUPERB. Today made me feel like I am on an adventure for real. It had everything I wanted…tough times…scenery…nice people…..beautiful stops to eat…..quiet secluded campsite……grass to pitch my tent oooh and did I say beautiful scenery enough……I will remember today for a long time as the type 2 fun that becomes type 1. After I got to my farm/campsite – I called into my moral support Ms Gherna and realised that my spot tracker hadn’t updated in a while (i was under tree canopies for a while) and my emergency contacts were going into ‘thinking mode’ – all was well after my call in and the rescue 1 helicopter was called off hehehehe. Thanks guys for looking out for me – we honed our emerg response today and changed a couple other things which is nice to know.

My hands are freezing though and I can’t type so this is me signing off ppl – tomorrow is Hobart with a friend of a friend then I take on the WEST SAYYEEEED and that will be shorter KM days’ quieter from what I hear and more scenic – AND MORE HILLZ

As I sign off, I put $10 in the charity tin (because this is someone’s farm), im hearing sheep in the background, I am watching the sun setting over a winery and looking at mountains and the ocean. There is no breeze, no bugs (for once) and it’s quiet – A vast reminder that I am lucky and life is good.

Vanderpants OUT!!