G’day all….well the ferry ride was nice as I had a cabin and could eat three buffet meals and two desserts hahaha and sleep in a cabin (It’s strange waking up to someone next to you that you never actually seen before) haha good morning he says hahaha. As I rocked up in melbourne I had accommodation sorted so I can do laundry, fiddle with my bike, Go to post office and get rid of some unused items in my panniers, be a tourist and just hang and rest which is nice. The one fun thing I did was do a walking tour of Melbourne. I must say it was way better than I imagined it. Monique knew everything and took her knowledge seriously. This was a food, coffee and history tour and it was bloody awesome. Even down to the the family history of the shops/cafe’s we visited and how they migrated to Melbourne and how the shop started and where the recipes came from. From the absolute best coffees to macarons to dumplings to honey to alleyways to art and the old buildings to the best pubs that started in a carpark….LOVED IT…..for my own blogging memory I want to list my two favourite places
Best dumplings (grandma and grandpa’s recipe) – Shang Dong Mama Mini – they went to greece to find alternative recipes to use in dumplings with an asian swing to it.
Best Coffee – Tulip Coffee – even purchased some for my mini espresso maker
OK enough things to bore you with – before I start planning my route to Sydney and avoid the smoke, road closures and bushfires, I will leave you with a video to summarise my journey since my last video after Normanville (the beginning of my journey vid). This about sums up all the amazing people, animals and places I have seen so far and it already feels like a thousand adventures and what an adventure this has already been I can’t believe it really – so many nice people and a hundred lil adventures every day…….Sorry for the 7 min video – I just couldn’t crop it anymore for my own memories sake hahaha
Good night all – see you all very soon…….Vanderpants OUT!!!
SOUND ON !!!!!! – PS if u look closely you will see a special suprise hahahahaha
Saddle Time: 8 Frikkn Long hard hours and 5 Minutes
Elevation: 1365 mtrs
Quote: Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.I actually talk about this a lot and it’s my mind frequently and as I put it…if you ‘lean in’, it’s amazing how things unfold for you – not always in your direction but moreseo than not and that’s progress towards your goal isn’t it.
Song of the Day: Rudimental – Not giving in – the filmclip is quite touching also
Album of the Day: Goes to Eric Clapton – Crossroads (1988) – this guy knows how to get a good sound from an acoustic
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I woke up from my amazing campsite and made a coffee and made a coffee straight away and just watched the sunrise for 30 minutes in absolute silence – it was beautiful. I knew I won’t see a town for the whole day so i stocked up my water and supplies in the little pokey one shop town and I was off. I knew today was going to be tough and generally the first half of the day is pretty happy then the hurtlocker thoughts slowly start seeping in as the hours increase past the 4,5 or 6 hour mark so you know that and you work with it. When IU say hurtlocker I mean – you’re not singing as much, you’re getting a little tired and sore, the legs are saying ‘ok enough or today’, the decision making may be a little lazier e.g stuff it i’m going to find a caravan park instead of wild camp, the navigation skills ‘feel’ more tiring, the goals seem bigger and the k’s seem slower haha etc etc – not every day but generally you account for this (and not all at once).
So off I went in the wild west
I saw absolutely nothing all day….just wilderness. The first half of the day was hot sun and the second half was pouring with rain and really tough. As I came to the 60km mark (first 45 of it was hills) I could feel my eyes peeling for a campsite and I went ‘No Vanderpants….make it to 80 – you can do 80’. I knew at 80 it was a general downhill with only a few uphills remaining. It’s funny how hard it was at the 60km mark – I really had to push the mind and body really hard and it tested me. As my mind was wondering that rudimental song ‘not giving in’ came on as I was climbing and i had it on repeat for 30 minutes and it was perfect timing…
Something inside me wanted to challenge myself and make the 115km’s and that vert (I called it the double tonne) as I want to improve my fitness for my NZ race and build some mental toughness and confidence in my resilience during those tough rides. As they say here in Tasmania – the westside rains 300 days of the year so don’t complain about the rain.
So that I definitely did today…..at the 80km mark I had to sit down and eat a lot of food and just take stock of myself. legs were sore from yesterday and the mind was tired from a few tough rides in Tassie. I think I ate two meals worth of food and a litre of water…in the rain mind you – I didn’t care – i was drenched anyway and there was nowhere to stop **shrugs**. So off I went for the last 35km’s (2 hours) and that I did. I was really proud of myself today – I gave a big smile as I descended into Bernie after 8 hours of riding and found a place to eat – ate another two meals worth (not even joking) and said if I can find a motel for under a hunge I AM IN…..and that I did. The guys was nice and upgraded my room to the family room at no cost and I was really grateful – after that shower and some more snacks and lean clothes – I tried to hold a conversation but those eyes were closing early and I slept 10 hours……zzzzzzzz
Day 47 – Bernie to Devonport (Spirit of Tasmania Boarding Lounge)
Distance: 58km’s – TOTAL KM’s – 2,526 so far.
Saddle Time: 3:36 – Total Saddle Time – 159hrs:23mins
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Easy day – 400 mtr vert – beautiful day – half highway (blurg) half beach YAY. 4 coffee stops (one was like drinking bore water with milk) and the other three were ok, two good conversations and a whole lot of beach rides to say goodbye too…..brilliant.
Tasmania – your 1,160k’s I traveled here were beautiful
so far on my whole trip I have seen
5 snakes (all at different types of FLAT 4 phones (all rushed and not one iphone hehehe) maybe because oppo and samsung are SHITE haha
Tasssie has SOOoo many dead animals on the side of the road – lots of lovely weird and different smells to guess along the way
Hundreds of trailer and car parts
no punctures or broken spokes
I can’t believe how much rubbish is on the side of the road – it’s pretty sad actually – I could fill a trailer load in 20 minutes EASY it’s that bad…..humans an be pretty careless sometimes. You don’t see it driving but when cycling….I see thousands of cans (redbull, V and coke mainly, bottles, rubbish bags, play equipment (yes a whole play equip), nappies, packets of food – the list goes on.
On a more positive note…..
I have written down some thing’s i’ve been thinking about that either I need to improve on or actually practice a lot to help me in life and on this trip in particular…it may resonate with you it may not….if I put it on paper (the screen)….It helps me even more so here goes….
Get a good mattress – make sure the hip doesn’t touch the ground when lying on your side
A good coffee maker is VERY IMPORTANT hah
Start slow – build up
The bad will pass – you will dry – the pain goes – you get stronger
Don’t plan too much – it will change and it doesn’t allow for random finds or amazing convos with people
This one is important – have large goals to aspire to for those hard days – you’re mind can imagine it to help. If it doesn’t scare me – it’s not big enough. Whether it’s a goal in one day or a life goal.
Picture the ending A LOT – over and over – this helps me a lot
Put those large goals into smaller ones and smaller again depending on your mindset at the time but keep those large ones handy
When you think you’re done – you actually are not – is it an injury or just pain?? I’ll find a way – as a good team mate of mine named Mr B.Rule says…..’Just fukn ride through it’ hahahahahahahaha
Tasmania – you definitely separate the men from the boys here on this tour so thankyou…your east coast beaches were beautiful (albeit a bit busy traffic wise) and the west coast……well – you’re rainforest was delicious (you can stick your hills in the preverbial hah). Everyone I met (except one wanka which i’ll talk about below) was amazingly hospitable, curious, talkative and friendly – thank you to all who offered me accom (you know who you are), and all the people that I accepted……Tasmania….I felt the proudness you have for your lil place so THANK YOU!!!! **insert prayer hands here**
i’ll end on this note – a big win for Vanderpants and a good ending story if I don’t say so myself. ok here goes…So I made it to Devonport where the Ferry departs and Maccas coffee was calling – ordered a veggie burger, fries and coffee……I always take my valuables with me when entering a store (handlebar bag easily clips off) and garmin computer and ipad come with me so bascially all that’s left is camping gear (easily replaced) and I park my bike against a window where I can see it……so I’m eating my burger and I see these teenagers eyeing off my bike and my spidey senses kick in…..I see one them fiddling with my bike and then jumping on his bike and pedaling away…my first instinct was ‘i’m enjoying this burger too much and can’t be bothered….it’s only my pepper spray’. A split second after I said ‘EFF that – i’m going to get that thing back’. I grabbed all my gear….jumped backwards over the chair like jack Reacher (well at least I thought I looked like that) and I said to the staff next to me ‘I’ll be back for that burger’ hahahaha……I then proceeded on foot to pursue the vigilante and I almost caught him as he arched his back and stood up on the pedals to gain more speed (bastard)…..
I then ran back to maccas…..tried to take off on my bike…kickstand still down..,.bent that……I kicked it harshly back into place and took off…..this 16ish year old gang of thieves did not know a few things:
a) These legs (aptly named Des and Troy) have done A LOT of cycling b) ironically they could’ve used the pepper spray ON ME hahaha that would’ve been a better story c) I am the downhill KING – they didn’t have a chance.
so anyway there I am pedaling towards them uphill mind you and huffing and puffing away (I knew which road they headed up at least and hoped they didn’t turn off) – and turn off they didn’t (at first) BUT just like a movie they all peeled off hahaha I focussed my efforts on who I thought took it and yelled in my best dads voice……’OIIiiii – STOP…..give me back my shit you wanker’ – those words just flew out **shrugs**. So as I approached the top of the hill (about 800 meters or so) I knew the downhill was my forte and I tucked in, changed gears and pedaled as hard as I could, done the tour down under tuck and I was gaining…….at the beginning of the incline of the next hill i got aside him, grabbed his shirt (which I thought was pretty good bike handling skills if I say so myself) and told him to stop……I made him give it back to me and I saw the scared look on his face hahahaha….I said (and this just came out without thinking) ‘You’re lucky it’s me and not someone else who would smash your face in….you need to be better than this mate’. he rode off without a word with nothing but a scared look on his face and I rode off happy with my pepper spray in hand and my burger awaiting me…….Got back to maccas with a small cheer as they were all watching as I said ‘I got it back’ hahahaha and my food was handed back to me and the burger (and the taste of victory) was even better…..Vanderpants 1 – Villains – 0 hahahaha what an ending…..
i’m going to wrap up the trip so far with a nice lil imovie hopefully I will do it on the ferry – night all
Saddle Time: 5:37 – Total Saddle Time – 147 hrs 42 minutes
Elevation: 1200 meters – happy with that
Quote: To the mind that is STILL 0 the whole universe surrenders. I need to learn this one – mine never shuts up hahaha
Song of the Day: Eddie Vedder – Hard Sun – it was hot today and it was relevant haha – Tis album and the movie is one of my favourites
Album of the Day: Damien Rice – O – irish folk singer and man can he play the acoustic well.
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Hello readers – thank you once again for reading my blog. I know I mentioned it before but it does really help knowing that you’re out there reading it. It gives me motivation to ot only share my experiences and thoughts with you all but also to keep on blogging to create a diary for myself in years in to come so THANK YOU. OK, onto today. What an amazing day it was. It was a good day but also had to say goodbye to Davo which sucked but it was time to hit the road again after a few good tours and lots of laughs. Today again was all rainforrest, hills and two really small towns but it was so much more than that. It was rivers, sweat, elevation, smells, the two engines firing nicely all day, the singing, the coffee, the birds everywhere, the heat, the campsite (which is awesome), the amount of food, the convo with a bicycle tourer who gave me some great tips (we exhanged about ten tips each). One of them was an app called ‘Komoot’ which I would highly recommend for any trail runner or cyclist. It does navigation as well as elevation and you can slide the elvation scale to see where the hills are at what point and it’s way more accurate than google maps. I got a lot of confidence today because I grossly miscounted the elevation in my prior days. I did think in the back of my mind that my legs were much sorer then the 800-1100 mtr days and I was right. komoot (and my garmin which I turned on today) was about 400 mtrs more than google maps. That made me feel much better as the 800+ vert I was doing each day here was MUCH more.
I was a little ummm not worried but slightly concerned that the vert was hurting me more than it should but this makes it all better. I was doing between 1000-1500 every day for a few days there and about 800-900 each day before that. It showed when after a long day in the saddle I had a final climb of 5km’s between 4%-14% and I said to myself ‘SELF…….let’s smash this’. Normally I need to stop every 500 mtrs or so but I did the whole 5km’s (500 mtrs vert) all in one shot and boy did that give me more confidence today – i’m really hitting my stride.
That brings me to the bugs. I’m getting used to the types of bugs here. not that I know their names but I know what they look like. Their names are stingy one, bitey one, lovely one, harmless one, colourful fast one and last but not least the big MOFO of a boieng 380 – The Eurpean Bumble Bee. I see them coming from a mile away on the bike and I know which ones to duck and which ones not to care about. One today was coming for me and I was like….oh that’s the harmless one no need to move and BANG straight into my mouth….I was like….’CRUNCH….SPIT…..Continue on’ hehehehehe. it’s ok – it was only the species ‘harmless one’. Regarding that fatso….I know his name now because I asked a park ranger. He said they are attracted to anything blue…….this makes so much sense now considering i have THREEEEEE BLUE SHIRTS hahahaha bloody bastards.
I mean check this shit out – you can hear them coming from a mile away…get away from my hot chips you bloody fat, stupid bodied, stupidly named bombus terrestris, unbalanced body to wing ratio’d ugly hairy buzzwank.
Ok – i’m not scarred I promise……What is super interesting is how different the ceco systems in Tasmania are comparing the east to the west coast. One day I was on the beach with a cool breeze and the next i’m in the rainforrest getting eaten alive by mossies, attacked by bombus wanka and enjoying the beaturiful tropical wilderness – it’s vastly different ad the stories and history that come with both sides have been really interesting.
So the day was awesome actually for so many reason and it ended even better – check my campsite out below. I have two more days in Tasmania before departing back to melbourne and the route will have to be planned a little more due to the road closures and fires which is really sad. I’ll have to find a way….somehow…..
Quote: To Begin…..BEGIN. I think I remind myself a lot in this blog to …’Lean in’ and just ‘begin’. We make it hard in our own minds don’t we. Uncomplicate it Adrian and just ..BEGIN. Good lessons that one.
Song of the Day: Elvis Presley – Suspicious minds – I just found myself singing this a lot today and on repeat – great song
Album of the Day:Ben Harper – burn to Shine – one of his best work I think – so much rhythm, soul and uniqueness ——————————————————————
Today I knew my mate was coming from Adelaide to hang with me for a few days and that was a pick me up from tired ass legs. Althought tired, I can feel them getting stronger and adapting and my rests on the hills are becoming less frequent and like a train, they just keep going more and more every day and that feeling I remember from my Europe tour of that ‘keep on going legs’ feeling is coming back to me. The hamstring pain is almost non existent but there is always management of other pain but they are my injuries that I can manage. it’s the new one’s that allow doubt to creep in but i’m learning to cope with them…stupid blown up knee for example. Those legs are feeling better and that’s good because i’ll need it for the 100km’s per day required for mountain biking in NZ for 30 days straight.
So anyway, on goes the wet shoes (Lovely) and as I hop out of the tent I see a few other people had my idea of sleeping under the bbq area so as 5am crept in i’m sure they didn’t love hearing me pack up all my gear – i tried to be quiet hehehehe.
Off I went into the rain again but I knew it would clear and as the day passed the sun came out and dried them out. I did not see a town all day until Queenstown (3.5 hours) and I cycled through the wild west as the signs say. Dense rainforest, open mountainous areas, over lakes and the Gordon river which is beautiful here and through mountains. i was in my element – i rode through a beautiful sunrise and heard waterfalls and animals Chirping and clicking for hours without a car. It was amazing.
my campsite last night
Haggard, wet and tired look haha
So after endless ups and downs again (I still think google aps elevation is wrong and when i leave Strahan i’m going to turn on my garmin and compare a big climb day and let’s see). I made it to Queenstown mostly wet, hungry and tired and someone came up to me when all I could think about was a toasty and a coffee haha. I always give my time though because if someone takes the time out of their day to want to know what I am doing I respect that and always (even if on repeat I don’t care) I always give them the time of day and have that conversation And be inquisitive to learn about theirs. They are always different and you learn so much about other people’s lives and what makes them tick. This guy in particular purchased a shut down hospital in Queenstown and is renovating it to become a hotel/restaurant. I love closed down buildings – I don’t know why – just love the thought of ‘what was’ and all the stories behind it so when he gave me his life story then finished by ‘if you’re coming back this way, knock on my door and i’ll give you a grand tour’ …..i said ‘yup – i’m in I would love that’. I said i’m not sure if I am coming back this way (i still might) but if i do – that would be awesome. I had my toastie and coffee (knocked my coffee over and the lady made me another one which is nice). Whilst in queenstown, I had 4g for the first time in days so I researched accommodation, two tours and places to eat so I was ready and didn’t have to think when I arrived. That was all done in an hour and was so nice to think i’ll be chilling in Strahan for a few days and actually see some touristy things with my mate – so good. So on I went to Strahan and I went shopping, pharmacy, unpacked my clothes, done a load of washing and waited for my mate…………
I looked at a nice restaurant to go and have a nice meal with a view and enjoy a chat with a few bevvies
View from restaurant – Dayyyvvvoooooooooh
Had a great night and slept early for tomorrows cruise
We went on a river cruise (Ship built in hobart and ran by tasmanians) and saw a 3,000 year old huon pine tree (and rainforest full of them), lots of world heritage listed rainforest which was beautiful and also went to Sarah Island which is famous for the penal colony from 1822-1833 and synonomous for it’s brutality And it’s initial intention of raw punishment. The guided tour had great stories and all with an enthusiastic delivery – all along the Gordon River. This island housed up to 500 re-offenders at a time and it had a great story behind it – I won’t bore you but it was interesting to hear how manY people at once were on this island and how they manually reclaimed a lot of sea. The story I like is from it’s original intention of raw punishment and harsh conditions with many attempted escapes (and sometimes committing murder to be sentenced to death to escape), it turned out that a ship builder came there and transformed it to give them better conditions in reply for him teching them ship building skills to build ships. It ended up being a place where some convicts wanted to stay longer then their sentence and finish the build of a ship And no escape attempts. Then politics got involved and converted all to Port Arthur and designed a harsher prison. I like the Huon pine and how they built the ships with the oil stained long living pine. It takes 800 years for the tree to fully grow how crazy is that. It grows 1mm each year. They have a very high oil content which preserves them and makes them good for ship building. Ok enough boring facts LOL. The harbour here looks like black tea and the island accompanied with the rainforest was pretty surreal to be honest.
We also Watched a play last night that reenacts one of the escapes Where they built s ship and sailed it to Chile (yes u heard correctly – a play hehe.) Followed by a countery and some liquid of the alcoholic sort
The next morning we booked a train ride to hear about and see the copper mining and the horrific and harsh conditions in which they built the line to bring copper (instead of a failed gold mining industry). Was a nice couple days here to be honest and enjoyed spending time with my mate and resting and seeing things like an actual tourist. Tasmania is BEAUTIFUL and full of amazing walking tracks (which I want to come back and see more of) plus a rich history Including mining, world heritage listed rainforest, convict history, dairy (nice ice creams hehe), yummy honey, fishing and many more things but so may things to see and do. Tomorrow is back to the riding and I am looking forward to my last few days in tasmania and then onto melbourne to sydney and dodge any dangerous areas relating to fire and make my way to syd then to NZ for my adventure race.
Vanderpants Oz Tour 