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@sensom
Day -1
Attempts to shoehorn a thicc bike into a box meant for a Fuji Feather ended with a snapped barrel adjuster on the down tube and a minor mental breakdown. Fortunately I had a spare on the other side as I had the Bruce foresight to opt for 1x11. That said I couldn't for the life of me work out the shifting fully after this debacle that so ended up with a not-so-fucking-good 1x9 without the smallest two gears.
Day 1
4am wake up, driven to the airport by my darling girlfriend who was likely still a bit drunk from the night prior. Box weighed in at 23kg (!!!!!) along with carry-on bags. Wasn't quizzed about the tyres which I hadn't deflated to avoid jizzing sealant everywhere and potentially having two shagged wheels on arrival. A quick one hour flight and I was building the bike in a corner of the airport after an hour of grunting, sweating and packing in front of confused travelers I rolled out, right into the pissing sideways rain Hobart had offered as a greeting, in case I'd forgotten I was in Tassie. 30 minutes in I was wetter than a possum's pocket but was stopping in Sorrell just up the road to look for camp stove gas and took the opportunity to bosh my Sealskinz on. It didn't actually rain after that as I moved out of town and along the Arthur Highway for the next 20kms, so the hard shell was removed as my internals turned to microwaveable rice. Rather than take the highway all the way on this leg I opted for what I'd expected to be a nicely groomed gravel track through Wielangta Forest Reserve, which ended up being significantly rougher.
Nasty corrugated road, and a sign I should have paid more attention to.
Moody Maria Bay Lookout.
Ahh yes, now I see the problem... Lifting 24kg of bike over two giant downed logs sounds excellent. Fortunately I made it past or a 60km detour would have been necessary to get to the desired town.
After descending out of the hills I was into the bush/farmland with more pannier bashing corrugation.
A few more kilometers on and I'm greeted with views of Maria Island, which had been my intended destination for the evening, but the last ferry was at 3:30PM and I had little hope of making it.
With that in mind I stopped for a look at Carrickfergus Bay.
Around this time I realised that there may be a slim chance of reaching Triabunna for the island ferry, so I stopped farting about taking photos and put the hammer down. There was a bit of a climb out of Orford which I put some effort into, crested, and pissed down the other side into a headwind for 3PM. This gave me 30 minutes to call to book the boat, get food/water (none of which are available on the island), a bottle of wine, fish and chips and a parks pass...
Bosh!
If Tasmania is a microcosm of the mainland, then Maria is a microcosm of Tasmania. There are far more animals than people (had wombats, paddymelons, tasmanian devils and whatever the fuck else wandering round my tent), there are no motor vehicles and just drop toilets/solar showers that don't work. Heaven after a 90km ride!