Friday 3rd December 2010 – Today I met up with my gardening enthusiast friend, Anne, from the Bridport YHA. She took me all round the local beaches near her house then took me back to her place to meet her family and have a barbeque. It was great to see her and be looked after for a day. So thank you Anne for all your hospitality, I really appreciated it.

Saturday 4th December 2010 – I left Hobart today and headed south to a small village called Dover. It was a long and twisty ride and by the time I got to a place called Cygnet I was exhausted, however, that was only half way so I had to press on. On arriving at Dover, I booked into the local caravan park and, for the first time, pitched my tent. It was surprisingly roomy inside for a one-man job so I felt quite pleased with myself. I then set off to the supermarket only to discover there was a backpackers hostel right behind it! I didn’t wimp out though and spent quite a comfortable night in my little orange home.

Sunday 5th December 2010 – What a day. I rode all the way from Dover in the far south to Queenstown in the far west, a distance of some 400-odd km. I didn’t exactly set out to do this, but every campsite I came too was unsuitable so I just kept riding until I came to a better one. Half the problem was it was a very overcast day and I was feeling a bit miserable, however, after I passed a place called Derwent Bridge, the sun came out and my whole mood changed. The final 86km from there to Queenstown were through Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park which was absolutely beautiful. The road rose up into the mountains which afforded spectacular views of scrub-land, mountain tops then decended through rainforested valleys. I left Dover at 10am and arrived at Queenstown at 6pm. As I couldn’t find a campground there either I decided to continue onto Strahan but luckily, on the way out of Queenstown I saw a motel offering backpackers accommodation. It wasn’t the nicest place I’ve stayed in, but I was so tired I didn’t care.

Monday 6th December 2010 – I left Queenstown early this morning and rode the last 40km to Strahan. More steep, twisty roads, but luckily all the traffic was going in the opposite direction so I had a clear run. When I arrived in Strahan I parked the bike and wandered over to the wharf. There was a guy offering motorcycle tours, Al’s Motorcycle Tours, so I started chatting to him. He then offered to take me for a ride around the town on his Harley. God, this guy really knows how to handle a big motorcycle – he had me up and down hills, whizzing round bends and doing U-turns in areas the size of a postage stamp. Afterwards he asked me if I wanted to have tea (dinner) with him that evening, so I said yes. He then cooked me the mother of all barbeques. There was steak, pork chops, lamb chops, sausages, onions, you name it. I managed to spill relish all down the front of my T-shirt so ended up doing a bit of a wet T-shirt competition for him, which, he didn’t seem to mind at all!