Wednesday 1st December 2010 – Leaving Coles Bay I rejoined the main road south which weaves its way along the coastline then heads inland along the side of a river. I stopped for petrol at Triabunna and decided to turn into the town for a look around. Somehow I managed to put the bike in neutral (instead of first) whilst turning at a junction which made me realise I was really starting to lose my concentration so had an extended lunch break here.

After, I continued down to Sorrel where I had another stop and tried to decide if I should continue south to Port Arthur or head west to Hobart (only another 35km). Eventually I decided Hobart was the better option. One enters Hobart from the east on the Tasman Highway which becomes the Tasman Bridge which spans the Derwent River. Its a spectacular crossing, enhanced by the fact that the sun had now come out.

I felt particularly pleased with myself for finding the street where the YHA is located on my first attempt. I had to do a few circuits of the one way system though to position myself far enough down the street to ride the bike to the door. The warden then suggested I could leave the bike in a lane down the side, so after unloading all my gear, I did this. Unfortunately, it was quite a narrow lane and I had to ride the bike in nose first which meant I couldn’t then get it out again. So I had to push it back onto the pavement and out onto the street and take it off to a dedicated motorbike parking bay a street away. By the end of all this and carrying my gear up to the third floor I was once again soaked in sweat. Seems to be an occupational hazard of bike riding! And given it took me about 1.5 hours to do all this it was a good job I decided to skip Port Arthur and come straight to Hobart.