Tarraleah to New Norfolk: the last, but one...

Tuesday November 17, 2009, 94 km (58 miles) - Total so far: 1,136 km (706 miles)

Today is the penultimate day of the tour. I'm not sure what my goal is - it depends what accommodation options are available along the way, but my thinking is that I'll have to continue through to New Norfolk.

A fine cool day with morning showers is predicted.

Since Strahan I have had Adam as a travelling companion. Adam's rented bike was looking decidedly dodgy, and he was keen to have company on the long legs up to Queenstown and Derwent Bridge. Yesterday, approaching Tarraleah, his bike broke down again, and he had to roll the final kilometres down to the Nive River, then walk back up to the settlement. We tried to convert the bike to run as a single speed, but it lasted only 100 metres before failing again, and Adam was forced to wait for the bus to Hobart.

Leaving Tarraleah meant leaving the high country once again, and plenty of descending was anticipated, but the first 30 kilometres was very hilly - up and down, and didn't level out until just before Ouse, where the route burst out of the forest and into the rolling, verdant hills of the upper Derwent Valley.

After a short break in Ouse I left for Hamilton - for the first time in many days I enjoyed 'flat' roads, and completed the 20 kilometres quickly. There was no reasonably priced accommodation at Hamilton so I decided to press on to New Norfolk. First I had to tackle the long, slow but relatively easy climb out of Hamilton, then it was kilometre after kilometre of easy downhill riding.

About 25 kilometres from New Norfolk, I was overtaken by the bus carrying Adam, and shortly after hit a mass of flying insects, quickly realising it was a swarm of bees when a few left their stings in me.

After another brief stop and chat with the publican (yet another banana bender) at Gretna, I was confronted with a sharp little hill at Rosegarland, where (surprise, surprise) there is a commercial rose garden, and the slopes are covered with acres of rose bushes. From there on it was downhill all the way, with only a stiffening breeze slowing me near New Norfolk. I took a room in a local motel, and after a meal at the pub, returned to my room to update my journal, feeling very weary.