Motorcycle ride Australia, riding down the west coast of Tasmania - S1-E5

I woke up to the wind blowing and an overcast day, but as the weather can change quickly here I got on with packing up my gear and tent so I could get on the road and start exploring again. One of the great things about Tasmania is it has so many great free camping spots like this all over the island. It's probably the best state in Australia if you're thinking about I was heading towards the more remote and wild west coast. The first place to check out being Stanley. Stanley was first settled in October 1826 and the most striking thing about it is the hill known as The Nut which is an old extinct volcano. Also in 1836 a marine telephone cable was laid from Apollo Bay in Victoria which I passed through a couple of episodes ago to Stanley providing the first telephone communications to Tasmania from the mainland. Now Stanley is a tourist destination and the main fishing port on the northwest coast. The one other notable thing about Stanley would be its most famous son born here in 1879 Joseph Lyons who became the 10th Prime Minister of Australia and the only ever from Tasmania. I've never seen a penguin warning road sign before. This is the Highfield Historical Site which they started building in 1826. So a great example of what was here nearly 200 years ago. I looked around the rest of the peninsula. Some dirt roads, cool looking windbreaks, old trees and some inquisitive locals. I headed out of town with my next goal in mind trying to get to the most northern point of the island but from what I could tell there was a farm there and I had no idea if there was a road through. I came across a road that might get me close to the most northern point so I may as well check it out. This was Stoney Point looking out to Robbins Island but still short of the most northerly point so the search would have to continue. This is the only place in the world you'll see these road signs. Watch out for the Tasmanian Devil. Dawn to dusk. That's a lot of dairy cows. Well it seemed my idea of getting to the most northern point was foiled by the Van Diemen's Land Company who owned the property. I was about five kilometers short. It's private land and not wanting to have to explain why I was trespassing I decided to turn around and focus on the next place to check out. If you have been paying attention this is wind blowing towards the west. If there's swell on it's going to be all offshore. I'll probably be pretty gutted if there is because I don't have a surfboard but we'll go to Marawarra. I know there's a surf break there that I've surfed before so we'll see but yeah I think that'll be the next point of call. See how we go. The Van Diemen's Land Company was a company that first developed the northwest of Tasmania and even started Stanley. If you didn't know Van Diemen's Land was the name European settlers called the island of Tasmania up until 1856 and it was called Tasmania in honor of the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman who was the first European to step foot on the island in 1642. Well with the history lesson over let's continue south. Just along the coast here is Cape Grimm. It has the cleanest air in the world. Since 1976 the Cape Grimm baseline air pollution station has been measuring air quality to determine a baseline for the pollution of the earth's atmosphere. Tasmania doing its bit for the world. I noticed a headland on the map before Marawarra which to me looked like if there was any chance of surf it would be there. So I found the closest dirt road to the headland to see if I could reach it. The dirt road turned to the north side of the headland so I rode until I found a good vantage point. It was definitely swell and it looked a good size and the wind was blowing offshore. So I headed towards the south side of the headland to see if I could find a way down. I came across this narrow slightly overgrown track so down I went. There definitely was a wave down there but deep sand in front of me on the track. Only one option I'd have a crack and try and get through the sandy track. Going down I didn't think would be that bad. If it would be coming back up that would be the issue but I'll deal with that later. There were some locals out. I had no idea if this was a good or bad day for this spot but to me it looked good. Definitely worth the track down the trail. The rocky section was all good. I only hit the bash bait a couple of times. Well that's what it's for. As I made my way up the hill the sand got softer and softer but I was pretty confident most of it wouldn't be an issue. It was just the last 40 meters that might catch me out. I just had to keep the bike moving forward and not lose the front wheel sideways like previously as that would bring me to a dead stop. Five meters from the top was the softest deepest part. Come on just a little further. Come on Himalaya just a little further. Made it. See nothing to worry about. I continued along the track then out onto the main road. I was getting closer to Marawarra. I made it down to the main beach. Definitely not as much swell getting in here but still ruggedly stunning. This car park was my backup plan for camping. It was a free campsite but hopefully I could find better and less crowded too. I headed out to the peninsula on the south of Marawarra. Should have brought a board. Next time I'll have to bring the Kombi and camp out there. Probably won't get that Kombi down the track. Well got through with the bike but it was yeah a little deep in sections. Currently I'm now at Marawarra. Yeah Marawarra. It is really windy but the plan for the rest of the day will be to find a campsite. Hopefully somewhere like this where it's on a peninsular beach sort of area. I think there's some out there. We'll see. Could be searching all night. Hopefully I don't. Hopefully I'll find it straight away. I seem to be getting stared down by the locals. I guess that meant it was time to move on. I made a quick stop at the local store. Stopped at the Marawarra general store to get some more water and happy days. This is Arthur River and on the south side of the river mouth is Gardeners Point which is known as the edge of the world. The plaque contains the poem by Brian Inder. It reads I cast my pebble onto the shore of eternity to be washed by the oceans of time it has shape form and substance it is me one day I will be no more but my pebble will remain here on the shore of eternity mute witness for the eons that today I came and stood at the edge of the world the sea west of here is the longest uninterrupted expanse of ocean on the globe from here the next stop is Argentina more than halfway around the world you can see why it's called the wild west pretty big barrels out there even on a jet ski I don't know if you'd want to be out there and that house I reckon it's got half a decent view it was time to find a camp spot otherwise I could be searching late into the night I spotted something on the road that looked familiar so I turned around to check it out and yes it was a tiger snake basking in the sun until I interrupted it just remember if you are in Tasmania there are three types of snakes tiger snakes copperheads and white-lipped whip snakes and they are all venomous so keep your distance I turned off down a dirt track where I'd found a free campsite on the Actwiki camp as it looked like it was on the beach this place definitely had that beautiful rugged look and felt really remote well I found a campsite pretty quickly actually it's 4pm it's on the beach well besides this small sand dune there's nobody else here so all I've got to do now is set up my tent and wait for sunset and I should actually get a sunset tonight compared to last night because there's barely a cloud in the sky maybe one two I decided to get wet and test the water temperature cold definitely cold they call it the wild west or the rugged west coast and it's easier to see why rough rugged hardy looking and a lot of wildlife so it's cooled down there are no mozzies it's not windy turned out for a pretty epic evening and I got to swim in sun's just about to set it's hiding behind those clouds at the moment but hopefully those last few rays will well it looks pretty good already so we'll see I got the camera out to get some shots of the landscape and the sun as it's set down to the last ray of lights how cool is that over the southern ocean yes the southern ocean from the west coast just had to double check myself so the sun's all gone and it's actually dropping in temperature it's quite cool comfortable it'll be a good sleep tonight tomorrow I might try something different I might go inland and I know there's some lakes and mountains there see what I can find