99 BENDS? motorcycle adventure ride along Tasmania's West Coast - S1-E7

Morning. The sun's just got up and it was all about getting out of that tent without being annihilated by that swarm of mozzies in between the cover and the fly net. Made it, haven't been bitten yet. Another stunning appearance by the sun. So this morning I'm going to check out a lake up here, it's hopefully not too far, and then make my way back to get hopefully my bike. Tasmania just keeps delivering. You don't have to go far to get something like this all to yourself. Picked up the tent, grabbed my backpack and water, then headed off to the small lake which I was told was totally worth the extra 20 minute walk. Lake Beauty. There was a long low-lying cloud in the middle of the lake which is formed from the warmer temperature of the water compared to the air early in the morning, and the steep hills on either side of the lake. It's an absolutely stunning spot. It was about 20 minutes from where I'd camped. Tasmania does know how to do it. It's insane. There's no one here. All by myself. I haven't seen anybody for the last day or so. Well, I'm going to probably get my feet wet, if not have a swim, and then head back down to my bike. Although I may go for another swim down there. There's more lakes. I think this whole area is all about lakes. Oh yeah, and how about the reflections off this lake? This lake sits just on the shoulder of the mountain, just under the peak. It was worth it. Really worth it. I'm plenty any locals on the bike. That cloud's still in the valley. I'll stop saying wow. And made it back to the start. Starting post. It's warm. My legs might have been getting a little fatigued towards the end, but it's good to be able to get out and actually get up a mountain again. So no surprise they were shaking at the last little bit. So now we are heading back into town, or one street town, and up the other end is hopefully where my bike still is. We'll see. I finally made it back to the Lakeside Lodge car park, and there was my bike. Exactly where I'd left it. Tasmania's one of the only places you could probably leave your bike like this. As the lodge kindly looked after my gear, I thought it only appropriate to have breakfast there. It was time to organize my gear and repack. I got back on the bike, but only for a very short trip. Breakfast at the lake was pretty good. Coming down the mountain it was quite hot and sweaty, so I thought I'd have one more swim in the lake before I head off. It is a boat ramp, but there's no one here, no one in the park, so I'm off the side. So hopefully I can get in and out before anybody else. That was a good idea. It's refreshing, but not cold. Nowhere near as cold as the lake at the top. So get dressed and on the road again. The terrain in this area doesn't really allow for straight roads, which is fine by me. I'm a big fan of a snaking, winding road. I rode into Rosebury, which looked like it had recently had fires, really close to town. In 1893 a prospector discovered gold here, but the main mineral mine here has been zinc. The mine is still in operation and mines zinc, lead, copper, silver and gold. I came across the Aerial Roadway, which was built in 1931 to transport ore to Rosebury from the Hercules mine near Williamsford. It actually reminds me of an Indiana Jones movie. I rolled into the next old mining town, Zeon. Its heyday was early last century, around 1910. There were 159 companies operating at the town's peak. There were over 20 hotels and pubs, also two theatres and a hospital. It was known as a silver city and was the third largest town in Tasmania after Hobart and Launceston, but the town slowly declined with the population going from over 10,000 people down to about 700 today. There are still a lot of the old historical buildings, theatres and old trains here. The last biggest of the old mining towns was Queenstown. It was first explored in 1862, with the first mining company setting up shop in the early 1880s. It had numerous smelter works, brickworks and sawmills. Queenstown, like most of the other mining towns, has also seemed to have passed its heyday, and you can see it in some of the old buildings. But the town has seen some new life with tourism and also has become one of the three iconic mountain bike locations in Tasmania, along with Derby and Medina, which has helped rejuvenate the town. This is a strange colour for a river. It comes from the soil and bare rock of the mountain, but also know that this river has had a hundred million tons of sulphidic tailings dumped into the river over the lifetime of the mine. So I suggest not a place to go swimming. I have family connections to this town. My dad's early childhood was in this house. This stretch of road is called the 99 bends. I'm not sure it has exactly 99 bends, but there are a lot. It is four kilometres long and the elevation change is about 200 metres. And yes, it's a lot of fun to ride. When Queenstown was first established, the area was heavily wooded. Due to a combination of tree removal, smelters, the smelter fumes for over 40 years, and the heavy annual rainfall, the erosion of the shallow topsoil back to hard rock contributed to the moonscape look of the mountains. A couple of years ago, they started putting in more trails at Queenstown. It's like 30 kilometres. And Derby is actually the, well, most well-known mountain biking place in Tassie and has epic trails to the forest. They say Queenstown's epic, but exposed. And by looking at some of these downhills, exposure is a really good word for it. I'd love to try it. I'll just need a full face helmet, I think, and body armour, a couple of other. What else can I have? I made my way down the east side of the mountain to the bottom. Still continuing with the history lesson here. This is Linda, and this is the last remaining building from back in the day. But my family also has a connection here. They had the hardware store. I think it was my great, great grandparents. Nothing really left here now. To get here, there was no access from the north. There was a train line that went up there to take all the minerals north. But you had to come from Hobart on a dirt road. And I think even my father said that was there when he was a kid. So that's the 40s and maybe 50s. With Queenstown being a mining town and being quite remote, I bet this pub was rough back in the day. Oh, I'm sure there was a few brawls out the front there. Settling some argument about something wild. He's not camera shy at all. I was thinking about camping on this lake, Lake Burberry, but I was really enjoying being on the bike and riding. So I decided to ride on until I got tired or dust. And it was a great decision to keep riding as the next section of road along the Lyell Highway was a rider's dream. If you're ever in Tasmania, this is one not to miss. The forest I was riding through would keep changing to different types of forests. Then open grasslands and again different trees. It's really interesting to see the different sizes of trees and how some forests are really dense and others more open and how they transition from one to the next. I was hoping I wasn't heading in that direction as if I was probably be getting wet really soon. This is what generates the power in Tasmania. Hydro. Massive lakes and lots of hills. Easy to generate power. They're everywhere. And there's some big pipes. Electricity generation in Tasmania is dominated by hydropower, which supplies around 80% of Tasmania's power. There are 30 hydroelectric plants and 54 major dams in Tasmania. The first one was constructed in 1895. The Duckreach Power Station to provide power for Launceston. Tasmania is now the first Australian state and one of the few places globally to achieve 100% renewable electricity generation with the addition of wind farms. I was heading in the general direction of Medina and I was told that the Tall Sticks Tree Reserve was nearby. In a previous ride I'd searched for the tallest blackbutt tree in Australia, which is around 70 meters tall. The trees at the Sticks Tall Tree Reserve were apparently over 90 meters. So I was on the lookout to find a place to camp somewhere nearby. So I found a spot called National Park Hotel and I'm not sure what the National Park is. They just call the hotel National Park. Anyway, I haven't eaten all day and they allow you to camp for free if you buy some food. So sounded like a good deal for me. Starving. Quick setup at the tent because it is like seven something. Can they close at eight? So yeah, I'm gonna quickly do this and eat. Brain fade. No food. I've got my tent set up but I left my rain cover to dry on the fence as it was still wet from the dew that was on it from this morning. Dinner was good. It was barramundi. Well worth it. I don't know how good the food was. I was just really hungry. So when you're that hungry, anything tastes good. I've gone from camping on the beach to camping on a mountaintop to camping in a paddock. I'll sleep anywhere. And with that random thought, it was definitely time to go to sleep.