I was often dreaming about to find a girl which is cycling with me. Then I met Yen who wanted to come with me on a cycle trip to Bruny Island. We started on the 12th February from Huonville. My bike was heavy loaded with more then 35 kg luggage. Yen carried less then 5 kg. It was her first cycle trip, the longest distance she cycled before was 40 km in one day. On our first day we did 30 km and climbed over a 200 m hill on the way to Cygnet. In Cygnet we met a young couple in front of a supermarket who invited us to their home in Lymington. Ingrid and Blake are planning a cycle trip through Europe this year, so they were very curios about my cycling experience. We had a nice dinner together and camped one night in their garden.
Category Archives: Australia
Cherry picking around Huonville
660. Day of travel
19.530 km
Alex and I started to pick cherries in Woodstock on the 12. January. It’s a small orchard, only 10 acres. But we were nearly 30 pickers. In the beginning we had to look for the right color of the cherries. If they are to red, we aren’t allowed to pick them. Also the cherries have to be picked with the stem and separated. Our supervisor and owner of the farm checked our lugs randomly and told us if he wasn’t satisfied with the quality. The cherries in Tassi are much more bigger then I know from Europe, during the day I eaten a lot of course. After the first week of picking, we didn’t had to look out for the color anymore. On my best day I did 24 lugs. One lug is 8 kilo and we got paid 8 $ per lug.
In the Far South of Tasmania
After Hobart we cycled to the south of Tasmania. Around Huonville we looked for farms to pick cherries. We found a cherry farm were we could start in January. Usually the cherry picking starts after Christmas, but this year the summer starts late in Tassie, that means the cherries need more time to get ready. We tryed to find another work before the picking starts. Therefor we got help from very nice people.
I called a warmshower host in the south of Tasmania and asked if we can come to stay. Katie and Chris received us in Geeveston and took us to their home in Surges Bay. The road along the Huon River gives an outlook to a beautiful scenery. We wanted to stay two days, but then we stayed three weeks!
Welcome to Tasmania – From Devonport to Hobart
I left Melbourne on the 9th December to go to Tasmania. Therefor I took the boat, it was quite expensive. I paid 240 $ for the ticket, I think flying to Tassie it’s half way cheaper. But it was comfortable, easy check in and out, I didn’t had to dismount my bicycle or worried about if it could be damaged. From Devonport I cycled in two days to Launceston. On my first day in Tassie I’ve got a taste of the changeable weather. It changed every ten minutes betweeen rain, sun, clouds and even hail. For Launceston I contaced a warmshowers host. Here I stayed two nights by Vicky and Malcom. Launceston is the second largest city in Tasmania with about 80.000 people. I visited the Cataract Gorge and a museum.
The Great Ocean Road and Grampians
From Melbourne I went on Friday the 22th November to Geelong. Over the weekend I stayed in Geelong with an German-Australian couple. I contacted them on warmshowers.org. It was very exciting for me to make acquaintance with Frederike (from Germany) and Guy (from Australia). Before my trip I was reading their blog www.abikejourney.com, but then I forgot about it. By random I met these people that inspired me. They cycled in 2010/2011 from Europe to Australia and did 18.000 km with their bikes. When I arrived in Geelong I did nearly 18.000 km as well, what a chance. Freddie and Guy are very kind. I felt like they want to pay back all the hospitality to me, that they received on their trip. We shared our adventures and found out about all the same places we saw and similar experience we made on our trip. Our common highlight was Iran, Freddie and Guy spent even two months there. I stayed three nights at their home. Freddie baked a Gugelhupf (a German Bundt cake), I think it was the best cake that I will ever get in Australia. It was not easy to leave their place.