Swansea - Triabunna

Today was to be our last day of riding. We had decided not to try and ride into Hobart from Triabunna because the road was quite narrow and dangerous. So we booked a bus from Triabunna to Hobart which turned out to be a wise move. This day turned out to be the most miserable ride of all. The problem of wind is one that can't be planned for unless you have an open itinerary and can stay as long as you like in any one place. Problem with anywhere for cyclists is that there are a limited number of places you can stay unless you are into camping or wild camping. We, being older, had decided that we wouldn't enjoy a camping holiday on bikes so we were limited to places with accommodation, which, was surprisingly hard to get given that it is a busy time of year in Tasmania. So we slogged our way into the wind along a narrow and dangerous highway. We had trouble even finding places to stop and rub our bums. We ended up having lunch on the verge of a side road. One feature that I wish I had stopped an photographed was the Spiky Bridge, a very unusual and obviously old stone bridge off to one side of the highway. At length we arrived at our destination and moved into a room in the Oyster Bay Hotel. This is a very old an basic pub and it was noisy on our first night but not smelly. Our second night the pub closed early and so it was quiet but we knew we had to get up at 5.25am to catch our bus. The 50 odd kilometres and 559 metres of climb took us most of the day. The next day the weather improved and we caught the ferry to Maria Island. We took our bikes and had a splendid day exploring part of the island and being thrilled by the wombats.