1,800 Kilometers -- Can I Get A Hell Ya?

We just pedaled into Hobart, the waterbound capital of Tasmania, and in doing crossed the 1,800km threshold. So far in Tasmania we've pedaled about 950km, making a big S across the state, from Devonport west to Wynyard, south to Cradle Mountain, east to St. Helens, and now south and southwest to Hobart.



Things have gone well in the past three weeks -- no flat tires, no lost belongings, and no nights spent out in the open. We've pedaled a total of 54,700 vertical feet uphill and been on the bikes for 147 hours.

We have now camped for some 45 days straight, more or less. Boxing Day we spent in a nice hotel in Launceston, and the night before our ferry was in a hotel in Melbourne, but other than that it's been our tiny two-person Mountain Hardware tent.



We've actually slacked off biking the past week or so. I think we've both lost our drive for it. I don't want to say we don't like Tasmania, but certain aspects here are pretty tiring. The weather is bad, the drivers mean, the shoulders nonexistent, the crowds pressing, the campgrounds fairly low quality and the main attractions Disneyesque. (I.e., we declined the ferry ride to Maria Island National Park as they wanted $50 for a round trip ticket -- it's a 45 minute boat trip!)

Arrival in Hobart does not mean an end to the trip however -- just an end to major combat operations, I'd say. We still plan to pedal for another 10 days or so, but from here it will be just two and three day loops. We've sort of run out of road to pedal.

We are also, incidentally, at nearly the halfway point -- six month mark -- of our trip. On Jan. 23 we fly from Sydney to Bali and begin six months in Asian and Africa.

We are now in the final stages of buying the remaining portions of our around the world plane tickets. We are using Airtreks, and the process has been frustratingly slow. But so far, the package goes something like this: Bangkok -- Mauritius -- Madagascar -- Dubai -- Tunis -- Malta -- London -- Atlanta, arriving in ATL July 15. Total cost is about $3600 per person.



I took Steven Hatcher's advice and we've splurged on a few bottles of wine. Tasmania has the best pinot noirs I've ever had, and they are fairly priced, too. Yesterday, Laura took me to the Tasmanian Wine Centre, an odd sort of retail store/warehouse in Hobart where they have most Tassie wines and all sorts of single bottle closeouts and cellared wines at original prices.

Tasmania has about 50 producers spread across five main grape growing areas. Two standouts so far include:

Orani Tasmania 2004 Pinot Noir: Sorrell, Tas., $14, 12.2% alcohol. Many wines here have surprisingly low alcohol ratings, but that has not hurt the taste at all.

Bream Creak 2004 Tasmania Pinot Noir: Bream Creek, Tas., $15, 13.8% alcohol. Another small producer from the south end of the island, in the Coal Valley appellation area.

Others tastings:

Rothburg Estate South East Australia Shiraz Cabernet -- made in Victoria
Windy Peak 2008 Victoria Pinot Noir -- from the De Bortroli family mini-empire
Five Judges 2007 Shiraz -- from New South Wales

Laura and I both just finished Maria Vargas Llosa's Feast of the Goat. Breathtaking.

Other reads include:
Cat's Crade, by Kurt Vonnegut
Washington Square, by Henry James
Below Another Sky, by Rick Ridgeway (nothing like a whining hyprcrite to put everything in perspective)
and The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner -- beautiful and incomprehensible