2-11-09

Tasmania-Foster

Trains and trolleys for you, Keith.

I stayed in this town that had several aluminum sculptures along the main street. I like the dog ones the best.

Post dog

gotta be a fisherman

Poppy

home grown tomatoes

My heart gave an extra Thump when I saw this sign.

An outstanding dry stack rock wall and exceptional building. I really like the ‘Thank you’ info on the side of the building.

There are lots of gardens here in Tasmania. This is a real special country as it has good soil, enough water, although limited, and four seasons. This island has the best possibilities of feeding yourself in Australia, by far.

Way out in the country I went past this house and I really liked this flower display out by the road.

As I was riding along I got a quick look at something on this tree and had to go back and check it out.

This is a rather steep down hill little road. I rate it as the best road I have been on this entire trip. I had to go back up the hill and do this ten-kilometer stretch again. Amazing road, and no traffic.

I thought this church was so very different than most churches I see. It is now a Baptist church but don’t know if that is what it was originally.

I am coming into nice mountains.

A hog next to the road.

River looks nice.

He Bob….. I had to take off a few layers to show the guy my Bob’s Motor Werks tee shirt….

Notice the Rex express?

I was taking a nap and just woke up when a guy comes walking by in a Norton tee shirt. he stopped to talk and I find out he drives this ship of containers. He says that he makes big money doing it and spends it all on motorcycles and fast cars. He and his buddies come over to Bonneville and race. He also races motorcycles but didn’t catch where. 

There was a chopper shop near the dock and I went in to kill some time while waiting for the ferry to load up. The guy in there was really nice and we looked at the bikes in the showroom. This one does the quarter mile in seven seconds.

You don’t often see a knuckle head on the showroom floor. These bikes are for sale if you have the money he said.

Nice 45 Harley.

I had to stop and check out this guys little Diahatsu van. He was so proud of it he came over to show it to me. He bought it for $300 but had to do some work on it as well as paint it for advertising.

He opened the door and gave a ‘oh, shit!!! Someone stole my radio. It turns out that it was a radio, gps, dvd, cd and it cost over $750….. yuck….. he was pissed for sure.

This guy was waiting for the ferry in a nice pickup that he had just bought. It was going to be his daily driver.

As I was riding along sometimes I would think that it would be a nice ride down here in a sports car too. Yup, this guy says it is great!!! He built this Cobra and races it. he says there are about two hundred Cobra’s in Australia.

As I was waiting for the ferry in line I met this guy that said he was a musician and loved Blues. I invited him to come to Miles City and play for us. He plays drums and that would be a nice change from the old guitar, banjo, mandolin, harp, etc eh? He asked if he could do a sketch of me and I said sure. He only had a few minutes and this is what he came up with. It looks sort of like the photos I see of myself.

His dads old rig he is driving. He said his dad still rides…..

This kid finally took over his dads old bike. His dad is a motorcycle journalist and somehow got this special Honda into Austraila. He said he thought there were only two or three that made it in and it is a race bike. He said it was rebuilt and bored out and hopped up for his dad. He said some cycle mag is going to foot the bill to completely restore the bike and write about it in the magazine.

I don’t think I have seen any of these bikes. The guy says it is a 600cc and it sure looks a lot like the Ozdog. Air cooled and light. I like it.

A buel.

My friends I met a few days back that had gone down to the boat show.

we walked over andlooked at a few boats that were on trailers. Can you tell I washed my gear? Yeah, it doesn’t look like me anymore.

How about this extended cab vw bus.

There were quite a few bikes that were returning. The story is that everyone just goes down to Tasmania to ride as it isn’t any fun on the mainland. Now I know why I didn’t see many bikes up north.

My friends led me out of the city and out to a place where I could peel off on the little roads. I may get a chance to visit with them north of Brisbane if I get up that far.

I saw this Ute and had to go back and take a closer look. This guy bought it new in 51. he said when he ordered it it was going to cost $1000 pounds. It took a year to get to him and then the cost went up to $1200 but it has been a faithful car for over fifty years. Check out that one tail light. He had to add turn signals but only has the one tail light..

These were and this one still is a mail box like on a steet corner. Cool little crown on top and nice hand-le below.

This is a huge stock yard. I went by a sign that advertised  the ‘Tea room at the stock yard” and I doubt if something like that would go over big at the Miles City Stock Yard.

Notic that it is Hereford on one side and Black Angus on the other.