Days 18 – 22: Hobart
29 October – 2 November 2016
A day’s sailing, being entertained lots and some bad weather kept us off the bike, although I went for a quick trip to the city, where I saw this pretty Suzuki GR650. I used to have crash bars like that on my CB175.
Somewhere in here I took a deep breath and changed the K&N oil filter so I would not be tormented by a leak in the middle of nowhere on the way home.
Day 23: Rosny to Mount Wellington/Kunyani
3 November 2016
Click on the image for a detailed map
Mrs Cormanus and I went to Salamanca Place to do some chores. I was also to have lunch with a former colleague.
Afterwards we decided that, even thought it was blowing a gale, we should do something. The rain looked like holding off and we decide to ride to the top of Kunyani/Mt Wellington which provides a 1,271 metre backdrop to the city of Hobart. The road to the summit was built during the great depression and is narrow and winding. The surface is not wonderful.
Kunyani/Mount Wellington from the Derwent River
When we got there, the gales of previous days and the cold made the views truly spectacular. My mother used to tell me that, on a good day, one could see Ben Lomond—a mountain at the other end of the island. I had never seen it, but we did this day. We could see clearly across to the east coast where we had ridden on our way down.
A great diversion, but not without a minor calamity.
In order to take a photograph, I put my helmet on top of a guide post. Or at least I thought I did. I was obviously not careful enough as a gust of wind blew it off and smashed the vent mechanism on top. That was the final straw for that helmet which had taken more than one smack in its life—due to rider neglect rather than falling off, I should add. It once rolled all the way to the bottom of a gully when I left it sitting on the seat of the CB to help a bloke on a Ducati whose rear brake kept locking. Help, of course, is too strong a word in my case. Providing moral support is a more appropriate statement.
Views from Kunyani/Mt Wellington
