Love the report grover, tassie is my fav place on earth ,one day I'll go around by bike.

Mal , I've had this trip on my bucket list for sometime , had it not been for Rossko's opening of this thread , I may still be pondering the idea. 
If you can , get yourself down there , it's a hoot on those roads. 

Day 10 . Launceston to Melbourne .  the return to the mainland . 

An early morning dash from Launceston to Devonport to meet the ferry. 
Having left Launceston at 5am, it was quite a fresh morning , and considering we only had our summer mesh jackets on . extra linings were applied to the outside to reduce the breeze penetration. 
The trip lasted about an hour . 
Sunrise over Dry's Bluff near Liffey. A part of the Great Western Tiers.


Meeting up once again with the Packo's , for a friendly trip home . 


entering the ferry . They placed all the solo bikes on a seperate deck , putting us in with the general population. 
I managed to request chocks for the return home , all travelled well.


Melbourne in our sites. 


I could have easily opted for another night on the beach here . the evening was just right for an outdoor stopover.
From here it was a half hour ride around the bay to pick up City cases to be carried up to Rt's for collection by werewasi.
Rhys had exhausted himself following a full day together with Griff on the ferry. 3/4 of the way around the bay, he nodded off , and almost ejected himself. Luckily we were only doing around 30kmh in medium traffic .


Kurth kiln listed in the freecamps book , looked very promising . We gradually worked our way out of the city limits,and up through to Gembrook , the home of Puffing Billy. Whenever the occassion arises , we enjoy riding the old steam trains , this is one I wish we had time for. no luck this time. 

The dark of night fell quicker than expected , so it was around 11.30 before we reached the forest edge , the area containing the Kiln, water wheel and camping ground we were wanting had eluded us , and was on the opposite side of the forest on another access road.
this is what we expected to see in the well presented campground area.
I would recommend a visit here to any one travelling through or those who are local. a good overnighter.


The GPS was not responding to the input of the camp site. It took several attempts to wave down assistance, finally a kind local led us to this area. The tent managed to hold up for one last night, despite damage sustained in Tassie, providing Rhys and I with an enjoyable last night of camping. Finally in bed by midnight.Crystal clear night skies were admired before hitting the sack. A  sleep in the following morning was well received. Managing to get on the road by 10.30 with clear weather to lead the way. The road leading away from Kurth Kiln back to Packenham is a must for day riders, meandering through the state forests , with plenty of winding roads and scenery to inspire the senses.




 Next day we continued our trip home as we ventured along the East Gippsland region , and on through the south coast area of New South Wales. Our proposed camp tonight was to be at Scrubby Creek rest area , just south of Eden, which is also listed as a free camp .We arrived into Eden at around 7.30pm , reserve light had been on awhile , so fuel was a must . 3 fuel stations in Eden , not one was open . I tracked down a local resident for info, he was kind enough to donate 10L of fuel to get us to the next town 20km away.  Rhys had no intention of wanting to campout again tonight , and insisted we push on to Batemans Bay where our family were staying . This meant a further 4hrs of riding , of which 2hrs were spent in the dark and moderate rain. We made it into our lodgings at midnight , tired and wet. but it was good. Rhys was more than happy , he was up at 7am to catch some bait fish for the days fishing  . we Spent the next few days here before catching up with a few Krew members for the stralia day gathering.

Surf  frisbee
    

 The bike ran flawlessly all the way through., giving plenty of power where needed, brakes held up well , no sign of the usual sponginess , as on previous warm trips. Additional lighting with the new Cree LED's and change of globe was an added advantage during our run up to Kurth Kiln and the long leg from Kurth kiln to Batemans Bay . 717km  ( 8hrs 45 mins ) taking us 13 hrs to complete. 
A must do ride for any rider.

A brief overview of the ride . 
The K was well suited to this trip , the roads and the conditions . Fuel consumption was good , still average similiar miles as an unladen bike. We moved along smoothly , at times a little hot around the lowers , as expected. 100 kmh @ 4000, was our average which suited us fine. Given that Rhys had not much long distance experience on a bike , he handled the trip very well . Tassie has many wonderful attractions , a few which escaped our grasp due to time constraints . We undertook this trip as a riding adventure , to sample Tassies roads , and that we did. A big plus from us on this great part of Australia.
It was a pleasure and privilege to share our experience here with the forum. cheers Ed.

Smashing trip report Ed. Tasmania looks much more inviting than I imagined. Thanks.