Story: Rob Tanner.
The day dawned reasonably fine, but with a forecast of showers and 19° for our Safari to Southport.
Meeting at the Rosny Bowls Club car park at 9am, we had an excellent turn up of 12 cars – including Ian and Karen Bradshaw from the Western Victoria Chapter, who were on holiday, cruising our great state in their NB, and Lindsay, who has just moved to Tassie with her beautiful NC.
A warm welcome to them was extended by all, and we hope they enjoyed our run. Also great to see Steve Mannering and his wife, whom we haven’t seen on a run for a while.
After the usual chit chat, we headed off across the Tasman Bridge, via Hobart city, and on to Ferntree in the Mt Wellington foothills, down through Lower Longley, and up to Vince’s Saddle, a fantastic 25km section of MX-5 winding black top.
Turning right on to the Huon Highway, we headed down through Huonville, and on to the Petty Sessions café at Franklin for a much-needed pit stop, and morning cuppa.
Back on the road again, heading south on the Huon highway, the forecast rain duly arrived, and continued intermittently through Geeveston, Dover, and all the way to Southport.
We rolled in to the Southport Hotel, Australia’s southern-most pub, for a very enjoyable lunch, and a couple of hours of socialising. The pub is a very modern building, with a great restaurant and fantastic meals.
From Southport, the only road further south is a gravel road of about 40km down through Lune River, Ida Bay (home of the famous Ida Bay Railway), Catamaran, and Cockle Creek, which is Australia’s southern-most settlement – a very popular camping and fishing spot in the summer time.
Unfortunately, during lunch, the rain set in, and we had a rather damp run back to Dover where we turned right on to the Surveyors Bay-Police Point loop which is a run of about 20km of brilliant tight winding MX-5 road, with little or no traffic – and, on a fine day, brilliant coastal views. The rain slowed things a bit, but it was still lots of fun.
Back on to the Huon Highway, and on to Geeveston, where we stopped at the local café for a coffee, a bit more chatting, and then back on the road to Hobart.
A great day was had by all, with great food, great company, and, despite the rain, those fantastic Tassie roads.
