Last Day - Georgetown to Devonport

A few more words about the night before. Our farewell dinner was at the Bass & Flinders Museum which was a fabulous setting. It had a boat in the room which actually had sailed into Tassie. We could go into the boat and check it out. The staff were wonderful and gave us a great meal. They really looked after us and put up with the loud and rowdy mob we were until midnight.

Photo shoot at George town

The photo shoot took quite a while to set up and was really hard to fit all forty  bikes in. However, everyone patiently stood there while at least ten cameras clicked away. Some of the women had to click away with a few extra cameras. Photo was taken at the back of the Pier Hotel in George town in the morning just before leaving for Devonport.
It was only fifty klms to Devonport so we planned to go via a few small interesting towns as didnt need to be at the boat until 5.30pm.
First we went to Westbury where some hung around to see the Steam Centre, where a mini steam train was in action around a property and there were two big sheds with a private collection of steam equipment such as steam rollers, tractors, etc.
Next we went on to Deloraine, a quiet little town with lots of craft shops and some cafes. There was a great fifties style cafe which was a must to see.
We then went through Railton and onto Sheffield where murals abound all over the town. The view of Cradle Mountain in the background was stunning. A few more little emporium and arty shops to visit then off to Devonport.



A mural in Sheffield

 The backup van that Tony got the tosser for was still out of action. However, we managed without it for the past week thanks to the few extra backups from Kylie, Alena, Rachel and Sue. Luckily we only had one bike out of action, that is until Lyndal's bike broke down about an hour before boarding the boat. Lyndal claims that Lola tried to take it for a spin the night before and stuffed it on her.
 There was a bit of a scramble to rearrange the vehicles before boarding as Peter and Toni's backup van was still out of action and not joining them for another week. We managed to reorganise and board the boat with one less vehicle with no problems, that is until time to get off.  Micks faithful 38' Chev which made it all around the island with no trouble, had battery failure just when it was time to leave the boat. Turns out the fan switch was left on overnight on the boat. Lucky the little tosser award "Bob" slept in on the boat, otherwise someone would have been wearing it. The last we saw of him was a picture floating around of him still asleep in bed.


Micks 38 Chev



Lamont & Wanda

  We had a some overseas friends on this tour. Lamont and Wanda from Iowa, USA. Lamont rode a Harley throughout the tour and Wanda chose to ride in the vehicle some of the time. This was a great opportunity to get aquainted with Wanda and we had plenty of laughs while driving around. They tell me they had a great time and was their first time in Oz. They will be flying home on Monday.
Another family from Sweden, Jorgen, Catarina and daughter Hannah came out for the tour also. They are regular visitors here and to some international rallies. They joined some of us for the UK tour in 2009. Daughter Hannah found English and our food a bit challenging but overall they all had a great time also. They will be here for another few days enjoying the sights of Melbourne.   There was also Tim Randall from the UK who is also a regular visitor to Oz and also
                                                                                                                         joined us on the UK tour.

Catarina, Hannah & Jorgen from Sweden



Tim Randall from UK

There were quite a few people from interstate as well. The three amigos Jim, Charlie and Chris from WA, who were spoken about earlier in the tour. There were also a few from as far as Queensland, Darryl and Phil White. Dave and Deb and Graham and Cheryl. 
 

Dave and Deb from QLD

                                                                   Christine Hemphill's brother Karl also joined us for the first week on his first  tour with the club and on an Indian. He did really well especially as he didn't even become a contender for the tosser award.  

Karl Hemphill

 

The last word goes to Kylie, who I think is a warrior woman, She managed to be
mother, roadie, nursemaid, backup, and all usually single handed. She had four small children to care for and did it  single handed most of the time (Darren was there when not riding though). She was in the car with the trailer when the backup van failed the last week but nothing seemed a problem for her. She gave a lot of the woman something to strive for if the men have their way and thats how to back up a trailer. Unfortunately havent got a pic of her as she didnt keep still long enough but three of her little ones are in the party pics.
Must not forget Toni and Peter. Thanks again for a well planned tour guys!!