GO DOWN UNDER TO FIND A DEVIL
Yes, it’s on the other side of the world – but Tasmania’s definitely worth the trip
‘Biking nirvana and like no other place on Earth’
Australia offers some unique riding opportunities, as does New Zealand (at number 8), but don’t forget about the island of Tasmania – because it’s truly epic. Largely unmolested by modern life, villages are Truman-esque quaint, the people are genuinely nice and Garden of Eden-like countryside is picture-postcard perfect. Perched under Australia’s chin 10,000 miles away, this apparently small island is the size of England – but with a population of less than half-a-million humans (and the odd Devil).
Spend idyllic days blasting through seemingly never-ending sequences of exquisite corners, riding for hour after hour and burning through (cheap) tankfuls of fuel without ever seeing a straight piece of Tarmac. Tyres wear out on the edges before the middle, here. Tasmania is biking nirvana and is like no other place on Earth to enjoy any kind of motorcycle. Sure, we can all think of our favourite roads, whether it’s that blast you had across the Swiss Alps one summer, or a morning scaling the Pyrenees, but here it’s like all the best roads on Earth have been scooped up and laid down spaghetti-like as a utopian playground for bikers.
A day’s ride can replicate stretches of the Alps and Pyrenees for breakfast, a scaled-up facsimile of the TT for lunch and, for tea, a selection of the finest roads from all over the globe. It’s that good. One minute you’re riding through dense, tree-lined forest roads, littered with dizzying second gear flip-flops, the next you’re treated to gently undulating, heart-in-the mouth fourth-gear sweepers. Occasionally you find moonscapeclear straights, without a car or side road in sight, where even a superbike, flat in top, can feel lost. Of course, it’s not exactly practical to ship your bike to the other side of the world or know someone who’ll lend you one, but hire and tour companies make it devilishly easy. Pure temptation.
HERE’S ONE YOU CAN DO
Hire a bike from motoadventure. com.au and if you go nowhere else head down the A10 from Bridgewater to Queenstown and on to the B24 to Strahan (pronounced Strawn).