So I go, I go, I go …
Oops, different Mole. Not Kylie territory at all, really
Once I organised a motorcycle launch for Triumph Australia up here below the Western Tiers. I rode the route before settling on it, something I would always do, but the local authorities must have seen me coming.
After I’d gone, they ripped up a bridge near Paradise, just up the road, and then they resurfaced the road down the switchbacks from Mt Roland. A week later, we all had to ride down through the riverbed at the bridge works, which was pretty exciting in deep mud. But it was even better at Mt Roland. When we arrived they had just sprayed the newly laid gravel with diesel — to ensure that the tar they were about to spread over it would bond. Did I mention it was raining? That’s why they sprayed the oil.
Have you ever ridden down a steep mountain road covered in diesel? In the rain?
This is still one of the best bike roads in Australia, though. I might change my mind if they started dynamiting bridges and covering downhill hairpins with diesel oil again, but until then it’s secure.
What makes it so great?
Well, consider for a start that it forms part of the Targa Tasmania course. It’s occasionally tricky and consistently interesting in a rally car (I assume) or on a bike. Oh, and just in case you’re wondering why I’m writing about a tricky, twisty and consistently demanding road in a cruiser magazine, it’s because I recently did it on a Harley-Davidson Road King and had a hoot.
Now, I’ll admit that Road Kings and I seem to have a bit of a special relationship. I won’t go too deeply into the humiliation I inflicted on a couple of my regular riding mates during a recent New Zealand trip. Suffice to say I cleaned them up despite them being mounted on a Honda Varadero and a CB1300 respectively. They had the bikes, but did they have the hearts? I don’t think so. Go, the King.
“Ah’m a fool, but I’ll love you dear, until the day I die…”
But even the Road King is still a cruiser and suffers from the drawbacks to which the type is heir. It’s heavy, it scrapes fairly easily and its suspension is dialled in for cruisin’, not scratchin’. Despite all that, I still had a great time on this road. Let’s find out why.
Head west out of Deloraine, as if to join the Bass Highway, and make a run for the ferry, but then turn left at the big roundabout onto the B12. The first interesting thing you will see on this road, unless you’re interested in empty paddocks, is what looks like a gigantic Bialetti coffee pot off to the left. It’s not a coffee pot, not even a symbolic one; it is instead intended to be a giant water jug. It marks the spot — presumably a spring, or a bore hole — where Woolworths appears to get its house-brand bottled water. Perhaps this news will make you a little more inclined to drink the stuff that comes out of the tap, and perhaps it won’t. I don’t know.
The ride along here is terrific, a country road almost made for cruisers. The corners are reasonably gentle, the road, being a bit closed in, is interesting and the little towns are, well, little. Just past Chudleigh you come upon the Big Tassie Devil that marks Trowunna Wildlife Park, where you can see real Tassie Devils (every Bugs Bunny viewer’s wish) and where they’re trying to save the devils from extinction by face cancer. We wish them success, because despite the fact that Tassie Devils are evil little bastards, it would be a lesser world without them.
It gets interesting after Mole Creek. The road starts the twisting dance that won’t end until you fall off your bike at Gowrie Park, and the scenery is as wild and spectacular as any you’ll find in Australia or New Zealand. From the very close — much of the road is through dense forest — to the expansive — if you get clear weather at the Mt Roland lookout — it has everything.
You do need to keep your wits about you a little, not only to stay on the road through all the twists and turns but also to take the correct route. To start with, although the road to Paradise is clearly a turnoff, it almost looks as if the main road goes to Marakoopa Cave, but it doesn’t. Stay right. Then it definitely looks as if it goes to King Solomon’s Cave and Liena, but once again it doesn’t. Stay left. It is also possible to go wrong at the Lake Rowallan (stay right) and the Lemonthyme (stay right again) intersections. Maybe you should just make sure you read the signs. The caves are worth visiting, by the way. King Solomon’s would be the one I’d recommend.
I once took a wrong turn up here, along Lake Cethana, and found myself heading up the Forth River on a rough dirt road into some very remote country indeed. When I finally gave up and turned around, I swear I could hear a banjo playing in the distance, very very softly …
Anyway, you will eventually emerge at the Mt Roland lookout over wonderful scenery including lakes Cethana and Barrington. Great views if, as I mentioned above, visibility is anything significantly above zero.
The ride down into the valley is fun and actually far too short. The diesel treatment obviously worked because the road surface is good. Turn right at the bottom and you’ll soon find yourself in Gowrie Park, which appears to consist entirely of road maintenance machinery and the sheds to store it. Don’t be fooled — the Wilderness Village is just up to the right. While the continental cakes that were a speciality of the place when it was called Weindorfer’s seem to have disappeared, the young couple who were doing the place up seemed very pleasant when I called in recently. Contact details below.
So, you are no doubt still asking (I know you), why is he recommending what sounds like a sports-bike road to cruiser riders?
Well, for a start, I enjoyed it immensely and I think you will, too, no matter what bike you’re on. Then there’s the question of why sports-bike riders should be the only ones to get a kick out of great roads. And the scenery. And lots more, including the look on your face if you miss one of those turns and find yourself hearing banjo music …
Watch out during Targa Tasmania time, but have a great time otherwise.
Route: Deloraine, Bass Highway (Hwy 1) to Gowrie Park, Claude Road (C136)
69km, 50mins
Road: All tar but mixed quality, wonderful bike road with great corners and hills
Scenery: paddocks to start with, then it gets quite wild
Services at Mole Creek
Visitor information: Deloraine Folk Museum, 98 Emu Bay Rd, 03 6362 3471. Mole Creek Guest House, Pioneer Dr., 03 6363 1399. Gowrie Park Wilderness Village, 1447 Claude Rd, Gowrie Park, 03 6491 1385
My sincere thanks to Richardsons Harley-Davidson in Launceston, who provided the bike for this ride.