The Bicheno motor cycle museum is a great place for bike lovers. Glenn oohed and aahed and wanted to stay forever. Some of these bikes are for sale. My favourites were the Vincent, the Adler & the Triumph Cub.
1938 Triumph Tiger............................. 1945 BSA
1947 Triumph Speed Twin....................1949 Vincent HRD Rapid
1951 AJS...............................................1951 BSA
1951 Triumph.......................................1952 Adler
1952 Triumph Tiger..............................1953 Triumph Terrior
1954 BSA..............................................1954 Royal Enfield
1956 BSA Shooting Star........................1956 Triumph Plunger Cub
1956 Harley Davidson..........................Noriel 4 Cafe Racer
1958 BSA Spitfire.................................1958 Guazzoni
1959 Ariel............................................1959 Triumph Bonneville
1960 Triumph Bonneville.....................1963 Catalina Rocket Gold Star
1965 Motobi........................................1968 BSA Shooting Star
1972 Triumph Hurricane.....................1975 Kawasaki
Triumph..............................................Triumph
We left to go to St. Mary's, along the way we stopped at Natureworld. Here we saw parrots, exotic pheasants, white cockies, black cockies, budgies, rainbow lorikeets, tasmanian devils, koalas, snakes, lizards, ducks, wombats, wallabies, potoroos, kangaroos, kookaburras and lots more. Amazing when a mother kangaroo bounced over to me and sniffed my hand, she let me pet her and when I moved my hand away she nudged me to pet her again. I didn't try to touch her joey, I thought that might be pushing the friendship. I then took a photo of her and she bounced away.
Back on the road to St. Mary's, we went through Elephants Pass and it was just as beautiful as I remembered. We worried when we got to St. Mary's and the petrol station had run out of petrol, but so we headed off to Fingal and hoped we'd make it. Next stop was the little Christ Church in Cullenswood where my 3x's great grandfather James Worker married Mary Ann Reade in 1854. It was such a bright day that every photo I took here is overexposed. I was disappointed the church was locked, the last time I was there it was open and I wanted to take some photo's of the inside and the lovely stained glass windows but it was not to be. We took a drive up to Cornwall, grandma had said some of her family had been tin miner's there. I checked the memorial wall but as none of ours had died in the mines none of their names where listed. The collectibles shop in Cornwall was interesting, there was some good stuff but it was mostly overpriced rubbish.
On the road back down to Cullenswood we saw a tiger snake on the road, Glenn dodged it and then said "Quick, wind your window up, they attach themselves to your axle and climb up into the car!", I was terrified, then I saw him laughing and he said it was still on the road...not funny Glenn - SLAP!
When we got to Fingal we were very relieved to find a petrol station that actually had petrol, we filled up and went to take a few pictures of St. Peters, another lovely stone church, but again it was too bright for my camera to handle and it too was locked.
Off now to the Fingal forest and the Mathina Falls. A long rough ride on dirt road, but wow, well worth the drive.
The Fingal forest is a working pine forest, it was a tough climb to the falls, a windy, narrow steep climb at times, but it was beautiful and smelt like Christmas. Wow, these falls are beautiful and a must to see.
The falls are on 4 levels, I only walked to the second level, Glenn climbed to the top. I laughed when at the second level Glenn took the camera to get a "better" picture and fell in...hahahahaa, still laughing about that.
Picture of the walk back. Picture of the Mathina River.
We checked out the map and agreed we were running ou t of days to go to Avoca, Falmouth, St. Helens, Branxholm and Myrtle Bank so we decided to get some dinner and head for Patsy and Blair's in Launceston.
The once thriving gold town of Mathina is now a very small place, in the main street there is a coffee shop, the Mathina club and a milk bar. The people were very friendly and welcomed us into their conversations. At the end of the main street is a s ign, LAUNCESTON 91 Klm, we'll do that in an hour we thought. LOL, it was fine until we hit gravel road and we were on what the local's call "The Widow Maker"...ugggg. In all honesty it was a pretty trip, lots of forest, kangaroo's, wombats and wallabies, but it was a hairy drive, up, down and lots of windy bends, not easy when the setting sun is blinding your vision. We stopped fora a break and took a couple of pics from Mt. Echt.
Finally the road dropped down into the very pretty town of Upper Blessington.
Back on tar now and it didn't take long to reach White Hills where we got phone reception again and we were able to tell Patsy and Blair we were only 15 minutes away. So happy to see them again! Coffee's, lots of laughs and chat and a great sleep in a comfy bed.
The once thriving gold town of Mathina is now a very small place, in the main street there is a coffee shop, the Mathina club and a milk bar. The people were very friendly and welcomed us into their conversations. At the end of the main street is a s ign, LAUNCESTON 91 Klm, we'll do that in an hour we thought. LOL, it was fine until we hit gravel road and we were on what the local's call "The Widow Maker"...ugggg. In all honesty it was a pretty trip, lots of forest, kangaroo's, wombats and wallabies, but it was a hairy drive, up, down and lots of windy bends, not easy when the setting sun is blinding your vision. We stopped fora a break and took a couple of pics from Mt. Echt.
Finally the road dropped down into the very pretty town of Upper Blessington.
Back on tar now and it didn't take long to reach White Hills where we got phone reception again and we were able to tell Patsy and Blair we were only 15 minutes away. So happy to see them again! Coffee's, lots of laughs and chat and a great sleep in a comfy bed.
