15 Jan 2023
This morning when I checked Tasalert, it warned me there was a bushfire between Lunawanna and the lighthouse that I was intending to go to that day. Since the fire had started only the night before, I thought there was a good chance it would be controlled before I got near, and so I packed up camp and headed to Alonnah, where I would ask around about the fire before deciding whether to continue further south.
I left the Neck at 8:30am, and was soon passed by 3 fire trucks that had come from the mainland via ferry. The ride was otherwise a bit of hard yakka as I had a headwind most of the way, and a crosswind for the rest! In Alonnah, I looked for a place to eat, when a police car pulled up next to me, and the officer told me they were about to block off the road a bit further down and that I should turn back. I asked if things might change in the next couple of hours and he said any updates would be on Tasalert, but it was unlikely to change today.
I got a soy latte, bacon and egg pita, and a potato cake from the general store and tried to wait a bit to get some chance of pressing further south. The feed was exactly what you'd expect from a general store. I lasted only an hour of waiting in the cold wind, checked for any updates, and the answer was that I just had to go back. They had closed off access to Cloudy Bay too, so basically I had seen everything that I still had access to. At this point I felt that the fire could very well last at least a few days (and it did) so I decided to head off the island the next day. At least I hadn't gone south first, because then I would have been on the wrong side of the fire when it broke out! I imagine I would have been evacuated by helicopter if that had happened, but that still would have been quite stressful.
Today I returned to the Neck once again, dumped my gear in the same spot I had packed it up from just a few hours ago, and rode 9kms north to do the Cape Queen Elizabeth hike to The Arches. On the way back to The Neck I stopped at the Bruny Bread Fridge and got some chocolate covered anzac biscuits. I would have liked to try the bread but I didn't really have the capacity to take a whole loaf. Make sure to bring cash for this! My biscuits were delicious.
It was a very nice, flat and scenic ride all the way to the trailhead. Once again, I felt that I could see more of the views when heading north. As it turned out, the start of this trail was very wide so I rode my bike as far as I could go, feeling good that the fatness of my tyres was finally being put to good use. The last third of the hike was very overgrown and bush-bashy with brush scratching at your legs all the way to the beach, and I was wearing lycra shorts! Would recommend wearing long pants for this. I took the low tide shortcut even though I knew it wasn't low tide, because I didn't feel like getting scratched at any longer by plants. I thought I may see The Arches from a distance, but I couldn't. I got to see some nice rock formations, though I honestly didn't really feel like this hike was worth it, probably because I was already tired.
The end of the ride back to The Neck was unpleasant as the wind had picked up. I had a headwind again, but the biggest problem was that I couldn't hear when cars were approaching from behind in order to force more space between us as they pass. So I walked about half of the last 3kms to feel more stable on the road!
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