BIG BIKES,
BIG HEART
T
hick, damp, heavy air hangs
just above the still waters.
The scene is wintery, a col-
lection of working boats and
pleasure yachts sit idle, as if
waiting for something to hap-
pen. Despite the image portraying
another time of year, it’s summer and
the temperature very pleasant.
We’re riding a couple of Harley
Davidson’s down Tasmania’s Channel
Highway, following the shore of the
D’Entrecasteaux Channel, it’s picture
perfect. A truly beautiful part of
Australia.
Although close to the island states
capital city of Hobart the Channel
Highway is surprisingly devoid of
other vehicles, not surprising when
looking at a map. The road is a loop
that follows the coast then onto
the banks of the Huon River before
joining the Huon Highway, a main
road that too is almost bare of all
vehicles, it heads south to the town-
ship of Southport. Perhaps a road to
TRAVERSE 77
nowhere?
These roads are magnificent,
perhaps constructed with American
bikes in mind, long sweeping cor-
ners, open and wide, allow the big
bikes to glide graciously through the
curves. I’m loving the simplicity of it
all.
Hobart to Southport, the long way,
is only 174 kilometres yet these roads
could take you days to complete. It’s a
rider’s paradise, an explorer’s para-
dise, a tourist’s paradise. It seems we
were forced to stop every five minutes
to visit another site, another forest,
another quaint town. So much to see
and do, yet not cramped at all.
The Harley’s, a 2018 Sports Glide
and a 2018 Heritage Softtail, provided
by Southern Riders Tasmania were at
home in this area. The team at SRT
had told us to take them for a few
days, we laughed that we would need
them for that long. Bugger! I wished
we’d taken them for at least a month,
there’s just so many perfect Tasmania