the battery .
At a fabulous spot called Mole Creek , a bee stung me on my left hand , the same one I ’ d crushed when falling in Beechworth . My hand swelled and was so painful , I couldn ’ t pull the clutch in so was pillion again for a day or two .
Many of Tasmania ’ s roads in the north-west are unsealed and corrugated . The shaking loosened the bolts securing my air-box and battery-box . At Julian ’ s nature reserve , we found them literally hanging on by a thread . Luckily my companion had spare bolts to replace the ones which had disappeared .
The repair was done in the middle of a lush forest .
The next thing to break was the gear-selector spring . I had no third or fourth gears . We were on our way to Corinna but as dusk approached , I was apprehensive about adding to Tasmania ’ s distressing roadkill numbers so we camped at another beauty-spot , Donaldson ’ s Bridge . That night I wept frustrated tears but after a good sleep and a restorative morning swim under the old wooden bridge , set off to Corinna , a historic gold-mining town by a fantastic river .
We ’ d heard that further on at
Zeehan , there was a good mechanic but he was no help and the following morning , I had to escape an approaching bushfire at the grand speed of 30kph as traffic whizzed past me to get to Queenstown . The Royal Enfield club president had a spare high gear selector spring and was able to help out yet again just before we set off for Ben Lomond and Jacob ’ s Ladder where , ironically , only first and second gears were needed . Afterwards , as we rode through sheep country I helped a farmer put a splint on a sheep ’ s broken leg , small recompense for all the kindness I ’ d been shown .
Despite so many problems , working on the bike surrounded by rivers , beaches , gum trees and wallabies was the best sort of workshop I could have hoped for . The Enfield redeemed itself at the end of our exploration of Tasmania when it towed my companion ’ s Enfield to the return ferry to Melbourne .
The EFI had battery / charging trouble and it was my turn to be helpful and patient whilst electrical puzzles were diagnosed . But those evil gremlins hadn ’ t finished with me yet .
A fall whilst chasing our hosts ’ beagle puppy which , had made off with my undies , led to a hospital visit and my arm in plaster for two weeks due to a fractured and dislocated elbow .
With the cast removed and both bikes finally running well , we set off for a circular trip in Victoria before my journey home . It was fantastic ! The bikes went well and there were no further problems with either of them . I absolutely loved it . One wild-camp spot resulted in our sharing it with a koala which hung around watching us have breakfast and packing up in the morning . I particularly enjoyed the Omeo Highway with its winding roads and
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