Too old to die young

Visitors to Tasmania, and about 3.5 million arrive each year now, come in many different ways: on the ferry or aircraft, with their cars or intent on hiring them here, via motorcycles and on board boats large and small.

A modest few take a different method of transport around our bit of turf … and a different view, too. They are cyclists, the old-school pedal to the metal kind.

In New Norfolk, we caught up with Kerrie Maynard and husband Scott Fowler, who are riding around Tasmania on touring bikes. For those who know bikes, theirs are the Trek 520.

By now, they’ve travelled the Lyell Highway to make stops in Queenstown and Strahan then north up the Murchison to the coast, across the top through Devonport and down to Hobart. Port Arthur will figure in the route, too. 

For these New Zealanders, this is their first time in Tasmania. And you’d think, that’s a long ride for the holiday season.

Turns out, not so long. This couple, now in their 60s, have ridden most of their home country, north and south.

For fun, they’re done the Oodnadatta Track, the 600 kilometre unsealed section across South Australia.

And to stretch their legs, they’ve cycled Melbourne to Perth to Darwin to Brisbane.  

Over four years of summer holiday rides have taken them through some wild country.

Soon they plan Brisbane to Mt Isa, a mere 1800 kilometres. And when they run out of sections of Australia they want to see, Scotland and France are on the horizon.

What do they like most about their travels? Hard to pick, really, says Scott, who shoots photos and video of their travels and posts them on Facebook. The places, yes, but the people, most of all.

They decided on Tasmania after a brief conversation with some people out on the Oodnadatta Track. Good things were said about Tasmania and plans were made.

They estimate they've done 40,000 kilometres over the past four years, so this voyage around Tasmania over the next days is small potatoes.

And their teeshirts tell the story. They say, simply: Too old to die young

When we checked in with Kerrie and Scott this weekend, they’d reached Port Arthur … although in truth, they’d left their bikes in Sorell and taken a bus down the Peninsula. 

“We’re giving our legs just a bit of a rest,” Scott told the Gazette.  

You can see where they are now at Facebook. Look for: Too old to die young tour of Australia