Why this ride
It goes by way of Cascades Female Factory, Coal Mines Historic Site and back through Cascades Female Factory. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Tasmanian Wilderness and Coal Mines Historic Site
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 340 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 52
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Tasmanian Wilderness
At this latitude, almost the whole of the southwest corner of Tasmania is wilderness in the strict sense: no towns, almost no roads, and a climate that comes straight from the Southern Ocean. The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area covers a fifth of the island and includes button-grass plains, glacier-carved valleys, rainforest and the long white quartzite ranges.
Read the complete Tasmanian Wilderness write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tasmanian Wilderness is where the day begins. Next is Cascades Female Factory.
2. Cascades Female Factory
In the shadow of kunanyi, the mountain that rises behind Hobart, a set of high stone walls in South Hobart marks the site of the Cascades Female Factory, where thousands of women convicts transported from Britain and Ireland were held in the nineteenth century. They worked here at laundry, sewing and other labour, and some were punished with solitary confinement, hard work or shaved heads. Many arrived with children, and the death rate among infants was appallingly high. The factory is part of the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage listing, which includes eleven places across Australia that tell the story of the forced migration of convicts and the building of the colony.
Read the complete Cascades Female Factory write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cascades Female Factory comes up about 122 km into the recorded legs. Next is Coal Mines Historic Site.
3. Coal Mines Historic Site
The worst convicts in Van Diemen's Land were sent to Port Arthur, and the worst of those were sent here. The Coal Mines on the Tasman Peninsula, in southeastern Tasmania, were established in the 1830s to supply coal to the colony and to punish repeat offenders with hard labour underground. Men worked in dark, damp shafts and tunnels, hauling coal in terrible conditions, and solitary cells were built for those who broke the rules. The site was closed in the 1840s, and today the ruins of the barracks, cells, chapel and mine shafts lie scattered among the eucalyptus forest beside the sea. It is one of eleven places that make up the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage property, listed in 2010.
Read the complete Coal Mines Historic Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 170 km into the recorded legs you reach Coal Mines Historic Site. Next is back through Cascades Female Factory.
4. back through Cascades Female Factory
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cascades Female Factory write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cascades Female Factory, late in the day. Next is Tasmanian Wilderness.
5. Tasmanian Wilderness
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tasmanian Wilderness write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Tasmanian Wilderness. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Tasmanian Wilderness to Cascades Female Factory
Tasmanian Wilderness → Cascades Female Factory is 122 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Cascades Female Factory to Coal Mines Historic Site
Cascades Female Factory → Coal Mines Historic Site is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Coal Mines Historic Site to back through Cascades Female Factory
Coal Mines Historic Site → back through Cascades Female Factory is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cascades Female Factory to Tasmanian Wilderness
back through Cascades Female Factory → Tasmanian Wilderness is 122 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.