Tassie for Your First Trek

You want to make it a good one - a few days, not many more (you're still paying off the beast and your gear) so you need to get back to work pretty soon. But you want to see what she can do, there are plenty of great motorbike rides you can tackle, as long as you do it safely and don't overstep your confidence. One excellent ride is in Tasmania- from Hobart to Devonport and back again.

Hobart itself is a great city, full of stuff to see and do. For a greasy feed the night before your big ride, you can't go past fish and chips on Constitution Dock on one of the boats. Nothing beats fresh fish, battered and deep fried. Top it off with a beer from one of the pubs lining the water, and you're set for the evening. In the morning, head north; there are plenty of ways to get to Devonport, and they're all as nice a ride as the next. You can head through Buckland to the coast, through Orford and Swansea and even further up to St Helens, before meandering across through Scottsdale and then to Devonport. Or you can cut across earlier and hit Campbell Town.

If you're a bit of a history buff, a more inland route through Richmond and Ross will still get you to Campbell Town, and you can head through Launceston. And if you want a really long, mountainous route, then you can't go past the road to Ouse and out to Queenstown (the largest town on the west coast of Tassie). You can fish for trout before making your way north to the coast, and take the scenic ride through Wynyard, Burnie and Ulverstone before hitting Devonport.

Of course, your return trip could take any of these paths. Tasmania is an island rich in contrasts, and if you want a challenging or an easy ride for your first big trek, you're sure to find it here.