Dangerousroads.org describes Jacob’s Ladder this way, “Set high in the Ben Lomond Ranges, in the northeastern part of the country, the road to the summit is totally unpaved and runs through dramatic dolerite cliffs. It’s called Ben Lomond Road. Starting at Upper Blessington, on C401 road, the ascent is 17.7 km (10.99 miles) long. The most challenging part of the spectacular road is a series of six hairpin turns known as Jacob’s Ladder. A lookout platform has been built at the top of the ladder providing superb views. The hairpin bends and the sweeping views from its lookout make the drive to the plateau an experience in itself. The views and lofty driving experience deserve to be savoured – rushing through it would defeat the point of going there.”
Over the years, readers on RReNews have learned that Joanne and I have a sweet spot for taking extensive road trips, whether over a dozen trips up the Alcan Highway as a competitor, event staff, or long weekend trips to Nova Scotia and Alaska. Or circumnavigating the Grand Canyon in 48 hours with Gary and Glenda Webb or our car treks in Australia. We like to see what is over the horizon at the other end of the road.
It started when we were on our honeymoon when we heard we were bumped from our flight home, and rather than sitting in the airport for several hours, we decided to rent a car and take the road to Hana. Several years later, we repeated the trip, but this time we had time to not only take the paved road to Hana but continue back to the resort via the backroad from Hana, in which several times Joanne needed to walk in front of the car to make sure there was no oncoming traffic on the narrow one lane unpaved road with over a dozen blind curves.
Just before the pandemic, we joined a three-week trek from Melbourne to the Australian outback town of Broken Hill and Silverton with the local All British Classic Car Club that we joined back in 2006. Silverton is truly a one-camel town, where one of the Mad Max movies was filmed, complete with a local car museum with some of the vehicles used in the film. And yes, I was too cheap to spend the $25 per ticket to tour the museum, after all, we saw the movie.
When Cheryl learned we were returning to OZ for a 12-day trek to Tasmania, she asked that I write a story about the event and compare it to how SCCA does Treks or the Alcan5000 road trips we have attended. If you know Cheryl, she never stops asking, and I find it easier to give in and support RReNews.
The car tours/treks organized by the ABCCC are very different from the long-distance events I have been on in the States. Their entire focus is on a leisurely drive with many stops to visit local sites. For those of you whose only exposure to Tasmania is the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, which featured the Tasmanian Devil which first appeared in June 1954, Tasmania is an island/state off the southeast coast of Australia, just south on Melbourne. Tasmania is widely known for having the cleanest air in the world – that combined with some of the best scenery, unique wildlife, and rich history, makes this Australian destination a must-visit. The ABCCC has a long history of organizing car treks with dozens of Fly the Flag events, which were week-long treks sponsored in part by the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria, which at times had over 200 teams touring the back roads of southeast Australia; we were lucky enough to attend a few over the years. There are no detailed route instructions, just a daily paragraph suggesting which highways to use and stops along the way to enjoy.
Our trip south from New Jersey started with a 22-hour flight via San Francisco. With an additional 8-hour layover in California to visit family. We headed to our hotel to recover after arriving and clearing passport control and customs. We scheduled four and a half days to hang out in Melbourne, visit the city we fell in love with back in 2006, and see friends from the local car club who were not planning to go on the Tasmania trek. Experience taught us that we needed at least three days to get used to the time difference and get over jet lag.
After a short stay in Melbourne, we hopped on a short flight across the Bass Strait to the small airport in Devonport, Tasmania. This airport shuts down between the half dozen flights per day, people go home and come back a couple hours later, thirty minutes before the next flight and leave shortly thereafter. Our rental car (a seven-passenger SUV) was available and gassed up. Getting acclimated to driving on the left after three years was relatively easy, but the steering wheel on the right meant that the turn single and windshield wipers were reversed, which did give me some problems. You can always tell a tourist when you see the wipers go on just before they make a turn. And don’t ask me how many days it took me to return to normal after returning to the States. One of Joanne’s jobs in the left seat was to say “stay on my side” at T intersections and Roundabouts, which are more common ‘down under’ than in New Jersey.
About an hour outside the airport, we caught up with the other vehicles on the Trek in the small seaside town of Penguin. The other dozen or so cars arrived via the Spirit of Tasmania, an overnight ferry. Penguin is a small tourist town best known for their colony of fairy penguins. The next stop was morning tea at a seaside beach and lunch at Hursey Seafood in Stanley for Southern Rock lobster. The restaurant’s motto is “From our fleet to your plate.” Then a short drive to our first hotel stops at The Bridge Hotel in Smithton. Most overnights were standard ‘rally’ type hotels used in the States. One major difference is that most teams traveled with their own wine and cheese bar in the ‘boot’ of their cars. The chairs get pulled out of the hotel rooms, and people sit in small groups having a ‘chinwag’ before heading out to dinner. I recall that the official mileage for the event’s first day was over 80 miles.
The next day, we drove an 80-mile round trip to Arthur River for a 4-hour tour Cruise and some ‘Tucker’ in the bush. The small town of Arthur River is on the northwest coast of Tasmania and is home to the ‘Edge of the World’ lookout at Gardiner’s Point. To the west is the vast expanse of the Indian and South Atlantic Oceans. There is no dry land between this small outcropping and the southern tip of South America. The winds from the roaring 40s that slams into the western coast of Tassie cause trees to grow at a 45-degree angle several miles inland. We returned to our hotel for some local Tarkine Fresh Oysters and more wine that evening.
By now, you might have guessed the event’s theme was the “gourmet and seafood tour of Tasmania.”
These types of activities went on for the next 14 days: no competition, no stress, just a lot of comraderies, stops for sightseeing, Quilt Shops, long lunches, wineries and cheese shops, and group meals at local pubs, which all seemed to have several ‘Pokies’ for extra income. One night we even spotted the full beauty of the Milky Way and several Wallabies and other creature of the night. It is completely different from the marathon events like the Alcan5000. They even speak English of a sort. You would never guess what AVO means.
One of our side trips included the drive to Jacob’s Ladder, one of the top 40 roads in the world. While at 30KM, the legal speed, the six hairpin turns on this very narrow dirt road were not as challenging as Telegraph Creek in British Columbia during the winter ‘Rally of the Lost Patrol’ TSD event, it did have views to take your breath away. Driving it during the summer, which avoided the winter ski traffic, was also helpful. This complemented our trip up Elephant and St Mary’s Passes, a couple of days later, a must-do for motorcycle enthusiasts on par with the Tail of the Dragon in Tennessee.
At the end of the two+ weeks, we said our goodbyes to old and new friends and headed to the airport for our long trip home via a two-night layover in Wellington, New Zealand, to visit the home of Weta Workshop and a half-day tour of some of the filming locations of the Lord of the Rings.
With luck, we might be back in 2024 for a trek to Coober Pedy, the world’s opal capital.
