Tasmania’s Freycinet is a sight to behold from a Harley-Davidson

As a pillion passenger, you might find the road you’ve travelled so often is even better than you think.

As the pillion passenger, you hand over all responsibility to your trusted driver. Picture: Kevin Bull

Until a few years ago, I hadn’t been on a motorbike since I was about 18, which feels like several lifetimes ago. But with a change of circumstances, my partner bought a Harley-Davidson. So there was I, in my mid-50s, becoming a pillion passenger again — and on something far bigger than that little trail bike of so long ago.

For the uninitiated, the attraction of riding along at about 100km/h with no control is hard to believe. After all, as the pillion passenger, you hand over all responsibility to your trusted driver. Do bikes really give you a different perspective? I’ll explain by way of an example. We are on a ride up Tasmania’s east coast that is beautiful on a warm and sunny day. From Orford to Bicheno, the road snakes its way north with some lovely coastal scenery, especially south of Swansea. But these early glimpses are just a taste of what is to come. North of Swansea as we sweep around a series of bends, heading downhill, we get to one of Tasmania’s most glorious views.

There, in all its technicolour glory, is a stunning panorama stretching over Moulting Lagoon to Freycinet Peninsula, home of Coles Bay. And without the limitations imposed by a car’s cocoon and its air-conditioned “climate control”, it is even more breathtaking.

It wraps itself around me — the smell of the Australian bush in summer with scent of fresh eucalyptus is pervasive; those same eucalypts give The Hazards, the rugged pink granite mountains that stand guard over Coles Bay, a soft purple hazy glow; and sunlight sparkles like a million dancing diamonds on the water. It is stunning. It engulfs me. I breathe deep and drink it in. Such beauty deserves to be hugged and held close.

Is “pillioning” a word? No matter if not — this is what being a motorbike passenger is all about. Try it. You might find the road you’ve travelled so often is even better than you think.

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