TasWeekend: The ride of a lifetime with Tasmanian eBike Adventures
PRISTINE beaches, vast views and historic scenes make for a top tour on two wheels.
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ABEL Tasman was the first European to sight Tasmania. Recently, I hopped on an electric bike and rode to where he anchored and his men came ashore. I didn’t use his 1642 words — something along the lines of “it behoves us to thank God almighty with grateful hearts” — when I saw this stretch of Bangor coastline. It was breathtaking, but I hadn’t taken a harrowing journey across the Indian Ocean like Tasman — I’d found the turbo button on my e-bike and cruised across the landscape.
This iconic yet little-visited landmark is part of a full-day tour with Tasmanian eBike Adventures. The recently launched business provides full and half-day adventures at Bangor, known for its wine and oyster shed. The privately owned property extends about 5100ha on the Forestier Peninsula, is blanketed with native grasslands and forests, and has 35km of coastline. The region holds stories and middens dating to early indigenous inhabitants.
Our full-day tour begins at Smolt Kitchen with pastries, coffee and e-bikes in tow. We take off in the opposite direction to morning commuters, arriving on the peninsula less than an hour later. Kitted out in safety gear, we are issued our Haibike e-bikes, made by the German company that pioneered electric mountain bikes.
It takes little time for our group to get familiar with our chubby-wheeled mates. Those who haven’t swung a leg over a bike in years are soon pedalling, country air in their hair and chuckles escaping from beneath their helmet. A push to the pedal rewards with a gentle “assisted” surge forward. With 25km of riding ahead, we all take to the electric support like naturals.
As we get comfy on our e-bikes, pedalling up to Cape Frederick, the stories begin to unfold. Owner-operator Ben Rea takes no more than eight guests on these rolling journeys and it turns out he’s a natural storyteller.
What’s more, his passion for the landscape and its early people is almost palpable.
His tours are designed around the environment. It’s not often my schedule is arranged around the moon but it is with Ben.
“We only operate the full-day circuit six days a month,” Rea says. “This is because we ride in synch with the tide. Just two periods during each moon cycle allow the tide to be low enough for us to ride on the beach without disturbing nesting shorebirds.”
As I tuck into a gourmet picnic lunch overlooking Two Mile Beach, I understand his respect for it. The beach is pristine and footprint-free. There’s not a human in sight aside from two cheeky souls who have abandoned our group lunch and dived off the nearby rocks. It’s glorious and all ours. Here, Ben shares tales of the first interactions between Europeans and the indigenous Tasmanians, who would have first sighted them from here. After lunch, we cycle across Two Mile and through ancient stands of blue gum.
All the while, Ben points out wildlife, including a pair of wedge-tailed eagles. The property is home to Tasmanian devils, wombats, quolls and many much-loved Bangor merino sheep.
On a grassy headland we can see as far as Maria Island and well up the South East coastline. Then we roll our way around to Monument Bay.
Tasman dropped anchor nearby, just off Visscher Island. His carpenter got busy fashioning a flagpole from local timber and swam it ashore at Monument Bay, where he raised the Dutch flag.
We are invited to sit and take in this historic scene on the round-stoned beach. I wonder how the Dutchmen felt all those years before.
Apparently, Tasman’s men were unlucky in their search for water and edible plants during their three days ashore. They saw smoke, but did not make contact with the Tasmanian Aborigines.
On our journey home, we sneakily engage extra support from the faithful e-bikes. For our efforts, Ben rewards us with Bangor bubbles and fresh oysters from the Bangor Wine & Oyster shed.
How could we refuse? It’s a fitting way to finish a hard-earned (and turbo-backed) Bangor bike ride.
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