Slightly earlier rise this morning. Well, there wasn't a lot to see in Gladstone. Today I rode south from the town, having decided on Scottsdale as today's destination. A gradual climb out of Gladstone through the forestry area actually yielded the last of the coastal views I expect to see for a few days at least. About 20km or so of ups and downs put me back on the A3 road, which was, unfortunately, slightly busier than anything I'd ridden for the last day or so.

Back into the wind again, another westerly carrying gale warnings all over Tasmania. I think that makes for days in a row turning this thing aside. Still, that effort is hurting the wind a lot more than it's hurting me I can assure you. The ride wound it's way up and down through rolling fields, many of them a blaze of colour with the poppies in season. The mountains in the background made for an even more interesting ride.

A sharp 2km descent through a gorge led me to the town of Derby, which I decided was worth a lunch stop. After riding up and down the main street a couple of times, I eventually settled on the Berrie House for lunch, and let me tell you this was a great choice! I ordered the Lasagne with Salad, and it was absolutely massive! The salad was reminiscent of some of the salads I'd had in Uki in the Tweed Valley, it was so big that I really had no idea what I would find there as I ate my way through it. Nice people running the place too. It gets a hearty Chris L recommendation that place.

I left the place after stuffing my face, and continued to head westward into the wind. Good thing it was such a massive feed! A few more ups and downs through the tiny settlement of Branxholm, one sharp climb that stood out from the rest through the forest ultimately yielded good views toward the rolling hills and a couple of watercourses to the west. After that, the ride flattened out and became relatively uninspiring.

Eventually I turned aside enough of that headwind to reach Scottsdale. I free-camped at the Lions Park on the eastern edge of the town. The area was quite a pleasant one, although the ducks were a little insistent on wanting to steal my food. I took a late-evening walk among the ponds in the park which was reasonably pleasant. As to the town of Scottsdale itself, well, it's just basically a service centre for the north east and not much to write home about really, so I won't.

Look closely - this was the last I would see of the ocean for a while. In fact, I hadn't even expected to see it here.

The Blue Lake, near Gladstone.

Perhaps not quite as blue as that of Mt Gambier on last year's tour.

Or maybe this is just a better picture.

The North-East "forests".

The poppy fields near Derby

What's a day in Tasmania without at least one hill?