I've had better days!

The pictures tell the story of our trip. Despite how it looks, Jazz didn't mind the boat trip. And despite how it looks, the trailer wasn't badly damaged, however it did take many hours to get it transported and fixed. Darryl, the RACT guy from George Town quoted $250 for the trip back to Launceston, then charged $220 when we got there. "He's just off the boat," said Darryl to the trailer guy and I wasn't sure if that was code for charging more or less. The trailer was repaired for a very reasonable $70 and the trip continued.

The whole reason for travelling up the east Tamar and via Bridport was to avoid the high mountain pass at the Sideling and it was probably just as well. Why did the wheel come off? Somehow the nuts worked loose and the trailer guy had two theories; either someone loosened them or, more likely, the wheel wasn't sitting perfectly against the hub when the nuts were tightened. Either way a lesson has been learned, check wheel nuts before every trip. Ten hours after rolling off the boat, one extremely weary traveller with an annoyingly alert labrador arrived at Welborough. I did have an almost overwhelming "oh God what have I done" moment (complete with music by David Byrne of Talking Heads) then slept at 8pm.

All's well today: the house is nice and bright, the dog kennel has been re-built, and the Ducati is off the trailer and parked in the woodshed.

Some food for thought. When Ben first arrived in Tas on a one-way ticket, he was only a few hours into his trip when he had an accident with the bike. It seems that I've repeated the performance on a one-way ticket, a few hours after arriving and with a two-wheeled vehicle. Lucky I'm not superstitious.