Rail Trail Retreat

Blue Metal Cycling is proud and excited to invite you on our six day tour of exploration and indulgence. This is really one you will never forget. Departing from the centre of the North East, Scottsdale and finishing at the Mountain Biking mecca ‘Blue Derby’, enjoy high alpine plateaus, temperate rainforest, coastal vistas, beach walks, waterfalls, a rest day at an East Coast resort. It is all you could imagine from a Tasmanian gravel tour.

Scottsdale Art Gallery Cafe in northeast Tasmania is a highly regarded art gallery and cafe. The Gallery was established in 2005. The gallery caters to the discerning art lover with regular exhibitions throughout the year. Great coffee and Belgian hot chocolate are a specialty of the cafe, serving healthy light lunches, and morning and afternoon tea. You can visit the gallery and cafe which is open from Wednesday to Sunday. Scottsdale Art Gallery Cafe is an architecturally designed colour bond and glass building featuring top Tasmanian contemporary and traditional art and craft. You can experience some of Tasmania's top artistic work whilst enjoying a light meal. You have the opportunity to purchase artwork through the Collect Art Purchase Scheme which is an interest-free loan program and is available to Australian residents. You may buy sculpture, glasswork, ceramics, paintings, drawings, photography, furniture; any artwork by a Tasmanian living artist which retails between AUD1000 and AUD11500. Scottsdale is about a one-hour drive from Launceston (63 kilometres).

Tasmanian Nature Experience – 2 or 3 days/nights of the very best of Tasmania’s birdlife and wildlife. Day 1 - Travel the forest backroads to Tasmania’s highland forests to view an array of forest birds on the way to the Tyne Valley for a nature experience reviewed as one of Australia’s best - the Quoll Patrol. Enjoy a campfire dinner with the kangaroos and the ambience of a crackling campfire while sampling Tasmanian beverages before meeting some of Tasmania’s endearing wildlife characters. Day 2 and 3 - Mt William National Park – 9.00 am departure - Birds are abundant in Mt William National Park with honey eaters, wrens, robins, finches, and pardalotes found in the park. It is also home to yellow tailed black cockatoos, harriers, white bellied sea eagles and wedge-tail eagles. Migratory birds like short-tailed shearwaters and the occasional albatross may also be sighted. Day 2 or 3 - The Scottsdale region offers a range of bird habitats. We explore waterways, tall forests with undergrowth, open native eucalypt forests, plantations, farmlands and rolling hills. These areas are home to wrens, honeyeaters, robins, whistlers, parrots, thornbills, raptors, waterfowl, waders, fantails and many more.