March 15
In the midlands of Tasmania, the small historic village named Ross can be found. It is home to a beautifully renovated post officewhich is still operating as such and after we bought a few stamps here and some freshly baked Danish stuff from the bakery for morning thee (coffee), we headed to another historic town. It’s amazing how many historic places you come across here given the fact that almost nothing is over two hundred years old. Evendale was worth the visit and there was a nice shop selling candles and everything that goes with it. We bought some candles and candle holders to lighten up coming Christmas.
Launceston.
The Sportsman’s Wall Hotel was willing to offer us a room for the night and from here we started our discovery tour which led us to Cataract Gorge. Following a nice pathway along the river we bumped into a restaurant and could not resist the temptation and ordered coffee with a big piece of some sort of cake. The local peacock brought his feathers in order and tried to pick some crumbs and if possible a whole cake. Unfortunately for this beautiful bird we thought he was already looking healthy enough and should try his luck among other, less alert visitors. To go across to the other side of the Gorge there was a bridge and after we had tested it’s carrying capacity we returned to the hotel where, after dinner, we let Morpheus do his work and dreamed away to wake up fresh the following morning to continue our trip.
Trekking Northwards along the Tamar river we, halfway, crossed the beautiful designed and constructed Batman Bridge and followed the road to Beaconsfield.
Once the largest goldmine in Tasmania the mine is still in working order. In 2006 the mine collapsed, killed one miner and trapped two others for 14 days.
Luckily they survived their ordeal. After we looked around the mine, we toured South with a visit to the Liffey Falls in mind.
The Lonely Planet mentioned a place in the area of Liffey Falls but thanks to a visit to an information centre we discovered that this place no longer existed but the two lovely and very helpful ladies behind the desk knew of a B&B place just South of Deloraine. They rang the owner and booked us a place for the night. “How do we get there?”
“Well, when you get to Deloraine, look for the local pizza shop. Ask for Tony (if I remember the name well), he will tell you the directions to get to the B&B“.
Once we reached Deloraine we found our pizza shop and Tony. He explained that he and his missus were the owners of the pizza shop and at the same time ran the B&B. We followed Toni’s instructions and after having driven for quite a while we reached the spot which looked like the description Tony has given us. An A-frame house which was situated about 80 metres from the road. A big dog welcomed us at the gate and after we get to know each other I was confident enough to open the gate and enter the property without fear of losing a piece of my pants. The dog showed to be as good as he was big.
It took a bit to find the woman of the house but she welcomed us in great style and after she showed us the house and the room where we stayed she told Yasmine that she could use the kitchen to make dinner that night. Something which was very much appreciated by us but her hubby could have had some reservation about that because he assured us that they do home delivery of pizzas. besides the pizza and B&B business they also had an All packer farm. She herself would not be home at night because she was needed in the pizza shop/restaurant.
In the afternoon we left to pay the Liffey Falls a visit. Despite the drought they sure were worth our attention.
The breakfast was a feast in itself. Wonderfully prepared by our host, our taste buds were getting spoiled.
After having filled our vehicle with the necessary fluids in Deloraine we continued our journey. On the way we visited the Ashgrove cheese farm and wanted to buy some very tasty dairy products. BIG SCARE. My credit card was not in the normal spot in my wallet. Just think where I have last used it. The servo in Deloraine was the only possible place but after I rung them they told me that no card was found but I left my phone number in case. I informed the bank of the loss and they temporarily blocked the use of the card. Lunch at a raspberry farm where we also bought some wonderful jams.
We continued our trip to Latrobe where we wanted to spend the night before we boarded the ferry the next day to heading to that big island North of Tassie where we live.
Latrobe is well known for platypuses. Close to Mackay in Queensland is a spot “famous” for platypus sightings. We have been there a couple of times but never saw one. This time lady luck was on our side and in the afternoon we saw one of these strange animals playing in the water. Back in the Lucas hotel I received a phone call from the servo attendant. The credit card was found. It was too late to drive back and I asked if it was possible to send the card to my place. “where are you at the moment”, I was asked. “In Latrobe”, I answered. Well that was good. His dad lives in Devonport and on his way home he could drop the card of at the hotel. Indeed, later in the evening dad knocked on the door and delivered the card. Wow, that was some experience.
An early drive to the ferry. Just a short wait before we were allowed on the ferry but to find a place to sit was more of a problem. Not having booked a hut or chair, it was hard to find a good spot but after some work with our elbows we managed to position ourselves near a window. In Melbourne we drove to a friend’s place where we had a lot of catching up to do. The night was not long enough to be able to catch up with all the gossip and stories about our travels in Tasmania so, we stayed there for a short sleep.
More pictures of Tasmania click. works .