We both had a slight panic attack at around 11pm last night when we finally made it to our guesthouse on High Street Launceston.
While I had been given a code for the door’s keypad, the owner had forgotten to tell me that I needed to push the star (*) key after I had entered the numbers. I had tried the hash (#) key, and several other combos, but in the end, I had to resort to phoning her.
Thankfully she was still awake and waiting for her husband who was at the airport as well, on his way home from Melbourne. We wished we had known that, as there was initially only one taxi last night for about 20 passengers, and it took us some time to get a ride. We beat him home by about 2 minutes though thanks to Speedy Gonzales our taxi driver who hit speeds of more than 120km/hr in some sections of the journey. Yikes!!
We had spent longer at Brisbane Airport yesterday than we had anticipated due to an “engineering” issue with our plane. Jetstar had to send for a backup plane from Sydney, which by the way, I was more than happy to wait for. Thankfully, we were close to a bar and we managed to keep ourselves occupied for the extra 90 minutes.
This morning we woke to a beautiful day, and the realisation that the street where we are staying contains many elegant old homes; most of which have been turned into guesthouses.
Following a satisfying breakfast, we headed for the main part of Launceston city. Our hostess had told us that it was quite an easy (downhill) walk to the city, but the walk back would be difficult. She was right. But luckily, Launceston has Uber services.
Following a satisfying breakfast, we headed for the main part of Launceston city. Our hostess had told us that it was quite an easy (downhill) walk to the city, but the walk back would be difficult. She was right. But luckily, Launceston has Uber services.
Our first stop was the Visitor Centre in Cameron Street. Mick of course needed a map and to get his bearings. We asked for advice about how we should spend the day and were given lots of good ideas.
Launceston has many old buildings (well – late 19th Century and early 20th Century) and old churches, most of which are very well maintained.
We enjoyed our stroll through the city on the way to our next stop – the Tamar River.
Mick and I wanted to find where the boats departed from as we have a tour booked for tomorrow. We arrived in time to see two boats take about 50 passengers onboard – most of them looked elderly (or our age), and none was wearing a face mask. (Which I still am by the way!)
The walk along the river bank was very pleasant and informative, as there were signs every few hundred meetings telling us about the area.
We learnt that the Tamar River is actually Australia’s longest navigable estuary (at 70km). And as an estuary, it is influenced by tides. We saw evidence of that in a number of spots on our walk. We also read that Launceston was the site of the oldest yacht club in the southern hemisphere (yes not only in Australia) – the Tamar Yacht Club was established in 1837.
We had been told we must visit the Cataract Gorge Reserve, and that there was an easy walk of about 1km to get us to a spot called “The First Basin”. This sounded easy enough, but what the helpful staff at the Visitors Centre had failed to point out was that it was several kilometres to get to the start of the one kilometre walk.
By the time we made it back to our accommodation later in the day, even using an Uber for part of the trip, we had clocked up over 8 kilometres.
But, it was well worth the effort.
The Cataract Gorge is a 192 hectare reserve featuring picturesque views and many different walking tracks. One of the signs pointed out that being located just beyond the tidal influence, the gorge provided a very welcome supply of fresh water for the early colonists.
Mick and I made it to Kings Bridge (named after King Edward VII) to get a view of both of the boats we saw depart a little earlier on in our walk. The first span of this bridge was fabricated in Manchester, England in 1864 and the second span was added 40 years later, this time with it being made in Launceston.
Once we made the First Basin, we had to turn around and re-trace out steps. We were on the look out for morning tea and we found a very interesting cafe across the road from Launceston College. It had a Venezuelan theme – selling different products from that country, including beer and wine.
Another recommendation for us was a visit to the Queen Victoria Art Gallery at Royal Park. We spent an enjoyable hour here before our feet started to let us know we had been on them all morning. My favourite exhibition featured art by Garry Greenwood, entitled Skin.
These two saddles were incredible. Greenwood has used leather as a ‘sculptural material’.
After a few hours rest in the afternoon, we ventured out for a taste of Launceston’s Friday Nightlife. We had two drinks at Saint John Craft Beer Bar. I’d have to say their wine list was pretty poor. But, Mick thoroughly enjoyed their beers.
Unfortunately, many of the restaurants I had shortlisted for us to try were fully booked, but we did manage to find an interesting looking pub – Saint John Craft Beer Bar – where we sampled some local beers and then dined at The Metz, a few steps away.
Tomorrow brings new adventures.
Jane and Mick's Holiday Adventures 