Blog 16 Launceston

Our last stop in Tasmania was Launceston, 123 miles N of Hobart.  It is Tasmania's second-largest city and Australia's third oldest, after Sydney and Hobart.  Situated at the head of the Tamar River, 31 miles inland from the state's north coast and surrounded by delightful undulating farmland, Launceston is crammed with elegant Victorian and Georgian architecture. Launceston is one of Australia's most beautiful cities and has delightful parks and churches.  It's also the gateway to the wineries of the Tamar Valley, the highlands and alpine lakes of the north, and the stunning beaches to the east.

Our full day in Launceston started with a walking tour of Cataract Gorge.  Cataract Gorge is the result of violent earthquakes that rattled Tasmania some 40 million years ago.  It is located in the Trevallyn Reserve where the South Esk River (longest river in Tasmania) enters the Tamar River.  We walked along a pathway, known as the King’s Bridge-Cataract Walk, and originally built by volunteers in the 1890's, which runs along the north bank of the Cataract Gorge.  We started the walk on the south side of the Gorge near the cable car, the longest single span chairlift (1,019 feet) in the world, and the swimming pool.  From there we walked across the Alexandra Bridge, a suspension bridge that crosses the Esk River.  That is all of us except Bill and Tom, another of our tour group.  They walked around the Basin, a small lake that was built to mitigate flooding in Launceston when the Esk River rises during the rainy season.  There were beautiful views of the upper gorge from there.  As soon as we crossed the bridge, we came to the Cliff Grounds, a landscaped Victorian garden of ferns and exotic plants.  There we found a mob of Bennett Wallabies and several peacocks. 

Chairlift

Alexandra Suspension Club

Taking the long way around

Looking up Cataract Gorge

Pea Hen and her chick

Bennett Wallaby

Wallabies, Pademelons, and Peacocks

We then walked up the North side of the gorge.  Here the walk is close to the water and offers beautiful views of the steep rock walls.  The walk ended at the King’s Bridge, an old, wrought-iron, ornate bridge.  The bridge span was constructed in Manchester, England and then transported to Launceston for assembly in 1864.  The local assembly team used the tides to sink the concrete pylons needed to hold the bridge.  They would wait until low tide and then lower the pylon into the water and wait for high tide to put pressure on the pylon and drive it down into the river bed.  At the time it was the only form of vehicular crossing of the Esk River.  In 1904, a second, parallel span was added to widen the bridge. This span was almost identical to the original span, but was fabricated locally in Launceston, instead of overseas.  Today a new bridge spans the Esk River, but the King’s Bridge is still used for vehicular traffic.

Walking the Gorge

Cataract Gorge

Cataract Gorge

Cataract Gorge

Kings Bridge

Looking up the Gorge from the Bridge

After our walk, we drove through the beautiful wine country of the Tamar Valley to the Platypus House where they have platypuses and echidnas.  Although mammals, there two animals are monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs rather than giving a live birth.  Here we saw the House’s four resident platypuses – one male and three females.  Platypuses have the body of a beaver, the bill of a duck, the web feet (in the front) of a duck, toed feet in the back, and the males have a very poisonous spur that is used to kill competing males during the mating season.  Although not fatal to humans, if you are injected with its venom you could spend up to six months in terrible pain.

Bill's new T-shirt

Male Platypus

Female Platypus

Female Platypus

From the Platypus area we walked into the echidna room.  There were three echidnas here and they were waiting at the door for us (well, they were really waiting for our guide to feed them).  Echidnas look like a porcupine, but their quills are not as sharp as a porcupine and they do not expel them.  They have the nose of an anteater with a very long tongue.  Like anteaters, they eat ants and small insects.  Echidnas are very gentle creatures and nothing seems to faze them.  They just go about their business and will walk over your feet if you get in their way.  They would rather walk away then fight.

Echidna

Echidna walking over my shoes

On the way back to Launceston, we stopped at Beaconsfield, a former gold-mining town (the richest gold town in Tasmania), for lunch.  Beaconsfield became famous in 1906, when a small earthquake collapsed a mine.  Fourteen miners escaped, one was killed, and 2 miners were trapped in a mine shaft.  After 2 weeks the two miners were finally rescued.  To help keep them calm during this ordeal, the miners were asked what type of music they would like piped in.  They said songs by the Foo Fighters.  When the band heard this, they recorded a tribute ("Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners") to the miners on their album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.  The mine finally closed in 2012.

Beaconsfield

We made one more stop at Brady’s Lookout for fabulous views of the Tamar River and Valley.  It was named for Mathew Brady, a bushranger who irritated the government with his exploits while winning the hearts of the female colonists.  When finally captured, Brady was showered with gifts while incarcerated and had the crowd wailing at his hanging.

View of Tamar Valley from Brady Lookout

View of Tamar Valley

View of Tamar Valley

Austin Healy

Back at the hotel we had a little free time.  Bill went to the Automobile Museum where he found his old Austin Healy (except it was a different color).  I rested and packed for our flight to Melbourne tomorrow.  For dinner, we walked to the Metz Café & Bar Restaurant where we had pizza (as a main or appetizer) and I had gnocchi for my entrée and Bill had a duck leg.  Then it was back to the hotel for our final night in Tasmania.