Driving up from the East to the North is an experience…not least because the vista changes so dramatically, its like going from Ireland to Scotland (literally, distance wise) via the wild west and a couple of mountains.
As usual for Tassie, not a car in sight for miles, so after a few hours, a relief to pull into Campbell Town
The public facilities are in the now defunct railway station, tidily transformed with flowers and verandas, next to lone carriage, sitting proudly displayed on tracks that go nowhere nowdays...It’s rather sad railway history all around the country on tracks that now go nowhere.
The honey here is gorgeous. I went into the traditional honey shop (yep, the towns have an eerie similarity) and tasted chocolate, marzipan, hazelnut and ginger varieties before being honeyed-out, what fun. (The Australians are very generous with the free tasters)
Arrived in Launceston, thank God for gps because it looked like London after the last few days (its about the size of Lewes), and found the hostel-and this really is a true hostel, even more so than Sydney-no towels, bedding, soap, etc…but it has free wife!!
And the kitchen was full of free food as many guests had just left; I was very excited to find cereal, pouring custard and cream, a feast.
Launceston’s river walk in the setting sun feels like another country.
Spent the evening catching up with emails and skyping family-bizarrely, now feel more homesick than I have ever been since setting off. Seeing people and chatting about home has suddenly made me miss the everyday ordinary stuff that gets left behind in the excitement of travelling.
I’ve not felt alone at all, though I have wanted to share moments and times with people, but tonight, in the bare room with no TV to distract me, I wish my family were here too.
Friday
Breakfast in the kitchen and more skyping…at least am now up to date with the news, Richard’s wedding preparations (all set for August 11 in Arundel, wonderful), Andrew’s working in Egypt (so he’s out of contact, alas), and even news of cats/hens, etc.
Set off to walk the Cataract Gorge today, and have hiked miles. Here, amazing sight, the river rushes/rolls/flows down through the mountain, opening up into a natural basin and then down and out to sea.
The hike I did (3 hours worth of steep steps/hills-there is no health and safety culture here whatsoever) goes to a disused power station originally built in 1897, a real feat of design and engineering at the time.
Like the railways, the old machinery/pipes/pits/ etc are all on display, unmanned, and you can clamber around/in/out, dispite the fact that much of the time the sites jut out hundreds of feet on a rock face above the gorge.
The bridges are suspension type, swinging over rapids, nerve-wracking but the only way across….
The green river waters after the blue seas of the East coast are stunning, and the autumn finery fantastic. There is a reddish glint, the leaves are beginning to turn here as yesterday was officially the first day of autumn season.
I drew the line at the tourist chair lift in the bottom basin, but had to ride the ‘inclinator’ (the lift), especially as that was free!
Fed up on arriving back to find that during the one car free day I’d had my little car had been ‘scratched’ in the car park in my absence..The hotel manager, who is very sweet, told me they were only the type of marks that would polish off (it looks as something has blown across it, there are trees everywhere and it’s been windy here).
This is the downside of being alone, there’s no one to reassure me when something goes awry and there are times when that’s just what I need.
It’s a roller coaster ride, up one day/minute, down the next…
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