Our Wicked Walkabout

Or “More River Boat fun”

The temperature this morning was single digits!!! 8 degrees! Chilly!

We left beautiful Freycinet, headed to the midlands of Tansmania.

As we headed inland, the temperature rose to a lovely 20. Still cold compared to the north, but comfortable.

Our first stop was Campbell Town, a town right in the middle. The town is know for its Red Brick.

Red Brick Bridge, and Red Brick Trail.

Both tell the story of the convicts in Australia.

The bridge, was built by convicts “of skill and desire”. The bridge was designed by a convict and built by convicts. It used over 1.5 million bricks (numbers depend on which sign you read) all kiln fired from Clay in the area. An engineering feat for the day. And still used today. Over 2 million cars/trucks a year cross it. I believe it, I tried for about 5 minutes to cross the road, and could not for the traffic

There was some commemorative art done at the bicentenary

Next to the bridge is the Inn, where supposedly the convicts were housed in the cellars, the bookseller told us “well that’s the local lore”

The next thing that Campbell Town is know for is the Red Brick trail.

A sobering memorial. It was very long.

We then headed to Launceston. The third oldest city in Australia (after Sydney and Hobart)

We decided to take a river boat cruise, it took us along the three rivers that meet here. (They are actually Estuaries)

We learned a lot about Launceston on the cruise. Not only was it the third city built in Australia. It was originally where the ships and ferries arrived. The port is more for old ships that need work now.

The King bridge was built in 1865, but then later twinned, matching the style when the original bridge became too small for the traffic needs.

The Gorge was such a tourist attraction that the Council built a walkway so that people could enjoy it (we saw lots of people walking the trail) originally, the Council charged a toll to use the walkway to recover the cost of building it. A penny a person. And the tollbooth and house were built to house the Toll keeper. The debt was paid by 1944 and they stopped charging.

The Toll-keeper’s cottage is now rented two weeks at a time to Artists as an inspirational retreat. Hmmmmm, thinking maybe Mini Painters can rent it?

We then wandered back to our hotel, enjoying the architecture… oh, and the Anglican Church that is across from our hotel!

The Hotel we are staying at has a restaurant… so we had a lovely Christmas Eve Eve Dinner, Rick had a Beef Rib, and I had Lamb Shoulder. Both were mouthwateringly good, and large portions! No pictures taken of the food