Launceston

29/11/11-01/11/11

Time to move north, having exhausted Hobart I jumped on a coach up to Tasmania’s second city Launceston where I was catching my return flight to Melbourne a few days later. The trip only took less than three hours so having left in the afternoon I arrived just before the evening had set in.

The next day I went to explore the town but found it was just the same as Hobart really, nothing of note to see. Instead I dragged myself around the local art and history museum, the latter being housed in an old railway depot. A welcome surprise I found was that the local park a group of red faced macaques which were a gift from Japan.

With the sun shining I went to hike around Launceston’s main tourist attraction – Cataract Gorge. This huge natural feature has several walking tracks so you can walk along its path. If you fancy there’s a chairlift that spans across the gorge. Instead I spent the morning hiking around the available tracks. Along the way I crossed several suspense bridges as well as visited the old hydroelectricity station. On one path along the top of the gorge I happened to bump into a kangaroo with baby joey in tow and a small spikey ant eater called a Q, bit more interesting than some of the wildlife you would see on walks back home. In the afternoon I walked along the Inveresk trail next to the history museum.