A Gorge-ous Day
Our apartment here in Launceston is very close to lots of tall-steepled churches, right in the heart of the city, one of which feels the need to send its loud bells clanging out to the surrounding masses, at the extremely regular nocturnal interval time of every 15 minutes. Is this usual? If so, no wonder Quasimodo had a hunchback. The girls, who had opened the skylight in their room for some air, hadn’t counted on the cuckoo clock from hell waking them so regularly through the night and had emerged from their bedroom this morning feeling a little worse for wear.
Being Sunday, we had wanted to visit a church this morning and had picked St Andrews (hopefully not the bell-ringing culprits). We were welcomed with open arms and loved the service but one lady, joined by her daughters, enquired as to where we were from. When I told her, she immediately screwed up her face and said:”Oh Sydney is HORRIBLE isn’t it?!!”
An awkward silence followed and her daughters were shifting from foot to foot, obviously embarrassed and smiling to let us know they didn’t share their mum’s views.
I offered: “We really love Sydney!” but she didn’t back down, her stance strengthening as she continued to list off her numerous reasons for disdaining our harbour city.
In the end, she suggested it might be a good idea to put piranhas in the Bass Strait to keep Tasmania from becoming just like Sydney.
I love a good rant.
We also met a lovely elderly couple hailing originally from the Blue Mountains, that gave us lots of travel tips for must-see spots on our upcoming drives.
We had a nice wander around town and had lunch followed by some down time at our apartment, before making our way to Launceston’s most well-known attraction, Cataract Gorge, this afternoon. The Gorge is surprisingly close to town, just a short walk from the city centre; an oasis of sorts. A little chairlift, described on the website as offering a “delightfully slow retro ride” (read: “a bit old and decrepit“) lifts you over the pretty gorge, stretching along the South Esk River, with beautiful views over the park and gardens below. There’s a large swimming pool on the edge of the river where families had flocked to cool off today.
As we were getting ready to alight the chairlift, a little wallaby greeted us, so I readied my camera to take a snap. The chairlift operator, who clearly wasn’t having a good day, or maybe didn’t like wallabies, didn’t take too kindly to my attempts at photographing one, yelling at me to put my camera away, pull up the bar and get off the chairlift at once. He said it like he meant it and I wasn’t going to argue! There was a duo providing some live music at the cafe, while peacocks strutted around under the ancient trees. As we crossed the suspension bridge, that Sam told me was built by Princess Alexandra Suspension, (and I almost believed him) we all agreed the gorge had a distinct American feel about it. We could have been somewhere in California on Summer Camp or enjoying our Spring Break somewhere in the Rockies.
Some of the walking track around the gorge was under repair so we weren’t able to do the whole loop. Rossco found a secret spot on the map where we could drive to get a bird’s eye view of the entire loop. The views from above Launceston were sensational and perfect for some Ross Jones signature selfies.
It was a balmy 26 degrees today, so the plan was to go back home to grab our swimmers and return to the Gorge for a dip to cool off. Once we got back, everyone relaxed and only Toby, Molly and I decided to return. The demographic had shifted from tourist to local after the chairlift stopped running and the place was swarming with local teenagers making us feel even more like we were on Spring Break. It was obviously the place to be. I sat by the pool and read my book, while Molly and Tobes explored the river and the jump rock. It’s such a great place to hang out and so close to the city.
Coincidentally, one of Maisy’s fellow-exchange student friends, Darcy, who’d also been in France when she was, is visiting Tassie too and happened to be in Launceston today. They had a great time reminiscing and catching up over a kebab before we all went out to dinner at the swanky little wine bar that Toby found us: Havilah. We sampled some delicious Tamar Valley wines and some equally delicious tapas, while Maisy took photos of us all and put us through the “mean guy’ filter. To round off the evening we indulged in a family round of Cold Rock ice creams, where the kids went to town on the “fillers”.
Lonnie goes alright.
