Well you might ask.

Is he Allthego?    It might just be.  No.    Just some other imposter.

Who is James Boag promos

We are In Launceston and have enjoyed a short ramble at the James Boag Beer Lovers centre. Plenty of info on who James Boag was but not who he is. So the mystery remains.

Also a bit of a wander around Launceston’s streets and parks.

Launceston’s Albert Hall, its not the Royal Albert, but not bad anyway!

The trip up from the Bay of Fires through Scotsdale in bright sunshine and blue skies was great. We are enjoying it now,  seems some bright sunny spring weather is following us around!.  Called in at Ledgerwood were the main attraction is a row of old trees that were planted after WW1. The town lost 7 of its sons and planted 7 trees to remember them by, another 2 trees were added to remember Gallipoli and the ANZACS. A few years back the trees were condemned, getting a bit old it seems. Instead of cutting them down completely a Chainsaw Sculptor was engaged to record the 7’s likenesses in the trunks of the trees. It is a great way of solving this dying tree problem, although there is an ongoing need to preserve the dead timber and  prevent rot through the root system.

The Chainsaw fix of the Ledgerwood WW1 remembrance trees

In Launceston we have also spent some time in Cataract Gorge. The South Esk river flows through this gorge and then mixes with the North Esk River to form the Tamar River, which then flows about 70km to the sea. Launceston sits on this confluence. When we were in the gorge there was a Kayak race going on featuring Michael Klim  (our Olympic swimming star). He came last, but we think he was there for event publicity purposes.

Kayak race in the Cataract Gorge

ave also driven up the East side of the Tamar and then back down the west side. Why you might ask? The east side of the river is a grazing type usage, sheep and cattle with a few crops. The port at Bell Bay also dominates. On the west bank it is grapes and lots of them and not a lot else.

Well it just needed to be done. This is because we have only completed 12 Great Short Walks from the booklet of 60 Great Short Walks and there was another that could be done on an island in the Tamar River. But alas we didn’t make it. We will have to settle with 12 Great Short Walks and leave the rest for another time.

We have been staying at Hadspen, about 12km south of Launceston. It is nearby the Woolmers Estate. This sheep  property had been in the hands of the Archer Family for 6 generations until the last direct line Archer (Thomas VI) died a bachelor. He placed the estate in a Public Trust and it is now World Heritage listed as an example of rural colonial and  convict life from the mid 1800s. The main rooms of the house remain as they were in the 1840s (Thomas VI lived ‘out the back’ he died in 1994) indeed the dining room  does not have electricity connected. The old family furniture is still there. Its like the people walked out in 1850 and nothing was altered. A must place to go if you get to this part of Tasmania. The gardens are being restored and a very large Rose Garden  in the style of the mid 1800s promotes a national rose garden objective. Roses everywhere.

The Homestead at Woolmers Estate

A rose in the National Rose Garden at Woolmers Estate

We now head for Devonport and our last stop before joining the Spirit of Tasmania on the voyage back to the Big Island.