MOT Tour Day 22 - Launceston

Crossing Cataract Gorge
on the suspension bridge

A day which started with ums and ahs and never really got any better.

Before the tour, one of the highlights for me was to be the drive up Ben Lomond and the infamous section of six hair pin bends and extreme slope called Jacob’s ladder. It looked like something serious for the Forester to do, especially descending under its specifically designed drive train and breaking system. Unfortunately, Sue had grave reservations (and nightmares) about the drive and in the end, that was enough for me. Satisfying my desires at the cost of causing her fear wouldn’t ever be part of the equation these days. It would be reckless and I no longer do reckless.

Instead, we drove into the city and parked on the other side of the North Esk River, by the University of Tasmania (UTAS) and then walked back across the river and along Tamar St. The first corner we came to, clearly an old pub, hosted a gentleman’s club, although no gentlemen I know boast of their enjoyment of “personal lap dancers”. Maybe that’s because their service is “discrete", despite being advertised on the windows outside.

Yet a block up, we found the prestigious Albert Hall, once the focal point of cultural and social activity in Launceston. Melba sang here in 1909. A further block and we were walking in City Park. It occupies a full block. In the first corner we arrived at a permanent enclosure of Japanese Macaque monkeys! A full range of family relationships, all seemingly quite happy. I did find it a tad bizarre.

Chairs by design

We walked down to have a brief look in a rather large conservatory at the centre of the park - yawn - and then up to the south corner and Design Tasmania. It’s a place where design is king and practicality is whimsy. Sue loved it. Peter, not so much. It was like looking at scenes from hip movies of the mid to late 1960’s. All that was missing was David Hemmings. There was some pretty cool pottery and one or two tables that caught my eye but in the main I was left wondering why art doesn’t stay on the wall rather than tempt me to sit on it. Every chair in the place had no entry signs on them.

We walked up Brisbane St for a bit, in search of a cafe, eventually finding one in an alley, where we sat to one side while people brushed past. Around the corner, a more conventional establishment allowed people to spread out and sold cakes I could eat. In leaving, we stumbled through back alleys and eventually out onto St John’s St, near St Andrew’s Church and from there onto Cameron St and the Civic Square.

Civic Square

What a lovely space they have created in what must be the centre of Launceston. Cameron St seems to have been the commercial street of city, running from Royal Park and the junction point of the Tamar River and the two Esks in the south west, up to City Park and the Albert Hall in the north east. City Square sits in the middle, with the Post Office and it’s imposing circular tower on one corner, the Town Hall on another and big public building we could not name the third.

Back through the square - which isn’t really a square - you’ll find Macquarie House, originally built in 1830 as a warehouse for wines but then the barracks of the Red Coats from the 1840’s for many years. It’s built of convict bricks and sandstone lintels.

A wonderfully appointed public library is prominent on the square. It has its own cafe! In the middle of the square is a wet area for kiddies to play in small jets of water.

Walking north east along Cameron St, near the City Park, we found the impressive Hotel Grand Chancellor, completed in 1989 and designed so it would fit in with the older buildings of the precinct. It cost $44 million.

Back to the UTAS car park, lunch and then some shopping requirements met at Bunnings but not at other nearby shops.

We went back to Cataract Gorge, as promised, walking the track which passes over the suspension bridge first opened in 1903 but destroyed and rebuilt since. It has a distinct wobble just passing over it but offers unparalleled views of the area. We stopped for afternoon tea at the cafe high above First Basin and the South Esk River. It reminded us both of Katoomba, with its gardens and trees established more than a hundred years ago.

Crossing Cataract Gorge
on the chairlift

The final fun activity for the day was the chairlift ride which spans the downstream side of First Basin and large areas of bush. It’s a deliberately slow progressing ride, which allows plenty of time to take it all in. My primary concern was to not drop phones, cameras, backpacks, hats … born out as we approached the climax of the ride by the numbers of items strewn on the roof of the cafe on the car park side as we approached our dismount.

The remaining hour was a frustrating succession of housekeeping duties made far more difficult by missing turns, being in the wrong lanes and programming the GPS incorrectly so that we returned to Cataract Gorge instead of going to Woolworths. The wrong lane cost us 25 minutes as we had to leave town on the highway and wait until we could get off and return.

Click here for today's photos

In the last gasp, Sue saved the day, spotting a Green Parrot, a bird only found in Tasmania. Not surprisingly, it not really that green. Slightly bigger than an Eastern Rosella with the colours rearranged.

Our last day in Launceston. It’s been enjoyable but neither of us like cities much. The weekend beckons and friends of our longest acquaintance. Looking forward to the weekend.