MOT Tour Day 21 - Entally House & Tamar River Cruise

On the Tamar River

So many things to do, including trying to catch up with a former Tamworthian, so we spent the day juggling around the one commitment we had for the day, a cruise down the Tambar River.

A large part of the morning was spent at Entally House, one of those old, early white overlords houses that are dotted about the place. This one is just a few kilometres away from us and we arrived there not long after it opened for the day.

Built in 1818 - yes, that’s 200 plus years ago - that places it’s construction during the time Lachlan Macquarie was doing things in Port Jackson that would lend his name to streets, bays, public toilets and mountain pass all over Australia. The original owner was Thomas Reiby, son of renowned early Sydney businesswoman and ex convict Mary Reiby and the first Thomas Reiby. Young Thomas came to Tasmania with his wife Richarda, the daughter of King George IV’s physician and the great grandmother x3 of lady who gave us our talk this morning. Thomas II received a land grant at Hadspen and called it Entally after the town his father where his father had served in India.

Entally House

A special wing was added to the house called the Governor’s wing, so that powerful political visitors would have their privacy. That was the circles they mixed in. Thomas III was born in 1821, one of three. He and his brother were sent to England for an education, which culminated in Trinity College, Oxford but they both returned to Australia before finishing they theological training, when Thomas II died.

Thomas III married Catherine McDonald Kyle in Plymouth on his way back to Australia. Soon after arriving, he was ordained and began his ministry locally, using his own money to begin the building of a dolerite, blue-stone church in nearby Hadspen. However controversy descended on him, when he was accused of trying to seduce the wife of a member of the local aristocracy. He withdrew from society, taking his money out of the many local organisations which relied on him, including the church in Hadspen which had to stop the building.

When he eventually resurfaced, it was to accept the nomination to stand for the state electorate, winning the election handsomely and every election that followed, over the next 29 years. Early in his political career he became Premier and finished as speaker of the House.

The Good Shepherd Church at Hadspen

He restarted the building of the Church of the Good Shepherd when elected and both he and his wife are buried behind it. A visit to the church, which was sold by the church to pay for reparations for victims of child sexual assault, reveals a clear line of demarcation between the first part of the build and the second.

We had a morning tea of scones and jam and I stupidly and temporarily forgot I was allergic to gluten. I don’t know why.

Not returning to the van, we did a few chores and then headed to Home Point and our afternoon cruise with Tamar River Cruises.

It was a fine afternoon and the commentary was informative and occasionally funny on the way down the river. The Tamar is actually an estuary - a very long one - which is fed by the south and North Esk Rivers at their junction very near to where the cruise commences.

Click here for today's photos

We covered 40km down and back and finished with a short detour up the Cataract Gorge on the North Esk. A spectacular cleft, it has a walking track, mainly tacked onto the wall. There used to be an aqueduct running along the opposite wall, high above the waterline and held there by iron posts driven into the hard volcanic rock by convicts suspended in wicker baskets. It could take up to a week to drill and drive a post into the rock.

After the cruise, we picked up our click and collect from Woolies and headed home.

A full day.

MOT Tour Day 19 - Burnie to Launceston

Whoopee. Left the caravan park before 10am for once: 8:30 in fact.

The Big Penguin

Road day today in order to move the 139kms to Hadspen, which is on Launceston’s door step. Superior caravan park in a chain we have been members of for quite a while. They’ve changed names a few times as they have bought out other groups and become bigger, but their quality has always been consistent. The one we stayed at in Burnie was below par. Clean enough - just. Sites were good enough - just. No one died, although the young bloke living in Toyota van near our site probably will and won’t be found for a week or two!

First stop was at Penguin, east of Burnie and still on the coast. Quaint little place. The big penguin statue was decorated in the colours of some coming event, which is a regular manner of advertising. Friendly locals and nice coffee from the one we chose, The Letterbox Cafe, which was located beside Australia Post. Penguin adorned the garbage pins, were on the notice boards, in shop windows and of course, there was the big bugger at town centre. The only problem was, they were the black and white variety and the ones who come ashore along the northern coast of Tassie are the Little Penguin, notable for a shiny, blue coat. I knit pick.

The Uniting Church deserves special mention. On a rise, facing the ocean in two directions, it opened in 1903 with its unique design by William Henry Morris. Morris was a well known architect in the North West. The window design is most unusual. Shaped like keyholes, they feature stained glass. We couldn’t see inside, but I read that carvings by Morris feature, including the handrail on the gallery. Most of the windows have been protected with clear Perspex on the outside but not from vandals or passing boys trying to mark their position in the group but rather from hail. The coloured glass would be very expensive to replace. A new cross stands at one of the high points on the top of the gable, illuminated at night to advertise the faith of those who attend.

A passerby - a local - engaged me with commentary about the church, which started with admiration for the building but ended in caustic comments about “the homosexuals who run the Uniting Church”. In accepting his point of view I did pose the question, “so you’d prefer the pedophiles that run the other churches?” He left.

As did we.

The other cool thing in Penguin was a street library, located in a replica of Dr Who’s TARDIS and senior lady, standing nearby, encouraging people to borrow.

The House of Avers, on the Bass Highway at Latrobe, is a chocolate factory and cafe, which provides you with information about the history of chocolate making and a collection of museum pieces which illuminate that history. Lots of chocolate moulds. You can also watch chocolatiers doing their thing on the other side of the glass, which was fascinating. Sue went shopping. Wyndarra Lodge, as the building was formerly known, is an oversized Californian bungalow, built in 1931.

Down the road a bit further - nowhere was far today - we stopped at Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm, with the raspberries filling the hills behind the cafe/restaurant. Two big dams provide all the water they need to grow the berries and they are covered with netting to stymy the birds. We ordered gluten-free scones and raspberry jam. Judging by the time it took to clear up the debris in my moustache, they were delicious. Ron was pleased.

Click here for today's photos

We hoped to visit Pearn's Steam World but ran out of usable time. Shame, I love steam engines. We had several other things to see on our way but for a combination of reasons had to scrap them. We did find time to call in at Westbury Oval to see and photograph the giant  wickets. After seeing “big things” all over Australia, I declare these my favourite!

Hoping to catch up with former Tamworthian,  Marcus Wilson for coffee tomorrow.