St Helens to Launceston - 7th January 25

We had a very early start today so that we could get to the Forester Kangaroo Drive in time for dawn. We left at 4:30 and after a quick petrol stop we drove about 50 miles north, mostly on unsurfaced roads. On the way we saw lots of wallabies, a wombat and kangaroo, but it was too dark to photograph them.

We pressed on as the light got better and eventually arrived at a 15km loop of forest and scrub land which we spent the next hour or so driving around. We saw more wallabies and some Forester Kangaroos.

From here we drove back along the road to Eddystone lighthouse. Back on the road we continued along unmade roads but this time heading west and towards the north coast. We stopped at a small town called Bridport for some breakfast. On returning to the car I noticed that one of the rear tyres was soft and after finding a garage to pump it up we pressed on west towards Platypus House at a place called Beauty Point. We had booked a tour at midday and we were shown around seeing a number of platypuses and also some echidnas. (They are relatives as the only two egg laying mammals).

Back to the car and the tyre was again low. We pumped it up again and decided to head to Launceston, our stop for the evening and about 30 miles south along the Tamar Valley.

On arrival we found a tyre garage where they investigated and then replaced the tyre while we found a pub for a drink.

Our hotel was not far away. Once we picked up the car it was mid-afternoon and so we checked into the Mantra Charles Hotel. Having dropped down the bags off we took a walk into town, passing through a park with a fountain and then having a couple of drinks in the town centre. Nothing to write home about in the town centre, although there is a pretty Victorian style park which has some Japanese macaques, a swap many years ago with Launceston's twin city who donated some wallabies in return. Sadly the enclosure had closed so we couldn't actually see them.

The whole of the centre was pretty quiet really, perhaps because of the end of the Christmas and New Year period and before Australia Day later this month.

We walked back to the hotel for a shower and change and then back into the town for some food when I had my first ever oysters! (not that dissimilar to mussels). It had been a long day so we walked back to the hotel via another pub for a quick drink and an early night.Leggi altro