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Published: February 25th 2014
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Today was a day of contrasts. Clear skies of the morning gave way to a hazy day caused by smoke drifting from a coal mine fire in Victoria. Apparently a wind change expected overnight will give us smoke free vistas again tomorrow.
Grindelwald is a Swiss styled resort a few kilometres out of Launceston, and has become a tourist attraction as well as somewhere to stay, play Putt Putt or more serious golf, or just dine to the cardiologist's horror. Still, the resort is worth a stop even for curiosity value.
We were impressed with the art work around the grounds, and Marg was impressed with the stylish dresses for sale at good prices in the resort shop. While very attractive, maybe not camping style!
From Grindelwald we drove into Launceston and to the upper car park of the Cataract Gorge.
The walk down into the gorge from here is quite steep, down 123 steps I am reliably told. This Gorge is worthy of time walking around and enjoying the scenery. Some have said it is disappointing because of the commercial development. I don't agree. There is a great swimming pool to one side of the river,
a couple of restaurants and of course the chair lift. While the chair lift can get in the way of some photos, it does mean that many more people who are less agile have access to the gorge and its facilities.
We had in mind walking up to the power station but a rock fall had the path closed temporarily. However, the 1904 suspension bridge and the central area including the walk down to town is all in very good shape.
Naturally if you walk down 123 steps, the return was the same. By then a cup of coffee and lunch were most welcome. We then drove (2nd gear) back down the road to town, a road rather reminiscent of driving in Wellington NZ, twisting our way back to the CBD. We stopped at the yacht club and took a picture of the Kings Bridge, and then the new highway bridge is seen over the top of the 100+ year old bridge.
Launceston has some beautiful mansions built up on the hill side, but with no stopping on the roads, its hard to get photos.
We headed north from Launceston up the eastern side of the
Tamar valley to Lilydale where there is a free camp and waterfalls in the forest to photograph. Access to the falls is under a redundant railway bridge and then up more steps and a good path towards the lower falls. We were crossing a little bridge when a platypus jumped off a rock and into the stream, disappearing into its burrow rather quicker than one can get a photo.
There has not been much rain in this part of Tasmania for a while, so the falls would not compete with Niagara, but each fall has its own little gift for the photographer to capture. At some time past logs have fallen into the stream and have stood right in the path of the water, and photos.
We retraced our track back to the motorhome, had a coffee, looked at our photos, and it seems it was my turn to cook dinner. I produced grilled Tasmanian Salmon steaks served with what ever we could find in the fridge/cupboards. The fish was very fresh and very tasty. I think I heard my cardiologist say that I was getting the idea of healthy eating at last. I withheld a smug smile
Grindelwald 1
Grindelwald Resort, Tasmania knowing that a couple of bakeries famous for vanilla slice were only a couple of days away.
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Mum &Dad
non-member comment
Enjoying your efforts
Thanks for the latest effort it is good to see what you are seeing from our armchairs with little effort. All ok here Blessings from 136