4th March 2008

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4th Mar 2008
We set off early from Hobart to get to see Ian Sanderson in Launceston. We stoped on route for a coffee in Campletown and managed to phone Ian to tell him we were on our way.
He has a splendid house set in 9 acres of land and has a long drive with some very mature and large trees in the front of his property. What struck us both was the similarity in style with the Vern and Annette's house in New Zealand. Single story plenty of space around the property and views everywhere!!!
Ian took us on a whistle stop tour of Launceston which has some fine historic buildings. Launceston has a very friendly feel to it and still has plenty of independent shops in it and is like our own high streets were 40 years ago.
We then went for a stroll up Cataract gorge which is on the edge of town. It is a delightful walk with a good size swimming pool and the gorge is apparently used for canoeing competitions.
The park in the gorge was opened in Victorian times and still has bridges across the river and bandstands constructed at that time. A very pleasant afternoon stroll.
We had originally planned to stay with Ian overnight but we had also committed to meet Roger at Bruny ferry the next morning and it was about 3 hours drive from Ian's house so rather than start out at 6 am in the morning we opted to make our way back to Hobart that evening to get us closer to the ferry terminal.
Ian made us a splendid barbeque meal accompanied by home brew beer and ginger beer. We sat out on his deck to eat our meal in glorious sunshine. It was a pity we only had such a short time with Ian as we know he could have pointed us to some good bush walks in the area. We really will try to make a return visit.
We left Ian's house after the meal to make our way back to a motel in Hobart.

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