Launceston and beyond!

Our first few days here in Launceston were spent familiarising ourselves with the local area and of course, settling in to our new place and getting to know our new family of pets! Here we are looking after 3 Schipperkes; Ebony (4) and mum to Max and Evie (2), then there is a chihuaha-X called Threepence who is 17 years old and a delightful little girl and finally, a lovely cat, Buddha!

Almost 2 weeks here and we are getting along famously - they have us right where they want us!!

Launceston is dominated by the Tamar River and the countryside is not dissimilar to Devon back in the UK, with haystacks and grand Victorian houses nestling on hills above the riverbanks. Launceston is the third-oldest city in Australia (first settled in 1804), and whilst little of its elegant colonial Georgian architecture remains, the city does have in abundance many fine examples of colonial Victorian architecture. The real attractions though are its natural assets. It is situated at the confluence of the narrow North Esk and South Esk rivers with the breathtaking Cataract Gorge only minutes from the town centre.

The surrounding countryside, reminiscent of home, with rolling green hills and strawberry farms but also, wineries and lavendar plantations. It is idyllic.

Our "home" for the month is in the eastern suburbs and from where we have a spectacular view of the bush-covered hills which fold back in to the distance to Ben Lomond, a popular winter skiing destination.

The gardens are chock full with the most fragrant flowers and roses - jasmine trails over the fence and as quickly as we cut the roses there are more blooms - everything really is rosy in this garden! Hayfever has really taken hold but 'tis well worth the sneezing and runny eyes to see nature at its best - one of the many feathered visitors to the garden is the blackbird whose sweet shrill we have missed since being away from Europe - it's nice to hear the birdsong as opposed to the birds squawking!!!!

Journey to Launceston

The journey to our "home" for the next 3 weeks took us through mostly dairy country, although there was the odd patch of surviving rainforest and the remnants of the tin-mining industry.

The most beautiful part of the drive, with views across the valleys to the sea, was the Weldborough Pass, predominantly myrtle forest with manferns and occasional tall blackwoods.

We passed through Derby on the Ringarooma River which was made famous by the profitable Briseis Tin Mine between 1876 and 1952. Scottsdale was where we stopped to stretch our legs but everything was closed (saturday afternoon situation normal!). Scottsdale is a large town which services the agricultural and forestry industries of the northeast.

As we progressed through the north of Tasmania we drove through rich and settled agricultural country and arrived at the Tamar Valley whose fertile soil made this area prosperous during the early colonial period. Approximately 30kms inland at the meeting of the Tamar and the North and South Esk rivers we were in Launceston.

We made our way to the local airport where we dropped of the hire car and where we met the homeowners of our next "sit". We spent a very pleasant evening getting to know our new "family" of pets and enjoyed supper and conversation until it was time for bed.

The Bay of Fires, Binalong Bay and on to Launceston....

THE BAY OF FIRES is on the North East Coast of Tasmania and stretches 29km from Binalong Bay in the South to Eddystone Point in the North. It is an area of remote sun drenched white sandy beaches broken up with headlands of the famous orange lichen covered granite boulders. It was named by Capt. Tobias Furneaux of the HMS Adventure on the 17th March 1773. It was named thus because of the number of fires the local aborigines had alight inland of the coast. The Aboriginal name for the Bay of Fires is Larapuna.

BINALONG BAY is the only town on the Bay of Fires and is a holiday village with a permanent population of around 200.

Despite the miserable weather yesterday, today (Saturday 8th November), we were able to venture down to the beach at Binalong Bay which is a popular surf spot - it is at the southern end of the mesmerisingly beautiful Bay of Fires and although the weather was very windy the sky was blue and the sea a bright turquoise blue albeit a very rough sea! The beach itself, a white quartz sand, with blue-green she-oaks and emerald boobyalla fringing the beach - quite stunning.

We took the partly sealed coastal drive to the scenic spot known as The Gardens before retracing our tracks and picking up the Tasman Highway cutting across the northeast highlands towards Launceston where we will be house and pet sitting for the next 3 weeks.