Saturday, February 18 .....

I needed a walk today to clear away some of the cobwebs so I packed some lunch and set off mid-morning. My destination was the Launceston Gorge which advertises itself as the most visited tourist attraction in Tasmania. Hmmm! Possibly true, but I would have thought Port Arthur might have a claim on that title.


However, it is beautiful and well worth several visits. My plan was to complete an easy walk and add on something a little harder if I felt up to it. Early in the days of the colony, a power station was built to catch the water in the South Esk River and a lot of work was done at that time to attract visitors into the area. I started walking from the beautiful Kings Bridge, along the northern side of the Gorge until I got to what is called the First Basin. The Second and Third Basins have now been inundated by Lake Trevallyn, but the First Basin is spectacular. There is a large swimming pool, beautiful lawns for picnics a suspension bridge, restaurant and cafe and a chairlift.

The chairlift claims to have the longest span of any chairlift in the world and I have no idea whether that is accurate or not. The restaurant, imaginatively called The Gorge Restaurant, is surrounded by beautiful gardens, super trees, ferns and rhododendrons. Peacocks were introduced here years ago and they still frequent the area. It’s certainly a great place to re-generate and relax.

I was impressed with a very large pine tree which seemed to have footholds cut into the trunk for the whole height of the tree. The tree was an odd pinkish colour and the foliage was a bit dry so perhaps the tree is reaching the end of its life. If so, it will be a major job to remove it safely.

One of the problems that limited access to the Gorge is that it is a very steep climb down from the carpark on the southern side – OK for young people but a bit hard for older folk to get back up to the car. But, today I discovered that the council has built an Inclinator which runs from the carpark, right down to the lowest level with three other stops in between, to give access to the cafe, toilets and the start of other tracks. Fantastic! I bumped into one of my past staff members and, like me, she was heading for the inclinator to take the easy way down.

On the way back I was surprised to find an art piece in among some big boulders. I've walked here many times but have never noticed it before. It consisted of two round stones with flat polished faces. On one was engraved the words LISTEN VII SILENT and on the other, the same words but in mirror-image. I notice that the words LISTEN and SILENT contain the same letter so perhaps there is something magical and significant about their conjunction.

Anyway, by the time I wandered around, I didn’t feel like an extended walk and was happy to get back to the car and head into town for coffee. A good day out!