Tasmania, Australia - Launceston, Devonport, Penguin and The Nut

 A glorious autumn afternoon greeted me on my arrival at Launceston.  A bit weary after rising at 2.30am to fly firstly to Melbourne and then onto Launceston I checked into my hotel and set out on what I thought would be a gentle walk to perk myself up. The first thing I noticed about this town of around 90,000 was the number of lovely old houses and buildings lining the streets.  They really added a certain charm to the place. I wandered into City Park, bemused by the enclosure of well cared for macaque monkeys at the entrance, stopping for a while to enjoy their antics. They had been a gift from the city of Ikeda, Japan in 1981 to mark their sister city relationship with Launceston. The park  glowed golden in the low autumn sun with shafts of sunlight filtering through the large trees. 

 In the centre of the park is the most ornate drinking fountain I have ever seen. It was erected in 1897 to mark Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

 I left the park hoping to find a pleasant restaurant or bar on the edge of the river but instead took myself in the wrong direction and ended up in a light industrial area with an elevated railway track blocking any view.  Oh well, them's the breaks, as they say.  Having walked a fair distance by then I simply headed back to my hotel for dinner and a rest.

The next morning it was time to meet my Intrepid Tours group to set out on a 9 day tour titled The Best of Tasmania.  At 8am we gathered in the hotel lounge, a super group of really interesting and friendly people.  I could see this was going to be a fun trip.  Our guide, Stacey, arrived,  bubbly, very knowledgeable, capable and friendly and an amazing driver to boot. Packed and ready we headed off to our first stop at the pretty coastal town of Devonport.

Devonport ( pop 50,000) is a port town and the gateway to Tasmania for The Spirit of Tasmania ferry from the mainland of Australia. As I have written in previous blogs, I love light houses so was very happy that we made our first stop at the Mersey Bluff lighthouse.  It towers majestically over the ocean offering, as all light houses do, a safety beacon for passing ships.  Just down the hill from the light house is the Tiagarra Cultural Centre where we were to have a cleansing ceremony and learn about the culture of  the Palawa/ Pakana people, the indigenous Tasmanians of the North West region.

As we gathered around a fire pit, welcome since there was a freezing cold wind, we had our faces dabbed with customary markings in ochre by the cultural centre guides.  We were then given branches of eucalyptus leaves to put in the fire and smoke ourselves in what is a traditional cleansing ritual. From there we moved into the cultural centre for a very interesting tour led by guide, Erin. Erin was articulate and I learnt a lot about the life, art and customs of the Palawa/Pakana people.  I would highly recommend this tour.

 (Note: the ochre sets solid and is hard to remove, have wet wipes at the ready)

At the cleansing ceremony

Back on our bus and heading west along the northern coast our next stop was at the town of Penguin, which, as you would imagine, rejoiced in the theme of penguins with punny names on shops and pictures and statues of penguins scattered about.   It is another pretty coastal town where we stopped for lunch, most of our group heading to the Penguin Brewery for a meal and a local beer After lunch  I took a walk along the beach admiring the many different coloured stones and pebbles washed up on the shore.

Left: Penguin themed rubbish bin in Penguin

Driving onwards we spotted a giant monolith rising from the ocean. This was the 143 metre high volcanic plug called The Nut, the story is that it was so named as it is a hard nut to crack and we were going to climb it, well some of us were, the rest of us took the easy way and opted to get to the top by chair lift. I was one of the chair lift riders and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. As I passed over the incredibly steep path to the top I had no regrets. The view from the top was spectacular, 360 degrees of sea and land.  I joined one of our group and we took the 2 kilometre walk around the flat top and down into a bush clad valley.  Hundreds of tiny birds accompanied us flitting from tree to tree.  It was delightful. After sailing back down in the chair lift I spoke to some who had walked up the path, they said it was so steep they had to cling to the railing all the way for fear of sliding down the hill. 

Great view from the chair lift

Panorama from The Nut
Below:  Our happy crew with The Nut in the background

After a short drive around the delightful small fishing port of Stanley we headed off to our accommodation  at Smithton, where we had our first group dinner. This had been a fabulous day and a great start to our trip.

Right: Stanley at the foot of The Nut