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Following on from the fires we read about on the way to MONA, an unprecedented statewide total fire ban has been declared for the next 4 days (until the end of the Australia Day long weekend). According to the Mercury (Tassie's paper), some burnt out areas in northern Tasmania are "a sea of blackened trees and smoking logs fire service officers believe may smoulder and smoke until April." April!! That's more than 2 months away, and apparently that's nothing to worry about...
Anyway. After our morning coffee in New Norfolk, we make a quick early detour from our drive up to Launceston, to visit the grave of Betty King. Elizabeth "Betty" King, neé Thackeray is believed to be the first white woman to set foot in Australia. She was one of many convicts sentenced to 7 years transportation for a relatively minor crime; in her case, the theft of 5 handkerchiefs. The story goes that by the time her ship, Friendship, reached Sydney, she was acting as ladies-maid to some of the officers' wives. The officers' wives were supposed to be the first women to be carried across, but they didn't the men to carry them over safely, so Betty was the guinea pig!
Driving north to Launceston, our next detour is to Callington Mill - the only working 19th century mill in the Southern Hemisphere. You can buy flour ground here :) It's in the appropriately named village of Oatlands. This has a very English feel, and we spot hedges - a rarity in Australia! "I hadn't realised how much I miss hedges. So green. I like a good hedge." - Alex.
Onwards to Ross. Here we learn some interesting info about the north/south divide in Tasmania. In 1804 due to governors that couldn't get on (one was army, one was navy...), the country was split in half, on the 42 degrees south latitude line, into two counties - Cornwall in the north and Buckinghamshire in the south. In 1812 they were united, but the divide remained in the hearts of Tasmanians. In 1959 reps met from Hobart and Launceston to improve relations and it was reported that "nobody admitted there was actually a war, just a difference of opinion." City clerks even ceremoniously buried gold painted hatchets!! Despite these efforts, there is apparently still a divide indicated by what paper you read, which beer you drink.
Outside Ross' Tasmanian Wool Centre and Wool Museum, is a large group from the Handweavers, Spinners and Dyers Guild; predominantly older ladies spinning yarn on proper old spinners, and having a good natter. The museum provides more information and touchable wool samples than most people would chose to collect together. There's also some genuinely interesting info on the history of the town next door.
The main attraction is the Ross Female Factory - an institution which housed female convicts. They were used as a free laundry service for the town, it seems. The original buildings have long since crumbled away, but information boards placed around the site force you to wander the snake infested grounds to find out more. The women were split into 3 groups; Crime Class (reoffenders), Second Class (newly arrived probationers) and Hiring Class (well-behaved "passholders"). Passholders were permitted to seek work in households outside the factory walls. There they would often fall pregnant, and were promptly returned to the factory to serve further time for their "crime"...
Onwards to Launceston, where on arrival we drive straight to its premier attraction, the Cataract Gorge. The chairlift to the other side claims to be the longest single chairlift span in the world, at 308 metres. It also carried the Olympic flame in 2000! Having persuaded Foxy that he'd rather take a chairlift than walk to the other side in the heat, we hop on. As he's not a huge fan of heights, I probably enjoy this more than he does! The gorge is beautiful and we enjoy a walk along one side to a lookout, past some crazy local youths tombstoning off a rock into the river. Back at the park, there are peacocks (who have actually become a bit of a pest due to visitors feeding them) and wallabies in the grounds. Alex survives the chairlift back over the river, and we enjoy a paddle in the swimming pool (which doesn't fit in at all, and could certainly have been done more sympathetically, but seems popular with the locals) to cool off.
A quick visit to City Park, before we drive to our Airbnb for tonight. Alex puts together a delicious dinner platter with Tasmanian smoked salmon. Eager to be out of the way of our host family, we head back out to Launceston for a quick drink in a craft beer pub. The smell of smoke is noticeable outside, and we almost bail due to the haze on the streets. It's cleared by the time we drive back though, which is useful as we keep a wary eye out for wallabies. There is noticeably more roadkill on the roads here. On a possibly related note, Tasmanian drivers are noticeably worse than those we've seen in the rest of Australia!
AB
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