Launceston
The weather outlook was always going to have a major influence on our plans for Tuesday and Wednesday since we were under strict instructions from Warbo to make sure we visited Cataract Gorge. Fortunately, after overnight rain, Tuesday dawned fine and clear and we headed off after breakfast in search of somewhere to park the car for the day - a search that wasn’t helped by the fact that in downtown Launceston inexpensive parking is hard to find.
Fortunately we found a spot slightly off the beaten track near the Launceston Rugby Club ($4 for all-day parking, thank you very much) which was conveniently close to the restaurant complex at Home Point, the ferry terminal and, most importantly, the River Edge Trail which took us to the Gorge,
As previously indicated, I’m not the world’s most experienced traveller but there can’t be too many other cities around the world with an area of such rugged and basically unspoilt natural beauty in such close proximity to the central business district.

We took the Zig Zag track which came with a health-advisory message suggesting that the route was not suited for the unfit. Given that our fitness level is the result of an hour-long morning walk five days a week and not much else I wasn’t totally confident of staying the distance but we handled it OK and were rewarded with some spectacular views before we descended to the suspension bridge across the Gorge.

Having delayed our departure from Protea Hill until well after the rush hour had subsided, taken a diversion from the car park to the downtown tourist information centre, and avoided any sense of urgency along the trail it was around midday when we arrived at the Gorge Restaurant, which seemed like a suitable lunch venue. Assuming we get the chance, we’ll definitely be returning...

After lunch we took the relatively easy path along the northern bank of the South Esk River, heading back towards the CBD and an afternoon’s stroll through the city to look at old buildings. A quick feed of fish and chips preceded our return to Protea Hill and the bottle of Bay of Fires Riesling that awaited us in the fridge.

