Exploring Launceston

While Bek was helping with the party preparations (see next post), I had a chance to look around the picturesque city of Launceston. It's just a few minutes walk to Cataract Gorge, so I went and had a look.



There was also a small restaurant and information kiosk with a cute little story about when they built a small hydro power plant in the valley late last century - one of the first places in the world to install this infrastructure. The town was divided into those who were looking forward to having this exciting thing called electricity and the doubters who wanted to stick with oil lamps. But when the electric lights were finally switched on in the main street, everyone was dazzled and amazed as "night turned into day", exceeding the expectations of even the staunchest supporters. There were some peacocks and wallabies hanging around the kiosk:

After the party, Greg and Tony played tour guides for us, driving us up the eastern bank of Tamar Valley to the coast and back down the western bank. We saw some beautiful scenery, some houses they had thought about buying, an art installation of Greg's on the history of the Georgetown hospital, and the (approximate) site of controversial pulp mill. Natural beauty and heavy industry have often clashed in this part of the world.