28th October 2009

Off to Hollybank Forest to fly through the treetops! Their motto is "Why walk when you can fly". We made a booking for 1.30pm.

With time to fill in we went to have a look at Lilydale. In the Lilydale cemetery we found the graves of 6 relo's, so I took pics for my family tree book. We then found the library, ut oh, what a laugh, we didn't know the library was only open to the public Thursday & Friday nights and on Saturdays, and we walked right in on a school class. They were very forgiving and very helpful and allowed us to use the library, they photocopied some information for me, including a picture of my ancestor Peter Chadwick Chick who was the original ANZAC wounded at Galipoli and saved by Simpson & his donkey.

Back to Hollybank......WOW, this is an absolute MUST DO. You are harnessed and attached to a flying fox and sent "flying" through the treetops, there are no camera's allowed so I don't have any pictures, but I do have a "signed" certificate to prove I did it! Check it out

Back to Patsy and Blair's for dinner and an evening of great company. I was so tired I almost fell asleep on the couch.

27th October 2009

At the Bicheno information centre I was allowed take a photo of a portrait of James Ebeneza Bicheno, Colonial Secretary of Tasmania, he is the man my convict 3x's great grandfather had to get permission from to marry.


The Bicheno motor cycle museum is a great place for bike lovers. Glenn oohed and aahed and wanted to stay forever. Some of these bikes are for sale. My favourites were the Vincent, the Adler & the Triumph Cub.

1938 Triumph Tiger............................. 1945 BSA


1947 Triumph Speed Twin....................1949 Vincent HRD Rapid


1951 AJS...............................................1951 BSA


1951 Triumph.......................................1952 Adler


1952 Triumph Tiger..............................1953 Triumph Terrior


1954 BSA..............................................1954 Royal Enfield


1956 BSA Shooting Star........................1956 Triumph Plunger Cub


1956 Harley Davidson..........................Noriel 4 Cafe Racer


1958 BSA Spitfire.................................1958 Guazzoni


1959 Ariel............................................1959 Triumph Bonneville


1960 Triumph Bonneville.....................1963 Catalina Rocket Gold Star


1965 Motobi........................................1968 BSA Shooting Star


1972 Triumph Hurricane.....................1975 Kawasaki


Triumph..............................................Triumph


We left to go to St. Mary's, along the way we stopped at Natureworld. Here we saw parrots, exotic pheasants, white cockies, black cockies, budgies, rainbow lorikeets, tasmanian devils, koalas, snakes, lizards, ducks, wombats, wallabies, potoroos, kangaroos, kookaburras and lots more. Amazing when a mother kangaroo bounced over to me and sniffed my hand, she let me pet her and when I moved my hand away she nudged me to pet her again. I didn't try to touch her joey, I thought that might be pushing the friendship. I then took a photo of her and she bounced away.




Back on the road to St. Mary's, we went through Elephants Pass and it was just as beautiful as I remembered. We worried when we got to St. Mary's and the petrol station had run out of petrol, but so we headed off to Fingal and hoped we'd make it. Next stop was the little Christ Church in Cullenswood where my 3x's great grandfather James Worker married Mary Ann Reade in 1854. It was such a bright day that every photo I took here is overexposed. I was disappointed the church was locked, the last time I was there it was open and I wanted to take some photo's of the inside and the lovely stained glass windows but it was not to be. We took a drive up to Cornwall, grandma had said some of her family had been tin miner's there. I checked the memorial wall but as none of ours had died in the mines none of their names where listed. The collectibles shop in Cornwall was interesting, there was some good stuff but it was mostly overpriced rubbish.

On the road back down to Cullenswood we saw a tiger snake on the road, Glenn dodged it and then said "Quick, wind your window up, they attach themselves to your axle and climb up into the car!", I was terrified, then I saw him laughing and he said it was still on the road...not funny Glenn - SLAP!

When we got to Fingal we were very relieved to find a petrol station that actually had petrol, we filled up and went to take a few pictures of St. Peters, another lovely stone church, but again it was too bright for my camera to handle and it too was locked.

Off now to the Fingal forest and the Mathina Falls. A long rough ride on dirt road, but wow, well worth the drive.


The Fingal forest is a working pine forest, it was a tough climb to the falls, a windy, narrow steep climb at times, but it was beautiful and smelt like Christmas. Wow, these falls are beautiful and a must to see.

The falls are on 4 levels, I only walked to the second level, Glenn climbed to the top. I laughed when at the second level Glenn took the camera to get a "better" picture and fell in...hahahahaa, still laughing about that.

Picture of the walk back. Picture of the Mathina River.

We checked out the map and agreed we were running ou t of days to go to Avoca, Falmouth, St. Helens, Branxholm and Myrtle Bank so we decided to get some dinner and head for Patsy and Blair's in Launceston.

The once thriving gold town of Mathina is now a very small place, in the main street there is a coffee shop, the Mathina club and a milk bar. The people were very friendly and welcomed us into their conversations. At the end of the main street is a s ign, LAUNCESTON 91 Klm, we'll do that in an hour we thought. LOL, it was fine until we hit gravel road and we were on what the local's call "The Widow Maker"...ugggg. In all honesty it was a pretty trip, lots of forest, kangaroo's, wombats and wallabies, but it was a hairy drive, up, down and lots of windy bends, not easy when the setting sun is blinding your vision. We stopped fora a break and took a couple of pics from Mt. Echt.

Finally the road dropped down into the very pretty town of Upper Blessington.


Back on tar now and it didn't take long to reach White Hills where we got phone reception again and we were able to tell Patsy and Blair we were only 15 minutes away. So happy to see them again! Coffee's, lots of laughs and chat and a great sleep in a comfy bed.

26 October 2009

Richmond is a very nice little town, but it was here that we visited what is probably the most expensive souvenir shop in Tasmania, needless to say we didn't buy anything.

In the main street there is a must see attraction. It is a model village of Hobart Town which was built using the town plans of 1820. Fantastic!





Richmond has some lovely old church's.

The Congregational Church in the main street dates from 1873.
It was locked so we couldn't see inside.


St. Luke's Anglican Church is dated 1834 and is the oldest church in Richmond. It is built of sandstone which was quarried by convicts at Butcher's Hill. It is a beautiful church and has a peaceful and welcoming feeling. The clock was originally in St. David's Church Hobart until 1922.







We went back to St. John's Catholic Church, I took some photo's of the inside but felt somewhat uncomfortable; it was as if the building knew I was a proddy and wanted me out LOL.






We went back to the river where Glenn took these photo's.



Time to leave for Swansea. The camera was flat so no pictures for a while.

We stopped along the way at a beautiful beach at Orford for a cuppa. The next stop was to see the convict build Spikey Bridge where I was interested to read about Mr Merideth, whom 2 of my convict 3x's great grandfather's worked for.

Once in Swansea we headed for the Historical Society but found out they are only open on Tuesday's and Thursdays. I decided to go to the library but found out they too are only open on Tuesday's and Thursdays! I asked at the school next door to the library about charging my camera battery and they sent me to a coffee shop in the main street called Trellis. The girl at Trellis was fantastic and charged my battery for free. Great cuppachino and only $3.50. Glenn bought 2 shepherd's pies from the bakery, they where yuk and gave me indigestion.

In the main street of Swansea there is a fantastic old fashioned general store called Morris' which has a diverse array of products. It also has a small history room. I took a photo of these old, small boots.


We then took a couple of pictures of the beach at Swansea and left for Bicheno.


Along the way we stopped at the Moulting Lagoon Game Reserve wetlands. This area is home to a number of waterfowl including Black Swans, Australian Shelducks and Chestnut Teal and also some rare plant species. The area is also an important fish nursery.


Bicheno caravan park is not the best park we stayed in but it was undoubtably the most expensive and the only park to threaten to charge extra if not out by 10am.

We took a look at Oyster Bay beach and then went to the blowhole and gulch.






Watched some tele in the camp kitchen and went to bed.