Around the World in 8000 days: Launceston, Tasmania

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Launceston, Tasmania

Albert Hall, Launceston, Tasmania

After Melbourne, we flew over to Launceston in Tasmania. We weren't hiring a car, and we didn't want to join lots of tours, so we knew we weren't going to see all of the sights - this was more an introduction to the two main cities.

Launceston, Tasmania

Launceston is quite an attractive city, with a mix of architecture from Victorian and Georgian, through Art Deco, and even on to a bit of Brutalist. It makes it a good place to walk around, and you can pick up a decent map of the heritage trail.

Launceston, Tasmania

Black Cow, Lucks Corner, Launceston, Tasmania

We were quite attracted by the Art Deco building on Lucks Corner, and were more attracted when we discovered it was now the Black Cow steak restaurant.

We felt we had to try it, but whilst it was fine, it wasn't the best steak - but then we are particularly fussy about our beef.

Customs House, Launceston, Tasmania

The city was settled back in 1806, and while it may not have the most exciting history, it does have a few claims of 'firsts'; it was the first Australian city to have underground sewers and hydro electric power, and it was first place in the Southern Hemisphere to use anaesthetic, apparently.

Launceston College, Launceston, Tasmania

Boags Brewery, Launceston, Tasmania

By lucky chance, a friend from Belgium, who we met in South America back in 2011, happened to be in Australia at this time, and we managed to find one evening where our schedules overlapped, so we met up here in Launceston. We went out to a rather good beer place called Saint John Craft Beer, which I would definitely recommend.

One the subject of beer, we did check out Boags Brewery, but while the place was interesting, the beers weren't especially to our taste.

Cataract Gorge, Launceston, Tasmania

To walk off those beers, we took a stroll up along the Cataract Gorge. We opted for the easy walk, which was a nice, mostly flat route along the riverside, rather than the one that takes you up the sides of the cliff.

Peacock, Cataract Gorge, Launceston, Tasmania

At the basin, there are some nice gardens, with a café, and free roaming wallabies and peacocks. If you want to, you can go for a swim, or you can take the longest single span chair lift in the world across the 308 metres to the other side, and carry on walking from there.

Overall, we quite liked Launceston for a short stop, and it would have been good as a base if we had been able to hire a car to get out to some of the local beauty spots.