Caves and Zips, Gorges and Underground books and Brick trails
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King Solomon's Caves |
We have visited Caves before, in Tonga and in Niue. In Tonga there was a sign outside that said, "No dogs or firearms". Pretty clear instructions, so no excuses if you're caught down there with your poodle and a loaded weapon. King Solomon's Caves in Tasmania, outside Mole Creek, had no such sign, and actually, the walk into it was far more surprising. I felt like I was on the set of one of those great Saturday afternoon adventure movies that only kids born in the 60s and 70s watched, think Journey to the Centre of the Earth, that seemed to be on every Saturday afternoon. We walked into the tiny visitors' centre through a pathway lined with lush rainforest, it was just the setting we needed in anticipation of entering caves.
We were met by our Parks and
Wildlife guide, Shannon, who happened to originally be from Kallangur in
Brisbane. She mentioned her then boyfriend's Torana on Anzac Avenue at least
twice, so I knew she was legit about Kallangur, having grown up close to there
myself. These caves are one of the best things I have seen so far on our
Tasmania holiday. They are truly breathtaking, with fascinating formations and
sparkling calcite deposits. Think back to those Saturday afternoon matinees,
and think about the sets for whole tribes living underground - that's King
Solomon's Caves. If I had seen Indiana Jones down there, intervening in some kind of human sacrifice in boiling lava, I would not have been
at all surprised. The walk into the furthest point of the caves, with
informative stops facilitated by the guide, takes about 20 mins. The whole tour
is roughly 45 minutes, and the path is lit the whole way. If you are
claustrophobic, it might not be for you, some of the passages, while safe, are
narrow. I'm not a big enough geology expert to write about any of the details
about how the caves were formed, but the pictures outside cleared it up for me.
The caves were discovered in 1906 by a local farmer and since then, they have
operated as a tourist attraction. I bet that farmer’s mates didn't believe a
word of what he was telling them when he tried to describe what he had found.
Close to King Solomon's Caves
are the Marakoopa Caves, which we also visited. These caves are bigger and have
streams running through them, they also include a stunning glow worm cave.
Personally, we preferred King Solomon's Caves, but both cave systems are a
"please try and see" because of their differences and the sheer
size of them. The guide at Marakoopa told us that shortly after they were discovered, around 1910,
Baptists used the caves for their weekly church services. They accessed them
through a rope ladder and it would take these devotees half a day, with gas
lanterns, to reach the point called "The Organ", where they held
their service. These caves have been open to the public since 1912.
After the caves we headed to
Launceston and settled Van and ourselves into another powered site at the Big 4
Park Launceston. This park is really close to the centre of the Launceston CBD
and is in walking distance to good and reasonably priced pub meals. I won't
write much about Launceston because information about Launceston is everywhere.
I liked Launceston, it has the feel of a hard-working city, like a Newcastle in
New South Wales, but with lots of architectural refinement. I loved the way the
city seems to have repurposed old buildings whilst managing to maintain facades
and colours. The little weatherboard and stone cottages that filled the streets
in South Launceston, close to our van park, are gorgeous, with their rambling
cottage gardens.
We went Zip Lining in
Launceston for my son's 13th birthday. I am afraid of heights usually, but
chose not to share that with our guides, as I was having my own mental tussle
and I didn't think having a cheer squad would be helpful as I talked myself
brave. Now I can truly say, Ziplining, which we did with Hollybank Wilderness
Adventures, was fantastic. I never once thought about chickening out, because I
am mindful of showing our kids how it is good to face your fears in a
controlled way, but that doesn't mean I wasn't nervous. However, under the safe
and very thorough instruction of the three guides/instructors that accompanied
us and the other family of four that was with us, it got easier as we worked
through the seven zip lines. That's good because the last one is 400m long, 50m
above ground and goes at an average speed of 70 km an hour, yes you read that
correctly. Strangely, as I reflected on one of the tiny platforms, 30 plus
metres above ground, the worst bit with the first couple of zips was waiting
for your turn and the moments before the guides pushed you off, once you were
out amongst the trees, flying through the air on a single cable, the fear was
gone and then it was fun, a metaphor for life really, the worst bit is the
anticipation and the "fly by the seat of your pants", in this case,
literally, is the fun bit.
Hollybank Wilderness Adventures
were fabulous, and really, flawless. They offer other adventure experiences for
those who don't fancy Ziplining and had we had more time in Launceston, we
would have done something else with them.
The other highlight of
Launceston was Cataract Gorge. Captain Steve has written about the casual way
everyone we met in Launceston said, "Mmmm, have you been to the Gorge? You
should try and get there." Typical of Tasmanian understatement they said
this in subdued tones, with a gentle smile. They did not present it in an
excited voice and with an imperative tone, like, "You must, must see the
Gorge while you are here" whilst shaking your arm. Given their laid back
communications about "the Gorge" we treated it as a place to
"drive past" on our way out of town the next day. We were shocked,
after we parked and sauntered down the hill, we were presented with a veritable
leisure time paradise, flowing falls, suspension bridge, chair lift, peacocks,
cafe in the "Ladies Pavilion", easy walks through spectacular gardens
inhabited by fanning peacocks and native wildlife, lush green lawns, swimmers
in the waters of the gorge and beside all that, a spectacular swimming pool. It
was like a grand day out in an Enid Blyton novel of our childhoods. We could
not believe we had nearly "given it a miss". Citizens of Launceston,
Cataract Gorge is exquisite and we could have easily spent the day there, shake
tourists and tell them they MUST go there!
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| Cataract Gorge, Launceston |
After Launceston, we headed to Longford, only a 30 minute drive away. Our reason for going there to spend a night camping on the Macquarie River, was to see the town that bares my husband's name. I'm sure he, Captain Steve will blog about his "return home" to Longford at some point so I won't wax on. In fact, my husband's family has no roots in Longford at all and we only went there for the novelty of it, and to photograph every sign that we could find with Longford in it. No one is even sure how the town got its name, there are various versions in town folklore, but the truth is anyone's guess. It was originally called Norfolk Plains and then Latour and sometime after that, it became Longford, which gave us a good enough reason to go there.
It happens to be a picturesque town with quaint buildings, most convict built. The later architecture consists of those ubiquitous and meticulous weatherboard cottages with the rambling gardens. There's a great heritage walk you can do around the town that walks you past many buildings significant in the town's history. The locals are extremely friendly (as we have found throughout Tasmania) and we got a sense there is a fair bit of money about in Longford, The community was originally a sheep farming community that grew from the land holdings of the Archer Family. Seven generations of Archers have lived at the iconic Brickendon and Woolmer Estates. The story of the Archer families is intriguing in itself and contextualises the World Heritage Homesteads and Brickendon Convict Village. Both properties have been listed as impeccably preserved examples of convict built constructions and colonial life in Tasmania from the 1840s.
From Longford we travelled in Van Diesel to St Helens on the North -East coast of Tasmania. St Helen's is a fishing town, and the biggest in this region of the Tasmanian coast. We camped at another Big 4 Campground and really didn't have much planned for these two days. We enjoyed our time there. If fishing takes your fancy, there are plenty of charters you can do. We were happy to have a potter about. Our first night there we ate at The Wharf Bar and Kitchen. We splurged and ordered the lobster, as we love it, but only eat it when we know it will be very fresh. This was the first time our kids had tried lobster, we ordered one for them and they shared it. It was superbly cooked and they loved it. The sides we ordered were generous and delicious.
The next day we visited a great antiques and collectibles store called The Shop in the Bush, just a few minutes drive out of St Helens. It really is, as the name says, a "shop in the bush", but has an incredibly interesting range of old books, China, tools, military memorabilia, art, jewellery and china. On a main street this store would be fascinating, but tucked along a bush road, its novelty value is even greater.
We had an afternoon drive around Binalong Bay and had a swim in the aptly named Bay of Fires with its orange coloured boulders and rocks, though I read these boulders have nothing to do with its name, and instead, relate to the fires of Aboriginal people that navigators saw on the shore from the Bay. The Bay of Fires flows into Bass Strait and its waters are turquoise. Because it's there, and who knows when we will pass this way again, we had to swim in it. Due to its proximity to Bass Strait, we Queenslanders found the water chilly, despite being Summer. The icy dip was well worth it for a " great to be alive" surge. What wasn't so great was the bluebottle stingers we were unfortunate enough to experience in the water, nothing serious, but they certainly left your skin tingling, the water living up to its Bay of Fires name!
We spent two nights in St Helens and we are now back in Hobart after a scenic two and half hour drive through some beautiful little towns, tucked amongst pastoral hills. There are common features; imposing stone churches, stone cottages, impressive civic buildings. Each town consists of a few streets and then you are out of it again, in rich green Tasmanian farming land.
One of the last of these towns we drove through was Campbell Town. It has a bookshop we loved called The Book Cellar, in the cellars of the convict built, Foxhunter's Return Inn. Our whole family are book lovers and so we were delighted by this shop. Besides its atmospheric location, it has a great collection of new, old and collectable books for sale. And the woman working there is lovely. I asked her if the store was hers, she replied, "No, I came with the building".
Outside The Book Cellar, on the main street of Campbell Town is the start (or end depending on the direction you go ) of the Convict Brick Trail. This Brick Trail tells the stories of some of the 170,000 convicts that were transported to Australia, the majority for the most trivial offences. It is a poignant reminder of how so many of what has been preserved in Tasmania was built from human suffering. Poor individuals, condemned to years, and sometimes lives of servitude, for petty crimes. My husband made the point that it was really a form of slave labour. Amongst the bricks for convicts with names such as Samuel Adams, Catherine Shevlin and Timothy Dillane, one brick has the following inscription, "In memory of all convicts who died on route and never made it to our Australian shores. This is their headstone".
This afternoon we returned returned Van Diesel, the Campervan, as planned, and picked up a car. Tomorrow we head to a bit of offline time on Bruny Island.
Postscript: The morning we were at Cataract Gorge enjoying part of a wonderful Tasmanian city and a wonderful family holiday with our children, other people's precious children lost their lives in a terrible accident at a school in Davenport, less than half an hour away from us. The loss of these innocent young children, at the start of a new chapter (but at any time) is heart breaking. Our thoughts are with their families and community.
Copyright Mary Longford 2021
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