So, back to the Tasmania trip, before it all fades from my memory.
The day after the wedding I, my brother, my parents and several other relatives did a bit of sight seeing around the area. First we went to Evandale, to see the market. It was actually a pretty good market, with a fair bit of variety. Some crafts, a lot of second hand books, nick nacks, jewlery etc. I bought some nice costume jewlery, and a Georgette Heyer I hadn't read before, called "Footsteps in the Dark". Not one of her best, but still an OK way to fill in time on holiday.
We had lunch in Evandale, then drove into Launceston to visit Cataract Gorge. We started from the end farthest from the basin, then walked along the cliff side path to the basin area.
On the way we saw one of the tour boats that run up the river, and some boys jumping off the cliffs into the water. They kept going for a while, jumping in, then climbing back up. I don't think I would have wanted to try it, there seemed to be quite a lot of submerged rocks nearby.
The Basin area is landscaped in a mixture of English style gardens, and bush walking tracks. The overall affect is very pretty. My parents went for a walk around the basin, and my brother and I took a ride on the chair lift. Which was fun, I find that chairlifts are like a kind of horizontal ferris wheel :) I took a few pictures of the basin from the chairlift.
I had been to Cataract gorge a few years ago, and I was struck by how much lower the water level is. Last time I was there, the basin was overflowing, to the point that the swimming pool and lawn were completely under water, and the lower level path was also under water. This time, after we got off the chairlift (we did the round trip) we did a compete circuit around over the suspension bridge, then back via the lower level path. In the gorge, I could see the water level was way below the normal water line. I know that Tasmania has been in a severe drought, as with Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales, but it is sights like this that really bring it home to me.
The place was still beautiful thoght, and everyone was glad we visited. After the gorge we headed back to Longford, for dinner and sleep.
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