Tasmania, pt.3

Top of Children's Fountain

Dome View
Children's Fountain Autumn Dahlias

Fountain Swan

Japanese Snow Monkeys

Getting Checked Out

Huge Ferns
Entrance to Park

Mark and I did a walk around Launceston last Sunday morning after a fabulous breakfast (brekkie) of fresh fruit and muesli, toast, coffee, etc. at the Metz in downtown. The walk took us through City Park, where I was delighted to find Monkey Island, a large enclosure of Japanese snow monkeys. Mark had to tear me away from watching them. I can't tell you why exactly they were there, but we read that the park has a long history of having monkeys. We admired the children's fountain, and mix of beautiful fall foliage and bright flowers. We went to the Queen Victoria museum and art gallery at Inveresk and enjoyed some cool art exhibits, including 20th century Chinese prints, vivid art by Tim Burns, and a collection of John Glover's books (he was one of Australia's most well-known landscape painters and very well-read). They also had an interesting exhibit on Tasmanian Aboriginal shell necklaces- very striking and intricate.

We walked along the marina and decided to hike around the Cataract Gorge area. It was steep uphill at first but then went downhill- breathtakingly scenic and worth the sweat. We walked through the gorge and took a break at an outdoor cafe where a resident peacock was wandering around. This hike made me really love Launceston and Mark and I joked about moving there and becoming Tasmanians. It is such a beautiful place. We spent the rest of the afternoon soaking in the pools at the Aquarius Roman Baths, a group of therapeutic pools and saunas. What a great way to enjoy our last few hours in Tasmania. After an hour flight from Launceston on Sunday evening, we were back in Melbourne.