Launceston — RachiePie

Tuesday, we left for Launceston, the second largest city in Tasmania with 68,000 residents. On the way to Launceston, we made a detour to the Low Head Lighthouse which was built in 1888 and a great location to watch the Tamar River flowing into the Bass Straight. Plus, I always love the look of a red and white lighthouse - looks so pretty against a bright blue sky!

From the lighthouse we drove down through the Tamar Valley wine region, the oldest wine-producing region in Australia. This area produces 40% of Tasmanian wines! We stopped at Goaty Hill for a tasting and got to speak with one of the owners who actually has a daughter attending school in New Jersey and was recently there to drop her off at college. He was asking about recommendations for our favorite things to do in New York which we happily provided! Alex and I also got a glass of wine, sat outside and enjoyed the view of the vineyards.

We then made a stop at Hillwood Berry Farm, a family-run farm about 15-minutes from Launceston. We were able to pick our own strawberries and raspberries and they were so good!! I tried not to take advantage, but did end up eating my fair share straight off the vine!

Wednesday it rained ALL DAY and we didn't leave the Airbnb until late in the afternoon. The rain forced me to crack down and get some itinerary work done for New Zealand and I'm happy to report I made very good headway. Since it was Valentine's Day we did venture out for dinner at Pickled Evenings.

By Thursday the rain had stopped and we were ready to be back outside. Not far from downtown Launceston is the Tamar Islands Wetlands Walk. This urban wetlands reserve follows a well-marked path where you can see lagoons, lots of bird species, snakes and lizards.

Also close to the town center is Cataract George and First Basin. Once there, it feels like you should be miles and miles from the city center due to the bushland, cliffs, and river running through. We started with the Zig Zag track which took us up to the top of the gorge. We then looped around, crossed a suspension bridge (not a big fan of the swaying!!!) and took the more level Cataract Walk back to our car.

Saturday we headed west to Mole Creek Caves Karst National Park. The area contains over 300 known caves, sinkholes, gorges, and underground streams and springs. The park offers tours throughout the day and we chose the Marakoopa Cave - "Cathedral, Gardens and Glow-worms" tour. Our guide was really informative as well as super funny. He kept whipping out these one-liners which had me cracking up. Towards the end of the tour, the guide turned out the lights and on the ceiling were hundreds of glow-worms! They look like little stars in the sky. As the glow-worms are sensitive to light, we weren't able to take any pictures of them. The guide mentioned they are actually glow-maggots not worms, but joked no one will pay $20.00 to see maggots! Ha!

Outside the cave was a short 20-minute "fern walk" which followed a stream back to the visitor center. It was a pretty walk and the native flora and fauna was so green.

We also visited a salmon and ginseng farm, 41 Degrees South Tasmania. Upon arrival, we were able to taste some of the products they make including smoked salmon, a rillette, and a ginseng-honey. We then were given a bag of fish food and walked around the property. Trying to feed the salmon proved to be very interesting as there was an INCREDIBLY aggressive goose who kept following me and would peck my legs trying to get food! It wasn’t the most pleasant experience to say the least!

The offending goose - a little too close for comfort!!

Saturday was our last full day in Launceston and we started the morning at the Harvest Market, a farmer's market held once a week in the city center. I love me a good farmer's market and this one was great! They had vendors selling everything from produce, honey, nuts, bread and wine. We browsed for awhile and ending up purchasing a baguette and cheese to enjoy for dinner.

We then headed north to Narawntapu National Park and hiked the Archers Knob track. It took us past Bakers Beach and then to the top of Archers Knob for an amazing view of the ocean and surrounding farms.

On the way back to the carpark, we took an alternate route via the Springlawn Lagoon Walk and I saw my first kangaroo since arriving in Australia. Actually, by the end of the hike, Alex and I ended up seeing about 20 kangaroos! They were much bigger than the wallabies we have seen previously and were just relaxing in the field. They are such funny looking animals!

After the hike, we stopped by Holm Oak winery and sampled some of their wines. The woman who did our tasting was really nice and encouraged us to head out back where there are several pigs on the farm. There was a large basket of apples next to the pig pen and a sign encouraging you to feed them! It was pretty comical watching the pigs gobble up the apples.

We then drove to one more winery, Moores Hill Estate. The vineyard is the first 100% solar powered winery in Tasmania and does not draw any power from an electrical grid.

Alex and I both enjoyed Launceston, although, we do feel we were here one day too many. We will be heading to Stanley today, a town on the north-west coast of Tasmania. Stanley will be the last place in the north we will be visiting before starting our decent towards the south-west part of Tasmania.