22nd September 10

Today we moved from Bruny Island back through Hobart to Seven Mile Beach on the East coast slightly north of Hobart, and will be here for a week. The gale force wind that has been around for the last week and a half has finally abated and allowed the sun to show through for some of the time, but rain is forecast. We had booked in for two weeks but discovered that our grandchildren Jack and Rory are visiting Launceston so will be moving to Legana, just north of Launceston to catch up with them.

24th September 10

We called in at Stu and Be’s to pick up some mail. Stu was at work unfortunately but Be’s mum Jenny and father Michael were there and we were able to stop for a coffee and chat. They were going to go up Mt Wellington to see the view, and snow, but the cloud was very low so they wouldn’t have seen anything.

29th September 10

We moved camp from Seven Mile Beach to Legana about eleven kilometres north of Launceston, in order to be available to see two of our grandchildren, Jack and Rory. This was a rush job as we didn’t know they would be in Launceston until a week ago, but now gives us the chance to see the kids and have a proper look at the towns on the Midland road, such as Ross where we are booked to stay for a week, Campbell Town and Oatlands.

2nd October 10

Jack and Rory were delivered to the caravan park nice and early and we headed towards Beaconsfield and Beauty Point but turned off prior to both towns to a bush maze which also had several fascinating puzzles. The maze was a well kept thick bush and kept us occupied for quite some time, as did the puzzles.

 We then went on to Beauty Point to Seahorse World and the Platypus/Echidna House where we also had lunch. This gave a great explanation of the life of seahorses and took us through the breeding laboratory.

Similarly the Platypus and Echidna tour allowed views of the platypus both above and below the water which you don’t normally see, plus we saw both being fed .

On the way back to Launceston we stopped off at the Beaconsfield Mine Museum which had a good collection of old machinery including many interactive items, plus the ruins of the original buildings.  It also gave us access to the veiwing area that the press used during the underground tragedy.

Later in the afternoon on the way home we stopped off for a game of mini golf before having dinner at a Chinese restaurant and then dropped the kids off to join their mum’s party group.

3rd October 10

We collected Jack and Rory and took them to the Tasmania Zoo which is privately owned and claim to have the largest breeding program for Tasmanian Devils in the world. They hope to breed sufficiently well enough, along with others, to produce colonies that are free from the facial cancer that is killing them off. This cancer is apparently caused by a Queensland frog that carries the decease. Along with cane toads, Queensland has a lot to answer for. We watched the ‘Devils’ being fed and then checked out the rest of the zoo, which is very unlike other city zoos.

After lunch we took the kids back to their mum to fit in with her other arrangements. It was short but very sweet seeing the grandkids after a two year break, and hopefully we will catch up with them again in Canberra when we return to the main land