Longford

Sunday April 29th saw us make the short trip North to Longford near Launceston. The trip was a quick one but we encountered some fairly thick fog as we travelled South of Longford. We arrived before lunch but luckily our site was already vacated so we were able to check in and get set up early. The site was huge with a large green space out front once we set up. Amenity block was older and a bit dark but kept very clean. 4 Stars! The only negative from our perspective was when you set up near the rear of the site as directed, it was a stretch to reach all the utilities (water, sewer, and power) with our connections. We just made it by running them underneath our caravan so in future we probably would have placed the van further forward in the site. Sandra got straight in to the laundry while I did a bit of computer catch up.

On Monday, Sandra continued with her laundry/cleaning. We took a trip into Launceston to do some shopping in preparation for Carol & Stephen's return. Their good friends Jeff and Margaret were also joining them so we were in charge of dinner upon their return. They arrived just after 6pm and we all enjoyed a couple of drinks and an easy dinner.

Tuesday we ventured North through Lanceston to the Beaconsfield region. Carol, Stephen, Jeff, and Margaret did the Beaconsfield Mine Museum. We didn't do as plan to tour with Steph & Tim later this month. Sandra and I toured through Beauty Point and up to Green Beach. We did a short drive into a National Park there where we completed a short uphill walk to a lookout.

From there we retraced our steps through Beaconsfield before taking the Batman Bridge across the Tamar River. From there we headed North to Georgetown where we enjoyed lunch with the group at the Pier Hotel.

We did a short trip North to Low Head where we did a brief walk around the lighthouse before returning home to Longford. We all enjoyed afternoon drinks and dinner at Jeff & Marg's rented caravan.

 On Wednesday we woke to fog. Sandra and I remained home while the others headed off to explore Cataract Gorge and Launceston. Once again we gave it a miss as will do at a later date with Tim & Stephanie. We enjoyed a relaxing day with a long walk around Longford. We also ventured into Launceston for a bit of shopping. The group of us enjoyed afternoon drinks before going to the Community Club Pub for dinner to celebrate Margaret's birthday.

On Thursday we did a drive up through Launceston to explore Lilydale, Scottsdale, and Bridport. Our first stop was at Lilydale Falls where we did a short walk to explore the falls. A fuel reduction burn was in progress which gave an eerie look to a tree in the parking lot. The falls were interesting as was the surrounding rain forest vegetation.

Next stop was at the Bridestowe Lavender Farm. The lavender were not in bloom but the fields were still beautiful. We had morning coffee while there before heading off to Scottsdale.

Scottsdale turned out to be a larger town than we had been expecting. We stopped at the Visitor Centre for some information before doing a quick walk to the memorial park. There we saw some more fine examples of the tree sculptures primarily in honour of Australia's war veterans.

 We headed North from Scottsdale towards the coastal community of Bridport. Sandra and I did a short walk along the beach and a took in a few viewpoints before meeting the rest of the gang at "The Bunker" for a lovely lunch.

We returned West along the coast towards Georgetown before heading South again to our campground at Longford. On a positive note the road from Bridport to Georgetown and South to Launceston is some of the best road in Tasmania so made for a relaxing trip.

We enjoyed a nice BBQ dinner with the group as Margaret and Jeff were flying home Friday morning. The rest of us need to move on Friday as well as the caravan park is fully booked out for Agfest which is an annual agricultural exhibition.