Midlands

We waved goodbye to Hobart early this morning and pointed the car north to Richmond.

Richmond is an historical township with this lovely old bridge. the date is 1823. It has a very nice park and walkway along the stream on both sides.

There was a very large number of ducks in the park, and they are obviously used to being fed. I had no food for them, but I still felt like the pied piper of birds!

After my encounter with the ducks (Ray was cowering in the car :-), we went in search of devils - those of the Tasmanian variety. We found some at ZOODOO. (Where they have a Zoo Doo Loo).

As we made out way around the zoo, a poem that a 7 year old wrote about a trip to the zoo kept going around in my head. So lucky you - I'm sharing......

We saw animals at the zoo,

We saw lions and monkeys too.

We saw koalas,

And we saw snakes,

We saw birds of all colors and shapes,

that's what we saw at the zoo.

****

And this is exactly what we saw with one or two additions - notably the Tasmanian Devil.

This one had just had a fight with his mate and I think I was next on his list.

Back in Richmond we went to Old Hobart Town - a miniature village that has been modelled on original maps and plans from the Archives and Lands Department. It accurately depicts Hobart as it was in the 1820s.

After Richmond we kept going north and left the South Midlands and went into the North Midlands - and although it sounds like we had to travel for ages to do that it was only a couple of hours driving at most.

The photo below is not very interesting, but it is the Wool Centre and houses a museum devoted to Macarthur and the establishment of the wool industry in Tasmania. Very well done.

The wool centre also had a display devoted to a female factory that has been excavated by archaeologists.

Ross is a very interesting, charming town. There is not a building in the centre of town that has not retained it's original facade. It is also leafy and green (in the most part)

The building below is for sale - I wonder how much it is? I could see myself as the grand lady here. Nah - maybe not - too cold in winter!

This house (?) merited a photo partly for it's colonial charm but mostly because the yellow stuff on the ground is actually autumn leaves! We don't get many of them at home.

We departed Ross and turned to the east, heading for the coast (there's a song in there somewhere). This photo is taken from the Great Oyster Bay Lookout. At least part of what you see from the lookout is the Moulting Lagoon Game Reserve.

A few minutes later we were in Bicheno, looking forward to a few quiet days discovering some of Tasmania's east coast.