The drive from the Bay of Fires to Launceston took me through some lovely rural scenery: mountains, forests, fields and cows on the road. My late lunch consisted of cauliflower cheese soup: actually quite nice! Then as I was driving off towards Launceston, the herd of cows who presumably produce the necessary milk were crossing the road: there were hundreds of them and I didn’t have the courage to drive through in a hired car until one of the locals – connected to the farm, I think – drove through in her ute and I was able to use the opening she created.
From there on in to Launceston I continued to be amazed by the lush greens of the island and the great expanses of farmed land and trees.
At one point I was expecting to come across a road accident as there was an ambulance, a rescue vehicle, a fire engine but no sign of anything wrong. Watching TV later in the evening, I heard that a body had been discovered: what I saw must have been the vehicles returning from the scene.
And so it was that I began my last twenty four hours in Tasmania. I was sorry to leave, but looking forward to seeing Wagga Wagga.
I was expecting a one-street town in the middle of nowhere but, having driven a Holden Commodore V6 from Melbourne Airport, I found myself in one of Australia’s largest inland settlement surrounded by very fertile farming land. Along the highway I noticed fields of purple: looking somewhat like heather or lavender. Visiting a farm next day I was told the plant is called either ‘Patterson’s Curse’ or ‘Savation Jane’ and is the last thing a farmer wants to see in his crop!!
Living the Journey 