September 5

Saturday 5 September

This week has flown. I think it’s safe to say I’ve fallen in love with Hobart and the surrounding area, so I’m a little sad to be leaving today.

This morning we checked out and went into the Salamanca Markets for a wander about and to get one last Hobart fix before leaving. They’re a lovely market, lots and lots of interesting things to look (and buy!), plenty of fresh and organic foods, and masses of beautiful spring flowers.

We were back on the road again by around 10.30-11am and started heading north to Launceston. Along the way we stopped briefly in Bagdad before heading to Jericho and crossing the Jordan River. Sounds like we’re in another country!! We also went through Cleveland and Perth a bit later on ~ which state are we in again?? 

We stopped at Ross for some lunch and to enjoy a little time in the historic town, before heading into the next little place called Campbell Town. It has some interesting tiles on the footpaths about some of the convicts and the reasons they were sent to Tasmania.

The countryside is very pretty up through the north, although they have had a lot of rain so it’s also greener than usual. We stopped at a lavender farm ~ I totally forgot that the lavender is out of season and wouldn’t be blooming doh! ~ but it was nice to have a wander inside their shop and see all the things they produce from their lavender.

There’s a little place just before Ringarooma called Legerwood that has some very impressive wood carvings on what I think could be their main street. The carvings all look to be from tree stumps and each branch holds a different carving. They’re quite big and beautiful.

And then we arrived in Ringarooma! It was sooooo good to see Loraine. Boy oh boy has she lost weight. She’s lost another 22 kgs since I saw her last and now 47 kgs in total. She’s enjoying running her little country pub and is slowly but surely building the business up again, but she’s finding it very tiring too. Gotta say it is a tad cool here though!

Tonight was a busy night in the pub as the local football team had come in after winning their game plus the final of the Eightball competition was on. I headed up to bed around midnight but I don’t think the pub closed until around 2am. Makes for a long day.