The birds put on a show for us this morning in the garden. There are so many birds and they fly up to the deck and through it even when we sit there.
On our way through St Helens we stopped at the newsagent to claim our winnings from a scratchie we had yesterday - $25. We bought 2 scratchies yesterday with winnings of $37 from 2 we had bought the day before. We like Tasmania scratchies.
When I dropped the key off before leaving, I spoke to the owner of the cottages (only knew Marion's name, not her husband's) about the way we were intending to drive back to Launceston. We were going to drive down through St Mary's and across through Fingal and Avoca to hit the Midlands Highway and then head up to the Airport. We haven't been that way before. He suggested going another way as he said it is an uninteresting trip with nothing touristy to see. We decided to stick with our plan as the other way to go was the way we had come on Tuesday when we came across from Cradle Mountain. Plus, we had also done that trip last time we were in Tasmania.
Our first stop was at a little coal mining place called Cornwall, about 2 kms off the main road. I had to go and look as my ancestors came from Cornwall itself. There was a sign on the highway to the Cornwall Wall of Remembrance. It was erected in 2006 I think it was. It had a plaque with the names of people who had died in mining accidents over the years but then it had all the names of the people who had actually worked in the mine located in Cornwall. Coal was first discovered in Cornwall in 1843 but coal production didn't commence in Cornwall until 1886. There are a few coal mines in the area. There have been ups and downs in coal production since then but has remained fairly steady over the last 30 years.
Driving through the tiny town of Cornwall, life looks a real struggle. The yards are overgrown, cars are driven till they stop and then just left, houses are not maintained. The places that are looked after with pride really stand out. A bit sad.
Further down the road is a place called Fingal and there is also a coal mine there. It is slightly bigger than Cornwall. It had the lovely backdrop of the Ben Lomond National Park.
We didn't see a good place for morning tea till we reached the highway where we saw St Andrews Inn, built in 1845 with convict labour.
I must have been holding the camera crooked as the building looks like it is falling backwards and Bruce is about to fall over, but that was not the case!
On the walls in the hallway are the original documents of indenture. George has owned the place for 17 years and he does all the cooking. In the cake cabinet he had a chocolate and beetroot mud cake with chocolate chilli ganache. He said it was lovely and I imagine it would have been but I took him at his word. I have a chocolate and potato cake which I make and the potato makes it lovely and moist. I imagine the beetroot does the same.
Not far down the road at Epping Forest there was a market so we stopped for that. There was a lot of china and glass, some of which looked very nice. We went inside the building to see what was in there and on one of the tables were 3 bundles of patchwork fabric fat 1/4's (quarter metre pieces). There were 5 pieces in each bundle and they were half price at $15 each. I took all 3. The lady said I obviously knew a bargain. Apparently they were from a shop owned by a lady who had died. They will go nicely in a quilt I am working on at the moment.
Not far from Launceston Airport is the village of Evandale. Every time we are near the airport we go there and have a walk through. There are lovely old houses, and old buildings converted to galleries or cafes. This gallery used to be the stables of the pub, build in 1840.
Well, it is time to go. On to the airport to drop the hire car off - 870km later. Back to Brisbane for us and back to work on Monday. We had a great time.
Our next trip away will be for a few days in mid October. I'll add to the blog then.
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