Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Tasmania Travels - Richmond to Swansea

We left the city of Hobart and headed East. With my 3 family members all mad Tigers fans, we just had to visit Richmond!

Not a tiger in sight, not even a stuffed thylacine, but Richmond still had a lot to offer. A beautiful little town filled with lovely old Georgian buildings, a gaol and a bridge. Sounded good to us.  

Another day, another prison – but we were all enjoying the history lessons we were learning at each site. 
Richmond Gaol was small and easy to see in a short time. 

Richmond Gaol Tasmania
Richmond Gaol Tasmania



















We managed to get another Tiger Track stamp to add to our collection. 
Tiger Track Stamp Tasmania









Behind the gaol, we wandered down to the Coal River and along to the postcard famous Richmond Bridge.  The sandstone arches were built by convicts in 1825 and it is the oldest surviving arch bridge in Australia. The iconic image is even better in real life.

Ducks immediately swam over to us looking for a feed, but quickly about faced when they saw we were empty handed. "We swim onwards, to the next tourist!"
Richmond Bridge Tasmania


















Wild plum trees growing along the river banks showed off their ripe red fruits glistening in the sunshine. We just had to try them, all the while hoping we wouldn't be thrown in the jail for stealing.
Richmond Bridge Tasmania
Our bellies full of pilfered plums, we ran up the well worn stone steps alongside the bridge, got back in the car and made our getaway.


Richmond Bridge Tasmania

The drive through the rolling green hills was wonderful. The roads were great all over Tassie. Our SUV isn't 4WD, but we still managed to get off the main roads and hit the dirt trails and gravel tracks away from the highways. There's always something special to see when you detour off the beaten track and we always find a reason to stop during our travels and take a look at country towns.
Tasmania

Tasmania

Just before Swansea, we stopped at the Spiky Bridge. Yeah, it's just a bridge, in the middle of nowhere, on the side of the road - you don't even drive over it, but it's worth taking a look at the structure and design of this bridge. Built by convicts, without using cement, rocks were placed horizontally to build the bridge, then placed vertically, creating a spiky top row. I'm not really sure why they did that, but it's a pretty cool feature.
Freycinet Tasmania

We arrived at our amazing accommodation, Swansea Beach Chalets, after sunset and stood in the dark on our little deck overlooking Freycinet National Park. Another day done and dusted.
Bliss.































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