On Walkabout At: Launceston’s Cataract Gorge

Prior Posting: Beaconsfield Mine

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We woke up early at the caravan park we were staying at and packed up our camp in order to get ready for the final day of our holiday on the Australian island of Tasmania.  Our flight back to the Aussie mainland from Launceston was in the afternoon, which gave us the morning to do something in the town.  My wife and I decided to go and check out the major park in the town known as the Cataract Gorge:

The gorge is located literally in the middle of the city and is actually quite a sight when we first saw it:

It is literally a rugged wilderness in the middle of a city of over 100,000 people.

At the entrance of the park there is a number of cafes where my wife and I stopped at to eat breakfast and most importantly drink some coffee.  We then decided to walk a circuit route around the lower end of the gorge.  We first walked across the Alexandria Suspension Bridge that took us across the creek:

We then walked down the path along the river back towards the city:

Along the way there was a little park we stopped at to sit down and rest a little bit in the shade of this gazebo:

While resting at the gazebo was saw peacocks running around for some reason:

We then continued to walk down the path and I noticed this home high up on a hill that must have the best view in all of Launceston:

As can be seen in the above picture the South Esk River that flows through the gorge was running no where near its mass capacity, which this picture below shows how much water can pour down this gorge during the rainy season:

As we walked further down the gorge we then saw the King’s Bridge out in the distance where the creek merges with the Tamar River before flowing out to the ocean:

We walked up to the King’s Bridge, which is a major traffic artery in Launceston in order to cross the river, but we then saw these European style buildings, which was some kind of theme park that was closed:

We left the theme park and then walked across the King’s Bridge.  We then followed the trail back up the gorge towards the entrance where we parked.  On this side of the gorge the trail ascended up a high hill that provided some great views of Cataract Gorge:

As we continued to follow the trail along the high ridgeline the Alexandria Suspension Bridge came into view that showed that we were nearing the entrance of the park:

A few minutes later the trail empty into the parking lot where we then proceeded to drive to the airport to catch our flight back to Melbourne thus ending our tour around Tasmania.  All in all the walk around the Cataract Gorge was a great way to spend our last morning on vacation in Tasmania.  The people of Launceston are certainly lucky to have such an incredible park literally in the middle of their city.

Next Posting: Our Flight Home from Tasmania