Arrived in Launceston!

The trip was long…very long. We left Perth at 10:30 pm and arrived in Melbourne about 3 ½ hours later but with the time difference we arrived just before 5am Melbourne time. You’d think that because we had a connecting flight that our luggage would miraculously appear on the next plane … but no Jetstar…we had to collect it and re-check it. The airport was so busy, full of teenagers bound for the Gold Coast leavers celebrations, they were all late of course so were being hastily put in front of all the other weary travellers. An hour later we had checked in and had a coffee getting our second wind at about 3am Perth time. After some runway traffic delays we took off about 8am for our very short 45 minute flight to Launceston. After a short taxi ride to Launceston we dropped our bags off at our accommodation and went and had breakfast at Fresh, a lovely little café not too far away, we’ll definitely go back. Went to Budget car rental and had a win, we hired a Renault Megane for the same price as the Suzuki Swift, very nice. We’d originally booked for two nights at Alices Cottages but as our flights were rescheduled to a day early we extended it to three nights. Unfortunately the same cabin wasn’t available for all three nights but we managed to get into ‘Bonnie Doon’ a Scottish highland themed cottage. It is really lovely and fully self-contained with a spa and complimentary port and chocolates. After settling into the cottage we decided to explore the Tamar Valley (still no sleep!). We’d always thought that Launceston was on the coast but it is quite far inland on the Tamar River. We drove up the west side, stopping at lookouts, the lavender perfumery and of course Batman Bridge. We went through Beaconsfield infamous for the mining accident a few years ago and went to the top of the island on that side of the river. We crossed Batman Bridge to the east side and went north to George Town where we found a tea room that was open, not that easy, everything was closed in most towns we went through. We were slowing down by this point so headed back to Launceston. Watched the last bit of the cricket and passed out!