Day One ... exploring hamlets, towns, caves and more ...

Ian and I have work in Hobart next Monday so we decided to grab a few extra days to do some exploring in advance.

We booked some flights to Launceston and flew over last night, escaping the hot day and shocking winds of Melbourne. We have hired a car and have four days to get from Launceston to Hobart.

Today we were up early and on the road just after 8.00 and headed towards Westbury where we stopped to complete an Ad Lab that focused on historic figures in this quaint little town. So we visited some information boards called Silhouettes and found out about a famous cricketer Jack Badcock and the Fitzpatrick sisters that ran the local pub ... just as two examples. The village green in the hamlet was beautiful and clearly well loved.

Leaving behind Westbury we drove to Deloraine where we stopped for some breakfast/lunch at Mumma Buzz cafe ... yummy baked potato for me and a seafood platter for Ian. Then we walked the township completing 2 Ad Labs ... one featuring a series of mini sculptures and the other a series of larger sculptures along the river. Deloraine is a lovely town ... beautiful gardens, a flowing river and some absolutely gorgeous houses. A cycle tour promoting the fight to overcome MND cruised through town as we were there.

And then on to the land of caves ... passing a massive sculpture of a Tasmanian Devil (just out of the hamlet of Chudleigh), then on to Honeycomb Caves where we clambered over the rocks to explore this hidden wonder. Then on to Mole Creek to complete another Ad Lab that took us to notable sites in the town ... including a wonderful memorial to the Vietnam War. What strikes us most about visiting these small towns is reading the names of those who served our country in war ... how many families lost multiple members. For small towns, where everyone is known, the loss must have felt so much more personal.

Then we had a lovely drive over the mountains ... passing through the towns of Roland, Paradise, Kentish West ... past the turn off to Nowhere Else (yes it is a town!), and into Tasmazia located in the town of Promised Land. Tasmazia is one of the largest mazes in the world and in fact has 8 mazes ... some made from hedges, some from wood and one which was a balance maze. It also has the Township of Crackpot - a miniature village with lots of things to laugh at. We escaped every maze, explored the village, followed the yellow brick road, visited the Embassy Garden, ate an ice cream and explored some more. It was fantastic.

We also came across this crazy group!

Then on to Sheffield ... the outdoor Art Gallery. The walls of the shops are painted with beautiful murals depicting moments in history, important people in the area and celebrating the area and the countryside. An Ad Lab took us to 5 but we happily explored more.

Our last stop before heading to Devonport was the small town of Railton where we completed an Ad Lab about a local resident who seems to have been an exceptionally eccentric person who attempted to develop his own language using numbers. A very bizarre person from our reading but he was also passionate about the environment and left his 15 hectares of land to the youth of the town, which has been turned into a wonderful nature reserve. Railton is also striving to be known as the Topiary Town!

And so we end our day in Devonport. We are staying at a lovely old pub opposite the dock where the Spurit of Tasmania docks so we wandered down and watched the cars, motorcycles and cars with caravans queuing to board. Then over dinner in the pub we watched it sail off heading on its way to Geelong.