George Town Tasmania

We got a few kilometres on the bitumen today along with stopping to look at a few different towns.

Our first stop was the quaint township of Beauty Point, which is said to be named after a farmers deceased cow. The water front is quite busy with not only Seahorse World and the Platypus House but also a Maritime College. 

We continue a little further to the next town of Beaconsfield, which in recent history (2006) became well known due to the mining disaster where 2 miners were trapped for 14 days before being rescued. Although the first settlers came here in 1804, it wasn’t until the mid 1800’s that gold was discovered becoming Tasmania’s richest gold town. When the mine closed in 2012, 62 million grams of gold had been extracted.

We had a look at the old Flower Gully school building and shop bringing back many memories. 

We enjoyed a breakfast pie at the wood fire bakery. 

Further along we cross the Tamar River via the 432m Batman Bridge built in 1968. It was the first able-stayed bridge in Australia. 

We turn left and travel to George Town (the 3rd oldest British town in Australia after Sydney and Hobart). 

At Windmill Point we admired the wood carvings.

There is also a memorial to William Paterson who ran aground here in 1804 to establish a settlement.

6km north of the town is Low Head, a classified town with some tourist attractions.

We drive to the furthest point to the 12m Lighthouse built in 1888 and overlooks the entrance of the Tamar River.

We met a local.

Mark is particularly impressed by the fog horn, the only working type left in the world.

There is also a fairy penguin colony here.

We were told that our friends’ ancestors were in charge of the Semaphore system here..

The nearby Pilot Station is the oldest in Australia, being built in 1835. There are lots on interesting maritime memorabilia to look at.

We drove up to Mount George lookout. From here we got some great views of the township. 

That’s where we stayed last night at Garden Island.

As well as Bell Bay where there is the aluminium smelter that helps drive the local economy.

Further north-east is the beach resort of Bridport situated in Anderson Bay. Being the summer school holidays and the start of Australia Day long weekend it was too busy for us. So we made our way to a quiet little town of Legerwood. The towns main attraction are Carved Memorial Trees that were planted in 1918 in honour of WWI. The 25 statues depict fallen soldiers from the district and were carved in 2004 after the trees were deemed no longer safe. 

The community kindly allows RV’s to stay and so we did.

185km today.