Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Batman Bridge

The forecast today was for 4 inches of rain - but it got pushed back to tomorrow and we had only a few brief rain showers.

It's about 100 km from Launceston to the sea, but there's only one bridge across the river between Lonnie and the sea - about 40 km downstream: the Batman Bridge. It's one of those suspension bridges that only has a tower on one end with cables that diagonal out onto the span from the single tower. Doesn't look much like Batman, but that's the name.

Lots of chip seal, and some sections of road with no shoulders, but not much traffic - high speed road one side of the river, then mostly backroads on the other. Rolling farm country and pretty views over the river. Lots of large sail boats, and some power boats.

Wetland conservation area with nice bird displays. Some pretty interesting birds here: kookaburas are all over the place, and quite noisy. White bellied sea eagles are large and spectacular. And black swans are beautiful and impressive. Lots of other beasties that I don't recognize. Still looking to see a live native mammal. "native hens" seem plentiful but not too bright. Almost ran into me on my bike - had to dodge them.

imgres.jpegFile-CorroboreeSeaEagle.jpg Shamelessly copied from Wikipedia.


Ate lunch at the oldest continuous hotel in Australia, dating from 1831. Just had dessert - sticky date cake with butterscotch sauce. I decided that when I come to the point of requiring palliative care, I will return, eat two helpings of that dessert, walk across the street and jump into the river and die happy. It was one of the most extraordinary desserts I've ever had.


1 comment: