The Tamar Valley runs from the north coast of Tasmania to the city of Launceston (a lot of the place names are from the West Country). It is an unusual mixture of port, quarrying, mining, industry and wildlife. We spent an extra unexpected day there when the ship had to shelter in the river valley from one of the huge storms that sweeps through the Bass Strait.
The newest and most successful initiatives are in wine-growing and gin and whisky distilling.
On our "extra" day we went to the Platypus House and watched the antics of the Duck-Billed Platypus in their spacious tanks.
The other half of the building housed a group of Echidna. They were delightful. They had learned that they were fed whenever a group of tourists was let in, so they waited impatiently by the door and mobbed us when we arrived. Each had its own little bowl and its own portion of food, but the greedy ones ate their food as fast as possible and then raced round trying to steal food from the other echidnas.
The gift shop was tempting and we brought a Tasmanian Devil from a friend who seems besotted by them, and a Galah, or Pink Cockatoo, to join our cuddly bird collection.
Finally we went into George Town, one of the earliest European settlements on Tasmania, and admired its monuments and sculptures, and its fascinating Maritime Museum, At the mouth of the estuary was the Low Head Lighthouse and the Low Head Pilot Station Museum in a row of 1806 convict built cottages.
