Lilydale to Longford and return
Distance Travelled - 141.9 km
After a restful night of sleep the alarm drew me from my slumber at 7.00am. The plan was to leave by 8 am so I readily hit snooze and waited for the alarm to go off again at 7.15 am which it did and again at 7.30 am. It was however 8.15 am before I really woke again and then I had to overcome the feeling that I had to engage in a mad rush to get ready and leave. Sensibility prevailed and without rushing or dawdling I was able to leave by just after 8.30 am having showered, breakfasted and made a coffee to drink in the car.
It was a boring drive out to Brickendon near Longford but the 50 km drive gave me time to finish waking up and ensure I was in a clam place and not feeling rushed. The Brickendon Estate was a former settlement where a lot of convicts worked for a free settler family known as the Archers. The farm is now Heritage listed due to some very unique buildings there and it's association with the convict area.
I spent a couple of hours walking around and took a few photos before heading off to the second section known as the gardens. Apparently these are well known for their beauty and range of flowering plants, some dating back a couple of hundred years when they were initially brought out from England. Unfortunately the severe lack of rain in Tasmania this year has had a dramatic effect on the gardens. After the hype I had heard about them I was looking forward to a very visual display and some good photo opportunities and I must say that I was spectacularly disappointed with it. I did manage a couple of decent photos but the subject matter was more accidental than designed. I spotted a couple of mushrooms hiding under pine needle debris and after carefully clearing the nettles away to show the mushroom I spent a few moments taking some shots before gently replacing the nettles back around the mushrooms.
Leaving the gardens I went into Launceston and visited the art Gallery and Museum. I think it shows how uncultured I am when looking through the art gallery I saw very little that impressed me and lots that made me wonder how it can be regarded as art, much less art that is worthy of being shown in a gallery. However, I kept my thoughts and comments to myself and then left to head over to the museum where the Australian Geographic Wildlife Photographer of the Year, 2014 exhibition was on.
Many of the photos here were breathtaking and I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition which ranged from insects to mammals to plants and sea creatures plus a section portraying the effect of humans on the wildlife - both positive and negative. It was well worth a visit and at this stage I am contemplating going back again before I leave.
Finishing at the exhibition I grabbed a late lunch and headed back to Lilydale arriving at the house just as Shane and Michelle were heading out. I went upstairs and had a snooze for an hour or so before getting up to sort photos from todays trip.
Having sorted the photos I went down and joined Shane and Michelle and chatted for a bit before we had a yummy fish, squid and chips tea masterfully prepared and cooked by Shane. After tea we chatted and talked music and then spent time working on a quiz / photo challenge naming various bands depicted in a scene. After that it was time to head upstairs to write the blog and go to bed.
Tomorrow has no real plans yet - more a wait and see kind of day.
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