Road Trip Day 7

[den]

April 5

Got up early, said Goodbye to Milan and the Split Cafe, and headed North.

Cheers, Milan!


I had no real plan beyond "Head North," so I told Ada I wanted to go to Launceston, and headed Northish. After a few minutes on the road I passed a sign that pointed to Richmond, so I went that way. Ada complained until I told her we were going to Richmond.



Richmond Gaol, built 1823. It is the oldest intact gaol in Australia and predates Port Arthur by 5 years.


Richmond Bridge


I wandered around the town for an hour and hit the road again.

The sign said "Spikey Bridge." Hey look! It's a Spikey Bridge!

Built in 1841 by convicts. No one knows why the architect specified the spikey railings, but the convicts installed them anyway.


Nine Mile Beach, looking toward the Freycinet Peninsular


And then on to Bicheno to see the blowhole. The sea was very calm so the blowhole wasn't blowing much at all.


The rocks along the shore are covered in a brilliant orance lichen.


I had a very disappointing seafood lunch here at a seafood restaurant. I should have just gone to the cafe, because the calamari was chewie, the fish batter gooey, and the prawn cutlets were under-done.
Very disappointing.

After some hours of driving around I found myself at Columbia falls; 90m high and Australia's highest waterfall.


There is an interesting sign on the way to the falls...

The railings just past the sign were missing, and the path newly repaired. The damage was caused by a landslip. Small Risk my arse. P(landslip)>(small risk) = 1

There were, of course, more tree ferns.



I was most tempted to call in at the Pub In The Paddock, but the day was getting late so I headed for Launceston and the motel I'd booked.

Comments

[weyrdbird.livejournal.com]

A land of many contrasts, indeed!
Sounds like the seafood place didn't have their fryers up to temp. Bummer.
So much for "old faithful" (blowhole) :D.
Waterfalls and pubs are not bad things to see!

Those aren't barnacles!

[falconea.livejournal.com]

They are in fact small mussels - Brachidontes rostratus. I would expect to find a specific limpet living on them - Notoacmea alta.

Oh, ezxcellent - I found the large picture Look down the left side, att he white mussel just in from the edge, 1/3 of the way down. Immediately below this you can see a little limpet. That's Notoacmea alta.

You also have in there Siphonaria tasmanica and Siphonaria diemenensis, and possibly also Siphonaria tasmanica. They look like limpets but actually breathe air. (Photos of them here: http://www.bluering.org.au/chpt11c.htm) - S. tasmanica in your photo is on the bare rock, bottom left - the mussels look a bit like the Great Australian Bight with an island in the middle - S. tasmanica is the right end of the island. Looks more grey than blue. S. diemensis is also on the bare rock, and the left-most one on the green seaweed (sea lettuce, Ulva spp.) could be S. zealandica, possibly.

If you had looked among the mussels you would have found a tiny pink bivalve - Lesaea australis, and probably other things as well - those mussel mats make nice habitat for all sorts of little animals.

The sea stars are Meridiastra calcar. They're all the same species despite the colour variation. They're not fish.

Audrey

www.bluering.org.au - Leon's photos.

Re: Those aren't barnacles!

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

I have corrected the text on the flickr page. Thanks for the info! (That's the triffic thing about knowing people who know stuff.)

[smof.livejournal.com]

I want to come to Australia.

[dewhitton.livejournal.com]

8)