History tour

Guess what, not only do the Oatlands' businesses close early, they open late!

We set off to explore town around nine and headed for a walk around the lake first. It was  during this walk we realised how much birdlife was on the lake and a it did look better as you walked around it. The lake is approximately 200 hectare is size, so pretty big!

 

When we headed back into the town we came across the local cemetery. It's always interesting to look at the old graves to see the families who have obviously been in the area for a very long time. 

It was here we noticed that the orange lichen that grows on the rocks around the coast, also grows here in the central area of the state. I thought it was something to do with the sea air, but maybe it has more to do with the clean air here.

We noticed that one a the families was the Pennicotts. I wonder if it's the same family as the Pennicott Wilderness tours?

We got back to the main street around 10am and loved looking at all the old buildings and admiring how so much of the town's historical identity had been maintained. Some of the streets were like stepping back in time.

Fortunately, we were walking by the Pancake Cafe just as they were opening the doors. Terry and Mark thought that was personal invitation to enter. It was another beautiful old building that had maintained many of it's original features. What was originally the stable still had  spoons drain running the length of the building.

 

One thing we've noticed in Tasmania, it's quite easy to get a delicious Devonshire tea. Mark and Ruth's looked beautiful. This time, Terry and I decided to try a maple bacon muffin with chai latte and hot chocolate, and it was delicious! 

After a while of enjoying this cosy cafe with it's delicious food, we dragged ourselves back out it the cold to explore a bit more.

Ruth and I found found a few nice little shops while the guys went down to the information centre to check out what else there was to see.

Our last stop was the old flour mill.

Unfortunately there didn't seem to be anywhere to enquire about having a look through the old buildings. There was a tour starting just as we got there but we didn't get a chance to ask the guide for help.

We wandered around the site that has been beautifully restored. They are also building a large modern distillery which blends well with the historical building.

After a wander and some photos, we headed back to the vans to make our way to Richmond for our last night in the vans.

First stop in Richmond, The Richmond Bridge. It is the oldest stone span bridge in Australia. Another beautiful old structure in a lovely setting. Sadly, the weather had deteriorated so the photo is a little dull. However, this doesn't take anything away from the bridge.

Close by, is the St John's Catholic Church built in 1836 and believed to be the oldest Catholic Church in Australia that is still an active church. 

The church is perched up on the hill overlooking the area around. There is a cemetery behind it but we didn't go and look at this one.  With so many beautiful old sandstones churches and buildings throughout this area it makes me realise how little history we have around us back home.

After this we headed back up into the town checking out a few of the shops. Ruth and I explored another antique store while the guys went on further, probably looking for something sweet. 

While we were in the store we noticed they had a large collection of vinyl records and we knew that Mark had been looking for a particular album by Art Garfunkel that had been extremely difficult for him to find. We asked the very helpful owner what albums he had and he showed us three.  We took a photo to show Mark and I don't think he really believed us (or he was disappointed that we found it and not him) but he did go back and buy it. I think he came out a very happy man and it only cost him $15 dollars.

After our little find, we headed over to the old Richmond Gaol. This is another great historical site with loads of information and glimpses into the harsh life of the convicts. This also had convict list so, of course I looked up our family name but none of them were familiar.

When we finished at the Goal, we went in search of the Old Hobart Town miniature replica village. This model is and replica of Hobart in the 1820's. It is built with amazing detail and a great sense of humour depicting men out the back of a building relieving themselves, or ladies of the night, highway robberies as well as realistic scenes of life back in that time.

They have tried to make it entertaining for all ages and there's a bit of a challenge where to have to find four characters hidden somewhere in the model. Eagle eye Ruth and Mark found most of them and I think that the guy didn't believe us because he quizzed us on what colour clothing they had on.

When we get back to Hobart it will be interesting to see if we recognise any of the building that are still standing.

With it getting late, we headed for our last caravan park with the vans. This time we had powered sites and access to clean hot showers. I have to say a shower has never felt so good after three days of bucket washes.

The last nine days has been fantastic a while I'm a bit sad this is the last night in the van, I'm looking forward to staying in a Hobart Air BnB we have booked.