Cateract Gorge - Launceston

Literally 5 minutes out of Launceston yet still in the suburbs, an amazing gorge unfolds with one of the best public pools I have seen.... And it is free!  We arrived late morning with our best hiking thongs on and a bag of food and towels. We found a nice shady spot under a great big tree and went for a ride on the chairlift followed by a walk along the edge of the gorge. We came across a group of youths that clearly had too much adrenaline and watched them jumping off rock edges that were at least 40m above river level while their sour-faced girlfriends sat hunched over on benches playing crap music thru their portable speakers and not saying a word to anyone, even those other miserable felines in their group. 

We decided to head back and have lunch, only to see from our vantage point on the chairlift the sun moves from East to West in Tasmania just like in the rest of the world, and now our lunch bags were the only things perched in the sun in the middle of a vast grassy area, looking more like an abandoned suitcase waiting for the bomb squad to come and diffuse. 

After lunch, it was the time the kids had been hanging out for - The pool. 

It was split in two halves with one side being a maximum of 400mm deep for the toddlers, and the other half was the normal shallow to deep design. It looked so much fun that I couldn't resist. I figured no-one here knew me anyway, so if anyone fainted at the sight (or thought?) of me parading around without my shirt on, then it wasn't going to bother me next week. So stripped off and jumped in. Luckily the river was just on the other side of the grass, enabling the wave I produced to diminish to just a trickle a kilometre or so down the gorge. 

An hour or so later, the kids were ready to go and I was getting tired of all the wolf whistles as I rolled out the pool, so we dried off and went for one last look and walk to the swinging bridge. The smoke had cleared up thanks to a wind change and helped with the views. 

I still can't get over how amazing this place is and that everything is free and open 24/7 (except the chairlift). 

We headed back with a quick stop at the local Woolies, and it was now a reality that we only had a few days left before we were heading home. I am not overly happy about that, mainly because it means I have to try and squeeze into my work pants and shirts - that is not going to be a good look!