Oldest bridge, newest tourists

Australia's oldest bridge is in Richmond, Tasmania. It opened in 1825. It's very scenic, and well worth a pilgrimage.

I enjoy watching the Chinese tourists at these places. These days they're by far the biggest group, and they all seem to have lots of fun!

Extreme postcodes: 2753

Richmond's probably only extreme in that it's at the extremity of its train line. And that's what took me there - I'd never travelled on that line before (and not many others were doing so that day either). I'd had in mind to get  off at some of the small stations along the way - Vineyard, Mulgrave, or Clarendon maybe - and explore whatever these places had to offer. But on looking out the window, it really didn't seem like there'd be anything much to explore in any of them. At Vineyard, in fact, I couldn't see any evidence of a  vineyard, let alone any houses or shops, not from the train at least.

So Richmond it was. Here are a few pictures. More about the place at  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond,_New_South_Wales

Carry on up the Colo

You'd have to be utterly mad to do a strenuous bushwalk on a day when it's 45.3°C, as it was recorded to be in nearby Richmond the other day. 

Well that's exactly what a small group of us did: bush bashing, boulder hopping, descending 500m down to the Colo River and back up 500m, the lot! The majority had cancelled out in deference to the weather forecast, and the remaining four of us were all hoping the others would cancel too, but they didn't. So it had to be done!




We were very careful to drink vast amounts of water, we took all day over it, and had several cooling swims, in Tootie Creek and the Colo River below.

The Colo is quite a river. It snakes its way around the half million hectare Wollemi National Park and drains a huge area. It provides lots of opportunities for somewhat challenging bushwalking adventures, confusing navigational episodes, benightings, exhaustings, and even the odd uplifting getaway camping weekend. 

Our trip was otherwise a relatively routine one. Driving in from Mountain Lagoon we started on the T3 track, then branched off to the left and down to Tootie Creek through fairly open bush (thanks to the big fires last year). Then down the creek to the Colo, and up the T3 track back to the car. And wasn't it nice to make it back!