Out & About Launceston
Launceston is Tasmania’s second city. It’s in the north of the island, where the North Esk and South Esk Rivers join to become the Tamar River, which then flows into Bass Strait. The city is elegant with Victorian and Edwardian buildings and is surrounded by beautiful countryside.
Rich wheat and wool merchants once stalked the elegant streets of Launceston, and built their mansions and villas where visitors now enjoy bed and breakfast. On Sunday afternoons the merchants took their wives and children to the Victorian park at Cataract Gorge, where peacocks still mew and bands still come and play in the bandstand. Call in for a drink at the Batman Fawkner Inn, where Batman, Fawkner and others planned the founding of Melbourne on the other side of Bass Strait. Visit the Waverley Woollen Mills, established in 1874 and still weaving fabrics from fine Tasmanian merino wool.