I had the best night’s sleep in ages – no rocking or rolling, just a nice stable unmoving bed. Refreshed, we made sandwiches and set off to explore the villages south of Launceston. First stop was Brickendon, a rural property just outside Longford, which has been in the same farming family for 7 generations. It is on the World Heritage list because of its significance within the Australian convict system. Following the signs, we pulled up at the car park. I looked at the big rusted tin farm shed, and thought “that’s not the picture in the brochure”. I puzzled it out and realised there are two properties – one is the historic farm village, the other is the house and gardens, a kilometre away. We were in the wrong place. The others hadn’t turned up at all – even with four orienteers in the car, they’d got lost! A quick phone call sorted that out, and soon we were meandering around the property.

The gardens are an eclectic mix of formal, cottage, productive and wild – something for everyone, and representative of the changing garden design fashions over the past two hundred years. It features a number of significant conifer and oak trees, not found elsewhere in Tasmania. The orchard has some rare fruit trees. There’s a massive bunya pine. It was a lovely place for a picnic lunch and a gentle wander.

Next stop was nearby Evandale, a town full of history dating from the mid 1800s, and home of the annual penny farthing bicycle races each February. We had a little booklet to tell us about the many cottages, shops and churches that we saw as we strolled around the peaceful streets.

We’re having what passes for a new year’s eve party amongst aged orienteers – no doubt we’ll all be in bed by 10pm!