Sometimes the nicest days travelling are the ones with very little planning – you just let the day unfold. Today was like that. We headed north up the east side of the Tamar River, thinking it would take about an hour or so, and we’d drive to the end, take a quick photo, and spend another hour or so driving back on the western side. Six or seven hours later, we’d seen so many interesting things and made so many unplanned stops, it turned into a very full day.

First stop was Georgetown, which claims to be the oldest town in Australia. It is certainly the oldest in Tasmania, and was at one time the northern capital. Several decades of political wrangling saw that honour shift to Launceston, and Georgetown is now a quiet place populated by retirees. We stopped at an interesting chainsaw sculpture depicting whales, penguins, and men hauling the telegraph cable out of the ocean.

A few kms further up the road was Low Head. I expected this to be nothing more than a sign saying we’d reached the northern extremity of the road, but it’s quite a large town, again full of retirees and holidaymakers. It also has an interesting maritime history, as it is home to several lighthouses and a pilot station, all used to guide ships safely past the ocean reef and into the safety of the river channel. We whiled away a couple of hours exploring here, and decided it would be a very pleasant weekend getaway destination.

After lunch we headed south again, crossing the Batman Bridge which is the northernmost river crossing. We were now on the west side of the Tamar.

A right turn took us north, first to Beaconsfield. Until 2006, no-one had heard of this unassuming mining town. Then the terrible tragedy occurred when several miners were trapped underground. In an incredible survival story which captured worldwide attention, two of the men were finally rescued, but the third sadly died. The mine was subsequently closed, but the town is now a tourist attraction. It’s rather a nice place. We stopped at the old mine heritage centre to admire the early 20^th century brickwork and fan windows – I love industrial architecture and for some reason I find mines fascinating – must be my Cornish coal mining ancestry. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to go inside, but have put it on our to do list for another time.

We pressed on to Greens Beach, which is the end of the western road. Here we discovered the equivalent of Portsea – large, impressive homes with sweeping views across a gorgeous sand beach. We could see across to Low Head and the lighthouse. Obviously the more well to do holidaymakers come here.

Our final stop was at Brady Lookout, closer to Launceston. An unassuming red mark on the map turned out to be quite an impressive scenic vantage point with sealed walkways, picnic areas, and two lookouts with stunning views over the Tamar. We peered down at the large granite outcrops directly below us – good places to hide controls!

A short drive past the wetlands brought us back to home base just in time for cheese and bikkies, and the inevitable glass of vino. It’s a tough life!