Day 325, Wednesday, 17 February, 2010

Distance travelled – 73.5 km
Avg speed – 18.4 kph
Max speed – 45.4 kph

Campbell Town to Launceston

When we arrived in Campbell Town yesterday we were struck by how green it was. The grass on the school oval and the park in the centre of town looked like a turf farm. Unlike our home in Canberra this is a place that still gets rain. As it turned out the rain we had at Coles Bay caused some flooding in Campbell Town and the town water supply had become contaminated. All water coming our of the taps was very brown and there was a “boil all drinking water” alert. The water authority had also installed a temporary water tank at the showground so that people could draw clean water. However we suspect this was only due to the fact that Tasmania is in election mode and this was in response to the news stories about how the government had neglected the local water supply.

Campbell Town is on the Midland Highway that runs between Launceston and Hobart. The highway is perhaps the busiest road we have travelled on in Tasmania and surprisingly for a two lane road it has a speed limit of 110kph. So our ride into Launceston was not that relaxed. The traffic was not constant but each time we lapsed into complacency and stopped looking at our mirrors, we were quickly brought back to reality by a fast moving vehicle. We do not recommend this route on a bicycle.

When we reached our destination in Launceston we discovered it was right next to the highway and with large trucks passing by all the time we decided to look for somewhere quieter. We found a small unit very close to Cataract Gorge, which was also within walking distance of the city, so a better option in the end. The hotel looks very familiar and we think we have a photo of the bikes out the front in 1978. When we get home we will search through the archives and see if we can find it.

Zoom into the map and use the 'Satellite' layer to see our new location.

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