No Fixed Abode: Red stone, brown wood.

Wed 17 Feb 2016 - Bay of Fires and Legerwood Carvings

After a cosy night in the big bed we got up breakfast and explored the old house in more detail in the daylight. It was a fascinating old place full of old furniture and would have looked right at home as one of the exhibits in Port Arthur. High ceilings, dark wooden furniture, old brass taps the whole lot. During a hearty breakfast we learned a little of our host Diane’s past. She’d been born on a farm on the mainland, travelled to Europe, lived in Surrey for a couple of years looking after children and horses, settled home, been diagnosed and treated for brain tumours which inspired her to come to Tasmania and set up the B&B/horse riding business she now has. Whew, what a life. She also told us about some of the guests she’d had that either don’t turn up, ran off without paying or took the entire contents of the breakfast room with them. Unbelievable!

After some photos of her and the house we set off for the Bay of Fires, a long stretch of coastline with several shallow bays separated by granite headlands that are covered in a bright red algae, hence the name. Passing through the major coastal town and fishing port of St Helen’s (pop 6000) we wound our way along the wild, duned coast to The Gardens, a spot recommended by Diane.

It was a wild, remote sort of place with a large empty beach and the famous red stained rocky headland. After scampering over the rocks like children we took a stroll along the beach and watched a young Aussie guy wade into the sea looking macho and trying to encourage his girlfriend to join him. Suddenly he let out a girly shriek and ran out of the water and with the rest of his small group looking concerned explained that a large stingray had brushed passed his leg. Although we could see the, admittedly, large form of the ray cruising up and down the shallow his street cred must be seriously tarnished.

With no particular aims left we set off on a long exploratory drive home through Devon, and Derby to Launceston (Tasmania’s second city) and back down the central highway through the Midlands. Winding through and ever changing landscape of forest and open farmland we noticed a small sign to the ‘Legerwood Memorial Carvings’ so turned off to explore. Legerwood is a small village with a few farms and a sawmill and as we rounded the corner to the village green we saw an amazing row of old tree trunks all with figures carved in them. Stopping to explore on foot we discovered that in 1918 the villagers had planted a tree for each of their seven men that had died in the great war plus one for Gallipoli and one for the ANZACs. In 1999 the trees had grown old and were declared a safety risk. Not wishing to lose their tribute to the fallen they hastily raised $27,000 dollars and engaged a chainsaw sculpture to shape the remaining trunks into a relevant tribute for each man. Each skilful carving has an associated information panel describing the person, his relationship in the community and the scene depicted. They truly are a remarkable tribute both to the men and the community that created and maintains them.

We then wound a way back over high passes, through more forests, open farmland, and the city of Launceston before joining the main highway south. The ‘midlands’ (north and south) comprises a large plateau in centre of the island. We could see mountains in the distance on all sides of the empty, rolling, dry plains and at one point there was a large area of dead tree trunks that looked like the aftermath of a battlefield.

Eventually we returned to Keith and Libby’s to recount the adventures of the last two days. With the ladies retiring early Glenn and Keith stayed up late sampling Aussie craft beer, reminiscing over the good old days at National Grid and putting the world to right.