Launceston and the Bay of fires.

Our next stop was Launceston to visit the Cataract Gorge on the Tamar river.

We took the 300 m chair lift across the gorge, the river was in spate and the volume of water was so great that the falls had disappeared beneath a torrent of water.

The gorge is thought to have been formed  by an earthquake 40 million years ago and is a very impressive sight.

 

 

We head further east towards St Helens and to Binalong Bay, part of the Bay of Fires.

This stretch of coastline has many beautiful white sand beaches where the granite rocks are covered in a red lichen which glows at sunset and dawn giving the area its name.

Carrying down the coast we spent the night at Bicheno taking a walk along the costal path in the late afternoon to see the seals on the rocks and in the evening we go off in the dark with our torches to see the Fairy Penguins coming ashore.