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Welcome to North East Tasmania.
If there’s a single keynote for Tasmania’s North East, perhaps
it’s colour — travelling through this part of the State, you’ll be aware
of the changing tones and hues of the land, the sky, the sea.
In Scottsdale’s green and fertile valley, beyond the dark green of
tall pines, dairy herds graze rich pastures and the fertile red soil
nourishes wonderful vegetables — onions and peas, carrots and
potatoes. In summer, flowering fields of poppies splash the
landscape, and lavender bushes grow in tidy, purple stripes.
Through the old tin mining towns of Derby and Weldborough. slopes
of grey gravel nudge up against dark forest — in spring, there’s a
sprouting of new red growth on the myrtles and eucalypts.
On the coast at Bridport and Tomahawk, there’s the white gold
of long sandy beaches, the bright orange of lichen-splashed granite
and the clean, clear turquoise of the sea.
Safe inside the sparkling expanse of Georges Bay at St Helens, the
fishing fleet sits snugly against the pier. Beyond the sand bar at the
mouth of the bay, the ocean teems with game fish. North of the town is
the pristine coast of the Bay of Fires.
This is a region of surprising variety — from neat, manicured
croplands of Scottsdale and Ringarooma to the wild natural
habitats of Mt William, where forester kangaroos graze; from tall, tumbling waterfalls
in deep rainforest to warm sunshine on white sand; from the
rugged summits of Ben Lomond and Mt Barrow to the rolling dairy
pastures of Winnaleah; from the exciting offshore fishing at Bridport
and St Helens to the rows of green-blossoming hops in
Tonganah and Springfield.
Each town, each place along the way has its own surprises —
sapphires panned from abandoned tin workings near Branxholm and
Derby; farm cheese at Pyengana; winter skiing and summer walks
on Ben Lomond’s craggy heights; echoes of a mining heritage at
Derby and the Blue Tier; a desert of golden sand dunes at St Helens;
rough-cut local granite in the towering Eddystone Point
lighthouse; sweeping views of forests and farmlands as the
Mathinna road descends to the Fingal Valley.
MAP
OF TASMANIA
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