Concerts, swimming, walking, relaxing, chairlift, coffee – the Gorge is well worth a visit. And even better – it’s not even 5 minutes from the Launceston city centre. I spent a few hours with the youngest 3 not too long ago, and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Bonus was the young fella slept real well that night!
The King’s Bridge – Cataract Walk which runs along the north bank was originally built by volunteers in the 1890’s. There is a big history of flood waters through the Gorge, and even now with the Travellyn Dam it can still rise significantly after decent rain. The first basin (where the swimming pool is) has a maximum depth of 19 metres. Couple that with Launceston’s normal temperate and you can understand why it wakes you up in the morning if you are silly enough to take a morning dip!
And lastly there is the walk up to the second basin where most people don’t take. Took us about 30 minutes but we weren’t mucking around. You can continue further up the track to Duck Reach which was the earliest municipal hydro power station in Australia – that being 1895.
