Australia Mission: Melbourne West Zone Conferences Part 4

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Melbourne West Zone Conferences Part 4

Launceston is a beautiful city in the northern part of Tasmania. It is located on a river that empties into the sea between Australia and Tasmania. It is most noted for the Cataract Gorge that is easily accessible from the city. There is a big church on almost every corner of the town. The buildings are very old and beautiful. We spent the night at the Hotel Grand Chancelor, having gotten a great rate that included the buffet breakfast. We ate way too much. We visited the beautiful city park close to the hotel and saw the monkeys. Before we drove the hour to Devonport we took time to visit the Gorge. On the way to Devonport we drove through the village of Grindelwald, named after Grindelwald, Switzerland. It really is nothing more than a resort area in the mountains outside of Launceston with a golf course and Swiss style buildings.
We took the Spirit of Tasmania to Melbourne, reliving for me the trip I took with my father 50 years ago when we moved to Tasmania. We took the boat ride then. The ship has changed dramatically in 50 years. Now it is the size of a small cruise ship. It stills acts as a car ferry. Many people drove their cars onboard so that they would have them when they reached Melbourne. It takes overnight to get to Melbourne. The crossing was uneventful. We had a nice dinner, then saw the movie, Mad Money, before retiring. The sea was getting a bit rocky at 11 pm but we fell asleep and didn't notice a bump until morning. We docked at 7 am, took a taxi to the airport and waited until noon to board our flight to Sydney. Oddly enough, it didn't cost any more to take the ship and fly from Melbourne than it would have to fly from Hobart to Sydney.