Tassie - Day 14

Saturday was our last day in Tasmania.  We didn't sail out of Devonport until 7.30pm, so we had a whole day to fill in.  No rushing, which was nice.

We waited until the dew had dried on our camper before packing it up, which meant we didn't leave the camp ground until about 10 o'clock.

Our first stop on our way to the ferry was at the markets at the lovely town of Deloraine.  No purchases, but we met "Miss Marigold" the Morgan and her elderly owner.

The street was lined with quirky sculptures.

As we continued on our way, we started to notice the rich, fertile soil and the number of crops.

It really was a picture, with the Western Tiers in the background.

After lunch we made our way back to Don, just on the outskirts of Devonport.  If you remember, on our first day we saw the Don Railway Museum, but we were too early to visit.  At the time, we thought it would be good to visit on our last day.

Unfortunately, in recent wet weather part of the track was damaged and it wasn't quite ready to have passenger trains go over it as yet.  

Therefore, we just had a very short ride on a rail motor.

It dates from 1944 and is a diesel.  It was shipped out from England at the same time as the last of the steam trains.  It really was just like a bus on tracks.  Saturday was its first day back in action after a complete overhaul.

The Don Railway Society was created in the 1970s.  The line they are on was to a quarry and when it was closed in the 60s the entire infrastructure was removed.  

What is there now has been completely built since then.

They used to run excursions all over the state, but since public liability insurance has become harder to obtain they only run trains on their own, short, private track.

The museum is run entirely by volunteers.  They were really interesting to listen to, telling us all about the history of the engines.  I wish I could remember it all. It was really hands on too.  I got to sit in the drivers seat of the green one on the left of the above photo.  It originally was from New South Wales.

There were some lovely carriages.

I couldn't believe the size of the workshop.

While were there a little boy and his dad were also looking around.  The little fellow was dressed for the part and was having a fantastic time.

After our hour or so wandering around we thought we had better get on our way and have a bit of a look at Devonport.

I wonder how many town there are where you look down the main street to see a passenger ferry in harbour?

As it was a beautiful day we had a look around the foreshore.  We saw the lighthouse again, from a different angle.

We also found "The Spirit of the Sea" at the entrance to the Mersey River.

Some lovely craft came in.

A couple of rather large ships went out.

And one pretty coloured fishing boat went by.

Meanwhile, our ferry sat waiting to be loaded.

Finally, it was our turn to board.

Bye bye Tassie.