|
 I ESCAPE Launceston at midday and try to put the city and its emails and mobile phone calls in the background.
That's helped by Weldborough, where my phone has no service.
Apparently there's a place somewhere nearby you can get a signal; I listen carefully to the directions so I can avoid it.
Besides, there's one of those fast-disappearing relics, a telephone box, outside the Weldborough Hotel and that's more my speed.
Weldborough, the old mining town nestled into forest in Tasmania's far north-east, is something of a hub for a diverse range of visitors.
For one thing, it's part of the Trail of the Tin Dragon, which runs from Launceston to St Helens and celebrates the rich mining history of the North-East and its Chinese heritage.
Weldborough is also at the base of the Blue Tier and mountain biking groups often camp or stay at the hotel to enjoy the exhilaration of high-speed descent.
The day I arrive, schoolchildren from St Helens have been dropped at the top to hurtle down through State Forest to Weldborough.
The town is a regular stopover for groups of road cyclists, quad bikers, motocross riders and bushwalkers.
Next week, the hotel is booked out for a group of mycologists, who will explore and celebrate the abundant fungi of the Blue Tier.
It's a big deal - workshops, forays, exhibitions and talks on the
humble mushroom and its colourful, soft-roofed cousins.
At the hotel, Mark and Felicity Montgomery are standing in for their son Martin, and his partner Sue Campbell, who are away at a wedding in Canada.
The senior Montgomerys moved to Weldborough from Ballarat and Mr Montgomery has enjoyed exploring the history of the town and seeing how different people find different reasons to visit.
There was a twitcher who found and photographed 10 of Tasmania's 12 endemic bird species within two kilometres of the town.
Then, there were the four siblings who came from Launceston and Melbourne, who were surprised to find an old photograph displayed on the hotel wall of their father standing proudly in the 1911-12 Weldborough cricket team.
There are also the fisherfolk who come to hunt down a trout in the Weld.
And there are general tourists, stopping off so they can spend some time exploring this fascinating region.
I fit the general tourist category, so beetle off 15 kilometres down the Tasman Highway to Pyengana and its award-winning dairy company.
Here, cafe manageress Tina Goltz walks me through a cheese tasting and a brief education in the ways of cheddar. We start with six-week-old cheddar, then seven-month cheddar and 16-month cheddar.
They are all maturing at different rates, depending on whether they've come off a "truckle", a "top hat" or a "tasty"; nicknames for the various wheel weights.
I love the peppercorn cheddar, but the hot and spicy devilish is a taste explosion (each purchase also kicks in for Tasmanian devil research).
I grab cheese, bikkies and a real coffee and head for St Columba Falls.
Just up the road is the Pub in the Paddock, which also has new publicans, Scott Codyre and Rowena Free.
The tradition of giving Priscilla the pig a stubby has survived the transition, although Mr Codyre tells me that the beer is heavily watered down so that the
happy porker doesn't overdo the sauce.
The dairy company, the pub and St Columba Falls are all within 10 kilometres so it's only minutes before I'm under the manfern canopy of the five-minute forest walk to the Falls.
Here, out of mobile phone range and in the shady cool of the late autumn afternoon, I take a minute to savour fine cheese and relax.
I drive back to Weldborough and slip down the Emu Road to Little Rio Grande Creek, unload my road bike and use the day's final light to cycle a short way up one of the tracks to Blue Tier.
It's slow going until I turn around and come rattling down. I dodge rocks, plough through mud and soak myself in puddles. It's fabulous fun.
IF YOU GO
- For the Weldborough Hotel: www.weldborough.com.au or call 6354 2223.
- For trail information: See www.trailofthetindragon.com
Tasmanian Travelways: for all your accommodation needs in Tasmania |
