I hired a basic hardtail bike from a local shop, donned my cold weather gear, and took off into the hills on this beautiful cloudless late autumn day.

The first part of the trip was up to Trevallyn Reserve which is perched atop some of the hills to the west of town.

The reserve has some pretty steep and rocky trails which were hard work to negotiate, but worth the effort. The view down the river towards the dam is spectacular.

After a quick break, I then headed to the Kate Reed reserve to the south of town. This has a lot more narrow single track than Trevallyn, and it was here I suffered a pretty nasty “Gumby Stack” where I fell off my bike for no reason other than I couldn’t pull my feet out of my clip-in pedals. Luckily my shoulder survived the fall and I have no broken bones.

I’ve never ridden in such cold weather before. It takes a lot more preparation than I’m used to. And you still get hot, and cold, and wet with perspiration.

But it’s a great way to explore a city. I’ll definitely try this again!

Legend has it that Sir Richard Branson once owned these cows.

Vandals stole the horns from one of the cows, and the legs from another one, but they still remain an excellent example of art in public spaces.

These cows have “lived” in this field close to the centre of Launceston, Tasmania for over a year, and (I think) look fantastic.

Someone told me that one morning, the people of Launceston awoke to find the cows had been moved to the middle of the local highway, aparently directing traffic.

Like the crazy bloke in the video says…. “Moo!”.

Spring has sprung in Tassie.

I’m here doing some work for a client, and thought it would be good to share some pictures I took with my mobile phone of some of the flowers that are blooming all over the place at the moment.

These flowers were taken near Rosevears, on the west side of the Tamar River, about 15km north of Launceston.

We don’t really get spring in Queensland. It’s about 3 weeks of winter and that’s it.

It’s lovely to experience what seasons are really like for the rest of the world.

A tranquil place about 15 minutes drive from Launceston Tasmania. Taken with my mobile phone.

The Tamar River meanders from George Town on the northern coast of Tasmania down to Launceston, 55km away.

If you sailed it, you’d probably measure about 75km because of all the bends in the river.

Despite this meandering, it is quite deep and navigable for its entire length. Large ships regularly make the journey.

The spectacular Batman Bridge crosses the Tamar near Exeter, about 30 km north of Launceston.

Built in 1968, it is unusual in that it is a hybrid bridge (the technical term is “asymmetric cable-stayed”).

One side boasts one huge “A” shaped pylon that is secured deep into the bedrock on the western side of the river. Cables from it support the weight of most of the bridge.

The eastern side of the Tamar is not as rocky as the other side, so this end of the bridge rests on a series of trusses.

This particular part of the river is known as “Whirlpool Reach”. It is much narrower, and the currents can be very strong.