Mon - Ulverstone / Leven Canyon

Slept well until the Melbourne night ferry woke us sounding its horn as it arrived here this morning.  Went into the town centre and wandered the two shopping areas.   We visited the information centre and purchased a yearly pass for the national parks.  You can either pay singularly at $24 each park or $60 for a 2 month pass or the yearly one of $96.   We elected on the yearly one as this was our cheapest option.  We have found everyone extremely friendly and helpful.   Back to the van for lunch before setting off to Ulverstone for a look.  Driving into town the first thing you see is the clock tower.

 Ian did say he thought it quite ugly.  We parked and walked around the town centre where there was a building called the lighthouse which had a dome on top of the roof that looks like the top of a lighthouse (no idea why) hence the name. It is currently the TAB.   We walked to the wharf area where there was a lookout area to view the old wharf on the Leven River which connects to the sea.  It also has a sign talking about the building of the clock tower and saying that it was the war memorial.  We walked back to the clock tower and Ian took a picture when a guy in his late 70's early 80's called out to us and proceeded to tell us all about the building of it.  He was also with a guy in his 40's.  It was built by 3 people, none had building experience, one was a barber and I don't remember what he said the other 2 were.   They relied on the architect who designed it to advise them.  The foundations were all dug by hand and the cement was mixed by hand.  He asked us what we thought of it and (thank god) Ian said it was certainly unusual and didn't say he thought it ugly because the younger guy then informs us the older guy was one of the builders.  Next we drove to Leven Canyon about 45 minutes away.  You can do a 45 minute circuit walk or a 20 minute return walk to Cruickshanks Lookout, which is the one we did as we didn't have appropriate footwear or water for the longer walk.  The lookout is 275m above the Leven River.  It is a very pretty area and everything is so green.  There is a well defined path through trees and ferns and there are 4 seats to sit on along the way.  One had carved on it "rest awhile", another "halfway there" and the last one  "nearly there".  We saw a Tasmanian pademelon aka rufous wallaby.   After our exercise for the day we returned to Ulverstone to go along the tourist beach drive, a complete waste of time before returning to the van to go for a stroll along the beach which is about 100 metres from our van.

Leven canyon