Midlands Highway
Dec. 27th, 2009 08:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xenithThis is about the Midlands Highway, that bit of road running from Launceston to Hobart and back again, so I can work out what I have already written about and provide some context for future posts. It has a map, which links to a bigger map. Its not a very fancy map but it's mine. And there are notes on the towns.
<-- a road leading to the location given
(bypass town, not actually on the highway)
Links are to relevant other posts
LAUNCESTON
Breadalbane --->Evandale
Which is best know for the Roundabout, where the Southern Outlet, the road to the airport and Evandale, the back road form Launceston and the road to Perth meet. There used to something like 3 pubs here, once upon a time and now there's just the Woolpack Inn which is a coffee house or private house. It varies. Also, my sister lived here for a little while.
Longford <--- Perth ---> Evandale
Heading north, Perth is "almost home". It's also where you turn off to go to Longford and the North West Coast. It has all the usual things you'd expect a small country town to have (service station, chemist, small supermarket) and people form Evandale sometimes come here because it's closer than the city. It's actually an historic town, with some nice old buildings and some interesting stories but no one seems to bother with them. One of Mum's great-grandfather's had a butcher shop here, and he and his wife and some of their family are buried in one of the cemeteries.
--->Evandale
Powranna
Epping Forest
Cleveland
South of Perth is a long stretch that is the most boring stretch of the highway. It's a long straight stretch of mostly farmland and remnant forest. Sometimes, if you're up at some horrible hour of the morning, you get to see the sun rise behind Ben Lomond. That's almost worth getting up early for. Powranna, I think, was a train station. Epping Forest, I'm not sure if it every was anything other a spot on the map (and the name for the surrounding area). Cleveland was a coaching stop. It has two former inns, one of which is a restaurant/coffe house. There's a little church and cemetery, and some houses.
---> Evandale, via Nile, also Deddington & Clarendon
(Conara)
Conara Junction is where the north-south railway line (I forget the name of it) meets the Fingal line. As far as I know, it developed as a town for the railway workers. My paternal grandfather grew up here.
---> Fingal Valley, East Coast
Campbell Town
In the 1980s, the highway was rebuilt to bypass many of the towns. Heading south, Campbell Town is the last town before the bypassed section. The town has turned this to it's advantage as the place to stop to eat, stretch your legs or go to the toilet. It's always busy.
It's one of the towns Governor Macquarie gave the location for on his trip from Hobart to Launceston before the highway was built. He names the town after his wife, Elizabeth Campbell. Want to guess what the river here is called?
I have a lot of photos from here, and an information brochure I recently picked up that makes the town much more interesting than I thought so I need to put them together.
(Ross)
Ross is where we usually stop. I could say a lot about the town, but I've said most of it before.
(Tunbridge)
I think this used to be a coaching stop. There isn't much here now, except houses. Although the antique shop which closed is now open again, Mum tells me.
(Woodbury) & (Antill Ponds)
These are more location on a map than specific places. Antill Ponds is the closest point to halfway between Hobart and Launceston.
(Oatlands)
Oatlands is usually considered to be the halfway point (although it's something like 84km from Hobart and 117 to Launceston). It makes some claim about having the most sandstone buildings but I forget the details. It also has an old gaol and courthouse and all that stuff, but I've never seen them. And the windmill, of course.
(Jericho)
--> Richmond, via Campania & Colebrook
(Melton Mowbray)
Used to be Cross Marsh. There's an old hotel and probably some other buildings. The Lake Highway runs off here, which takes you to Bothwell and then the Central Highlands.
(Kempton)
Another bypassed town, but not one we stop at so I don't know much about it. I think it was known as Green Ponds once upon a time, but that might be the district rather than the town.
Dysart
Bagdad
Mangalore
These all run together on roads along the edge of the highway so I don't know where each one starts/finishes. A few years back, at the start of a certain war, if you put "Bagdad" into Google, the town's online centre was one of the first matches. They apparently got a lot of supportive emails from people who can't spell.
Broadmarsh<---
Pontville
Brighton
These two towns also run together. I think the Brighton Showgrounds, where we used to do for dog shows, is actually in Pontville. There's some interesting old buildings in Pontville, but we never stop to get photos of them. Brighton is an "old money" town and also a commuter town. There used to be an army camp in the area, that was sold off and I think turned into (I forget the term -- place people come stay). It used for a while to house refugees from one of the former Yugoslavian states (I'm thinking Serbs, but it might have started with a K). Then the government sent them home, which caused a lot of upset.
New Norfolk<--- Bridgewater ---> Eastern Shore
This is "almost to Hobart" point. There are a lot of shops catering to travellers (service stations, takeaways). The Bridge is here, that being the bridge over the Derwent that goes up with a ship wants to go thourgh. There's a train track along the edge of the bridge too.
New Norfolk<--- Granton
Other Northern Surburbs
HOBART
<-- a road leading to the location given
(bypass town, not actually on the highway)
Links are to relevant other posts
LAUNCESTON
Breadalbane --->Evandale
Which is best know for the Roundabout, where the Southern Outlet, the road to the airport and Evandale, the back road form Launceston and the road to Perth meet. There used to something like 3 pubs here, once upon a time and now there's just the Woolpack Inn which is a coffee house or private house. It varies. Also, my sister lived here for a little while.
Longford <--- Perth ---> Evandale
Heading north, Perth is "almost home". It's also where you turn off to go to Longford and the North West Coast. It has all the usual things you'd expect a small country town to have (service station, chemist, small supermarket) and people form Evandale sometimes come here because it's closer than the city. It's actually an historic town, with some nice old buildings and some interesting stories but no one seems to bother with them. One of Mum's great-grandfather's had a butcher shop here, and he and his wife and some of their family are buried in one of the cemeteries.
--->Evandale
Powranna
Epping Forest
Cleveland
South of Perth is a long stretch that is the most boring stretch of the highway. It's a long straight stretch of mostly farmland and remnant forest. Sometimes, if you're up at some horrible hour of the morning, you get to see the sun rise behind Ben Lomond. That's almost worth getting up early for. Powranna, I think, was a train station. Epping Forest, I'm not sure if it every was anything other a spot on the map (and the name for the surrounding area). Cleveland was a coaching stop. It has two former inns, one of which is a restaurant/coffe house. There's a little church and cemetery, and some houses.
---> Evandale, via Nile, also Deddington & Clarendon
(Conara)
Conara Junction is where the north-south railway line (I forget the name of it) meets the Fingal line. As far as I know, it developed as a town for the railway workers. My paternal grandfather grew up here.
---> Fingal Valley, East Coast
Campbell Town
In the 1980s, the highway was rebuilt to bypass many of the towns. Heading south, Campbell Town is the last town before the bypassed section. The town has turned this to it's advantage as the place to stop to eat, stretch your legs or go to the toilet. It's always busy.
It's one of the towns Governor Macquarie gave the location for on his trip from Hobart to Launceston before the highway was built. He names the town after his wife, Elizabeth Campbell. Want to guess what the river here is called?
I have a lot of photos from here, and an information brochure I recently picked up that makes the town much more interesting than I thought so I need to put them together.
(Ross)
Ross is where we usually stop. I could say a lot about the town, but I've said most of it before.
(Tunbridge)
I think this used to be a coaching stop. There isn't much here now, except houses. Although the antique shop which closed is now open again, Mum tells me.
(Woodbury) & (Antill Ponds)
These are more location on a map than specific places. Antill Ponds is the closest point to halfway between Hobart and Launceston.
(Oatlands)
Oatlands is usually considered to be the halfway point (although it's something like 84km from Hobart and 117 to Launceston). It makes some claim about having the most sandstone buildings but I forget the details. It also has an old gaol and courthouse and all that stuff, but I've never seen them. And the windmill, of course.
(Jericho)
--> Richmond, via Campania & Colebrook
(Melton Mowbray)
Used to be Cross Marsh. There's an old hotel and probably some other buildings. The Lake Highway runs off here, which takes you to Bothwell and then the Central Highlands.
(Kempton)
Another bypassed town, but not one we stop at so I don't know much about it. I think it was known as Green Ponds once upon a time, but that might be the district rather than the town.
Dysart
Bagdad
Mangalore
These all run together on roads along the edge of the highway so I don't know where each one starts/finishes. A few years back, at the start of a certain war, if you put "Bagdad" into Google, the town's online centre was one of the first matches. They apparently got a lot of supportive emails from people who can't spell.
Broadmarsh<---
Pontville
Brighton
These two towns also run together. I think the Brighton Showgrounds, where we used to do for dog shows, is actually in Pontville. There's some interesting old buildings in Pontville, but we never stop to get photos of them. Brighton is an "old money" town and also a commuter town. There used to be an army camp in the area, that was sold off and I think turned into (I forget the term -- place people come stay). It used for a while to house refugees from one of the former Yugoslavian states (I'm thinking Serbs, but it might have started with a K). Then the government sent them home, which caused a lot of upset.
New Norfolk<--- Bridgewater ---> Eastern Shore
This is "almost to Hobart" point. There are a lot of shops catering to travellers (service stations, takeaways). The Bridge is here, that being the bridge over the Derwent that goes up with a ship wants to go thourgh. There's a train track along the edge of the bridge too.
New Norfolk<--- Granton
Other Northern Surburbs
HOBART
