Sat, 6th June, 2015 Garden Island, Clarence Point to Railton RV Stop (Railton Topiary Trees)

Much warmer night. Overcast and shower of rain. At 8.30am it was 18 degrees in the van so we didn’t need the heater on. Today is Queensland Day. Bleak morning just as the weather bureau forecasted. Packed up and heading for Railton via the back roads. Head down through Beaconsfield then turn off towards Holwell. Tassie has so many small farms. Over the southern end of Dazzler Range. Misty rain and low clouds/fog greet us at Holwell (360m).

Lots of tree farms and we saw a lot of alpacas. Up a windy road to 460m then down again the windy road completely in cloud – at least it isn’t raining. Turned right at Frankford (280m) and headed north. Steve wasn’t happy to have to stop at the T intersection on a hill as the clutch is nearly over all these hill starts!! Down to a flat valley at 120m. Past huge pine plantations then down to 42m as we cross the Franklin Rivulet which flows into the Port Sorell inlet. Then across Rubicon River which also flows into Port Sorell. Back up to 110m at Harford. All farmland through Moriaty (90m). The mist is turning into light rain. Through Latrobe (50m) then across the Mersey River (28m) which flows into Devonport and where the Spirit of Tasmania will be waiting for us on Wednesday arvo. Turned south to Railton  (84m) and into the RV Stop beside the railway line. The sun is peeking out through the clouds at 12.30pm as we set up.

Had some lunch then headed off for a walk to find the Topiary Trees. Picked up a brochure which showed all the trees so headed off up the street. The first one was a child posting a letter in the mail box created in 2009.

The main street is lined with traditional topiary spirals, thanks to the Apex Club of Latrobe.

A great mural depicting the cement production that is big in this area.

There is a shop selling the topiary shapes – even a sausage dog.

Horse and farmer working an old plough – Railton’s original character topiary – a living monument to the pioneering farmers of the district (Oct 1999).

Opposite is another mural of the farmer – ‘Come Rain or Shine’ by Julian Bale (1999).

Mother and baby Elephants (Aug 2004).

A crocodile complete with his dinner! (2000)

Steam train on original tracks (Aug 2002).

Boxing kangaroo and the street number (Feb 2010).

Horse and Rider (2004) and Blue Heeler (2005).

Four topiary people at the Railton RSL Cenotaph – Nurse, Navy, Air Force and Army (March 2001).

On the side of a barn near the school was another great mural.

Three people form the School’s Living Logo (Feb 2002).

Eddie Freeman’s carving of Norman Sykes (1896 to 1981). This statue is dedicated to Norman who donated 15ha of bush to ‘the young people of Railton’. He left the land to be used as a sanctuary for the birds, fauna and recreational purposes.

Sam the Fisherman (July 2009).

Sarah and Moonlight, showjumper (Dec 2006).

A few different ones around the farmer (Oct 2002).

Big snail (Oct 2009).

Big Teddy Bear.

Huge real turkeys.

Steve found a friendly bull (2007).

This is half a Dragon (Dec 2010) and Wizard (2012) outside a farm. Steve loved the farm’s name - ‘Dunrootin’.

Another nice mural.

Mickey & Minnie (Sept 2010).

Emu and kangaroo.

The big lion in Lion Park (Sept 2002) needs a trim up.

At the entrance to a walk from here to Sykes Sanctuary was an information board about the tramway and railway lines.

On the side of the now closed Supermarket is a great mural about when the Circus came to town and they raced elephants down the main street.

Beside that was all about the history of the town and area, especially the cement works.

The sea scene.

The farmer with his sheep going up the ramp.

This is the ‘Cradle Mountain National Paddock’ created in Aug 2003 is a farming scene of Railton and a miniature scene of Cradle Mountain National park includes fly fisherman and trout, eagle, wombats, wallabies, spiders and of course, Cradle Mountain.

Cradle Mountain needs some shaping.

Also Tamania’s only ‘living’ Tasmanian Tiger (Sept 2004) and a Tasmanian Devil.

Nearly back to the van we saw the man mowing his lawn with his dog (Nov 2009).

Steve reckons that was another 5km walk for the day – should be losing weight!! Back to the van before the rain started. Quiet afternoon catching up on my blog. At 10.20pm the train came past and tooted his horn. It goes to the Cement Australia processing plant up the road. 13 degrees outside and raining heavily.