Today we decided to drive up to Oatlands and what a pleasant surprise. This town makes the claim of being the sandstone capital of Australia. Beautiful buildings everywhere and a beautiful restored windmill grinding wheat to produce flour is set in a structured garden. The windmill was built back in the early 1800’s and later had a steam powered mill attached to it so that they worked in tandem. Mills being developed in the port towns of Hobart and Launceston led to the demise of this mill and it slowly fell into disrepair and around 1940 there was a fire that destroyed the inner working machinery and only the shell remained. Only last year 2010 was the restoration completed and again flour was milled on site. The dry stone walls around the surrounding garden were constructed by a group of 13 women from the local district. The walls are a credit to their tenacity and patience and a plaque gives credit to this. We then drove along a dirt mountain road (good surface) which climbed to Interlaken a little village with lots of fisherman shacks. Much of the surrounding countryside is either native bush or planted Tasmanian Blue Gum plantations. This tree grows approx. 50cm per year and is considered to be an effective alternative for some of the graziers in the area. This drive was very pretty and we only passed a few vehicles along the road so even more enjoyable. We came out onto the Lake Highway at the Steppes. This is a collection of 13 bronze carvings mounted on stone plinths set into a circle in the forest. The carvings represent the various fauna and early history of the mountains. The project was conceived and completed by a local artist and gifted to the area and is now protected by National Parks and Wildlife.
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