Gorges, Zoos and a needle pulling thread.

We were awoken at 6:30 am by the Martin kiddies, feasting upon chocolate eggs, rabbits and ninja turtle shells for breakfast. After a side-serving of hot cross buns, we made our way out to Cataract Gorge - formed by the South Esk River, which empties into the Tamar - all within cooee of the city centre. The houses in West Launceston appear to be on the gentrified end of the neighbourhood spectrum, with lovely views and trees in abundance.

We purchased some tickets for the Cataract Gorge Chairlift, which seats two at a time. The lady behind the counter nearly laughed herself silly about me riding with all of my friends (ie solo). Hilarious. The central span of the chairlift is reportedly the longest of any in the world, and appears to have seen quite a few runs in its time. I attempted to put the antiquity of the steel cable out of my mind and enjoyed the view of the First Basin (an over-sized waterhole part-way down the gorge).

A suspension bridge induced flash-backs of Tahune all over again, but the presence of other tourists limited the Martin children's opportunity to set it to swaying.

We took a brief stroll further up the gorge, before descending upon the play-ground for a little while.

Surprisingly, the weather was holding up beautifully - so we drove out to Tasmania Zoo, just past Riverside. We paid our entry-fee to a heavily-mulleted gent who tended to speak rather moistly. Once inside, we worked our way past the bird exhibits and came to one of the Tasmanian Devil enclosures. Due to the reasonably sunny day, a couple of them were kicking back in the grass with an occasional wander up to the strange creatures with cameras.

Next door, there was an enclosure for Wallabies and Pademelons, both of which were putting on a pretty good impression of adorable.

We heard the emus throaty drumming before we saw them, busy demolishing one poor ladies animal-food cup as she held it out in front of her with a trembling hand. Moving on before they sought fresh blood, we noticed what appeared to be an Easter Bunny enclosure, although this guy had neither a basket nor a snazzy vest.

The older two Martin children had wandered on to the next exhibit when they suddenly came racing back, a look of genuine shock on their faces. Lily said, "The bird! It... talked to me!". Her first encounter with a Cockatoo saying hello. Fortunately this particular cockatoo had not picked up the vocabulary of a sailor, and so remained PG.

Finally, we watched the Meerkats doing their stand-up routine, before Lily picked up a Tasmanian Devil beanie and Josh a small Tassie Devil plushie. Hamish was indifferent to both options.

Having a quiet night in, we put the children through the joys of The Sound of Music, Lily horrified by Maria's usage of curtains for the kids play-wear. She was even less impressed by my offer to do the same for her.

Rather than mountain tops, tomorrow will see us get underground in the Mole Creek caves. Depending on the weather, we may well include some outdoor shenanigans.