Pt 2 - Day 38 - Beaconfield and Seahorse Aquarium

 HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY JACKIE!!!!

This morning the sun was shining.  With a forecast of 25C we were very excited to get out our shorts and t-shirts and just wait to feel the warmth for a change.  It was also great to just have breakfast and get in the car to explore, rather than pack our bags and move on again!!!  We still don't have the spare tyre replaced as we haven't found a tyre place with the right tyre yet, but we decide to push on with our plans and continue to make phone calls along the way, otherwise too much of our time here is being wasted.

Today we headed for Beaconsfield, about 22km north of where we were staying.  A beautiful drive up along the Tamar River.  Tasmania is such a picturesque place, I imagine this is what England or Scotland would look like.  The Beaconsfield Mine and Heritage Centre was right in the middle of the town, which we were amazed to see, and the mine that buried Todd and Brandt 6 years ago, is still in operation, which ajoins the information centre.  The museum has obviously been in existence for some time, now with the addition of the rescue operation of these two men, is was just a fantastic exhibit.  It cost us only $30 for the whole family and it was a very informative museum/information centre. The best thing about it is that the children where encouraged to interact with the exhibits throughout the whole building, unlike most museums like this, where we spend most of our time saying "don't touch"!!!

After this we headed up the road a little further to Beauty Point where we were to have a look at the Seahorse Aquarium.  This was just fantastic.  We are a bit "over" aquariums and zoos but we wanted to see this and we are glad we did.  Seahorses are very interesting creatures.  We found out that the male puffs out his belly as much as he can to attract the female, the fatter the belly the more attractive.  Tori pipes up and says "Dad, you should be a seahorse!!!", the others on the tour thought this was most amusing!!!

Pregnant male seahorses.

In the meantime, Glen has been able to get hold of a car hire employee who actually has a brain and who not only understands our situation, but is actually able to do something about it.  He tells us to bring our car straight down to the Launceston branch and he will give us a new car and reimburse us for the additional cost we have incurred by not getting the car we paid for.  Thank goodness for him!!!
So Glen drops the kids and I off at our accommodation and we are able to enjoy some of the facilities at the resort.  We hire a paddle boat and feed the numerous animals here.  Then Glen gets home in time for a game of mini golf on the "best mini-golf course" we have seen so far.  And  not only has he got us a different car, he has got the Pajero we ordered in the first place......yay!!!!