At 9.36am last Tuesday I had passed St Virgil’s College with its warbling magpies and raucous plovers flying overhead and turned left at Merley Road. I was in the heartland of the suburb of Austins Ferry and now walking down a hill towards the River. Opposite a street signposted Willow Walk, I crossed some land and then up and over the railway line. I walked across an open area with large fat rabbits quickly disappearing from view.

The view from the water’s edge looking northwards was as follows:

Once at the River’s edge I turned left towards the Austins Ferry Yacht Club and a jetty.

An interpretative panel explained that the Austin’s Ferry was the main Hobart to Launceston link from 1816 until 1848 when the bridge was constructed up stream. James Austin managed the Roseneath Ferry from the western shore and his friend James Earl managed the Compton Ferry from the eastern shore. I peered across the brightly lit water but could barely distinguish the Old Beach jetty on the other side. Clouds were scudding across bringing light and shade so that all my photographs which try to record the jetty on the other side are abysmal failures. Nevertheless I know where to look for that jetty from this Austin’s Ferry jetty.