Hello all, I thought I would start a new series of blogs for Our Other Blog as an “On The Road” series. I love going for drives in my Ford Falcon affectionately known as Wazza. Wazza is old and weather-beaten but he gets around just fine. Wazza get’s his name from the letters in his original number plate. I’m sure some people would say “Why Wazza?” I do get asked sometimes.

Well Sunday is market day so I decided to head to Evandale as they hold one of Tasmania’s best markets. I finally had a Sunday off from work and it was also a nice day so I got up early and off we went. Evandale is just over a 100km from Oatlands where I live and it takes about an hour and a half to drive there. Evandale to Launceston is only 18km so it’s also possible to visit the South Esk Market in the same day if wanted. South Esk is held every Sunday at the Launceston Show Grounds. It’s a good Market but not as big as Evandale also held each Sunday.

The market always has a lot of stalls but there were not as many as usual because it’s now winter. The stalls are in a large hall and spread over the lawn areas. People with stalls outside don’t have any shelter and their wares will get wet or blown over in the winds. Sunday was nice but cold. I noticed that most of the items on tables were covered in dew. I went inside the hall first because it gets crowded in there by 11am and you can’t get near anything to look properly. Inside the hall I found a lot of very interesting vintage items and I picked up a couple of old English and Welsh souvenirs. I was pleased to find they were only $5.00 each and there was a whole box full of lovely china ornaments. I’ll show you some pictures of them later. There is also a very good café inside the hall. I had a hearty bowl of minestrone soup, a slice of lemon cheesecake and a pot of English Breakfast tea for under $20.00. They were good sized servings and I enjoyed them very much. The people working in the café were very friendly. The floor must have been a bit rickety because every time the waiters and waitresses walked past to bring food or collect dishes my table rocked and there was a tsunami in my tea cup. I was glad my soup was thick and chunky so it did not make waves. I have to say the soup was some of the best I’ve ever had and so filling.

I walked around outside to look at the stalls on the lawn area again and picked up a lovely coloured glass rabbit dish. I also got some nice baked biscuits for my two boys. They were both most put out about being left at home. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take dogs to the markets. Some of the stalls I saw sold fruit and vegetables, plants, books, scarves, socks and shawls, hats and bags, collectables, cosmetics, tools, pots, toys and homemade cakes.

After leaving the market I headed for the main street hoping to find some antique shops but I struck out there because everything was rather up market and most of the shop’s goods were out of my price range. I did find a shop with some nice home décor items and I picked up a nice poster for the kitchen depicting old fashioned food such as cakes and puddings. There was also a beautiful house made by an artist out of shells which I was allowed to photograph. The Evandale Bakery is another nice place to eat and they also sell a nice range of gifts and souvenirs. I have often eaten there and it’s always nice although usually crowded being so popular. There is also a nice old hotel where they have a nice outdoor area where you can sit and enjoy a nice lunch. I took some photos of some of the buildings in the High Street and then walked to the water tower and through the park back to where I had parked Wazza. After entrusting Wazza with my parcels I headed to the model railway.

On Sundays weather permitting the Evandale Light Railway and Steam Society run real working models of steam and diesel locomotives. You can have a ride for $3.00 or $10.00 for a family. They have about 600 metres of track and there are many vantage points where you can get nice photos of the trains as they pass by. I was just walking around the perimeter of the societies ‘grounds taking my photos when one of the volunteers invited me in so I could get some better ones. I must say I messed up quite a few as I wasn’t very good at timing my shots when the trains were running. It was much harder than I thought to get a good action shot. I even got invited to look at the signal box where they had miniature levers to change the tracks. If you like steam engines or trains in general you would probably enjoy a visit here.

My Market Finds

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More about Evandale

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evandale%2c_Tasmania

http://www.evandaletasmania.com/attractions-around-evandale.html

http://www.evandaletasmania.com/

http://www.evandale-light-rail.org.au/