Richmond

For lunch we stopped in Richmond where the oldest convict Gaol (jail) was erected. We did not have time to go inside, unfortunately, as we had not had lunch, but we did learn that the convicts built much of the infranstructure in Hobart, and they made many of the bricks. Every 100th brick they made, they put their thumbprint in the clay. We are not exactly sure for what purpose the thumbprint was, but the picture of them fascinated us.

Richmond is also the site of a 200-year-old bridge that the convicts built. It is still being used, and the only repairs on it have been to pave the top of the road and shore up one piling where the earth had begun to erode. It is a beautiful bridge built of sandstone . . . oh that all construction could be so sturdy.

We also ate at the Richmond Arms hotel which was built in 1827 and still serving food. Don got to try his Cascade draught there, and we had a delicious meal. Wish we could have spent more time there . . .