2nd August to 22nd August 2010

2nd August 10

We had to go into Hobart to hand in some papers to Centrelink so took the opportunity to visit Salamanca Square for some more photos and a look in some of the art galleries, and also moved on to the harbour to photograph some more statues in that area.

8th August 10

Merry has spent many hours this week slaving over a hot sewing machine making covers for the seats in the caravan to help preserve then. They were professionally treated with Vantec, which is much the same as Scotchguard, but Diane gave us some surplus material so the covers have been made to protect the seats from dirty little dog paws. Merry also made a cover for the satellite dish for when it is placed on the bed during transit and a bag for the fold-up clothes hoist for when it is stored in the shower during transit and will be making some storage bags for Barry’s spanners to separate metric ones from Imperial ones. Meanwhile Barry has fitted several additional shelves into cupboards to improve storage in the caravan.

12th August 10

It finally genuinely rained all night and day cutting some roads and getting dry rivers running again and had a small amount of back-up rain on the following day. This means we should be able to visit Russell Falls (reputedly the most photographed waterfall in Tasmania), Horseshoe Falls and Lady Barron Falls which are on the same three hour circuit, and see them with some water falling. During the high winds that came with the rain, one of the wind turbines on the roof of the Harbour building started to break-up, a week after I filmed them, and only about four weeks after installation.

22nd August 10

The weather since the 13th has been rainy, although not persistent, or very cold and windy which didn’t entice us to visit Russell Falls but we did go into Hobart on the bus to cast an early vote in the elections. There was some snow on Mt Wellington on the 20th August which remained until this morning which meant that snow would have fallen on Mt Field in the Mt Field National Park where Russell Falls happen to be, plus being an hour drive West means there would have been more rain there than we received in Hobart in the last week, so today being a dry sunny day it was our chance for the long awaited visit. 

Russell Falls is about a ten minute walk on bitumen track from the visitors centre and thanks to the rain and melting snow had plenty of water, in fact maybe too much as it cause a lot of spray which didn’t help the photos with moisture on the lens. We were told that up until the rain, there had only been a narrow strip of water on the left hand side.

From here we climbed the 100 plus steps to the top of Russell Falls and then continued on for about 15 minutes to Horseshoe Falls, which being on the same water course had the same amount of water flowing over it

We then headed through the tall tree walk and on to Lady Baron Falls, about an hour walk away on another water course, along a good track but unfortunately had several uphill bits as a result of downhill bits, but we made it in a slightly longer time frame than the younger visitors.

One of them appeared to have jogged in whilst we sat and had our lunch prior to the hike back to the visitor centre, supposedly a 40 minute walk on a slight downhill gradient. The Falls had plenty of water, like the others, but as with all waterfalls had its own personality.

 

The slight downhill gradient was actually an undulating gradient that eventually took us to the bottom of a wooden staircase which just happened to have 260 steps in it, and fortunately some built in seats at convenient places. On arrival at the top we found that the track continued uphill quite steeply for another hundred metres or so before heading downhill for another ten minutes to the visitor centre. I guess that any exercise that you survive has to eventually have been good for you, but is that fact or only theory. Either way we did survive and thoroughly enjoyed the sights and our day out, even if we do suffer tomorrow.

18th July 2010

July 18th 10

Stuart and Belinda picked us up and took us to the market on Elizabeth Street where they collected their week’s vegies and then took us to Salamanca Square for a superb late breakfast. We then went with them to Blackmans Bay to look at a house that has may be a possibility for them to purchase. The view across the bay from the back of the house and kitchen is quite special. On the way back via Kingston and the coast road also drove through more of the harbour which shows we have several more bus trips into town to look around.

July 20th 10

We had enjoyed the coastal road trip with Stu and Be so we did it again in the other direction heading for Kingston first and stopped on the way at the old shot tower.

For the sum of $7 each we had the dubious pleasure of climbing 316 steps (157 feet six inches) to enjoy the view over Hobart and the bay.

We then proceeded to Kinston Beach and Blackmans Bay where we stopped at the beach front and had our picnic lunch. After lunch we continued on southwards as close to the coastline as possible, to Margate where we encountered the Margate train.

This is an old steam train with half a dozen carriages that have been turned into a sweet shop, a second hand bookshop, a barber’s shop, an organic shop, and a pancake parlour.

We then went on to Peppermint Bay, passing the restaurant that we will be visiting with Stu and Be in a few weeks time for lunch via a coastal cruise, and on to Snug, Kettering where the ferry for Bruny Island operates, Woodbridge, Middleton, Cygnet and up to Huonville. In Huonville we called into the visitor centre to find out if the Model village that we visited 10 years ago is still in operation, but were told that the couple that built it are now in elderly care. This didn’t really surprise us as they were cracking on when we met them. They have left a huge legacy behind that the relatives have not yet decided what to do with the house and model village that covered the whole of the garden. From Huonville we headed home via the main highway at a leisurely pace.

July 23rd 10

We had another day out by driving over the Tasman Bridge and found a few places where we can take Foxy for walks along the river front and then parked and looked through the Museum at the Bellerive cricket ground.

Their history is not as long or as great as Victoria’s but still impressive. There are some interesting displays showing complete process of how cricket bats and balls are manufactured.

We then drove on to Rokeby and Lauderdale and then down to South arm and Opossum Bay at the tip of the peninsular. We were disappointed with this southern end as we had hoped to find a spot looking out over the ocean to have picnic lunch, but there just isn’t anywhere so retreated back towards Lauderdale until we spotted a dirt road going out to a lookout which as it turned out also had a track down to the beach.

The lookout gave a view of a small lighthouse on an offshore rocky outcrop. After the trek down to and along the beach we returned to the car and had lunch in the car park with an ocean view.

We continued on towards Lauderdale with a short detour to Clifton Beach. We headed on through Lauderdale to Seven Mile Beach and across the two causeways to Sorrell and then up to Richmond.

This is a pretty village with a convict built bridge over the river with a picnic area by the river and quaint old shops on the main street.

From here we drove to Compania and on to Bridgewater and Old Beach so that we followed the eastern side of the Derwent River and then crossed over the Bowen Bridge back to Newtown.

July 24th 10

We took a return trip to Dutch orientated Salamanca Market without Foxy so that we could explore it in full including photos of the surrounding gardens and statues.

It is the largest outdoor market that we have experience that actually displayed products that were better than the usual cheap and nasty stuff. There was a lot of Tasmanian wood craft and leather craft along with the usual glamour and jewellery, and surprisingly few food stalls considering the overall size and the obvious popularity of the event, but those that were there were well patronised. We bought some vegies at the end of our trip through the area and headed home.

26th July 10

It actually rained, although not on us, but looking towards Mt Wellington it obviously was.

31st July 10

We walked to Stu and Be’s place to discuss the solar power installations as we are all considering having installations at our respective homes, and then drove down to the harbour to go on the previously mentioned cruise to Peppermint Bay.

The cruise took about 1.6 hours but included stopping at various points of interest, such as the Alum cliffs at Kingston Bay which gave us a great close-up view of the cliffs.

They also lowered a camera down 7 metres almost to the bottom and allowed the boat to drift whilst we watched the various underwater life stock and plants.

We then entered the D’entrecasteaux Channel between the mainland and Bruny Island and checked out the salmon farms before cruising on into Peppermint Bay. Our little group of four left the boat for two hours and went to the restaurant overlooking the bay whilst the rest of the passengers had local platters delivered to eat onboard. The meal which was really nice was helped down with some local wine and we then returned to the boat for the cruise home. This was closer to the Bruny Island coast and then the Eastern side of the Derwent River and on up the river to the Tasman bridge. Here they explained how the ore carrier managed to get out of control and collide with the bridge, and how the driver of one of the cars left teetering on the edge, a Holden Monaro, was the first car to cross the bridge during the opening ceremony of the rebuilt span, 3 years later, I imagine the driver would have been a bit nervous.