View of the airwalk from the river junction
View from the end of the airwalk to the river junction
Approaching the end of the airwalk.
Hi Folks,
Our day off and we planned last night to hit the road at 0800 and head through Hobart down the Huon Valley to see some of the sights. We managed to be on the road by 830 and after a brief stop in Sorell arrived in Hobart around 1015. Susan had to whip in to a bed place to check on some items for the resort under threat that if she was longer than 15 minutes she would be left behind. She returned in 17 minutes and we hit the road wending our way through the southern outlet and down the Huon Valley through Huonville and on to Geeveston where we had some nice pies and coffee at the Bakery. This area is quite damp and the native vegetation reflects this being rainforest. We decided that we would visit the forest centre in Geeveston and the Tahune airwalk which is about 25km west of Geeveston. Both these are operated by Forestry Tasmania and present their view of forest management and harvesting. At the Geeveston centre i purchased a copy of "A Guide to the Flowers and Plants of Tasmania" which should help reduce my ignorance level and be able to impress the gullible with my knowledge.
The airwalk is on the Huon River which is a fairly impressive stream. The entry fee was $25 per person. The airwalk is a fairly impressive structure that does move a little in the breeze. Accordingly Susan was terrified and couldn't manage the last little bit out on the cantilever. It does provide a nice tree top view. We the descended back to the foreat floor and did a loop walk south to 2 swing bridges that cross the the Huon and Picton Rivers just above there junction. Susan managed these bridges but with some trepidation. We returned to the visitor centre and the car. On the way out we stopped at Australias largest tree by weight not height. About 400 tonnes which is about a third of the giant redwoods in California. We also stopped a Keoghs Creek walk which posed a series of questions on boards designed to make you think about forestry as an industry.
We returned through Geeveston and headed north to "The Channel" to visit an eco house belonging to Marilyn and her partner at Coningham. We met Marilyn this week when she visited the resort to check out the blocks and units for sale. The house is a passive solar house. It is constructed externally of straw bales rendered with a cement mix. The inside walls are of compressed dried clay bricks. The most noticeable change inside was the temperature, much warmer than out side and all through the retention of solar heat. Some excellent data on the heat retention performance inside to outside was available. We had a long interesting conversation covering many facets of sustainable housing.
Darkness was falling as we returned to Hobart. I hada brilliant idea to eat at the waterfront area which was less than brilliant seeing as there was little parking and hordes of people. We stopped at the pub at Midway Point for a meal that was ok but not startling. There is no excuse for a medium rare steak being served well and truly medium. The only other item of note on the return journey was a suicidal Pademelon near Premaydena. It just appeared from the side of the road and went under the driver side wheels. My first road kill for a long time and our second on this outing.
night folks
Cheers Simon
Air walk
Swing bridge
Big tree
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