TASMANIAN TRIP - DECEMBER 2006-JANUARY 2007
TASMANIAN TRIP
DECEMBER 2006-JANUARY 2007
Monday 1 January to Sunday 7 January
Hobart to Swansea
Blog 5
We needed to see the southern most point of Tasmania to which we could drive so we headed back down to Geeveston along the Huon Trail and south to Dover which is situated on Port Esperance where the 3 islands in the bay are Faith, Hope and Chastity. We continued on to Thermal Springs and to Hastings Caves for our dolomite cave tour. The features of the cave were not as delicate as those of other caves because the cave tends to flood and this affects the formations. We then drove down to the most southern part of Australia that can be reached by road, Cockle Creek. It is a beautiful little spot on Recherche Bay where there is a large copper sculpture of a whale.
A trip to Hobart wouldn’t be complete without a tour to Cascade Brewery which was absolutely fantastic. Cascade Brewery does everything on the premises, supports local farmers and recycles as much material as possible. We were most impressed. Peter Degraves arrived as a free settler with his wife and 8 children after having failed businesses in England. He was an engineer, a draughtsman and an architect. He built Cascade Brewery in 1834 and it is Australia’s oldest continuous brewery. We learnt a lot about the process of making beer but also about the philosophy of Cascade.
We then went onto the Female Factory which was the female prison in Hobart. Only the stone surrounding was left but there are many stories of the hardships and lives of the women interred there.
The Royal Theatre in Hobart was built and designed by Peter Degraves and had its first production in April 1837 and has been operating ever since. It is a beautiful old theatre with a long history.
It was time to leave Hobart after a 2 week stay and we headed back west to spend some time in Mount Field National Park. On our way we drove through Bushy Park which is the largest producer of hops in Tasmania.
We were camped by the river and surrounded by eucalyptus regnans, which are tall gum trees. The word “regnan” means ruler. They are the tallest flowering trees in the world and only 2nd to the redwoods in America which are softwoods like pines and do not flower but reproduce by cones. The trees are truly magnificent and the canopy they form allows the growth of huge magnificent ferns.
We walked to Russell Falls, which cascade over layers of rocks and are very beautiful. We then continued our walk to Horseshoe Falls which were not as high but had a lot more greenery around them and were also very beautiful. We managed to climb our way to the top and the view was even better.
The next stop was the Tall Trees Walk and then from there we could also go the Lady Barron Falls. The temperate forests are just magnificent.
It had rained most of the night and was due to be a wet day so we decided to drive west through Maydena and onto Strathgordon. The scenery was quite different again, it was raining and the cloud was quite low in parts. There are lots of mountains in all directions and Lake Gordon and Lake Pedder have been interconnected by the McPartlan Pass canal and enlarged by damming. Together these two lakes are 8 times larger than the Great Lake and 3 times larger than Lake Eucembene. This hydroelectric power station is controlled from Hobart by remote control and supplies Tasmania with 13% of its electricity. It is an impressive construction. We drove to the end of the road at the Gordon Dam and what a spectacular structure it is. It is a curved wall both vertically and horizontally. The valley on the other side of the dam wall is very steep. We stopped to have lunch at Lake Pedder Chalet which is right on the edge of Lake Pedder. The view was great.
We managed to drive along Lake Pedder to Edgar Dam and then to Scotts Peak Dam and the lookout at the top. It was a beautiful spot but unfortunately the cloud had gathered so we didn’t get to see all of the view.
Another must see is the Styx Valley which is also known as the Valley of the Giants. The tall Swamp Gums or eucalyptus regnans are absolutely spectacular and some are over 90m or 300ft high.
Our last stop for the day was Junee cave which is where the Junee River comes out of the cave after having travelled underground a long way.
From our caravan park in Mount Field National Park we drove up the maintain road to Lake Fenton and Lake Dobson which is 1100m high. The vegetation changed quite dramatically as we climbed to the top. The swamp gums gave way to myrtles and sassafras and then to the low shrubs and snow gums of the higher mountain where the snow falls.
We left Mount Field National Park and headed east to Orford on the east coast. From Orford we headed south a few kilometres to see Spring Beach which was beautiful, a white sand beach overlooking Maria Island.
Swansea was to be our camp for the next few nights and just south of Swansea we stopped at the convict built Spiky Bridge with lots of vertical spine stones in it, which formed part of the original road from Swansea to the south. Spiky Beach on the other side of the road to the bridge was our last stop for the day before settling into the caravan park at Swansea right on the water at Great Oyster Bay.
DECEMBER 2006-JANUARY 2007
Monday 1 January to Sunday 7 January
Hobart to Swansea
Blog 5
We needed to see the southern most point of Tasmania to which we could drive so we headed back down to Geeveston along the Huon Trail and south to Dover which is situated on Port Esperance where the 3 islands in the bay are Faith, Hope and Chastity. We continued on to Thermal Springs and to Hastings Caves for our dolomite cave tour. The features of the cave were not as delicate as those of other caves because the cave tends to flood and this affects the formations. We then drove down to the most southern part of Australia that can be reached by road, Cockle Creek. It is a beautiful little spot on Recherche Bay where there is a large copper sculpture of a whale.
A trip to Hobart wouldn’t be complete without a tour to Cascade Brewery which was absolutely fantastic. Cascade Brewery does everything on the premises, supports local farmers and recycles as much material as possible. We were most impressed. Peter Degraves arrived as a free settler with his wife and 8 children after having failed businesses in England. He was an engineer, a draughtsman and an architect. He built Cascade Brewery in 1834 and it is Australia’s oldest continuous brewery. We learnt a lot about the process of making beer but also about the philosophy of Cascade.
We then went onto the Female Factory which was the female prison in Hobart. Only the stone surrounding was left but there are many stories of the hardships and lives of the women interred there.
The Royal Theatre in Hobart was built and designed by Peter Degraves and had its first production in April 1837 and has been operating ever since. It is a beautiful old theatre with a long history.
It was time to leave Hobart after a 2 week stay and we headed back west to spend some time in Mount Field National Park. On our way we drove through Bushy Park which is the largest producer of hops in Tasmania.
We were camped by the river and surrounded by eucalyptus regnans, which are tall gum trees. The word “regnan” means ruler. They are the tallest flowering trees in the world and only 2nd to the redwoods in America which are softwoods like pines and do not flower but reproduce by cones. The trees are truly magnificent and the canopy they form allows the growth of huge magnificent ferns.
We walked to Russell Falls, which cascade over layers of rocks and are very beautiful. We then continued our walk to Horseshoe Falls which were not as high but had a lot more greenery around them and were also very beautiful. We managed to climb our way to the top and the view was even better.
The next stop was the Tall Trees Walk and then from there we could also go the Lady Barron Falls. The temperate forests are just magnificent.
It had rained most of the night and was due to be a wet day so we decided to drive west through Maydena and onto Strathgordon. The scenery was quite different again, it was raining and the cloud was quite low in parts. There are lots of mountains in all directions and Lake Gordon and Lake Pedder have been interconnected by the McPartlan Pass canal and enlarged by damming. Together these two lakes are 8 times larger than the Great Lake and 3 times larger than Lake Eucembene. This hydroelectric power station is controlled from Hobart by remote control and supplies Tasmania with 13% of its electricity. It is an impressive construction. We drove to the end of the road at the Gordon Dam and what a spectacular structure it is. It is a curved wall both vertically and horizontally. The valley on the other side of the dam wall is very steep. We stopped to have lunch at Lake Pedder Chalet which is right on the edge of Lake Pedder. The view was great.
We managed to drive along Lake Pedder to Edgar Dam and then to Scotts Peak Dam and the lookout at the top. It was a beautiful spot but unfortunately the cloud had gathered so we didn’t get to see all of the view.
Another must see is the Styx Valley which is also known as the Valley of the Giants. The tall Swamp Gums or eucalyptus regnans are absolutely spectacular and some are over 90m or 300ft high.
Our last stop for the day was Junee cave which is where the Junee River comes out of the cave after having travelled underground a long way.
From our caravan park in Mount Field National Park we drove up the maintain road to Lake Fenton and Lake Dobson which is 1100m high. The vegetation changed quite dramatically as we climbed to the top. The swamp gums gave way to myrtles and sassafras and then to the low shrubs and snow gums of the higher mountain where the snow falls.
We left Mount Field National Park and headed east to Orford on the east coast. From Orford we headed south a few kilometres to see Spring Beach which was beautiful, a white sand beach overlooking Maria Island.
Swansea was to be our camp for the next few nights and just south of Swansea we stopped at the convict built Spiky Bridge with lots of vertical spine stones in it, which formed part of the original road from Swansea to the south. Spiky Beach on the other side of the road to the bridge was our last stop for the day before settling into the caravan park at Swansea right on the water at Great Oyster Bay.
posted by Mike and Carol at
10:11 AM
