Welcome to Tahune Air Walk

(Record of activities on 26^thSeptember, 2010 but posted on above date)

 On television shows like "Getaway", I have often seen segments on "air walks" in different parts of the world, and thought to myself, "Wow wouldn't it be great to be up there with a birds-eye view of the forest".

So it was with a great deal of excitement that I headed for the Tahune Air Walk in the magnificent Huon Valley, about a 25 minute drive past Geeveston.
The visit commenced on a slightly sour note however.
As one approaches Geeveston, there are signs very clearly indicating the way to the shopping centre to buy entry passes for the Air Walk.

Believe me ... those signs are really prominent ... you cannot miss them.  Only trouble is ... the prominence stops there!  I drove at snails' pace (much to the chagrin of other drivers) round the shopping centre loop several times, craning to find the actual ticket sales location.  Finally Barbara spotted a piddling little sign, 5 meters above street level on the wall of the sales office. Sorry Forestry Tasmania ... not good enough!    Doesn't quite meet your "consistent, clear and uncluttered signage" criteria.

Once the entry passes were sorted out, we drove the 17 or so kilometres to the Air Walk site and had ourselves "branded".  Like little kindergarten kids, we presented our right wrists for an ink stamp to prove we had paid our money.

I won't bore readers with my gripes about this stupid procedure, and the time we wasted just standing around in a queue at the Air Walk visitor centre because of it, but I sure as hell will be sending a strongly worded email to Forestry Tasmania. 



One of the star features at Tahune is the Eagle Hang Gliding ride.  Naturally, dare-devil Barbara was busting to take the ride, but she graciously agreed to step aside so I could go.

The ride is an add-on cost to the walk, but it is worth every cent.  

First you have to be kitted up with safety harness ...


and then it's off on a slow 400m climb, suspended from a steel rope strung high over the Huon River.

   
In the side bar on the right is a slide show of 19 in-sequence shots taken by Barbara, as I was raised over the river, and then suddenly released for an adrenalin-charged high speed return.

Another "flight", at slightly slower speed, gave me the opportunity to be the photographer:

Two children who had been waiting for their turn to "fly" were so relieved when this old guy with a grey beard finally got off.  To compensate for their patience, I promised I would feature them in this blog.  There you go kids ... now you can skite to your friends on Facebook  you are blog stars!


Our almost 620m trek high in the tree tops, including a "H{AIR}Y WALK" out on the springboard-like cantilever section 48m above the river, is recorded in a series of pictures in another slide show in the left panel. 
You'll also see photos taken along some of the magnificent trails that took us alongside and across the Huon River via two swaying suspension bridges. Barbara just loved those sus... sus ... sus ... pensions .. NOT!!! Now she cannot wait till we visit the Cataract Gorge Reserve near Launceston (yeah sure!)

So, tomorrow, a new day dawns.

One of the better kept secrets

(Record of activities on 24^thSeptember, 2010 but posted on above date)

Today I am asking myself this question, "What would be the percentage of people who come to Hobart as tourists, then leave without ever setting foot inside the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) building at Kingston, just a 15 minute drive from the CBD?".

I'll bet it is a HUGE percentage! And that's a great pity because in that building is one of the most outstanding collections of photographs, historical items, artifacts, memorabilia and interactive displays relating to Australia's long-term role in valuing, protecting and understanding Antarctica.

And the best part is that admission is comepletely FREE.

What surprises me is that it is almost impossible to find any tourist-oriented material publicising this venue. The only really worthwhile reference I could find after hours of searching the net was this from Australian Explorer.com 

This short reference is all I could find in a search of the official "Tourism Tasmanian" web site:

"There is a rich collection of Antarctic memorabilia in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery’s Islands to Ice exhibition, and our Maritime Museum; and at a small museum in the Australian Antarctic Division Headquarters in Kingston" 

Even a really exhaustive search of the AAD's own website (click on link above) failed to unearth a single reference to the museum and display area at Kingston.

Had we not moved our "base camp" from the caravan park at New Norfolk to the delightfully named little township of SNUG, we may well have missed visiting the place ourselves. But when driving back and forth on the Channel Highway to inner-city attractions, we just happened to see a sign on the AAD building advertising a cafe ... no mention of "a museum". It was only our desire to learn more about the giant ice-breaker, Aurora Australis, berthed in Hobart Harbour, that triggered our interest in visiting that cafe.

Ironically it was at the AAD cafe that we found this simple brochure advertising the venue:

Talk about taking coals to Newcastle! 

All the images associated with today's edition of the blog that show items inside the building (including images by other photographers) were taken over a period of 90 minutes just before closing time.  Our shots go nowhere close to revealing the many wondrous items on display.

To conserve space on this page, there are 20 more images in the slide show on the side panel to the right.
When you are visiting Hobart, do your senses a favour and head for the AAD building at Kingston.


Before we visited the AAD Display Centre, we had been to Harvey Norman, 171 Murray Street, Hobart, to buy an 8GB flash drive to save all the shots we have taken with our Canon EOS 1000D (almost 2500 of them). Here we were taken care of very competently by Kirsty in the camera department (damn, didn't get a shot of her. Sorry Kirsty, but we'll make sure Gerry Harvey gets to read this anyway!)
While talking with Kirsty, we were lucky enough to have a gentleman on our side of the counter introduce himself. He turned out to be Chris, a Canon representative, and for the next 10 minutes he passed on to me some of the best tips about using my camera I could have ever learned.

Thanks Chris ... and now you have proof positive to show your sales manager that you really were in Harvey Norman Hobart at around 11am on Friday 24th September, and not at the local pub!

Later I was able to use my newly learned skills at Kingston Beach to record some great shots of one of my favourite bird species .. the sea gulls. Here are just two of them:






"Jonathon Livingston" was a most co-operative model, happy to pose for many shots close to my feet, while Kae Harradine of Canberra was a very popular visitor with the locals ... they reckoned she was extremely "gullible"!

And tomorrow for two Tassie tourists at least, a new day dawns ... it has been promised thus:

Reviving the Tasmanian Tiger

(Record of activities on 22^nd September, 2010 but posted on above date)

Do you know which brewery is Australia's oldest?
If you don't, let me enlighten you ... it is Cascade.
Being perfectly honest, until Barbara and I did the grand tour of their historic premises in South Hobart I had no idea myself ... and didn't really care!  Who does?
Most beer drinkers seem to have a favourite "brew" that is readily available and appeals to their taste buds and they just stick to it!
As it turns out, even before visiting Tasmania, Cascade Light was my favorite (when I can't get Guinness on tap that is). So to be able to see, taste, touch, and smell all of the ingredients that go into MY beer, then see how it was produced and packaged was an opportunity I wasn't going to miss. The more so because I was then going to be sampling it in its most fresh condition.

 

Tours are conducted 7 days a week pretty much all year round, but you must book in advance to be sure of a spot as they really are one of the most popular of all Tasmanian Tourist attractions.  The genial Jenny Hamblin, was our guide on this particular tour.

Jenny has guided thousands of visitors through Cascade brewery over the many years she has done the job and claims to have the fittest thighs in Tasmania. I wouldn't doubt that, given the up-hill walking and stair-climbing involved. You sure as hell need a cold Cascade when it's over!
Of course before setting out there is the now obligatory donning of vests and goggles, and the run-through of factory safety precautions. The one thing you don't want to do is stray from the main party. It seems the head brewer eats alive any visitor who does.

The facts and figures Jenny came out with leave your head spinning. Can you imagine this: the factory works 365 days a year, employs a work force of fewer than 150, yet produces 4 BILLION litres of draught and packaged beer annually. She offered no statistics on the number of hang-overs that represents.

As brewing requires the highest degree of sterile processing conditions, visitors don't get to see that side of the coin. We could smell the process, of course, with that unmistakable hop aroma, so characteristic of a brewery, swirling around our nostrils each time we reached ground level.  For some on the tour, ground level was where they really preferred to be. While I was shaking my head in disbelief at the size of the fermentation and holding tanks we viewed from a very safe walkway high up in the 'gods" ... there were others not enjoying the open grating underfoot quite so much. 

Also present on our tour was "Pepper" or "Peppa" or "Pepa" (unlike me, I neglected to ask her for the correct spelling of her name, but that is what it sounded like anyway).  She was an "official photographer" taking shots to be used on Cascade's web-site. At the rate I am getting through my intended DAILY blog pages, her shots will be well and truly up on the web before mine.

Our party's arrival in the packaging department coincided with the commencement of a new run of "long-necks" just arriving from the filling and sealing section to be labeled. What a sight! Like a battalion of toy soldiers marching to victory. I found their cacophony not unlike a forest full of cicadas on a hot summer's day.

Our inspection nearing an end, we quickly made our way past a high traffic area where even a robot "sweated" as it loaded barrel after barrel onto pallets ready for shipment. One can only imagine how many hard working men its invention would have made redundant in an era long gone.

With Hobart chilled to the marrow by the recent snow falls on Mount Wellington, it was wonderful to get back to the comfort of the Cascade Visitors Centre. Snow, by the way, is the source of the crystal clear mineral-loaded spring water Cascade still use today in the production of all its beer. Those cascades of pure water was the reason Peter Degraves, the brewery founder, chose the site on which the brewery still stands.

The story of Peter Degraves and the events leading up to, and following, the building of the cascades brewery makes absolutely fascinating reading. I strongly recommend you click on this link to see a page which, even though still under construction, tells the story.
Curiously, the web site on which this page appears was created not by Tasmanian historians, as one would expect, but by three "Banana Benders" ... Greg Jeffrys, Brad Horton and Dr Cliff Rosendahl.  And haven't these talented, learned and very intelligent individuals dug up some great Australian historical material. I just love their work and so too will my good friends Colin and Jill Parker of Kew in NSW who are avid readers of my blog.  With all this great research material on the net to read, is it any wonder I get so far behind with MY blog posting!
All the walking and climbing we had done meant we had worked up a real thirst. From behind the enormous bar, Jordy, a zoology student-cum-barman was happy to serve us with any of the eight beers on tap, plus an explanation of how they were different to one another.

Five of these beers are available on tap in many bars on the Australian mainland, but three can only be bought in Tasmania. Some recipes call for unique locally grown ingredients which, because of their short supply, prevent the production of large commercial quantities. And wouldn't you know it ... these were the ones Barbara and I really enjoyed most.

One brew ... "First Harvest" ... is in such short supply it is available only from the brewery itself.  It contains the first crop of green flowers to come off  the local hop plants each season. I have never enjoyed a beer so much in my life. This could be the catalyst which causes me to move permanently to Tasmania. (Only kidding family) Naturally, because of its short supply even in Tasmania, it is more expensive than the mass produced products.


On the walls of the visitors' centre are some great historical photos and other artworks. A legendary character from the very earliest days of the brewery was Fatty Appleton.

       





Our visit ended with a walk around portion of the 3 acre gardens which form such a lovely part of the Cascade Brewery.

Here we found "Tommie", the Cascade cat.

Like every feline I have ever had anything to do with, he remained totally aloof, refusing to engage in direct interaction with me.
  
Before departing, we just had to head back to the merchandise sales desk to buy a supply of "First Harvest" to take back to the van.  Here we met the the delightfully chatty Emily ...

and before long we were exchanging ghost experiences ... she has some great ones to relate about her several visits to Port Arthur.

Now, you probably haven't noticed that not once have I made reference to the famous Cascade Tasmanian Tiger that prowls threateningly the area behind the visitors' centre bar.

I have left that 'til last because of an item I found on the web when I Googled the question "Is the cascade tiger real?"  One reference that query turned up can be seen by clicking on this link.  Despite my background in marketing and advertising (many years ago I admit) I had never heard of Landor or its founding father Walter Landor. I was fascinated to learn of their part in the success of Cascade as a brand today. Without Landor's intervention early this millennium, it seems Cascade may well have been headed for the same fate as their famous trademark, the Tasmanian Tiger.

So now for  these two Tassie Tourists, a new day dawns.

Remember “… Old Smokey, all covered in SNOW”?

(Record of activities on 20^th September, 2010 but posted on above date)

Yes, we all remember the old folk song “On top of Old Smokey, all covered in snow” … and the many parodies, including “On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese”.

No one knows for sure who wrote the original lyrics, but I can tell you for certain that, on top of Mt Wellington today, it wasn’t CHEESE Barbara was throwing at me.

Damn, that woman played clean when I was totally defenseless with both hands on the camera.

I would have climbed the cairn that holds aloft the trig point, but I was terrified of being blown off.  No …It had NOTHING to do with me being 73 years old … honest!  

Hobart town sits right at the feet of Mt Wellington. On Tuesday 14th September and for the next few days, an unseasonable cold snap dumped a mass of snow on the mountain ... so much that authorities had to close off the road to the summit to allow huge plows to clear a path.  We spoke with residents of Hobart aged 50 and over  and they said it was only the third time in their life they could recall Mt Wellington having fff-fresh s-sssnow the sss-second week of S-SSSpring!

We felt it best to wait 'til after the weekend so that holidaying Tasmanian children would be back at school, and to avoid the weekend rush of locals and tourists who turned the dangerously narrow and steep road into one continuos car park. Naturally by the time we got up there much of the snow had melted, but it was still a wonderful sight.

Near the summit, and overlooking spectacular views of Hobart and huge expanses of the Derwent River,

there is an enclosed viewing area

housing many informative plates. These detail history of the early European settlers' love affair with Mount Wellington.  One reports Charles Darwin's struggle to it's summit on his celebrated visit to Hobart in February1836. Unlike most however, Darwin was not at all impressed, complaining bitterly about the ten-hour hike, and the ineptness of his guide.

From the relative warmth of the enclosed viewing area we were able to walk down to a viewing platform suspended over the cliff face. Barbara and I found no difficulty walking out there but we heard many, especially older women, saying there was no way their vertigo would allow them to step onto to that  platform with its surpringly low safety railing.

Sadly, as happens so often on the 1,271 meters high Mt Wellington, the clouds suddenly enveloped us, wiping out all the wonderful views, and leaving us to conclude that, tomorrow a new day dawns.