Continuing the Huon Trail

---

We decided to leave Tahune Forest early and head down to Geeveston for breakfast and take a look at the historic town. Behind the shops there is a really good car park and adjacent to that is the Forestry Info Centre which includes a museum.

Most of us will have seen the old Singer treadle sewing machines. In the museum they have the equivalent jig saws, routers and moulders. I rather think one would have very tired legs after pumping one of these machines for 8 or 10 hours per day.

The centre also has a variety of craft products to buy. I was tempted to buy a sassafras slab to make a coffee table when we get home. No room in the bus. Oh well, the dream will have to wait for another day. This particular timber, native to the area sands up very fine and has ash to darker grey grain tones.

Geeveston is also home to platypus and there is a couple of pools where they are regularly seen early morning and late afternoon. No luck spotting them today, but the river has a natural lake and weir which provided the most perfect reflections you could imagine.

Just for good measure, the little town has interesting art work telling the history of the town and its citizens. The shops also have a novelty styling adding to the experience of visiting this cute little town of the Huon Trail.

On our way back from the platypus pools we chatted to a local lady who suggested that we do a loop drive south from here down to Dover. Sounded good, so we did. The coast line and bays are beautiful. Sadly, with the narrow tree lined roads there were few photo opportunities.

After driving the loop, we drove to Franklin for lunch before heading north east, crossing the Huon River and looped around to a convenient overnight park at Gordon. Tommy didn't know Gordon, Luckily we knew the GPS co-ordinates, fed them into Tommy and soon he had our route on screen, and we arrived at the correct place to the announcement ,You have reached your destination'.

Next morning we were off to Kingston hoping to find the blow hole. We didn't find it though we did see Blowhole Road. Even if we had found the blow hole, I doubt that there would be any blow because the harbour was dead flat. We have since found out from Andrew (RenAndrew travelbloggers), that the blow hole is on Blowhole Road and happens once in a while when there is a really heavy swell.

A little north is the suburb of Hobart called Taroona. Again, this is a hillside suburb looking over to South Arm of the harbour. Marg has had a Facebook contact here for some time, and she plus hubby wanted to have a coffee. Hubby was keen to find out about motor-homing as he was also retired. So a couple of hours whizzed by, as did the very good lemon tart and coffee.

Before meeting for coffee, we stopped at the Taroona Shot Tower, built in the 1870s. This one is still in good condition, and for $8.00 I could climb from top to bottom of this tapered tower. Marg decided that she would not do this as the spiral stairs really affect her balance. Having been up and down this 150 ft tower, I think she made the right choice. The view at the top is magic looking across the bay and the hinterland.

What surprised me is that the lead was melted to make the 'Shot' (for shot guns) at the top of the tower. To run the furnace, wood was carried up to the top of the tower as was the lead ingots. Once molten, the lead was poured through a colander like dish from where it dropped into a water filled trough at the bottom of the tower. I don't think todays OH&S requirements for melting lead would have been observed in this work place.

We have noticed that in this part of Tasmania that roses thrive in many gardens. There were quite a few here at the shot tower as well. Perfume was very strong for some, and others featured vibrant colours.

After a time at Taroona, it was time to feed Tommy another set of GPS co-ordinates to take us into Hobart and on to Glenorchy where we would camp at the show grounds for a few days. We had also received a pleasant surprise by way of an SMS message from Anne & Jim that they would meet us there for a few days.

---

Photos

Taroona 04
Shot Tower owners residence

Geeveston 10
Reflections at the platypus pool

Coastal views
Heading to Dover

Taroona 02
The Shot Tower

Taroona 03
Rose at Shot Tower

Comments

[Mum & Dad]

Interesting views certainly different country than your last trip across the mainland. Great reflection shots too.