Huon Valley touring

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Geo: -43.0338, 147.049

We met up with Richard and Kerrie last night at our very swish Presidential two-bedroom apartment at Wyndham Resort on Hobart's Seven Mile Beach.

After a coffee and toast breakfast the four of us headed off to the Huon Valley to see the sights.

We had a super morning tea at The Apple Shed - an apple museum, cafe and evening pub. Tasted two apple ciders, a pear cider and a cherry cider. The new season apples are in the shops and we stopped at a self-service, vending shed with the apples refrigerated at 9deg C. Very nice apples, as you'd expect - $3 for a bag of about a dozen Royal Gala apples.

Then we took the one hour drive to the Tahune Forest Reserve, reputedly the only place to see mature Huon pines in the Huon Valley. The Huon pines only grow where there is a permanent water supply, which usually means on the banks of a river. In the old days the loggers would simply fell and strip the trees, put their mark on the logs and wait for the next flood to deliver the logs downstream. Huon pine is almost indestructible and it takes ages to decompose, even when soaking in water.

Also at the Reserve was an AirWalk, a high level steel walkway through the forest, with one section cantilevered out towards the Huon River. A good experience.

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Photos

The Apple Shed
Cider tasting, a museum and fine morning teas

Huon Pine
These are very slow growing and any mature specimens that may be left remain a closely guarded secret. Mostly the examples were pretty spindly juvenile trees that are not too impressive.

Stringy Bark Gum
Unlike the Huon, these were plentiful and very impressive.

Cantilevered, 15ton capacity
You can just see hundreds of logs lining the river banks. We were amazed that some entrepreneur had not worked out a way to harvest them profitably.

Two swinging bridges
Over the Huon and Picton Rivers. The visitor centre had photos of these bridges partially submerged during recent floods! Richard was confirming that the bridges bounced satisfactorily with rhythmic stomping.