Hobart Tasmania Tour to the Huon Valley

An early morning start (5:40 am pickup) had us on our way flying to Hobart, Tasmania. Another smooth routine through airport security, and a shuttle bus close by to get us to our new digs. The drive from the airport revealed it was quite different from what we have been experiencing. A lot more like the interior of BC in both size and geography. Hobart gets about 600mm of precipitation annually, three times Kamloops.

 Hobart from our hotel room

Upon arrival at our hotel, Innkeepers Lenna of Hobart, we were warmly welcomed with our room ready for us at 10:45 am. A little unpacking, then down the street, it is hilly, almost like 1st Avenue, to find what is close by. A lunch at an Irish Pub, then we wandered over to the dockside and checked out a place we needed to be for a tour. After a rest out of the sun, as Hobart was having one of it's warmer days, we walked over to a Quilt Shop about 20 minutes away. We have collected Australian Indigenous Fabrics to  encourage Linda to eventually do a story quilt of this journey.

 Our first tour was to the Huon Valley, 2 hrs southwest of Hobart. Once into the countryside the lush rolling hills with deciduous trees instead of coniferous trees reminded us of the very familiar Alberta Foothills. A quick break to stretch our legs in the town of Cygnet had the delight to see a beautiful rose garden in full bloom. WOW it is the last day of November.....

One more stop was in a town called Geeveston where we stopped at a forestry exhibit. As we approached the tour guide talked about the  Feb 7th, 1967, Black Tuesday event. A ferocious bushfire destroyed 2/3 of Tasmania. 67 deaths and 1500 hundred homes lost. To this day the landscape still has haunting barren grey tall trees, referred to as the Ghost Tree, scattered throughout the area.

Onwards from here to the Tahune Airwalk located in the deep Aussie bush, a tree was down on the road, stopping our passage. Smaller vehicles were able to continue but not our Grayline Tour Bus. It was evident the tree was too big to move manually. fortunately a worker on the way to Tahune came by, went and got a chain saw, came back and cleared our way.

 Linda takes on the Airwalk

We had no idea what Tahune was about, but quite an adventure came our way as we hiked paths through forest. There are 3 walk arounds recommended. First we tracked our way to the Airwalks. A metal frame walkway suspended an average 30m over the forest with views of the Huon and Picton Rivers. This is listed as a 50 minute hike, about 600m of elevated pathway.  It ends up at a cantilever platform with a view of the confluence of the two rivers. Linda overcame her anxiety such entertainment usually generates, and enjoyed the view, while I suffered somewhat from the burning in my right thigh, but made it to the end before having to sit.

 One of the tree species that made the Tas industry

 Linda on the first Swinging Bridge

Made it over:-) 

From here we continued on to the Swinging Bridges, a 1 hour hike according to the map. Trudging through the forest we arrive at the first swinging bridge which crosses one of the rivers. Once over another short walk the next bridge gets us over another river. From that excitement we journeyed back to the Visitor centre which was another hike on it's own. We encountered along this trek a snake slithering back to the bush, black and about 3' long. We stayed clear which was very wise as we have found out it was a tiger snake, the 4th poisonous snake in Australia. We didn't have the energy to do the last walk to see the stand of the famous Huon Pine, as it was quite warm. Hobart hit 34 c. which is very rare for this area. One last stop to see a 400 year old, 90m high Gum Tree, then the long drive home. We would definitely recommend this adventure.