Spent Australia Day at Huon Valley Caravan Park. It’s really part of a farm that they have converted to camping. Lots of animals around. They even have Tassie Devils.
Lots of cideries around so the first one on the list was the Apple Shed.
Had a wonderful picnic lunch supplied by Sadie from Fat Pig Farm (if you havn’t seen their show on SBS watch it ) on the ketch Yukon as we sailed on the Huon River. The lunch was wonderful with all ingredients coming from their farm. The boat has an interesting history, it was built in Jutland in 1930 as a fishing boat. It fished commercially up until 1974. It then sailed as a pleasure boat until 1997 around Denmark. It was found sinking at a mooring in Dragor Harbour in 1997 by David Nash, the current owner. After raising it from the bottom of the harbour it took to 2004 to restore it. It then operated as a charter vessel around Denmark before sailing around the world to come to Australia.
The Wooden Boat Centre is at Franklin. Some great old boats & some new ones as well.
Still lots of fires around. The helicopter base & evacuation centre is just down the road at Huonville.
As always a number of handsome & old churches in the area.
Grandvewe Sheep Cheesery & Distillery produced a couple of interesting surprises. The cheese was excellent & the Sheep Whey Gin & Vodka was very tasty. Lunch & view was a bonus.
Another cidery, more cider from Pagan Cider. This time Ulrika made the choice of Cherry cider (funny about that).
Hartzview Vineyard has a little bit of history on its doorstep. Whilst now a vineyard, in the 1920’s the property was growing strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries & blackcurrents. During the picking season these simple huts were home for families of up to 8 people.
Sunset over the fires. It’s getting close.
Saw our first platypus in the wild right in front of the caravan.
The smoke finally got the better of us & we decided to pull up stumps. Lucky we did as the day after the caravan park was evacuated.
We didn’t get to see south of Huonville as they closed the road. Hopefully if the fires calm down we can get down there next week.
“Husbands are like fires – they go out when unattended.”
Zsa Zsa Gabor