Walking Wellers: Fern Tree to The Chalet

It didn't look like a great idea as I drove through Huonville towards kunanyi / Mount Wellington - or Wellers as we often call it at home. There was a large grey cloud sitting on the mountain and the windscreen wipers has been going since I left home. But I was determined to use Sunday morning for a training walk from Fern Tree (400m) up the mountain, feeling hopeful that I'll be fit enough to take on the Point to Pinnacle (walk, not run for me) in November. In typical Tassie weather, the sun came out not long after I parked the car. I reached The Springs (720m) much quicker than expected, so I stopped for a coffee at Lost Freight before continuing up Pinnacle Road. It started raining not long before I reached The Chalet (at about 1,000m) and then the rain turned into snowflakes. At the shelter, I put on my rain jacket and started heading back downhill. Ten minutes later the sun was out again! I intended to walk down the Middle Track from The Springs, but it was closed. So I got to enjoy a detour past Silver Falls on the way back to the car. Next time: The Pinnacle.

Project X part II

After listening to ravens roosting in the darkening southern forests with Hrafn: Conversations with Odin (season now extended into October), the next installment of Project X has arrived in the Huon Valley. The Aftermath Dislocation Principle is an artwork in the form of a 40-foot shipping container with eye holes cut into it, providing a glimpse of a town landscape in miniature. I won't describe it further, just get on down to Geeveston any time between now and November and peer inside. While you are there, why not take a look around the town and eat at one of the lovely establishments like the Old Bank of Geeveston, Baker & Co patisserie or The Bears Went Over the Mountain. Or stop in our wonderful village of Franklin on the way home, at Cinnamon and Cherry (now re-opened Friday to Sunday for the warmer months), Aqua Grill or Frank's Cider Bar and Cafe. Seriously, it's been a tougher winter period than usual this year for many local businesses since the bushfires in the region and you'll be made very welcome if you come down and stay!

Ecowood

Ten years ago in Sydney, we bought a single, 1.2 metre square raised garden bed made from recycled printer cartridges. It was sturdy and durable and looked great. But before we had much chance to use it, we bought a new home in Tasmania, and a few short weeks later we were heading to our new home. At our new place in the Huon Valley, I fancied using rustic apple crates to grow veggies in and we collected some from a local orchard. They looked beautiful, but after a few years filled with soil in the sun, rain and snow, they started to rot and fall apart. We replaced them with some fantastic dove tailed timber beds, but after a couple of years they settled, warped and also started to fall apart. Now in our main street home, we have a very small garden but enough room for a few raised beds to grow some basics. So I went online and found the same company still supplying a variety of kits and ordered some. On the weekend we part-filled the eWood garden beds with newspaper, compost, sheep manure and garden soil ready to plant in spring... which is just around the corner! I am sure they will serve us for years to come.

 

Rooftops

By moving into the village, we've swapped views of treetops and paddocks for views of rooftops from many of the windows. I love seeing the colourful corrugated roofs and brick chimneys on the old cottages and commercial buildings along the main street and those hidden behind. The bare trees are gradually being replaced with blossom and new green shoots. And from the front windows, we can see the Huon River flowing past. It's a pleasant outlook on all sides.

Parkrunning

After many - and I mean MANY - months of "thinking about it" (making excuses mostly) I finally completed my first parkrun this morning. Parkrun is a global movement and there are more than 350 of these events across Australia each week, bringing people together for better health and mental wellbeing, fun and a sense of community. Around 2,000 people run every week across Tasmania, as I found out watching this video of local MP David O'Byrne talking about the first anniversary of the Geeveston Parkrun in the Tasmanian Parliament last week.

The sun came out as I arrived in Geeveston and the friendly volunteers made me feel welcome. A tree had fallen across the usual track in last night's high winds and they'd set up a small diversion. Three laps of the course - for me part-running, part-walking - a stretch and that's exercise done for the day. Then it's off for coffee and well-deserved cake or onto whatever other activities the day holds. I can see why it's kind of addictive. Now let's see how my legs feel tomorrow!

Happy as a pig in mud at #HVMWF 2019

As a bloke in the queue at the bar said to me when I went to fetch a hot spiced cider, "Gumboot people are happy people!" As nice as it would have been to don tatters, face paint and fancy headpieces (we saw lots of beautiful examples), I was extremely happy with my choice of clothing for the Huon Valley Mid Winter Festival on Friday night. I counted the layers I was was wearing - six in total on my upper half! Plus thermals under my jeans and long socks in my gum boots. And I was warm as toast. There was a serious amount of mud, a little rain and a whole lot of happy punters. As I have said before, these people know how to run an event. There is plenty of seating, lots of toilets, undercover areas, fire pits to warm up by and friendly volunteers with a sense of humour. And that's before the great selection of food and beverages, sculptures and awesome music acts. Despite the testing weather conditions, there were plenty of interstate and international visitors. I had squid from the fire bugs at Tasman Quartermasters, some tasty fries, croquettes from Eten and one of Yeastie Beastie's fabulous doughnuts. With hot spiced Willie Smith's Cider in hand, we ran into a few groups of friends and made it out of the paddock car park without needing to be towed out of the mud. Happy days!

A cottage garden

The garden here at the Old Bank is a new experience for me. It's filled with cottage-y plants and flowers, like tiny daisies, hellebores, lavender, geraniums, hydrangea. I confess to knowing little about flowers, so my friend Karla kindly visited last week to show me how to prune the roses and help me identify the various plants. The garden space is small and wraps around the buildings. There's no grass, but gravel, garden beds and a cute little garden path of stones. In Sydney we primarily grew Australian natives. Up in the hills of Franklin, we were surrounded by native temperate rainforest trees and plants like native pepperberry and man ferns. I grew vegetables and planted some fruit trees as well as a few imports like maple, spruce, crab apple and ornamental pear. Here in our little winter garden, there are already so many flowers. There are bulbs starting to appear and I'm looking forward to seeing what they all are. The camellia bush is about to explode with fluffy pink blooms. Aren't they gorgeous?