Day 5 - So after surviving a night of the motor home being buffeted by high winds and rain, I awoke to find a partly clouded sky and the wind was still quite strong. I packed up the motor home, said goodbye to me friend Jacqui and headed towards Deloraine to catch up with my print house where all my printing work is done. I met Hanja at a photography workshop I attended in Nov 2015 in Launceston and her and her husband, Wayne, own Photo Extra in the main st. After have a good chat with Wayne about where I have been and what scenes I was still looking for, I noticed and image printed on the wall in his shop with a barn in it. Now this barn was something else and in a location with mountains behind it and long grass. As it turns out it was only about 25 klms away so Wayne drew me a mud map and after saying goodbye, left to find this jewel.
When I arrived at the barn, it was raining heavily and seeing this was a little old farming road, it was quite skinny. I had to park the motor home half off the road and half on which was a concern as a few large trucks had been passed on the way in. So here I am a tad concerned about the motor home being crushed and the rain poring down when I decided to get out and get the below shot. The clouds were low and dramatic and I think you will agree that it made for a better image than being clear with a blue sky :)
So my plan is now to go to Liffey Falls and get another awesome shot so I headed off up a rather long, windey steep road towards the falls. After getting about 2 klms from the car park, the road was very muddy and it was misty and pouring rain. So I decided it was a no go as I was still jazzed about the awesome Barn shot that I had in the bag.
So I came back down the steep windey road and back into Deloraine which is a very pretty little town with a river flowing through it and has a tier causeway that the water runs down. So I stopped and took some images and headed off to the main highway towards Ross.
After about 1 hour and 30 mins I arrived in Ross which is a quaint little town with some convict history especially women convicts. It is also of coarse home of the famous Ross Bridge that was completed in July 1836. The sandstone bridge was constructed by convict labour, and is the third oldest bridge still in use in Australia. After visit the local cafe and having a lamb shank with mash potato, peas, and red wine gravy, I headed out to get some images of the area. After an hour or so I started looking for somewhere to free camp as I was self sufficient but in and around Ross there no such acceptable areas.
I headed back up the highway to a place called Campbell Town which has a large grassed area , about the size of a football field, provided by the local Council for camping. The only proviso is that you area self contained meaning you have your own toilet and shower so no tents. After going online and registering, the camp was free and I shared it with several others that night. I had a wonder around town and the is a very nice old bridge there called the Red Bridge which was constructed by convicts in 1937-38. Well worth a look.
Day 6 - After a stroll through the field behind the camp ground getting some sunrise images, I once again packed up the motor home and got ready to drive to Richmond. After a drive along a very scenic drive I arrived in Richmond and went straight to the bridge which is the oldest stone span bridge in Australia.
The foundation stone for the Richmond Bridge was laid on 11 December 1823 and construction continued using convict labour until completion in 1825. It is a very nice town with coffee, nick nak shops and cafe's and you are always greeted at the bridge by ducks and geese looking for some bread. I took a few snaps of the bridge and headed to my next stop.
As you may have remembered in my first blog post for this trip, I met a couple on the plan and Allan hand makes beautiful hand crafted classical guitars. I texted him the night before and he said he was available for me to visit and see where and how he makes them. Allan and Rhonda live out Huon way and it was a short drive to there house where I was greeted with a cuppa and biscuit while we had a chat. I brought them up to speed on my travels and then I was invited to stay for lunch which consisted of hot home made soup, croutons, fresh crusty bread and fresh honey. How could I say no :) While Rhonda prepared lunch, Allan showed me around his workshop showing me the various tools and jigs he uses but the variety of timbers he used astounded me. The grain and pattern in the timbers he uses are truly a work of art. Allan calls himself a luthier which I now know is someone who builds or repairs string instruments generally consisting of a neck and a sound box. His knowledge on the subject knows no bounds and it was a privilege to visit and hear his passion about design and build quality of such a truly beautiful hand made piece. I took so photos of course and after a 2 hours or so I bid them farewell and headed to the Mt Wellington lookout. More information on Allan's masterpieces can be found here - http://www.bullguitars.com.
Mt Wellington round is a little tricky in a big motor home but totally doable and just have to take it easy. Once at the top you are presented with a great view over Hobart and the surrounding areas. It was about 5 degrees and the wind was blowing so a little on the cold side and the place was packed with people. I was very luck to visit when there was no cloud around the mountain which is usually the case this time of year. After some panorama shots and wide shots I got back into my warm motor home and headed back down the windey road to Hobart Harbour.
I arrived at the Dunn St car park which is directly opposite the Harbour and next to the Hobart Museum and Art Gallery. After a quick visit to the Museum, I went across the road to the harbour and started to take some sunset shots. I walked around the harbour and went inside the Henry Jones Art hotel for a look as we stayed there some 10 years ago for a few nights. The blue hour was apon me so I went back to get my tripod and a few more lenses and settled in to get wait for the right light and begin to capture this beautiful area. As usual I ran into some other photographers who were doing the same thing and we got to talking as you do. Roselyn and her friend were getting some awesome images and I asked them where the best angles were and they were keen to help me. It's always a good idea to talk to the locals as they have all good spots noted and have tried different things multiple times as I only had one chance. If you would like to have a look at Roselyn's work it can be found here - https://500px.com/roselyncugliari.
So after a few hours walking around the harbour it was time to find a place for the night. I drove to the Barilla Holiday Park which is about 10 mins from the city and after booking in and parking, ordered a pizza from Nate’s Pizza, Pasta and Grill which is onsite. We had a pizza from here 10 years ago and they are still one of best I have every had.
Well time to start tidying up as I have to go home tomorrow :(
More to come ....