Waddamana Power Station

In the geographical centre of Tasmania, up in the highlands, there’s a turn off from the Highland Lakes Road that takes you 30km down a winding dirt road to an unexpected piece of industrial design history – the Waddamana Hydro-Electric Power Station. Or more precisely these days, the Waddamana Power Station Museum.

Construction on Tasmania’s first hydropower station began in 1910 as an ambitious and ultimately unsuccessful private venture, which was taken over by the Tasmanian Government in 1914. Waddamana began generating power in 1916, and if the lovely signage is accurate, this fine building was opened in 1922. It was functional for over 40 years before being decommissioned in 1964, and converted to a museum in 1988. Its twin (Waddamana B), which sits behind it, was functional until 1994.

It’s hard to grasp the volume of water that rushed through these pipes, and it’s even harder to reconcile the knowledge that the first pipelines were made of wooden staves (like a barrel).

These signs are still common on the active lines that criss-cross Tasmania today. They’ve updated the wording a little, but the message is still the same.

We spent a long time in the turbine hall, wandering amongst these giant machines. They’re beautifully crafted, with a lovely attention to detail. The thing we struggled with most when coming to terms with the size and number of them is the knowledge that these giants were shipped to Tasmania from England and the United States, and then transported up into the highland wilderness, presumably by horse and cart. Waddamana isn’t that easy to get to now, and I can’t imagine what it was like between 1910 and 1916.

Tragically the control panel is behind glass, which I suppose is a good thing, because the temptation to play with all the controls would be irresistible if it wasn’t.

The museum also contains exhibits of other electricity related items including household items, and scientific items like this lovely cathode ray oscillograph.

The old office areas are set up as they would have been at the height of the station’s activity, complete with glorious advertisements for electricity for factory, farm and home!

Waddamana Power Station Museum is open daily between 10am and 4pm, every day except Christmas Day and Good Friday. Admission is free.

Highland Adventures

Today’s post features a tiny, tiny glimpse at the central highlands of Tasmania. As always we took the quiet back roads as much as possible and it paid off. It’s a beautiful region, and as is so often the case in Tasmania, you almost have the roads and the views all to yourself…

As well as the sweeping vistas of highland farms, the high voltage pylons serve as a frequent reminder that the central highlands are hydro country. And I’m happy to admit that I’m often as enthralled by telegraph poles, pylons and wires as I am by trees.

As well as meandering through the countryside we made a brief stop in the town of Bothwell. It’s a town we’ve visited quite a few times before, but on this visit we made time to wander around the Bothwell Cemetery. I’ve always been fascinated by the sense of time and history I get from reading the epitaphs and the dates on the headstones. The cemetery has been in use since the 1830’s, and parts of it have certainly seen better days, but it’s still an intriguing place to visit.

Inspired by an old dictionary

In November 2014 my lovely husband gave me an India Paper Edition of Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language published in 1919.

It spurned the Dictionary Project, a series of images inspired by the words and definitions contained in the impossibly thin pages of this beautiful old book.

The latest entry is inspired by the word gamble, which is defined as:

1. To play or game for money or other stake, as at cards, dice, billiards, horseracing, cockfighting, etc.

It’s a slow project, one that will steadily grow over time, whenever the mood takes me to flick through the pages seeking inspiration. I imagine one day the book itself will even feature.

Exploring the far south

What better way to spend a wet and gloomy Saturday than on a road trip? Especially one that takes our little Fiat500C to places I’m pretty sure Fiat never intended it to go. This trip took us back into Tasmania’s Far South, through the Southern Forests to the D’Entrecasteaux River and Recherche Bay.

The D’Entrecasteaux River, Recherche, Tasmania

The D’Entrecasteaux River, Recherche, Tasmania

The Southern Forests, Recherche, Tasmania

The D’Entrecasteaux River, Recherche, Tasmania

The D’Entrecasteaux River, Recherche, Tasmania

Recherche Bay, Tasmania

Recherche Bay, Tasmania

Recherche Bay, Tasmania

Sunken timber in a tea-tree stained pool, Recherche Bay, Tasmania

Kelp, Recherche Bay, Tasmania

D’Entrecasteaux Channel Adventures

As I’ve mentioned before, the D’Entrecasteaux Channel region is one of my favourite parts of Tasmania. Here are a few highlights of a weekend adventure from Hobart down to Conningham.

 

Of bicycles and things

Last weekend I took my new toy out for it’s first spin. It’s been far too long since I’ve been on a bike, but living in Tasmania is the perfect time to get back in the saddle. Life looks different from on a bike – it’s one of a handful of ways that I can really live in the moment without a care for my day to day life, and I love it. I’m expecting lots of our future adventures to involve these little beauties, especially with all the effort that’s going into developing places to ride in Tassie.

Exploring Mount Wellington

This weekend’s adventure took us up on to my favourite feature of the Hobart skyline, Mount Wellington. The mountain is covered in hiking trails, and we did a loop which included three trails and covered about 8km.

We started at the Chalet (a very grandiosely named lovely, but simple mountain hut), headed along the Organ Pipes Track in front of what has to be one of the most recognisable features of the mountain, up the Zig Zag Track to the Pinnacle, down part of Pinnacle Road, on to the Panorama track, and then back down some more of Pinnacle Road to find our car at the Chalet.

It was a glorious Tasmanian autumn day with temperatures on the mountain ranging between 0 and 3 degrees Celsius, but feeling much colder whenever the wind gusted past. The start of our walk even featured light snow. Like I said, autumn in Tasmania.

As always, the hike was spectacular – ranging through bushland, over rocky terrain and rewarding us with stunning views throughout. I love that this amazing place is right on our doorstep.

The Chalet, Mount Wellington, Tasmania

View from the Organ Pipes Track, Mount Wellington

The Organ Pipes, Mount Wellington

Climbers’ access route onto the Organ Pipes, Mount Wellington

The Organ Pipes, Mount Wellington

Trail signs and a poor lost sock on Mount Wellington

View from the Zig Zag Track, Mount Wellington

View from the Zig Zag Track, Mount Wellington

View from the Zig Zag Track, Mount Wellington

The Zig Zag Track, Mount Wellington

View from the Zig Zag Track, Mount Wellington

The Zig Zag Track to the Pinnacle, Mount Wellington

The final stretch of the Zig Zag Track to the Pinnacle, Mount Wellington

The Panorama Track, Mount Wellington

View from the Panorama Track, Mount Wellington

Foodie adventures at the Taste of the Huon

This weekend’s adventure took us to the Taste of the Huon festival. The festival is focused on food, wine, entertainment, arts and crafts from the Huon Valley, D’entrecasteaux Channel and Bruny Island regions of Tasmania (which all lie just south of Hobart). We lived in the D’entrecasteaux Channel region during our last stint in Tassie and it’s still where my heart is, even though this time around the place we call home is much closer to town.

Obviously there was no shortage of lovely food to try, but our highlights were:

• Manuka and Blackberry/Clover Mead from the Mountain View Meadery.
• Kentish Cherry Jam from Sleeping Beauty’s Pantry (the reference is to the mountain known locally as Sleeping Beauty rather than the fairytale character).
• Fish sausage hotdogs from Silver Hill Fisch
• And all the tarts from Bakery on Huntingfield (who sadly don’t appear to have a website).