Australia, Tasmania

Huonville and Dodges Ferry

Huonville

Camping in Huonville is always a pleasure. It is one of, if not the, most beautiful camp sites we have stayed in. That is why we returned after our house sit in Blackmans Bay.

Camping in Huonville, not too shabby

The camp site is bordered by the Mountain River, a tributary of the Huon River. The point where it joins the mightly Huon is a perfect spot for an evening contemplation with a glass of wine.

This was our contemplation spot each night
Brewing up a pot of tea at sunrise was also a pleasure in this place. It has an extensive camp kitchen but we chose to do this instead for some reason.

Picturesque

Huonville is good for so many things. The Mountain River has Platypus which we love to see.

One of the 3 or 4 Platypus in Mountain River

It also has some remarkable night skies, usually. This time there was more cloud that when we were here previously.

Moonrise over our camping spot, that is our tent on the left.
The light through the clouds gave the sky a glow I’d not seen before
I was lucky enough to catch a shooting star
The mist over the mountains surrounding the site provided an eeire look one morning.

Misty mountain mist over the misty mountains in the mist on a misty morning
Kids messing about in the river

DS Cafe

DS Cafe in Huonville became our breakfast/lunch spot a few times. It had an eclectic collection of Mona Lisa interpretations.

DS Cafe Hounville
A Da Vinci of Mona Lisas
Some of my favourite variations
Picture in the boys toilet, no nonsense Aussie message. Love it.
The cafe is full of interesting collectables including this pair of benches
Why this set of bench seats were so interesting.

Willie Smith’s

Well, if you have ever read any of my blogs before you know Willie Smiths Cider House is a favourite venue. We even walked there one day and taxied back. Taxi was $24 for about 8kms and 5 minute drive, we didn’t do that again.

The eponymous Willle Smith
Willie Smith Apple Museum
On the other side of the apple wall The Ocelots were setting up for their gig. Two young Irish boys with good harmonies. They were pretty good.
And before we left Hounville we gave Mazzie a pampering session with new tyres and a big service

Eventually it was time to duck out of the quacking place called Huonville and quackly drive to Dodges Ferry where we would be for the next 2 weeks or so.

Bye Huonville duckies, see you again soon I hope

Dodges Ferry

You may remember we own a small plot of land in Dodges Ferry with a beach shack on it. It’s not a big place and as our Brisbane friends Kyl and Dave were meeting us and staying with us for a week we booked an Airbnb in Dodges Ferry.

This beach is right on our doorstep. This is why we love this place so much.

As I remind readers every blog we are working full time as we travel. As I also mention almost every blog we do try and take an hour out each day to go for a walk. In Dodges Ferry that walk is usually along this beautiful beach. Every day is different, I take my camera on eavery walk and get some unique views each time we go there. Here are a few beach scenes we captured.

What’s this, a shell on a beach, who’d have thought. It is a nice shell though.
Wonder if there is anything in it?
Oh wow! Looks like there might be.
Is this a Hermit Crab? Best roll him over again and leave him alone.
Every day the beach reveals some new beauty. If it isn’t in the wide macro vistas it is in the micro landscape scenes under your feet
Sometimes Maddy and Steve and their dog Brownlow joined us for our walks. Brownlow was not keen to leave the beach this day.

One night the weather was so mild and warm we all went for a walk at twilight. I am so glad I brought the camera. The beach was just beautiful.

Golden purple twilight
Local expert Steve pointing out to new boy Evan where he could find the good surf breaks.
Wait for me!!
One day the beach has 10 or so of these guys washed up. We assumed they were discarded from a fishing boat. They seem to be Slender Spined Porcupinefish. Formidable spikes.
Depending on the tide and time of day these little Soldier Crabs are out in abundance.
Digging their tunnels and doing some general scurrying duties

Kyl and Dave arrived and we took some time at the weekend to show them the local sights. First stop the Dunalley Fish Market for the (not some of the) best fish and chips ever.

Dunalley Fish Market, best fish and chips in Tasmania. Served in yesterdays newspaper of course

Suitably fed and watered we set off for the famous Tessalated Pavement.

Tesselated Pavement

This place is also called Pirates Beach. We were here a few weeks ago with Maddy and Steve and Brownlow. This time the place was nearly empty, could be the Coronavirus Chinese travel ban having an affect, or maybe it was just the time of the year. Also the tide was out. Made for a different experience.

Tessellated Pavement at Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania,

From Wikipedia

Tessellated Pavement, Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania
The most well known example of a tessellated pavement is the Tessellated Pavement that is found at Lufra, Eaglehawk Neck on the Tasman Peninsula of Tasmania. This tessellated pavement consists of a marine platform on the shore of Pirates Bay, Tasmania. This example consists of two types of formations: a pan formation and a loaf formation.
The pan formation is a series of concave depressions in the rock that typically forms beyond the edge of the seashore. This part of the pavement dries out more at low tide than the portion abutting the seashore, allowing salt crystals to develop further; the surface of the “pans” therefore erodes more quickly than the joints, resulting in increasing concavity.
The loaf formations occur on the parts of the pavement closer to the seashore, which are immersed in water for longer periods of time. These parts of the pavement do not dry out so much, reducing the level of salt crystallisation. Water, carrying abrasive sand, is typically channelled through the joints, causing them to erode faster than the rest of the pavement, leaving loaf-like structures protruding.

Between the tessalations the rockpools provided some interesting subject matter
Tiny ecosystems exist in the cracks in the rocks when the tide goes out.
Millions of little shellfish fill up the gaps between the rocks.
Forests of seaweed wait for the return of the tide
Clusters of tiny shellfish cling to life in the small indentations that still hold some water at low tide.
Seabirds dived for their dinner just off shore
He got lucky today
Met these “Pirates” who were only too happy to pose for a shot. I don’t think the masks were Coronavirus protection though.

It was a pretty good start to Kyl and Dave’s Tessie Trip. The next day we went to Mount Field National Park.

Mt Field

We were lucky weatherwise, on our Mt Field day trip. It was warm and sunny all day. The bright daylight and deep shadows made taking pictures a problem but the scenery was beautiful. We did the 3 falls walk starting a Russell Falls.

Russell Falls, Mt Field National Park

Then onto Horseshoe Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Last stop Lady Barron Falls

Lady Barron Falls

The entire walk was about 2.5 hours and was through some outstanding scenery. The LAnd of The Giants section had some massive trees.

Kyl, Dave and Jenni beside one of the giants.
Dave getting a picture of the giant.
The walk was very peaceful and full of majestic scenery.

Mt Field has a great camp site at the foot of Russell Falls. Jenni and I have registered this as a place to return to and explore some more.

We’re in Tassie for another 2 weeks or so and Kyl and Dave leave next weekend. We have a few more adventures planned before then (ncluding a trip to MONA) which I’ll make sure I record in our future blogs.

Poseur at MONA

Till next time.

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