The gem in the crown that is the Huon Valley, the Huon River. What a delight it was to be camped beside it as indeed we were, well, almost. The river bank was but a half minute walk from the van door,
from where this was our view downstream
and this, in the opposite direction, looking north along the riverside roadway. And how lucky we were with the weather. This would have been a miserable sight in the gloomy, drizzling atmosphere we had encountered on several occasions to date during our island adventure.
Just beyond the southern end of our park this pier jutted out into the river channel which flowed between our bank and Egg Island. It was built to provide access to a river cruise boat which was run in conjunction with the Petty Sessions Cafe, but with that on the market this jetty was deserted, but as you will see later, it proved very useful to an avid shutter bug.
A tad further downstream, a secondary river channel provided an ideal mooring for a group of fishing boats and private yachts.
Boats still play an important part in the life and economy of Franklin as we had discovered during our town ramble when we walked past the northern end of the ship chandlery building towards the river.
Off to our left stood the building which houses the renowned Franklin Wooden Boat Centre.
I can do no better than quote from the centre's excellent website and to include a couple of their photos to provide an explanation of how things operate here.
"Hand-crafted timber boats, using traditional means.
For
the past 25 years, the Wooden Boat Centre Tasmania has been producing a
range of beautiful timber boats, crafted by hand on the banks of the
Huon River, in Franklin, Tasmania. Franklin's proud shipbuilding and
maritime heritage remains alive and well. We welcome locals and
visitors, individuals and groups, to join one of our many short courses
to experience the satisfaction, achievement and camaraderie of hand
building wooden boats. You're also invited to drop by for a tour to
explore the age old craft of wooden boat building. 
Our courses seek to extend traditional wooden boatbuilding knowledge
and skills. They are designed for those seeking recreational experience
in relation to wooden boat building or for those wishing to enter the
boat building industry. The courses relate to skill development
applicable to boatbuilding and/or boat ownership, or are maritime in
nature. Whatever your choice, course content relates strongly to the
wooden boat culture.
You can enrol in a single Wooden Boat Centre
short course or you can enrol in a series of short courses over an
extended period that are offered consecutively. In this way you can
choose just one aspect of traditional wooden boatbuilding/maritime
skills or gain a range of industry skills. Through completion of one of
our boatbuilding courses you will extend your woodworking skills whilst
working with rare Tasmanian minor species timbers. You will assist to
keep traditional skills and knowledge alive and well.
You can also
choose to sponsor the build of vessels to be able to take the boat home
with you on course completion. Sponsors pay for the cost of the
materials + the tuition fee and on completion own the boat."
In addition to the hands on craft skill taught here, tours of the centre are available. We chose not to indulge (actually Liz was not interested and I was a little short on time).
Not surprisingly the river immediately in front of and adjacent to the wooden boat centre was a clutter of craft,
but standing head and shoulders above them all (if that term can really be applied to boats) were the fore and aft masts and square rigging spar of the sailing ketch 'Yukon', now a fixture on the Huon River at Franklin.
But it was not always so, as I later learnt from the ship's website, and what a story this is:
"Built of oak in 1930 the privately owned Danish sailing ship Yukon was rescued by Australian shipwright David Nash and his Danish wife Ea Lassen from the bottom of a harbour near Copenhagen.
After five years restoration and years of entertaining guests on European waterways, the Nash family with their two sons departed to circumnavigate the globe, bringing their ship to the calm waters of the Huon River in Tasmania."
It was difficult to properly photograph this magnificent wooden sailing ship, which takes visitors on daily cruises on the Huon, and, on set times of the year, on far more extended voyages of several days and nights to Tasmanian waterways much further distant.
I was able to get a slightly better look at her from the front of the wooden boat centre,
but to do her justice, again, as I so oft do in these circumstances, I've relied on the Internet, from which I gained these wonderful photographs of 'Yukon' courtesy of 'tasvacations', firstly here plying the calm waters of the Huon River near Franklin under her draped square sail
and here showing just what she can do on the open sea with her triple headsails and gaff rigged main and mizzen sails all filled in by a stiff breeze. What a magnificent ship she is and what an asset to the ongoing boating tradition of Franklin.
My walk to the end of the jetty at which 'Yukon' was moored gave me the opportunity to look at the Wooden Boat Centre from a different angle (you can also just see the red roof of Frank's Cider cafe to the left of shot)
and to take in the view downstream which included the yachts at their moorings, the chandlery building and, at the right of the shot, the white grandeur of Blowmont. This was just so 'Franklin'.
As the day drew to a close, and we were sitting at our ease, cherry pear ciders in hand, this little wooden sailing boat appeared on the river in front of us,
with one of the oddest sail rigging I had ever seen.
But once the wind went behind, and the sail was set square, she really did lift her skirts as she made passage upstream past Egg Island and the massive hills beyond the river valley. This sight really did make my afternoon, but better was to come the following morning.
As sun rose over the mountains to wash the hills behind us with the pale light of early morning, I headed off again to the river bank.
Now the yachts in the channel were wreathed in swirls of mist as the slating rays of the sun tinged the river bank reeds with yellow.
In the breathless calm a solitary duck, frightened by my arrival, paddled furiously out into the stream towards the almost perfect reflections of the mountains in the low river fog.
And as I watched the duck, a paddler of a completely different stripe emerged, appearing from behind the screen of mist like a destroyer breaking cover from its smoke screen.
What a magnificent morning this was for a robust downstream paddle in a very slick kayak.
As the chap on the kayak slipped between the moored craft and disappeared, I wandered down to the Petty Sessions jetty for a better view of the river scene
where I felt more than well rewarded for my efforts
as I took in these moorings in a completely different light.
Whilst I was admiring these magnificent old homes on the southern slopes of Franklin town
a movement in the riverside reeds caught my eye, a tiny spot of white amongst the yellow stalks.
What a perfect spot for a nest.
As the sun rose higher I tore myself rather reluctantly away from all this riparian splendour and made my way back to the van, past the lovely gardens below the Petty Sessions building with the old Federal Hotel now gleaming in the direct sunlight.
What a perfect way this had been to end our brief stay in Franklin.....a 'post card' morning on the river. And, as I mentioned earlier, by now we had learnt that days like this in Tassie were to be seized with both hands.
But now it was time to fire up the Cruiser and make our way further south, to the little town of Southport where we were to begin our Tasmanian 'caravan pub crawl' with an overnight stay behind the most southerly hotel in Australia.
No comments:
Post a Comment