Another Glorious Morning

I have been worried that you might think that just because the photos of sunrises and sunsets have stopped appearing, that perhaps we've stopped having anything worthy of exposing pixels to light. Au contraire!

For a few minutes the wind died down and the cloudy sky made a very dramatic image in the river.

What!? Another Sunrise?

These morning just keep coming. Don't worry, they stop because we are leaving this place along the river to head inland. But don't worry we'll be back to Tasmania in December.

The Wooden Boat Center of Tasmania

There is a fascinating place in Franklin, just of the road from us on the Huon river. The Wooden Boat Center of Tasmania offers a place to learn about wooden boat building by taking a tour as I did, or by enrolling in a course and building your own.

The boat above, made from huon pine, king billy pine and celery top pine (all of which are conifers, none of which are actual pines) is a thing of beauty. As you can see it is riveted together so that once the wood is wet and swells a bit, it'll be watertight.

Jackson Point Cemetery

After several tries, we finally found what the roadsign called a "Historic Catholic Cemetery". It was indeed just where it was indicated (100m from the highway), it was just hidden over a hill, behind a stand of trees, on a side road. I had to look on Google Maps to find it.

But here it is, on a hill overlooking the Huon River. If you are going to spend eternity in the ground, this seems like the place to be.

Forest along the Huon River

The Huon River rises in the mountains west and somewhat south of where we are staying. It then flows east and north until it reaches Huonville where it quickly turns south and broadens considerably to become the river you've been seeing on this blog. But, upstream a ways, only about 50 km from its beginnings it flows through a thickly forested area where the Tahune Air Walk is located. We'll visit the Air Walk in more detail tomorrow. Today, we'll explore the forest from ground level first.

There is a bridge across the swiftly flowing river here. The piers that support the bridge create turbulence in the water. This is what you see above. Notice how dark the water is, like strong tea. It is colored from washing all the tannin out of the soil in these mountains.

Sunrise Over the Huon River

No surprise...there was another delightful sunrise here. The clearing of the fog as the sun peeks through the clouds on the horizon, conspire to create a window on the sunrise that is reflected almost perfectly in the river.

I just don't get tired of this. I hope you don't either.

A Foggy Morning

Another of the many foggy mornings on the Huon River. As the sun began to burn away the river mist, I got a couple quick shots.

Petcheys Bay

We took a drive around to the other side of the river on a pretty day. As you can see from the image above, a pretty day is just partly cloudy, not actually clear. Nevertheless, it makes for nice photos when the wind is still and the river is reflective.

I Can't Stop Taking This Picture...

Clearly, if I just sat in the backyard and watched the sun come up and go down, I'd be a happy photographer for a very long time. This is just the best time of year to be in Tasmania for sunrise/set images.

Sunset in the Rain

Clearly, I have discovered a replacement for photographing cemeteries: photographing the light on on the Huon River at dawn and dusk. I am simply amazed by the sights from the rear window of our current residence. I just had to share a few more with you.

The Morning After

The calm river persisted overnight and we had a glorious sunrise to greet us. I thought you'd appreciate a couple more photos of a perfect reflection of the sky.

The Huon River at Sunset

At the end of a beautiful day (not warm, just sunny), we had another wind free afternoon resulting in a mirror-like river surface. This, of course, is the perfect opportunity for some photos.

Finally Some Sunshine

Just so you know that it is not all gloom and rain here, we did have a day with a full spectrum of weather options. We awoke to a partly cloudy, foggy morning on the river.

The Evening Mirror

When the wind dies down and the sun begins to set on sky filled with broken clouds, the river turns to a sheet of glass and the sky to an impressionist painting.

Fog on the River

The clearing of the morning fog from the Huon River is often quite beautiful. On this particular morning, there were some soft scenes to enjoy.

Morning has Broken

Our first morning in Port Huon brought a glorious morning filled with light, scattered clouds, and rainbows. I went with our host Rob to the marina to pick up his boat after repairs. It is not often you see a double rainbow.