DEVONPORT

1/ Devonport is the home port of the Spirit of Tasmania, which is the main ferry between Tasmania and Australia. You will usually see one or two ships moored here.

2/ Steward Street leads east from Formby Road. Here you can see some good examples of Art Deco, like the building on the right.

3/ I found that the wheat silos and the railway made an interesting industrial composition.

4/ The towering wheat silos on Formby Road made for great geometric subjects.

5/ This interesting heritage bank building marks the start of the Devonport Mall.

6/ Devonport has a large modern cinema complex. This is the view from Formby Road, which runs parallel to the Mersey River.

7/ The shops in Rooke Street are well decorated. This street leads straight into the Mall

8/ In the centre of the CBD is the Devonport Mall. The best shops are located in the area close to it.

9/ The Alexander Hotel is one of the old hotels of Devonport. Note that the extension to the right is in a different more modern style.

10/ Just beyond the Devonport CBD the city becomes quite hilly. These old houses have a good view down to the Mersey River.

11/ The Mersey River is a beautiful river. The strange, white bridge to the left of the ship is used to load cars onto the Spirit of Tasmania ferry. On the west bank of the Mersey is a path way used by walkers, riders and skaters.

12/ This small white lighthouse on the Mersey marks the start of the River Park. Beyond on the horizon is the Bass Strait sea.

13/ The Mersey River can give you some interesting industrial scenes like this one.

14/ This view down the Mersey River shows the main icons of Devonport. On the left is the Spirit of Tasmania, in the centre stand the silos and on the right horizon are the walls of Mount Roland.

15/ This strange object is a ship marker to give ships the correct angle on which to enter the Mersey.

16/ Walking north on the River Park you will come to the Maritime Museum, where you can learn all about the maritime history of Tasmania.

17/ Joseph Lyons was the Prime Minister of Australia around 1930. His wife Enid also played a major role in the social life of Australia, at this time. You can visit his house in the south of Devonport.

18/ The War Memorial is in the northern section of the River Park.

19/ Adjacent to River Park are a number of grand, old Victorian mansions. This one was being renovated and should look really stunning in the near future.

20/ This is another grand old mansion. These mansions have a great view down the Mersey River and out across the Bass Strait sea.

21/ There were also many quaint old cottages like this one.

22/ The Bluff Lighthouse is a very striking landmark. The red stripes help ships to judge their distance from far out at sea.

23/ At the point is the Posidon Statue of the ancient Greek sea god. From the lookout you have great views of the Mersey and the nearby coast.

24/ This close up shows that the Posidon Statue is well crafted in the ancient style of sculpture.

25/ This is looking east down Bluff Beach, Devonport. The Posidon monument is at the end of this Beach. On the far horizon of the coast is the Narawntapu National Park.

26/ As you approach Devonport from the west on the A1 Bass Highway, you are greeted with this stunning view of Mount Roland that just pops up over the hill. You know then that you are in Devonport.

 

1/ The Don Railway is a voluntary rail society that operates a number of old trains. It is located on the south west edge of Devonport. It has a number of rail vehicles, which train enthusiasts will find very interesting. You enter the trains through this stylishly refurbished station. For me it was really like going back in time to when I was young. This red train was taking the tour that day.

2/ You can visit the control tower, which was adjacent to the Devonport Station.

3/ Inside the control tower were the rail shifting and signal gears. As a train enthusiast I found this very interesting to see, as this was off limits when I was a child.

4/ Our train was a rail bus, which was a design of the early 1950s

5/ The cabin was restored to the style of the 1950s. Again, it was really like going back in time.

6/ Adjacent to the station was the workshop, where you could see how the trains were repaired as in the Olden Days.

7/ This locomotive was being repaired that day.

8/ Tasmanian Railways used a number of very small locomotives like this one, which reminded me a lot of the character "Thomas".

9/ This restored diesel of the 1950s was the first of its type used in Tasmania.

10/ These cars date back to the 1870s and the very beginning of railways in Tasmania.

11/ These 6-8-4-4 locomotives date from the early 20th Century. They reminded me of Thomas' big brothers in the TV series.

12/ The tour used part of the old line that goes south from Devonport. There are plans to extend the service all the way to Burnie.

 

1/ The Arboretum at Eugenana is a large nature reserve containing 3500 plants from around the world. It includes every tree mentioned in the Bible. There is also a walk in a remnant of the original, local forest.

2/ The reserve at Eugenana is marked by a series of trails that take you to the different types of vegetation found in the different continents.

3/ The Eugenana Reserve includes a number of shelters and tables.

4/ This shows an exotic variety of plants and trees around the pond.

5/ The Eugenana Reserve is home to dozens of native hens, whom you will see running around in all directions. They are prolific in this part of Eugenana.

6/ This is a grove of the extremely rare and ancient Wollemia Pines. This tree was thought to be extinct, until 1984, when it was rediscovered in the Blue Mountains of NSW. It is being dispersed to new locations, like Eugenana to ensure its survival. The Wollemia is 150 million years old.

7/ This trail leads to a walk in the remnant of the local forest of Eugenana that you can see in the distance. The Wollemia Pine grove is in the centre between the trees.

8/ The Eugenana Reserve is home to a number of impressive old trees.

9/ The Arboretum has many moods. These next photos were taken in late autumn on a cold day. They show the richness of the colors that we see in autumn in Tasmania. I stop trying to count the number of greens that I could see in this image.

10/ Here the orange and yellow foliage really contrasts with the greens of the background.

11/ The yellow and orange foliage adds to the depth of the cold landscape.

12/ This image shows the richness of the colors of the foliage in autumn.

13/ Here the different plants show the richness and variety of the shapes and colors of nature.

 

1/ Forth is a hamlet in northern central Tasmania south of Devonport. This is the lovely "All Saints Anglican Church" at Forth. It is built in an old European style.

2/ This is the Bridge Hotel at Forth. It was built in the early 20th Century. A ghost is alleged to occasionally appear in the large, top left window.

3/ This 19th Century house has now been converted into a shop and painted purple.

4/ This is another old house and shop combination. The clouds gave the buildings of Forth a timeless appearance that day.

5/ This view looks pass old buildings towards the other hill to the south of Forth.

6/ This view looks towards the high hill to the north of Forth.

7/ This is a timeless view of the Forth River taken from the Forth Bridge.

8/ Just across the Forth River is a lovely, large park. The Forth River is to the right.

9/ As you can see from the rich brown, soil color in this photo, the land around Forth is very fertile, agricultural land.

10/ This is a view of Forth taken from Braddons lookout. Forth is the town on the left of the photo.

11/ This is a view looking west from Braddons lookout towards the settlement of Turners Beach. You can see the large, fertile fields that make up the Forth River Valley.

 

1/ Port Sorell is a beach holiday suburb east of Devonport. It has two beautiful beaches namely Hawley Beach and Frees Beach. This photo shows Hawley Beach at low tide. Across the water is the Narawntapu National Park.

2/ A scree field separates Hawley Beach from Frees Beach. On the distant horizon is the peak of Archer's Knob in the Narawntapu National Park.

3/ This photo shows mud flats on the Rubicon River at high tide. On the horizon is Narawntapu National Park.

4/ The tidal movement on the Rubicon River is so great that it turns the mouth into a mud flat.

5/ This photo shows boats beached on the Rubicon River at high tide.

6/ This photo shows the Rubicon River at high tide from the pier at Squeaking Point.

7/ This is the view from the pier near the caravan park at Squeaking Point. It looks out onto the wide mouth of the Rubicon River.

8/ This is the Squeaking Point Pier at high tide. Notice the enormous difference in the water level.

9/ This is the same view of the Rubicon River shown in Photo number 6. Again notice the tidal difference.

10/ This a view of the pebble beach at Squeaking Point.