This blog would qualify as neglected itself for the past week as I’ve been busy with the doll blog but I don’t think a photo of blank screen would be very interesting do you?
Lady Jane used to do cruises on the Derwent from Hobart but was abandoned by the previous owner a few years ago. For a time she was berthed on the Huon at Port Huon and later near Huonville where I took these photos. The last I heard she was over the other side of the river at Cygnet being worked on. One day I hope I’ll be able to get over there to see if she is still there.
We saw quite a few of these small vessels in the Straits of Malacca
I’ve been busy with doll posts today so here is a picture taken on holidays. We saw so much shipping in the Straits of Malacca but these small boats were some of the most interesting . I don’t know if they are actually for fishing but they would certainly be too small for anything more than local freight.
While I was out walking the dogs I noticed the boat in a yard on the way to the lake. The land is used by the local school for gardening and stuff. The kids have a green house and garden beds. The boat was at the back of a big shed on a trailor. I’d never noticed it before but I think it’s fairly old. It’s wooden and painted a nice blue colour.
I really love boats and ships especially cruise liners. Here are a few of my photos of them. They are taken in Hobart, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and New Zealand. Explorer of the Seas will always remain close to my heart because of our wonderful holiday in 2016 so she has the proud honour of being my featured photo for this post.
How could I resist this challenge when ships and boats are some of my favourite photography subjects. Here are some I took on the Hobart Waterfront and at Franklin on the Huon River.
Antarctic vessel Aurora Australis berthed in Hobart, TasmaniaPrincess Cruises Dawn Princess in Hobart 2016Dooen – Hobart 2014Durham – On the Huon River at Franklin July 2014Emmalisa, , Hobart waterfront 2015Messing about in boats – Franklin, Tasmania
Recently the Australian Wooden Boat Festival was held in Hobart and after a week or two of cool, wet weather Mother Nature turned up the heat. The temperature was in the mid to high twenties (Celsius) and the sun shone down on all the activity on the waterfront. I was in Hobart for a short time on the Friday, which was the first day, and again on the Saturday and there were large crowds everywhere. Lots of tourists including, on Saturday, the passengers from the “Diamond Princess” which was berthed at Macquarie Wharf right in the middle of the action.
Diamond Princess in Hobart
The Wooden Boat Festival is held every two years and runs for four days, Friday to Monday. The Monday is also Regatta Day in Hobart and a Public Holiday in southern Tasmania. To learn more about the festival click here.
On Friday the event of the day was the Parade of Sail. I was in the city and met with my friends Allyson and Matt. After a quick lunch we headed down to the waterfront to see it. I had left my camera at home but Allyson had hers and Matt had an iPhone so they have kindly agreed to let me use a couple of their photos.
Parade of Sail – Photo by Matt Clark.Parade of Sail. Photo by Allyson Clark
The Boats:
Here are just a few of the ships and boats that were at the festival. There were wooden boats of all shapes and sizes both old and not so old. There were tall ships and yachts, cruisers and steam boats, rowing dinghy’s and even model boats.
Enterprize Replica
Enterprize, pictured above is a replica of the schooner sailed by John Pascoe Fawkner from Van Dieman’s Land (Tasmania) to Port Phillip Bay with passengers who settled on the site of today’s city of Melbourne. Here is a link to the Enterprize website
Windeward Bound, Hobart. Photo by Allyson Clark
Windeward Bound is a replica tall ship built of recycled timbers and launched in 1996. It is operated by the Windeward Bound Trust as a sail training vessel. You can read the very interesting story of her construction on the Windeward Bound website.
Steam Yacht Preana
The steam yacht Preana was built in 1896 and is owned by the Preana Trust. She started her life in rather grand style as the motor yacht of a wealthy businessman before later falling on harder times and serving as a fishing boat. Her lowest point came in 1992 when she sank at her mooring in Prince of Wales Bay. The Preana Trust was formed to restore her with volunteer labour and she now pays her way with charter work and day sailings at events like the Australian Wooden Boat Festival.
The J-Lee-M was built in 1953 and was used to carry passengers on the Gordon River between 1954 – 1985. It is owned by Alan James Morrison and named for his grandparents Jim & Lee Morrison.
The wooden dinghy in the picture below was actually a photo I took at the 2011 festival but is a good example of what was on display this year as well.
The Activities:
All around the waterfront there were various activities going on. There were displays of old machinery, there were shipwrights demonstrating their craft, there was a display about commercial and recreational fishing. Parliament Square Lawns were given over to children’s activities. They had a boat building stand, games and entertainment.
The Living Boat Trust and Wooden Boat School both based in Franklin had information booths and of course there were lots of retail outlets. Picnic tables had been set up along the waterfront but on Saturday when I visited with my sister we both decided that it was too hot in the sun for us to eat lunch there, on our previous visit to see the Sydney Hobart race yachts and the Taste of Tasmania it had been so wet that we couldn’t find anywhere dry to sit. Well, that’s Tasmania in summer for you :).
We were both happy to see that “The Gallopers” carousel was there and we treated ourselves to a ride on it. We often ride carousels when we see them but usually we are the only adults riding without children. Not this time, there were lots of adults all having a ball riding.
Riding “The Gallopers”
We were also lucky enough to see a display by The Roulettes, the RAAF aerobatics team. We used to see them every year when we lived in Adelaide either at the Air Show if we went or at the Formula 1 Grand Prix when it was still held in Adelaide. It had been a long time since we’d seen them though and as it was such a bright clear day they were able to do the full routine and it was fantastic but much scarier to watch than I remembered. The pilots made several passes over the Diamond Princess swooping and diving and looking very much in danger of flying right into her.
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