Veronika Wild

  It’s winter. The weather has not been kind these last few weeks, so during occasional breaks in the weather, I’ve been progressively exploring the New Town Rivulet.   Officially this walk isn't very long – only about 6-7 Kilometres in all, but that doesn’t include backtracks, detours or false starts. As well as traversing very different landscapes, it also provides fascinating glimpses into the evolution of Greater Hobart.   The New Town Rivulet begins somewhere on the bushy slopes of Mt. Wellington and after   joining up with other soaks to make a not insubstantial waterfall , it tumbles down the mountain, passing through farmland, through older suburbs such as Lenah Valley and New Town and then empties into the Derwent.  Though I’d walked to the waterfall a couple of times the lower section was a bit of a mystery, so starting at the mouth I began walking uphill. The Rivulet marks the boundary between the City of Hobart and the City of Glenorch...

Happy Wassailers led by Morris Dancers on their way to the apple orchard On a more light -hearted note, I spent last Saturday at the Willie Smith Apple Festival in the Huon Valley.   The Huon certainly needs it after the devastating fires of the summer, which left many businesses still struggling and trying to recover. This was definitely a case of fighting fire with fire. Meet James, the first of several Green Men I was to encounter Mists rise wraith -like from the mountains while Morris Dancers defy the retreating rain I didn’t hold out much hope at first. Despite the snow on the mountain, we’d had positively biblical rain all morning and when I arrived at the sports ground where the festival was being held, cars were being turned away because unless you had four wheel drive it was too muddy to drive in. The idea was to park in Huonville and take advantage of the free shuttle buses that were being run from there. However,   thinking I would be ...