Veronika Wild

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 ...

A small flotilla of boats at Franklin's wharf. Do they dream of the days when sail was king?   I was intrigued by Franklin (Population around 400) which lies in the Huon Valley some 45 kilometres south of Hobart. Amid the straggle of charming cottages along the main road are some very substantial buildings such as the Palais Theatre, its pub and the bank, which attest to former glory, when so few other villages of its size boasted such amenities.  Franklin seems favoured by both geography and history, or at least it was at the beginning. In the first instance, it lies on the wide Huon River, inside the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, making it a safe harbour for early explorers, starting with Bruni D'Entrecasteaux in 1792. Later it became an important port for the export of timber and produce and especially apples, which despite initial misgivings about the quality of its soils, it produced in abundance. Historically speaking, unlike other towns such as Dover or Cygnet, ...