I will be touring around Tasmania for a couple of weeks in Jan 2010, and was wondering if fellow permies could recommend some permaculture places to visit?
Re: Visiting Tasmania- where to go? ...consider looking around the West Coast areas of Zeehan, Queenstown, Waratah areas... i've wanted to look around there for a couple of years (but its too far from facilities for a disabled child).
Re: Visiting Tasmania- where to go? 1) Pete's Patch (now Tino's) from Gardening Australia, at the Royal Botanical Gardens. 2) Any old-growth forested area - the difference between that and regrowth is shocking.
Re: Visiting Tasmania- where to go? The botanical gardens is a mini mecca and the colonial construction of micro climates while rediculously energy intensive are quite clever - i also like the conservatorium in Launceston city park - it's usually full of exotic stuff but it's over 100 years old and something similar could be used to grow anything in Tas - we are going to build a laserlite shed, half deck and entertainment and half garden. If you want to know what not to do then drive to Queenstown - it's like a moonscape, they burnt everything to run the mine - you can see the re-growth around the town for miles, it's scary to think it all looked like the town for 10kms+ in any direction. If the weather is good go to Macquarie heads in Strahaun and walk along the river mouth - not because it has any significance, it's just beautiful. Have a great time - and remember to say Lonseston not lawnseston
Re: Visiting Tasmania- where to go? One of the reasons i'd consider buying a home around Queenstown is for that very reason... a blank canvas to build on.
precisely... the only part of Queenstown that is bare is the Gormanston Hill through to Linda, due to the poor waste disposal methods and copper sulphate gases from My Lyell many years ago. The hills are now regenerating, despite the poor soil quality around the mine. The Queen River, which runs through Queenstown, used to be fluorescent orange, but now has become much cleaner thanks to the implementation of improved mining methods. You can see trees growing through banks of old silt and and ore from the mine along the river, literally bursting though the layers of dumped waste.. after being a resident of Queenstown for 10 or so years it is quite amazing to see the landscape come back... On the other hand, the south of Queenstown is literally gorgeous dense rainforest with many Tasmanian-native species over 400 years old... its disappointing to hear that people would overlook Queenstown simply because of the landscape, there is quite an intriguing story behind the erosion, and the town itself has around 120 years of mining heritage... there are numerous opportunities for permaculture there, there is an extensive network of transport... it rains about 60-70 per cent of the year on the West Coast so water is absolutely no issue.. property is cheap as chips and if you buy outside of the towns you would find that land is aplenty..