Goth in Paradise - 5

WEEK FIVE AT TARRALEAH

Last week's painting workshop went very well, despite fewer enrolments than we'd hoped. Perhaps the drawing weekend at the beginning of March will attract a few more people. I've packed up and moved back to Hobart, but a selection of paintings remains at Tarraleah for your enjoyment, should you be passing that way.

I liked it so much that I stayed on at Tarraleah for an extra week. And it was well worth while – once more I managed to get into places that are usually not open to the public. And I took lots of photographs.

So – a word of warning: if you're bored with power stations, stop reading now.

This is the foyer of the Tarraleah Power Station. The whole building, including fittings and turbines, is heritage listed.

Two views of the control room. These days the station is monitored from Hobart and this impressive array of dials is no longer used. They have been replaced by the computer in the foreground of the bottom photo, but will remain here as part of the building's history.  

 The windows on the left look out onto the turbine hall (see below)

At present the Hydro is undertaking a major overhaul of its facilities; this is what it looks like when they remove the water intakes from a turbine. The white panels top right are sound-proofing as the old Pelton wheel turbines are not insulated and it can get very noisy when they are all running.

From the floor of the turbine hall; another view of the turbine currently having an overhaul.

Notice the art deco light fittings. The control room is on the upper level, right.

The inside of a generator – how you like them brushes?

The Pelton wheel itself. Good ol' Wikipedia will tell you how it works: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelton_wheel 

Once it's gone through the turbines the water is released back into the Nive River. Several power stations later it ends up in your cup of tea. Assuming you live in Hobart.

TUNGATINAH

Tungatinah, just across the road and on the opposite side of the river, was built in the 1950s and uses the more sophisticated vertical shaft Francis turbines. Again, refer to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_turbine

This is what they look like:

They extend down three floors to the basement, so all you really see here is the pilot exciter. What well-known sci-fi characters do they remind you of?

The turbine in the foreground is a more modern version than the other four. And if you can only see three, that's because the furthermost one is undergoing maintenance. Here it is:

As you see, the windings are set on a vertical shaft.

 These are the penstocks feeding Tungatinah.

 This is where the water comes down from the highland lakes, via Tungatinah Lagoon.

The building houses the main valve at the top of the penstocks; the roof is removed and the crane used to lift the valve out for maintenance. This is all heritage listed, too.

View across Nive Gorge to Tarraleah from the top of the Tungatinah penstocks.

 A DIFFERENT  POWER

I stopped at St John the Baptist Anglican Church in Ouse on the way home; here are some of the pictures.