The Australian Boat Festival will run from Friday 6^th to Monday 9^th February centred around Hobart’s city waterfront and the Derwent River.

Every two years we remember that the first indigenous inhabitants made wooden canoes and the first European settlers arrived here in tall sailing ships constructed from wood, and we look at our historical (this time 20 of the boats will be over a century old) and current wooden boats. Around 550 vessels will be part of this Festival in 2015.

Apparently this has now become the southern hemisphere’s largest wooden boat festival.  These days in southern Tasmania we have a new history of a boat building industry that produces custom made craft, and restoration of older boats.

The spectacular Parade of Sails starts the program on Friday at 1pm and so I, like many others, will gather somewhere along the Derwent River to witness the event.

The program is detailed and complex; you can read more and view fabulous photographs taken at previous events at http://www.australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au.

Involved in the last Wooden Boat Festival was a replica of an ancient Viking ship.  I wait with interest to see what surprises will turn up this weekend.