BusTed in Taroona the Shot Tower

Hi Everybody,

Well we left Bruny Island and headed North along the East Coast.

Our first port of call was this cool looking place at Taroona.

It's a Shot Tower (I had no idea what that was exactly) until Ellen told me.

For those of you, who like me were clueless, here goes a brief explanation.

It's a place where they make led shots...for rifles and guns.

They make led bars from arsenic, antimony and lead, in different proportions for different things. Then they carry the bars up to the top of the tower and winch up firewood. At the top, they  remelt it in a big pot. It is then pored slowly through a strainer, the drips solidify into round balls as they fall and land in water at the bottom of the tower. The then cooled led balls are removed from the water, taadaa, shots are now made.

The men had to carry all the led ingots to the top of the tower slung over their shoulders.

Its a bloody long way up....and down.

Once we reached the top....it was scary.

The tower tapered in and the steps slanted. At the top we were 48m or (157ft  6 in) above the ground...

However, the views were really good.

But scary looking down.

We counted the steps on the way back down 323 in total. 

Guess we reached our exercise quota for that day.

This is the house Joseph Moir built as well, back in 1870, lovely. He practiced on his home to make the circular shape before starting on the tower.  It is the TALLEST Shot Tower in the Southern Hemisphere. 

Glad to be back down.

till next time

Ellen and Michelle

xxxx