Hi All,
Rather a quiet day today. Thinking Ann was in a kayak fishing I set about some tidying up only to be startled by her emergence from her bedroom. "That was 5.30 pm not am" she said, I can be forgiven for getting this wrong 1) it is daylight well before 5.30am, 2) Ann is up and out swimming most days at 6.00am 3) Other people are seen kayaking on the bay at this time....
We were soon joined by Lizzie and Lee in the clean up effort and by 10.00 all was done. We headed to Hobart for a day off with a vague plan to visit Alan at Cygnet also. That wasn't to happen as the lure of the shops overwhelmed us. The main purchase was oils and other potions for the car service next week. Apparently the 180,000km service is a big one and will take some 3 hours. Simon calculated we have travelled 38,000kms since we left Adelaide last July.
An earlier night for Simon hence my blog efforts once again. We will leave for the markets at 6.00am to do our best albeit with a knowledge deficit about cheese.
Cheers
Susan
Day 336 Woodbridge Thursday 29th December 2011
Hi Folks,
Today was spent preparing for the evenings party.
Susan says,
Well I would have won the bet as I tumbled out of "the cabin" I saw Ann had been pottering about placing collars on trees attacked overnight by rabbits and sprinklers were twirling about in several locations. There are no water restrictions here and there are 4 massive rainwater tanks and as it rains most days I guess using sprinklers is quite acceptable, although it is an unaccustomed sight for Adeladians.
After some general preparations I was dispatched to buy 15 bags of ice the nearest location Kettering, 8 kms down the road, the woman at the servo did comment on the volume. Whilst there I ventured into the little handmade choclatarie run by Giovanni (known as John) who was a maths/science teacher until he perfected a recipe for making nougat which brought him some international recognition. It was my intention to buy one little chocolate treat, but I was greeted with a sampler so I purchased some nougat for Simon and had a lemon choccy treat to savour on the return drive. One of the reasons for the trip was to ask Giovanni if he would sign my Providore book, which he will oblige on Saturday. Apparently the book is as rare as hens teeth and I was lucky to get the copy at the Margate shop, even more fortunate it was 1/4 of the new price.
Returning "home" we finalised preparations for the party I made some several hundred papadams for the curry themed menu. I also made my signature Asian noodle salad which must have been ok as I didn't get to have any myself.
The party was in full swing by 7pm, I reckon there was more than the 60 people expected, children were kept busy playing cricket and badmington, while the adults chatted, laughed ate and drank. Such a nice bunch of friendly people.
Simon says,
The day started with a chuckle when i found a pack of Lap Huong (sic) cured sausages made by a chinese named company with appropriate amounts of chinese characters on the wrapping. The laugh was that these were made in Australia! Given the Chinese food standards this is probably a good thing.
I doodled around the periphery fiddling with solar lights and trimming grass in visually accessible areas. In fact it was a pretty easy day for me. I took some time to complete some repairs on the electrics in the rear storage area in the pajero.
On to the party which Susan has described above. I was quite surprised everyone had left by 1030. I guess some people are working today and many had children so we had some time to clean up. There were many bottles of wine with half a glass in them from which i sampled. We were back in the cabin before midnight. I spent some time watching music videos on Youtube and was consequently to bed at 2. With the rising acid from over eating, the combination of beer and wine and the late night tomorrow might be a bit of a struggle!
Today was spent preparing for the evenings party.
Susan says,
Well I would have won the bet as I tumbled out of "the cabin" I saw Ann had been pottering about placing collars on trees attacked overnight by rabbits and sprinklers were twirling about in several locations. There are no water restrictions here and there are 4 massive rainwater tanks and as it rains most days I guess using sprinklers is quite acceptable, although it is an unaccustomed sight for Adeladians.
After some general preparations I was dispatched to buy 15 bags of ice the nearest location Kettering, 8 kms down the road, the woman at the servo did comment on the volume. Whilst there I ventured into the little handmade choclatarie run by Giovanni (known as John) who was a maths/science teacher until he perfected a recipe for making nougat which brought him some international recognition. It was my intention to buy one little chocolate treat, but I was greeted with a sampler so I purchased some nougat for Simon and had a lemon choccy treat to savour on the return drive. One of the reasons for the trip was to ask Giovanni if he would sign my Providore book, which he will oblige on Saturday. Apparently the book is as rare as hens teeth and I was lucky to get the copy at the Margate shop, even more fortunate it was 1/4 of the new price.
Returning "home" we finalised preparations for the party I made some several hundred papadams for the curry themed menu. I also made my signature Asian noodle salad which must have been ok as I didn't get to have any myself.
The party was in full swing by 7pm, I reckon there was more than the 60 people expected, children were kept busy playing cricket and badmington, while the adults chatted, laughed ate and drank. Such a nice bunch of friendly people.
Simon says,
The day started with a chuckle when i found a pack of Lap Huong (sic) cured sausages made by a chinese named company with appropriate amounts of chinese characters on the wrapping. The laugh was that these were made in Australia! Given the Chinese food standards this is probably a good thing.
I doodled around the periphery fiddling with solar lights and trimming grass in visually accessible areas. In fact it was a pretty easy day for me. I took some time to complete some repairs on the electrics in the rear storage area in the pajero.
On to the party which Susan has described above. I was quite surprised everyone had left by 1030. I guess some people are working today and many had children so we had some time to clean up. There were many bottles of wine with half a glass in them from which i sampled. We were back in the cabin before midnight. I spent some time watching music videos on Youtube and was consequently to bed at 2. With the rising acid from over eating, the combination of beer and wine and the late night tomorrow might be a bit of a struggle!
Day 335 Woodbridge Wednesday 28th December 2011
Hi All,
Today was full steam ahead finalising preparations for the big party tomorrow evening. Ann "supplies the venue and the guests supply the menu" in actual fact Ann also provides food, drink, crockery, cutlery, etc, etc. This is an annual farewell to the old year albeit a few days early for her friends and neighbours in Woodbridge. I think the count is somewhere approaching 60!
Ann went to "town" (Hobart) to finalise food purchases, while we toiled in the garden, finishing off a two tiered soil moving operation. This involved moving clay from holes in the mound to the creek and the more friable soil (from an over wide bed) into the holes. Now, I have been known to play musical plants but never musical dirt.... guess that is the beauty of gardens anything can be useful in he right spot even clay! Eventually some shrubs will be planted onto the mound.
I also planted some jasmine to sunken pots in the southern deck, did a bit of house cleaning. Later when I sat down to shell peas and beans with a glass of chilled white wine, Simon headed out to do a spot of fishing. After reading last nights blog if he doesn't use those rods a bit more often, they might find their way into the rationalisation pile, seeing as we are apparently reassessing our travel set up!
Ohh he didn't catch anything, but he did dig an oyster off a rock and pronounced it quite tasty, apparently there are mussels nearby and he has suggested he make chowder in the near future yum!
Ann reckons she is going to sleep in late tomorrow, we should have laid a bet, we dont think she will make 8am let alone 10am.
Night all
Susan
Ignore the narrator. You can't see the yachts from here!
Today was full steam ahead finalising preparations for the big party tomorrow evening. Ann "supplies the venue and the guests supply the menu" in actual fact Ann also provides food, drink, crockery, cutlery, etc, etc. This is an annual farewell to the old year albeit a few days early for her friends and neighbours in Woodbridge. I think the count is somewhere approaching 60!
Ann went to "town" (Hobart) to finalise food purchases, while we toiled in the garden, finishing off a two tiered soil moving operation. This involved moving clay from holes in the mound to the creek and the more friable soil (from an over wide bed) into the holes. Now, I have been known to play musical plants but never musical dirt.... guess that is the beauty of gardens anything can be useful in he right spot even clay! Eventually some shrubs will be planted onto the mound.
I also planted some jasmine to sunken pots in the southern deck, did a bit of house cleaning. Later when I sat down to shell peas and beans with a glass of chilled white wine, Simon headed out to do a spot of fishing. After reading last nights blog if he doesn't use those rods a bit more often, they might find their way into the rationalisation pile, seeing as we are apparently reassessing our travel set up!
Ohh he didn't catch anything, but he did dig an oyster off a rock and pronounced it quite tasty, apparently there are mussels nearby and he has suggested he make chowder in the near future yum!
Ann reckons she is going to sleep in late tomorrow, we should have laid a bet, we dont think she will make 8am let alone 10am.
Night all
Susan
Ignore the narrator. You can't see the yachts from here!
Day 334 Woodbridge Tuesday 27th December 2011
Sea Eagle - male i think.
Hi Folks,
Some varied tasks today ranging from BBQ cleaning, fire lighting, digging planter holes, washing windows, polishing silver, washing bowls and glasses, stuffing pillows and decobwebbing to name most of them. The big job of the day was taking the rubbish to the dump at Margate. Susan loaded it in the trailer and I drove. There is no rubbish collection here so you have to collect and take all your own rubbish and recyclables to the dump. The recyclables are free and the rubbish is $20 a tonne with a minimum fee of $7.
The male sea eagle was in the tree today. I managed to get closer than last time to take a picture by using the car. However the rumble of the diesel scared him off when i accelerated out onto the main road to take a close up.
That's about all the news that is news. The internet was running like a dog most of the day until about 10pm. I put this down to all the tourists over here using wireless broadband. Bloody tourists! I made a small modification to our configuration so that the network aerial can now be mounted outside on the roof rack and swiveled to improve our wireless capability. It has done that but because the broadband network was running so erratically it masked the improvement and made me grumpy.
I see on the late news the Sydney Hobart fleet is facing light winds as they enter Bass Strait.I think we will be able to see the boats as they sail up the Derwent. Mind you they will be in the far distance.
We were having some discussion about curtailing the detail in the blog while we are "working" since it is getting quite boring. Although i have a feeling that once I start missing days this will grow into weeks. Something for further thought.
I have also been having some thoughts about how we can travel far lighter and more efficiently. We have too much redundancy, too many options. I.e. a swag and the camper trailer allthe way down to 5 bottles of sunblock. We need to be far more ruthless in our packing not that we can do much about it until we return to the main land.
Susan has been suffering a fair bit with her arthritis so i have persuaded her to go back onto her fish oil and glucosamine tablets. Hopefully this will help a bit else we will have to return to the tropics as it was markedly better in the warmer climes.
Anyway that's the news for now.
Night folks
Cheers Simon
Day 333 Woodbridge Monday 26th December 2011
Hi Folks,
One of your average days today. I awoke to a lovely sunny morning at 745 which was later than intended. After we computered and breakfasted and coffeed we set about our anointed tasks. The overview being we need to prepare for the party on the 29th. I had variously toyed with going fishing early this morning or having a whizz to the boxing day sales to spend money i don't have on things i don't need to fill non existent space in the trailer.
I was dispatched to the mound out of the back of the house. This is constructed exclusively of the heaviest stickiest clay which was presumably excavated to provide flat spot for the buildings. i used the new supermower to knock down the grass and set about digging out some already precut planting squares to greater depth and refilling them with soil from another part of the garden. This produced the days excitement. After taking the first load down the hill in the barrow and puffing my way back up with the empty barrow i decided to use the ride on mower and its trailer.
I should add that during the course of the morning i had hauled out my solar panel to do some battery charging. this of course caused black clouds to form and rain to tumble from the sky. I was proceeding down the gravel driveway applying the reverse thrust to brake the assembly when the trailer decided to try and pass the mower. it started pushing the mower side ways and a jackknife looked imminent. Fortunately luck was with me and everything came to a stop still the right way up. I proceeded the rest of the way at snails pace. After that the wet grass was an anticlimax although there was a bit more slipping and sliding. After returning to the top of the hill i reverted back to the barrow. Much less potential for disaster apart from having a heart attack pushing it up the hill of course. After dodging the rain and a few diversions i still have 12 of the 17 planting locations to dig out and refill.
Susan in the meantime was dealing with cleaning, windows and screens and the fireplace. She cleaned and struggled to assemble the worm farm, cleaned silver, went to a property at Flowerpot to help Ann pick black currants and cooked tea. In her words a myriad of small jobs nine of which will change the world!
Maybe tomorrow we will change the world.
Night folks
Cheers Simon
One of your average days today. I awoke to a lovely sunny morning at 745 which was later than intended. After we computered and breakfasted and coffeed we set about our anointed tasks. The overview being we need to prepare for the party on the 29th. I had variously toyed with going fishing early this morning or having a whizz to the boxing day sales to spend money i don't have on things i don't need to fill non existent space in the trailer.
I was dispatched to the mound out of the back of the house. This is constructed exclusively of the heaviest stickiest clay which was presumably excavated to provide flat spot for the buildings. i used the new supermower to knock down the grass and set about digging out some already precut planting squares to greater depth and refilling them with soil from another part of the garden. This produced the days excitement. After taking the first load down the hill in the barrow and puffing my way back up with the empty barrow i decided to use the ride on mower and its trailer.
I should add that during the course of the morning i had hauled out my solar panel to do some battery charging. this of course caused black clouds to form and rain to tumble from the sky. I was proceeding down the gravel driveway applying the reverse thrust to brake the assembly when the trailer decided to try and pass the mower. it started pushing the mower side ways and a jackknife looked imminent. Fortunately luck was with me and everything came to a stop still the right way up. I proceeded the rest of the way at snails pace. After that the wet grass was an anticlimax although there was a bit more slipping and sliding. After returning to the top of the hill i reverted back to the barrow. Much less potential for disaster apart from having a heart attack pushing it up the hill of course. After dodging the rain and a few diversions i still have 12 of the 17 planting locations to dig out and refill.
Susan in the meantime was dealing with cleaning, windows and screens and the fireplace. She cleaned and struggled to assemble the worm farm, cleaned silver, went to a property at Flowerpot to help Ann pick black currants and cooked tea. In her words a myriad of small jobs nine of which will change the world!
Maybe tomorrow we will change the world.
Night folks
Cheers Simon
Day 332 Woodbridge Sunday 25th December 2011
Main
Entree
Salmon!
Queens Christmas message,
Hello Objects.
Seriously the closest I came to resembling an old queen was teetering on the roof rack of the pajero getting my tackle box down tonight. For those of you not making the obscure connection I am referring to the ex host of Countdown who did the falling from a height thing last week. However I made it down intact. The reason for this sudden fishing interest is the escape of Salmon from the fish farm out in the channel. Ann's sometime garden helper Aidan and his father have been netting out in the bay and dropped another fish in today for us. They only had 2 today but 12 yesterday. Since the weather is improving wind wise I thought I might see if they respond to a lure.
A different Christmas Day today as for the first time we have been away from home. We kept up the tradition of over eating with our menu presented below.
Cups of Vittorio expresso laté - excellent
Jacobs Creek sparkling rosé - excellent
Tiger prawns - excellent
Tasters choice clean skin Clare Valley Reisling 2008 - good
Midday movie: The Kings Speech, Colin Friels & Geoffrey Rush - brilliant.
Chain of Ponds Novello cabernet merlot - good
Boneless turkey rolled roast with roast spuds, carrots, pumpkin and parsnips - excellent
Legacy Xmas pudding with brandy custard.- Average
We did miss the chatter and company of family.
Wherever you are reading this I hope you had an enjoyable day.
Best Wishes to you all!
night folks
Simon
Day 331 Woodbridge Saturday 24th December 2011
Pano of the house and grounds, click for the big picture.
Hi Folks,
A nice warm day here today with the mercury tipping a heady 24 degrees before the summer rain washed in from the north.
Today Susan continued with her painting plus some digging of garden beds. I fired up the new toy the Toro self propelled rotary mower. After an initial familiarisation it was all systems go. I have to say it works pretty darn well. Much more comfortable working on slopes than the ride on and you get the walking exercise. I tidied the steep and previously inaccessible areas as well as the vegetable garden previously mowed with the brush cutter.
I have been trying to take some bird photos without much success. I have some long shots of pacific gulls, some tiny specks of blue wrens and I haven't clicked the shutter at all in the sea eagles direction. I saw a bird of prey plummet downwards, wings to its side, out of the corner of my eye yesterday and disappear. It returned today being harried by the other birds. It plunged in the same area as yesterday and into a small tree. It didn't catch anything and beat a retreat. It is still unidentified. Possibly a sparrowhawk.
After tea tonight Susan gave Ann a manicure. It must have been relaxing since she nodded off (Ann not Susan). Something that I did briefly when Susan was cutting my toenails the other day. Ann and I also nod off at the dentist. Anyway that's today's trivia.
Ann had a good day at the market today. Susan tells me next week we are running the cheese stall so that the "kids" can have the day off it being new years eve. Should be an interesting day trying to show we know something about cheese!
Night folks
Cheers Simon
Day 330 Woodbridge Friday 23rd December 2011
Hi All,
Your weary blogger greets you.
First up thanks to Susan for the audio & video on last nights blog. I am just about to add the video once it has been shrunk.
Susan's main task today was prepping and painting the deck rails outside Ann's bedroom. She also packed gift baskets, raked my grass slashings and cooked dinner apart from the fish.
I did brush cutting, mowing and clearing around the water tanks. I also filleted and cooked the fish. The fish was an Atlantic Salmon netted by Ann's young helper Aidan. They were actually just out the front of the house in the bay close enough to have a shouted conversation to Ann up the hill.
Ann picked up the self propelled mower, a Toro, this afternoon. I read the destructions tonight and will give it a spin tomorrow. Later in the afternoon I drove to Kingston to finish our Christmas day food shopping and fill the fuel containers for use over the next 2 days.
Tea was latish as Ann was preparing for the markets tomorrow. Mind you with daylight saving we had tea on sundown so I guess it wasn't that late!
We discussed our plans with Ann tonight i.e staying here but going away for a few days at a time and then returning. She was happy with that and has suggested she can "loan" us out to other hosts to broaden our experience while we would still be based here. Sounds like fun!
Anyway it is now late 1130 so I am putting my head on the pillow.
night folks
Cheers Simon
Ducklings at Parsons bay. The cleaner "littler" ones were the babies when we were there.
Your weary blogger greets you.
First up thanks to Susan for the audio & video on last nights blog. I am just about to add the video once it has been shrunk.
Susan's main task today was prepping and painting the deck rails outside Ann's bedroom. She also packed gift baskets, raked my grass slashings and cooked dinner apart from the fish.
I did brush cutting, mowing and clearing around the water tanks. I also filleted and cooked the fish. The fish was an Atlantic Salmon netted by Ann's young helper Aidan. They were actually just out the front of the house in the bay close enough to have a shouted conversation to Ann up the hill.
Ann picked up the self propelled mower, a Toro, this afternoon. I read the destructions tonight and will give it a spin tomorrow. Later in the afternoon I drove to Kingston to finish our Christmas day food shopping and fill the fuel containers for use over the next 2 days.
Tea was latish as Ann was preparing for the markets tomorrow. Mind you with daylight saving we had tea on sundown so I guess it wasn't that late!
We discussed our plans with Ann tonight i.e staying here but going away for a few days at a time and then returning. She was happy with that and has suggested she can "loan" us out to other hosts to broaden our experience while we would still be based here. Sounds like fun!
Anyway it is now late 1130 so I am putting my head on the pillow.
night folks
Cheers Simon
Ducklings at Parsons bay. The cleaner "littler" ones were the babies when we were there.
Day 329 Woodbridge Thursday 22nd December 2011
Hi Folks,
First up thanks to my apprentice for her terrific blogging work of the last 2 days. I tried to persuade her to do three in a row but alas you have to put up with me again.
We awoke reasonably early in the swag under the stars after a pretty decent nights sleep. After exchanging pleasantries with other campers we adjourned to the cafe for breakfast along with Alan. Phill cooked up a nice feed and copious amounts of coffee.
We had a good chat with Alan about many things sustainable living wise. Amanda, Phill's heavily pregnant wife, joined us to say hello and have a catch up. In fact the whole day was about catch ups and was only interrupted by the need to pack up. After saying our goodbyes at PBR we visited Annette from PBR and her family. We had a tour of their chooks and food produce garden. We also scored some yummy home made strawberry topping and rhubarb chutney. As we were leaving we ran into Lynne who also worked at Parsons Bay and had a chat. It was a real Parsons Bay day since Caryn who also worked there was walking past so we waved and exchanged pleasantries.
We finally departed Nubeena for home stopping at Sorell to buy prawns and a turkey roast for Xmas day. The first components of our feast.
On our return Susan made up some gift boxes for the market and I unpacked the roof bag and car.
Tomorrow back to work in the glorious Tasmanian sun.
Night folks
Simon
The sounds of Simon on tambourine!
First up thanks to my apprentice for her terrific blogging work of the last 2 days. I tried to persuade her to do three in a row but alas you have to put up with me again.
We awoke reasonably early in the swag under the stars after a pretty decent nights sleep. After exchanging pleasantries with other campers we adjourned to the cafe for breakfast along with Alan. Phill cooked up a nice feed and copious amounts of coffee.
We had a good chat with Alan about many things sustainable living wise. Amanda, Phill's heavily pregnant wife, joined us to say hello and have a catch up. In fact the whole day was about catch ups and was only interrupted by the need to pack up. After saying our goodbyes at PBR we visited Annette from PBR and her family. We had a tour of their chooks and food produce garden. We also scored some yummy home made strawberry topping and rhubarb chutney. As we were leaving we ran into Lynne who also worked at Parsons Bay and had a chat. It was a real Parsons Bay day since Caryn who also worked there was walking past so we waved and exchanged pleasantries.
We finally departed Nubeena for home stopping at Sorell to buy prawns and a turkey roast for Xmas day. The first components of our feast.
On our return Susan made up some gift boxes for the market and I unpacked the roof bag and car.
Tomorrow back to work in the glorious Tasmanian sun.
Night folks
Simon
The sounds of Simon on tambourine!
Day 328 Nubeena Wednesday 21st December 2011
Garlic and tomato's
Australian purple garlic
Hi All,
The day started with a commitment to do a couple of hours work before our journey to Nubeena for the summer solstice celebration at Parsons bay. In true form the couple of hours turned into double that. I packed chili beetroot then set about mulching the pepperberries. Another job on the list completed! I also picked and hung the garlic. Simon raked out the burn area collected grass and repaired the car fridge thermometer.
We picked up some raspberries, strawberries, cream and glace cherries for desert. My sticky date pudding from the night before transformed into Christmassy bites with sugar "snow" cherry topped and a fresh fruit salad of 2 berries. The food at the summer solstice was superb with plenty of variety. Conrad's curry my favourite.
We caught up with many old faces feeling part of the place again, catching up on news. Simon had a stroll about and reported back on the state of the garden (needs weeding).
After dinner we all strolled down to the fire for a sing song and drumming session, before retiring to our swag.
Not much news about the state of play with the Tasman Village development, apparently the 2 bedroom apartments are sold but not yet settled, hopefully we will know more tomorrow. The buyers have been attending meetings and brainstorming over the last 2 days to develop mission/vision etc. It looks like a very vibrant and committed group.
Before and After - Good job Simon, I like the cut
Day 327 Woodbridge Tuesday 20th December 2011
Compost heaps with and without chimney
Pepperberry bush
Hi All,
We started on the jobs list, me weeding the pepperberries and Simon mulching the standard roses.
Ann had decided overnight that she would pick up some horse manure from the stables at Brighton after her trip into Hobart to get her cooking supplies. We drew straws to see who was to accompany her to "shovel shit". I won or is that lost? As you well know I am an atrocious passenger but am trying hard to improve, so today was a bit of a test. I think I only made out loud utterances twice, so some improvement!
Funny how one can understand the meaning of a saying when faced with the reality, shovelling horse manure from the ground into a trailer with a slight breeze does require care, I know this first hand now and it does require a remedial scrub under warm running water! So dear readers take care when shovelling shit uphill.....
Our return home was punctuated by a few stops to get food for dinner including fresh raspberries. Simon assisted Ann and I in the layering of weeds, manure, paper into the compost bins. We have made one with a chimney and one without, it will be an experiment to see if the chimney does accelerate the composting or not.
Dinner finished, dishes washed, now time for a hair cut. My hair has been driving me crazy and I have persuaded Simon to cut it for me, I will share the results tomorrow.
Night All
Susan
Day 326 Woodbridge Monday December 19th 2011
Hi Folks,
The rain that has swept through points westward arrived here today in such volume it precluded any outside work. Our task for the day became top and tailing 80 kg of green walnuts for the walnut tapenade. Green walnuts don't weigh very much so we did a lot! However with some help from Kathy they were all completed and back in the cold store.
The rain tapered off after lunch until later in the afternoon when I decided to drive to Woolworths at Kingston and down it came again. At least it should have got rid of some of the dirt under the car.
We are heading down to Nubeena for the summer solstice pagan celebrations on Wednesday and will stay overnight. We return here and will have our Christmas lunch at Woodbridge. There is a party here on the 30th which we will stay for. That's about as solid as the plans get at this stage.
Night folks
Simon
The rain that has swept through points westward arrived here today in such volume it precluded any outside work. Our task for the day became top and tailing 80 kg of green walnuts for the walnut tapenade. Green walnuts don't weigh very much so we did a lot! However with some help from Kathy they were all completed and back in the cold store.
The rain tapered off after lunch until later in the afternoon when I decided to drive to Woolworths at Kingston and down it came again. At least it should have got rid of some of the dirt under the car.
We are heading down to Nubeena for the summer solstice pagan celebrations on Wednesday and will stay overnight. We return here and will have our Christmas lunch at Woodbridge. There is a party here on the 30th which we will stay for. That's about as solid as the plans get at this stage.
Night folks
Simon
Day 325 Woodbridge Sunday 18th December 2011
Hi folks,
A fine sunny day with the temperature nudging 25. A breeze from the north.
I mulched the standard roses, planted out the rest of the rhubarb and took the ride on mower for a spin. I tried to tackle some of the steeper sections. It is a bit too thrilling when you are mowing downhill with the mower in full reverse and it is still moving forward. Similarly when you turn a corner and the back of the mower does what in my day we described as a broady i.e. a tail slide. I will wait for the promised push mower rather than subjecting my self to any more excitement.
I left for the airport to pick up Susan at 335 and made such good time I was able to call in to Hardly Normals for 10 minutes. After 2 laps of the pick up zone at the terminal i resigned myself to having to pay to park and wait for Susan. I was inside the terminal looking for her while she was outside ringing me. We departed back to Woodbridge with a bonus being the parking was free presumably because I was there for less than time x, where x is unknown.
I chucked a beef roast in the oven with some vegetables for tea and Susan did a sticky date pudding. Ann knocked up some gravy. A pleasant tea although I did slightly overcook the beef.
We have now had our sunny day this week so tomorrow will be rain followed by 5 days of cloud if previous weather patterns are to be replicated. Have to laugh it hasn't rained for 4 days out come the sprinklers! or so it seems.
night folks
Simon
A fine sunny day with the temperature nudging 25. A breeze from the north.
I mulched the standard roses, planted out the rest of the rhubarb and took the ride on mower for a spin. I tried to tackle some of the steeper sections. It is a bit too thrilling when you are mowing downhill with the mower in full reverse and it is still moving forward. Similarly when you turn a corner and the back of the mower does what in my day we described as a broady i.e. a tail slide. I will wait for the promised push mower rather than subjecting my self to any more excitement.
I left for the airport to pick up Susan at 335 and made such good time I was able to call in to Hardly Normals for 10 minutes. After 2 laps of the pick up zone at the terminal i resigned myself to having to pay to park and wait for Susan. I was inside the terminal looking for her while she was outside ringing me. We departed back to Woodbridge with a bonus being the parking was free presumably because I was there for less than time x, where x is unknown.
I chucked a beef roast in the oven with some vegetables for tea and Susan did a sticky date pudding. Ann knocked up some gravy. A pleasant tea although I did slightly overcook the beef.
We have now had our sunny day this week so tomorrow will be rain followed by 5 days of cloud if previous weather patterns are to be replicated. Have to laugh it hasn't rained for 4 days out come the sprinklers! or so it seems.
night folks
Simon
Day 324 Woodbridge Saturday 17th December 2011
Hi all,
Just a short blog tonight. While Susan was enjoying the delights of her grandchildren I was hard at it with my shoulder to the grindstone and my nose to the wheel, whatever that means.
I was up early for me, before 7, which was good because when Ann rang me i had my eyes open. She had left a box behind so I had to whizz it down to Kettering for Tess and Halsey to take to the market. After coffee I was soaking newspaper and cardboard in water to complete some mulching. The paper was cover with grass clippings. I attached the catcher to the ride on and picked up some old cuttings and made some fresh ones. The slopes here make the ride on an interesting experience. All the more reason to buy a push mower! After the mulching I set about planting out the rhubarb crowns. it took a couple of hours. There are plenty left so I will back fill into the previously planted bed where there are gaps.
Ann returned from the market tired but had one of her best days ever. Susan made up more gift packs during the week and these were all sold.
I cooked sausages for tea while Ann prepared several salads.
I think I will do some mowing and burning again tomorrow since there should be a northerly breeze before the rain starts later in the day. It was a very pleasant 25 here today.
At 430 I am off to the airport to pick up Susan and hopefully the car parts for the next service.
Night folks
Cheers Simon
Just a short blog tonight. While Susan was enjoying the delights of her grandchildren I was hard at it with my shoulder to the grindstone and my nose to the wheel, whatever that means.
I was up early for me, before 7, which was good because when Ann rang me i had my eyes open. She had left a box behind so I had to whizz it down to Kettering for Tess and Halsey to take to the market. After coffee I was soaking newspaper and cardboard in water to complete some mulching. The paper was cover with grass clippings. I attached the catcher to the ride on and picked up some old cuttings and made some fresh ones. The slopes here make the ride on an interesting experience. All the more reason to buy a push mower! After the mulching I set about planting out the rhubarb crowns. it took a couple of hours. There are plenty left so I will back fill into the previously planted bed where there are gaps.
Ann returned from the market tired but had one of her best days ever. Susan made up more gift packs during the week and these were all sold.
I cooked sausages for tea while Ann prepared several salads.
I think I will do some mowing and burning again tomorrow since there should be a northerly breeze before the rain starts later in the day. It was a very pleasant 25 here today.
At 430 I am off to the airport to pick up Susan and hopefully the car parts for the next service.
Night folks
Cheers Simon
Day 323 Woodbridge Friday 16th December 2011
Hi Folks,
A quietish day today. For half the morning I thought it was actually Thursday. It wasn't until I was speaking to Kathy who works for Ann that I decided to confirm her view that it was Friday. The computer date said it was Friday so I checked the blog from last night. Interesting I had two Wednesdays. I can only plead disorientation from getting up at 330 yesterday.
My leisurely pace of work accelerated to a flurry as I wanted to get a couple of jobs finished before Ann returned. I did some more cleaning up with the brush cutter and adjourned for lunch whereupon Ann returned. First task was to show her where the visitors had scratched her pride and joy bench top that she specifically told them to be careful with. Luckily there was no shooting of the messenger! The guns are trained elsewhere.
We unloaded multiple boxes of green walnuts for the green walnut pickle into the cool room. I then returned to the garden preparing the bed for rhubarb planting tomorrow. I also slashed the last bed ready for mulching. The plan was that I would go to the market with Ann tomorrow. However she decided it would be better for me to work here. I agreed that I would be more productive here and even better I don't have to get up at 5am. Besides if I am in Hobart money will burn a hole in my pocket!
A nice rolled pork roast with roast veggies for tea and a glass of red wine rounded out the day.
night folks
Cheers Simon
A quietish day today. For half the morning I thought it was actually Thursday. It wasn't until I was speaking to Kathy who works for Ann that I decided to confirm her view that it was Friday. The computer date said it was Friday so I checked the blog from last night. Interesting I had two Wednesdays. I can only plead disorientation from getting up at 330 yesterday.
My leisurely pace of work accelerated to a flurry as I wanted to get a couple of jobs finished before Ann returned. I did some more cleaning up with the brush cutter and adjourned for lunch whereupon Ann returned. First task was to show her where the visitors had scratched her pride and joy bench top that she specifically told them to be careful with. Luckily there was no shooting of the messenger! The guns are trained elsewhere.
We unloaded multiple boxes of green walnuts for the green walnut pickle into the cool room. I then returned to the garden preparing the bed for rhubarb planting tomorrow. I also slashed the last bed ready for mulching. The plan was that I would go to the market with Ann tomorrow. However she decided it would be better for me to work here. I agreed that I would be more productive here and even better I don't have to get up at 5am. Besides if I am in Hobart money will burn a hole in my pocket!
A nice rolled pork roast with roast veggies for tea and a glass of red wine rounded out the day.
night folks
Cheers Simon
Day 322 Woodbridge Thursday 15th December 2011
Hi all,
The unspeakable event can now be spoken of since the event has passed. What event is this curious reader? Actually most of you already know. Susan has made a surprise flying visit to Adelaide for her grand daughter Arleighs first birthday. Importantly the one person who didn't know until she knocked on her door was her daughter Steph.
After we consumed most of a bottle of reisling with tea last night getting up at 330 was always going to be a struggle. We left for Hobart around 4am. I would be struggling to remember any of the few words that came out of my mouth during the journey. One phrase was "Why did you get a 6am flight?" "It was cheap"
As it turned out we could have left later. I was actually back in Woodbridge at quarter to 6!
I was not overly productive today although I did hang washing and do some tidying up. The film crew left around midday. Their work complete. At 3 I drove to Kingston to shop at Woolworths. By the time i bought fuel and returned 2 hours had passed.
A simple tea of steak and vegetables to be followed by an early night. It is quiet here at the moment!
Anyway that's today's news from On the Road at Woodbridge. I haven't discussed with Susan if she is going to scribe some On The Road" at home! Stay tuned.
night folks
Cheers Simon.
The unspeakable event can now be spoken of since the event has passed. What event is this curious reader? Actually most of you already know. Susan has made a surprise flying visit to Adelaide for her grand daughter Arleighs first birthday. Importantly the one person who didn't know until she knocked on her door was her daughter Steph.
After we consumed most of a bottle of reisling with tea last night getting up at 330 was always going to be a struggle. We left for Hobart around 4am. I would be struggling to remember any of the few words that came out of my mouth during the journey. One phrase was "Why did you get a 6am flight?" "It was cheap"
As it turned out we could have left later. I was actually back in Woodbridge at quarter to 6!
I was not overly productive today although I did hang washing and do some tidying up. The film crew left around midday. Their work complete. At 3 I drove to Kingston to shop at Woolworths. By the time i bought fuel and returned 2 hours had passed.
A simple tea of steak and vegetables to be followed by an early night. It is quiet here at the moment!
Anyway that's today's news from On the Road at Woodbridge. I haven't discussed with Susan if she is going to scribe some On The Road" at home! Stay tuned.
night folks
Cheers Simon.
Day 321 Woodbridge Wednesday 14th December 2011
Panorama of the Neck, Click for big picture
Bad hair, sunglasses and shave day
Cloudy Bay
Berry farm at Adventure Bay. William Bligh planted first apple tree hereabouts in Tasmania 1788
The lookout at the neck
Top of the neck lookout
Looking up the steps
Bruny Island cheese
Bruny Island cheese
Bruny Island cheese
Smokehouse
View to Cloudy Bay
View back to the neck
Click for the big picture. The narrative speaks for itself.
Hi Folks,
Nick and his entourage from Bruny Island cheese showed up this morning. After exchanging pleasantries and Susan getting Nick to sign his page in the Providore book we left them to it!
We caught the 930 ferry to Bruny Island. As we were proceeding in the line to the ramp it looked as if we were going to be on the top deck. However we were halted to allow some interlopers who didn't have to queue to hop up top. It was of course Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederick plus their minders. I did shoot some video however not being a papparazzi I will respect their privacy besides the minister for good taste has declared that the audio commentary is not suitable for publication!
After disembarking we drove to the northern part of the island which is probably less visited by tourists. We found a very nice beach, Nebraska Beach. We looped around back almost to the start and visited the Bruny Island Smokehouse. We purchased some smoked trout, mussels and salted sardines in oil. We then turned southwards and called into Bruny Island Cheese. Tess and Halsey were working and Tess popped out for a quick chat and gave us some visitor tips.
We proceeded to the neck that joins the North and South parts of the isle and climbed the steps to the top of the lookout and then down onto the beach. This is the premium penguin viewing area although until dusk. Further south we called into Bruny Island Fudge. More calories for the waist line!
We travelled to Adventure Bay visited by Cook and Bligh in the 1700's.
We took a forestry road up over the hill and drove down to Cloudy Bay. A very picturesque spot and worthy of an overnight visit.
We drove northwards with our eye on the time since the Cheese factory stops serving food at 4. A pity since we didn't have time to drive down to Cape Bruny. We decided to return in the near future for say 3 days /2 nights. There are a few good walks and 3 days should see the island justice.
We ate pizza at the cheesery along with a glass of Pinot and a coffee. We then joined the 530 ferry queue and were soon back at Woodbridge.
The local CFS turned up to supervise a burn off on the property over the back. It all went a bit quicker than my burn offs. But then I didn't have to worry about burning down the countryside.
Tea was nibblies bought today at the various food outlets along with the 2007 Viridian 2007 Reisling I bought the other day. Another tough day on the road!
Night folks
Simon
PS I forgot to mention the ferry trip back which was marked by the lemming like behaviour of the cruising yacht race from Kettering Marina. Whilst acknowledging that "power gives way to sail" I think some of the sailors need to appreciate that a dirty great barge loaded with vehicles is not overly manoeuvreable. One half wit decided to sail straight across in front of the barge and passed just in front of us with the barge blowing its foghorn for a good 10 seconds, Crazy! Why would you have the course in the path of the barge anyway with the whole ocean to sail in.
The Ferry
The neck. The unknown headland is Fluted Cape. Woodbridge is not "over there somewhere" That is actually part of Bruny Island. Cook and Bligh also thought Bruny was part of the mainland.
Cloudy Bay
Day 320 Woodbridge Tuesday 13th December 2011
Day started well with Kayes' luscious strawberry jam Mmmmmm
Hi All,
One thing you learn about Tasmania is that people are generally pretty laid back. So saying that you will be somewhere on a certain day doesn't mean it's going to happen. We didn't see the film crew today. This left us free to attack out tasks albeit looking over our shoulders for visitors.
We have a list of jobs to do which Ann specifically said she didn't expect us to have finished when she returns on Friday morning. This doesn't stop Susan from making a valiant effort just as well I am here to keep her under control!
We continued on with our weeding and slashing. I constructed another fire after the last one was extinguished by the thunder storms the other day. By the end of the day we had in my mind reached a good stopping point with finished jobs before our day off tomorrow.
I managed to singe my eyebrows when the wind swirled the flames whilst I was loading wood onto the fire. I took this as a judgement on me for laughing when Susan's wheel barrow full of weeds fell over. At the end of the video she says "I am holding the wheel barrow up" while waiting for me to come push it up the hill.
Susan knocked up a nice pasta tea while I drove to Kettering for milk and sugar. I also checked out the ferry times to Bruny Island for tomorrow. It is $28 return to take your car and $11 if you are a local. Should be a good day out.
night folks!
Cheers Simon
DAY 319 Woodbridge Monday 12th December 2011
Purple pod peas
Rhubarb ready for planting out tomorrow
Hello,
As I type this evenings missive Susan is polishing the silver. The film crew cometh tomorrow. I think in an earlier post I may have said they were filming the Gourmet Farmer. As usual I got it wrong. They are doing something with Nick Haddow from Bruny Island Cheese. Susan started on the silver in the first week we were here and it is not that it is needed tomorrow but more that it needs to be packed away.
We were thinking of going to Bruny Island tomorrow but will do it Wednesday weather permitting. I presume the filming is being done here because of the huge kitchen. It should be an interesting day although I am sure the crew will be self contained so we can meander along in the garden. Susan tells me Nick will be here at 0700 so an early start for someone.
Today we proceeded on with the gardening, planting, weeding, brush cutting, mowing, mulching etc. The place is actually starting to look quite tidy in parts.
The grass does not grow quite as fast as at Nowhere Else but it certainly grows so a fortnightly cut instead of the weekly one up north. These ride on mowers are all very well but there is certainly still a place for the push mower for all those awkward spots. The brushcutter will do it but it is never as neat as a mower. I have suggested to Ann to buy one and she has suggested a self propelled one, which given the slopes and the fact there might not always be helpexers here, is a good idea. There is just a modest area of land to look after here, 2 - 3 acres and most of it is grassed but it certainly takes some time when you add in the vegetable patches, fruit trees etc. A bit of a reality check if a man was to consider buying a property of this size or larger.
After another lacklustre weather day I am convinced you would have to budget for a reasonable size greenhouse if you lived down here. There is just not enough heat, so far, for the summer vegetables.
In summary, nothing out of the ordinary to report. A stress free day working constructively out in the fresh air under broken cloud with a few showers, which paid for our cosy cabin, nice food and alcohol. Another pretty good day " On the Road"
Night Folks
Simon
Day 318 Woodbridge Sunday 11th December 2011
Snug bushfire memorial
Margate train
Margate train with half a blogger.
Hi Folks,
A quieter day today after yesterdays toil.After a some little jobs first up we took a spin down to Snug another of these cutely named Tassie towns to check out their market which was quite small but did have a good fudge stall.
One little gem was the Snug Bushfire memorial constructed in 2007 for the 40th anniversary of the the fires which destroyed much of the town. Not costing a fortune, thoughtful, neat with good information boards and a garden of fire resistant trees and shrubs.
From Snug we journeyed to Margate to the Train which is a string of old carriages converted to shops. Susan bought a second hand Providore book covering some of the gourmet food producers on the island. She has an idea to get the ones she meets to sign their profile. By the time we had returned to Woodbridge and lunched some fairly heavy showers had settled in.
Susan did some house cleaning while I tethered the greenhouse tomato's and cleaned a fine spray nozzle. One bizarre moment was standing in the greenhouse under bright sunlight with rain hammering on the polycarbonate roof.
The showers lessened and we ventured into the garden for weeding of our various areas. We called a halt at 6 and popped in for a simple tea of vegetables and some nice sausages purchased at the supermarket behind our Salamanca stall. Dessert ? fudge! Tea was after 8 a virtue of daylight saving and a tradition of tea at dusk. The sun is still up early here before 530 and I feel that Tasmanian could use double daylight saving. I guess it would tend to make tea and the events of after tea such as blogging even later!
The weather is on the up so a long day in the garden tomorrow with a ferry ride to Bruny Island Tuesday weather permitting.
Night folks
Simon
Day 317 Woodbridge Saturday 10th December 2011
The start of the day!
Would you buy chutney from this suspicious character?
The smiling girls who are the power. That's Tess on the right.
Christmas gift packs
The end of the day!
Evenin' Folks,
The phones were unsynchronised this morning in their call to arms at 5am. The Telstra one lagging behind by a minute. We staggered out into the predawn light with me scaring the bejabbers out of some grazing pademelons.
We breakfasted and loaded the perishables into the van. Coffee was sacrificed to enable an on time departure at 6. We cruised into the markets and hauled out the marquee and the fridge and all the stock. Set up was completed and we were up and running. The day passed at neither a slow or fast pace. We met 3 people whom we knew, Ray a visitor to Parsons Bay, Maralyn whose hay bale house we visited and Wendy another PBR visitor. We sold a lot of stock which made packing up easier. We were packed and on the road by 345. The day went well and we appreciated the help from Tess and Halsey who run the Bruny Island cheese stall whom we share the marquee with.
Day 316 Woodbridge Friday 9th December 2011
Dawn - calm seas not a breath of wind, promise of warmth
Sunset - calm seas not a breath of wind, looks like it could snow any moment
Hi Folks,
A warm day in the Apple Isle. The thermometer indicated a solid 28 degrees this morning.
Susan was up early taking pictures of the dawn at 530. After breakfast I journeyed to the garden. First job was building a fire to consume some of the prunings, Good weather for burning, sun and a "just right" breeze. I then continued tidying the terraced beds with the hand tools and the brush cutter.
Susan meantime had been in the preserve kitchen packaging relish and then moved into the house proper to do some tidying and spring cleaning.
After lunch some ominous rumbles of thunder followed by rain. A short break gave me enough time to whip around a couple of beds on the ride on. The temperature had only fallen to 25. However the break was short and substantial amounts of rain fell dropping the temperature further and curtailing the outdoor activities.
Late afternoon we packed the van with the produce etc. for the market tomorrow. Tess and Halsey from Bruny Island cheese bought several trays of cheese to go in the cool room for us to take for them in the morning.
We popped to Peppermint Bay Resort in the township for tea. After a good meal we returned home for coffee and to consume some dessert treats purchased at the resort.
Unfortunately the salted caramel sucked one of my larger fillings out so I shall be on the phone on Monday to the dentist.
Now today's trivia,
When I was tidying the bottom bed yesterday I found a gooseberry laying on the ground. It took me back to a story from my childhood my dad tells about the time a gooseberry fell off one of his bushes when "I was just looking at it".
The other trivia comes from today's Mercury from a letter to the editor. The Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft launched 34 years ago are now 18 and 15 billion kilometres from earth. A radio signal takes 27 hours to do the round trip. Makes our travels look pretty insignificant.
Night folks, the alarms are set for 0500! Big day at Salamanca tomorrow.
cheers Simon
Day 315 Woodbridge Thursday 8th December 2011
Memorial to Bruny D'Entrecasteaux at Gordon
View across the bay towards Dover
Sheltered bay at Charlotte Cove
Boats in Cygnet Harbour
The sign says it all
Hi All,
I started early this morning anxious to understand all the intracies of the market requirements for Saturday, Simon slept and snored on.... Ann imparted last minute instructions and wisdom then left about 1130 for the Spirit and a week in Victoria. We have a page of jobs, which I think we will manage with no worries, the trick will be deciding the correct day for specific tasks weather dependent.
My day started making up gift boxes for the market, tommorrow I have some packing to do.
The afternoon was spent weeding the top rhubarb patch while Simon spent the day moving sods (for a raised turn around for the mower "Derick") and snippering edges. About 5pm we went to pick up mail (none) and newspapers for mulching (also none). We then went for a drive to Cygnet along the channel this time.
Some quaint places for sale in Gordon, Verona Sands and Charlotte Cove, as is my habit I look up the for sales on the net, although I have been cautioned by Simon for using too much of our monthly allowance.
A post card arrived yesterday from Peach who worked with us at PBR, with an offer to visit her in Hong Kong. Thanks Peach and take care, we can't commit to the trip just yet, but we will keep in touch! We also received a message that Morphine and Fanfan caught the Spirit yesterday and are off to welcome in the New Year at Sydney Harbour. We have no plans as yet about Christmas or New Year, although we have been approached to house sit....
Today we had some weather, I know Simon keeps a running commentary, there was some sun and I have burnt calfs from weeding, not sure if there was rain, there are always clouds.
After our look around Cygnet we headed home and Simon cooked tea, a treat! Thanks :-) - it more than made up for my hankering for some hot chips, I was sure we would find a chip shop in Cygnet... alas no.... ahh well chicken and veg was much healthier.
Cheers
Susan
View from Gordon across D'Entrecasteaux Channel to Bruny Island
Day 314 Woodbridge Wednesday 7th December 2011
The Shack
Ancient Trees, the first looks like giant reindeer antlers
Evening folks,
Just a short blog tonight. Susan arose and strolled to the beach at day break to take pictures. I was oblivious to this activity. After bacon and eggs for breakfast we tidied the shack and packed our belongings.
We had all the garden tools that Ann brought including the brush cutter. This made packing interesting since the Paj was quite full. In the end i decided to put the fork and the brush cutter in the old roof bag and strap that on the new roof bag double decker style. It made it back here without any drama.
We paused to visit Officeworks in Hobart and Woolworths petrol in Kingston on our way back.
After unpacking Susan was bottling rhubarb chutney and assembling Christmas gift pack boxes. I put together a bean trellis from reinforcing mesh and repaired a punctured scarecrow balloon which had started going down coincidently after I had been brush cutting next to it.
Susan cooked tea after we had a walk around with Ann to compose our list of songs for the next week as she will be in Victoria.
Thats all for now! Apart from noting that once again it was grey and overcast today!!
Again!!
night folks
Cheers Simon
Yesterday when the sun was shining!
Another sunny summers day! Did i say Cape Hauy? I of course meant Cape Raoul.
Day 313 Clifton Beach Tuesday 6 December 2011
Hi All,
A summer day - well almost, it started out sunny, baking hot. The sun in Tassie has more bite per degree than that of Adelaide or Cairns why is that? I can get burnt in 15 minutes on a 20 degree day here! However the sun disappeared by 1pm, replaced by ever so familiar clouds, so we were able to finish our jobs in milder conditions.
The day started with the obligatory walkabout with Ann, and the list compliation. Nothing complicated; finish paths, a bit more brush cutting, pull out bracken, and go for a walk. Guess you have to make time for a walk when specifically instructed by one's host!
Ann left about 1030 and we got to work.
Between carting sand for paths I stopped to take in the detail of the path outside the kitchen. It is a cobblestone paved area obviously layed over many years of holidays in the distant past. This set me wondering where the stones were procured. Clifton Beach is stone free.... perhaps it was covered decades ago and all the shack owners have cleared it so that now there is only sand! A ponderable....
Cobblestone paving
In true Susan style a bit of a sweep here and there and weed removal all about turned into another self added job to the list.
Back to our path making I was assailed with a delightful aroma, and couldnt work out its source. Simon decided it was eminating from the pine trees, but definately not the hot South Australian summer day pine tree aroma. This is much smokier and muskier, beautiful...
This of course started another train of thought... we can take a photo/video to describe a sight to others, or take a sound recording, but how do you capture/explain an aroma, more pondering!!
We finished chores about 2pm then lunched on sausages in bread with sauce. Lazing around we were amazed to find it was almost 5pm so we set of for our walk which was at the end of a 20 kilometer drive to Opossum Bay.
Opossum Bay
Passing through South Arm which we were amazed to find a modern large RSL club advertising cheap meals, it seemed incongruous to have such a large building for the dozen or so houses we had seen, then we got into South Arm and found it to be a quite large settlement. The 2006 Census details 351 houses and 796 usual residents, however I think there has been subsantial housing growth since then, could be upmarket shacks though.
Lighthouse Shack
Opossum Bay is definately a holiday destination, with its array of shacks at waters edge, each complete with boat shed. The look quite mediteranian with many styles testament of eras of shack building. The lighthouse version my favourite.
Newer Shack
Older and smaller shack
Simon detoured to look at a rental notice in the window of 1 shack $1500 per week peak season 13/12 - 13/2 and $900 the rest of the year, it was empty. A bit overpriced me thinks.
You might recall the wall of thongs Sunshine Coast Day 138 2010, well I spied the Opossum Bay version, also doubles as a Christmas Tree!
Christmas Tree Aussie Style!
Home again after aonther couple of stops to take in sea views. Dinner of chops and veg and an earlish night 1030 for me.
Night all
Susan
A summer day - well almost, it started out sunny, baking hot. The sun in Tassie has more bite per degree than that of Adelaide or Cairns why is that? I can get burnt in 15 minutes on a 20 degree day here! However the sun disappeared by 1pm, replaced by ever so familiar clouds, so we were able to finish our jobs in milder conditions.
The day started with the obligatory walkabout with Ann, and the list compliation. Nothing complicated; finish paths, a bit more brush cutting, pull out bracken, and go for a walk. Guess you have to make time for a walk when specifically instructed by one's host!
Ann left about 1030 and we got to work.
Between carting sand for paths I stopped to take in the detail of the path outside the kitchen. It is a cobblestone paved area obviously layed over many years of holidays in the distant past. This set me wondering where the stones were procured. Clifton Beach is stone free.... perhaps it was covered decades ago and all the shack owners have cleared it so that now there is only sand! A ponderable....
Cobblestone paving
In true Susan style a bit of a sweep here and there and weed removal all about turned into another self added job to the list.
Back to our path making I was assailed with a delightful aroma, and couldnt work out its source. Simon decided it was eminating from the pine trees, but definately not the hot South Australian summer day pine tree aroma. This is much smokier and muskier, beautiful...
This of course started another train of thought... we can take a photo/video to describe a sight to others, or take a sound recording, but how do you capture/explain an aroma, more pondering!!
We finished chores about 2pm then lunched on sausages in bread with sauce. Lazing around we were amazed to find it was almost 5pm so we set of for our walk which was at the end of a 20 kilometer drive to Opossum Bay.
Opossum Bay
Passing through South Arm which we were amazed to find a modern large RSL club advertising cheap meals, it seemed incongruous to have such a large building for the dozen or so houses we had seen, then we got into South Arm and found it to be a quite large settlement. The 2006 Census details 351 houses and 796 usual residents, however I think there has been subsantial housing growth since then, could be upmarket shacks though.
Lighthouse Shack
Opossum Bay is definately a holiday destination, with its array of shacks at waters edge, each complete with boat shed. The look quite mediteranian with many styles testament of eras of shack building. The lighthouse version my favourite.
Newer Shack
Older and smaller shack
Simon detoured to look at a rental notice in the window of 1 shack $1500 per week peak season 13/12 - 13/2 and $900 the rest of the year, it was empty. A bit overpriced me thinks.
You might recall the wall of thongs Sunshine Coast Day 138 2010, well I spied the Opossum Bay version, also doubles as a Christmas Tree!
Christmas Tree Aussie Style!
Home again after aonther couple of stops to take in sea views. Dinner of chops and veg and an earlish night 1030 for me.
Night all
Susan
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