Day 307 Woodbridge Wednesday 30th November 2011

Half way through the red currant patch




Red currants



Putting on a Bureau Veritas hat turns one into a knife wielding maniac!


Hi Folks,
One of those sunshine and showers days today. We worked mainly outside starting off with cobweb removal. Susan did all the easy ones and I got to hang off the ladder swiping away at the really high ones with the broom. We then went to work in the grounds, Susan continuing on with the newspaper and grass mulch in the raspberries. After we coiled up the chicken wire fence around the raspberries I set to work with the brush cutter while Susan went in for the kill in the rhubarb patch. Driving the mower around with the trailer on the back to move the grass clippings is an interesting experience. The slopes and the wet grass can make it a bit hair raising especially when the ride on mower is going downhill with the wheels spinning backwards and not showing any signs of stopping. Luckily I was not close to the creek. I worked meticulously around the red currant canes and was feeling pleased with myself until I went back to where I started and found 2 that were hidden in the weeds that I had decapitated. They should both live and judging by the scars on some of the others it is not the first time. I marked them by knocking in some stakes so hopefully it won't happen again. Susan cut all the rhubarb in preparation for moving the corms. It will find its way into Ann's produce. At the moment she is making vinegar blends. The acetic acid odour from the kitchen is quite pungent when she boils it up for several hours.
We are enjoying our time here and I am thinking we should have moved around a lot more instead of spending so much time in Nubeena. Oh well there's no use crying about spilt milk under the bridge.
It has been brought to my notice that last nights pictures are not of Peppermint Bay which is just around the corner in front of the township but of Birch's Bay. I am sure you all spotted this one. Also i need to explain that Brown's swans was a play on "Brown's cows" since they are walking in a line. They are of course black swans.
That's it for now. We need to consider where and what we will do on 2 days off. Maybe we will split them since we have the Salamanca market on Saturday which will be hectic as it is the big tourist market. Should be good fun, the only problem being when I go to Hobart money burns a hole in my pocket.
Night folks

Cheers Simon

Day 306 Woodbridge Tuesday 29th November 2011

Peppermint Bay in the day (click picture for a bigger view)



Peppermint Bay late afternoon (ditto)



Swan and Gosling. The stuff on the water is Azolla a prescribed noxious weed in SA. They don't seem to worry about it here. In the dams there are hordes of little fish probably Gambusia another prescribed noxious species.


Browns swans


Hi Folks,
A warmy balmy evening, well its 20 in the cabin and 18 outside. The weather forecast was way off beam today with none of the dire consequences coming to pass apart from a small amount of light rain this morning. The rest of the day was almost tropical with temperatures reaching 24!
We spent most of the day working in the garden. Susan raking up grass cuttings and mulching the raspberries with wet newspaper and me brushcutting the grass around the garden beds, cleaning the roof gutters and mowing. A busy day.
This morning I tried to take a picture of a sea eagle perched in a tree but apparently was too close causing it to fly off. There is a metal table under the tree that Susan says people use to feed the pair. I had to settle for pictures of swans making their way up the creek plus a couple of panoramas.
The weather was so good we actually had our dinner entrees outside on one of the decks. This house has been very well designed to take advantage of the block and the view. By the time main course was ready it was cool so we decamped inside.
We have been lucky to have two excellent helpex's in consecutive assignments. It's a great life.
Night folks

Simon

Day 305 Woodbridge Monday 28th November 2011

Methodist church window



Methodist foundation stone



Methodist Church now



Methodist church then



Sign on the Anglican church

Hello,
Another grey cloudy day with occasional sunshine. We started the day with a walk around with Ann to list the jobs and the methods.
Susan started on some mulching and raking up loose willow branches. The willow cuttings have a propensity to root readily. This was illustrated when we viewed cut logs on the wood pile that had new growth spurting from the bark. After she made lunch she started on the cobwebs swaddling the house. I started on shovelling out some clay from a cutting beneath which was a gravel strip drain. The clay was washing down onto the drain. The cutting was enlarged, the clay dumped near the creek to allow the mower more level passage and the bank shielded with some colorbond roofing shored up by star pickets. After lunch i started removing the plants from the gutters.
After "work" we strolled through the forest out back of the property and into Woodbridge. The pictures above were taken on the way. There are lots of oysters, good sized ones, on the rocks. I take this as an indication they are no good to eat as if they were they would have been plundered by now. I opened one and it did look not quite right inside. We will try and get some local knowledge tomorrow. Also tomorrow I would like to get a nice picture of the bay with the sun on it. However the forecast is for warm rain in the morning followed by a lull before we have cold gusty rain in the afternoon with snowfalls down to 800 metres! Typical Tasmanian spring weather!

cheers Simon


Terns diving in the bay. Not quite Attenborough quality video!

Day 304 Woodbridge Sunday 27th November 2011

Market Pictures!








Evening all,

Susan is too worn out from typing last nights blog so you are stuck with me again.

First up the weather report. It started raining about 130pm yesterday and rained all afternoon and night until about dawn. The good news is I checked the roof bag this afternoon and it was bone done. Finally a win for me. Thank you Michelles sacs.

Today we were up at 615 via the alarm and were in the "gopher" van (a white Mazda)with Ann driving to the Farm Gate market in Hobart at 715. The market is held in the car park where we normally park off Elizabeth Street in the CBD. We were sharing a stall with Matthew. Turns out that Matthew is actually Matthew Evans who amongst other things presents "The Gourmet Farmer" on SBS.

It was an interesting day with the stalls all selling product at the higher quality level with prices to suit I might add. Once selling commenced Susan and Ann did the behind the counter work. I wandered the stalls purchasing 6 blocks of lovely fudge for $22 and a bottle of Tasmanian Riesling for $22. I also wandered into Mountain Designs and bought a pair of Italian Zamberlan low cut walking shoes (made in China). Susan has threatened me with divorce if I buy one more pair of shoes. However to be fair "Imelda" has only bought 2 pairs of hiking boots and one pair of hiking shoes to replace one pair of boots that fell apart and one pair of joggers that were nearly worn out and left at Nowhere Else a net gain of one pair.

The market finished at one and we packed up and left. We called into Kettering to the coffee shop where Ann wants shelves erected (by me) to display her product.

Next Saturday we are going to Salamanca market to learn the set up which is apparently a military operation. The reason being is that the Saturday after Ann is away and these two tyros will be doing it. Someone has to learn to drive the van next Saturday since it has to be double declutched to avoid destroying the gearbox. Those of you who are aware of Susan's passenger tendencies will not be surprised to learn she wants to drive our car following the van next week. She was having internal caniptions today sitting in the middle of the front seat around the bends and hills on the roller coaster to Hobart. I think she left some fingernails in my arm.

It was an interesting day with lots of interesting people. Susan bumped into Bob and Helen from Premaydena who we did some work for while we were at the resort.
Tomorrow we work out what jobs we will doing while we are here. As usual there is no shortage of things to do and we should add some new skills to our kitbag.

Cheers Simon

Day 303 Woodbridge Saturday 26th November 2011

Hello All,

I had agreed to help Ann load some produce for the market this morning at 0545. I was awake at first light (which is actually about an hour and a half before sunrise) Simon awoke also for his early morning nature call, he plodded out across the yard to the loo wearing my dressing gown - he looks nice in pink!

From the top bunk the view across the channel toward Bruny Island looked enticing so I got up to take some photos. I attempted to get another half hour of sleep Simon was of course snoring again, and didn't wake until I roused him at 0730. By this time I had helped load the van and said farewell to Ann and had an enjoyable chat with Ness about her travels and HelpXing.


0506 am View across the Channel

Ann called to give a few instructions and let us know that a couple of WWOOFers were coming this evening, suggesting we decide to move to the house or use the cabin.


Our new home "The Cabin"


"The Cabin in daylight"

Having done some research on small houses I opted to stay in the cabin with a modification of sleeping on the mattress from the swag and using the bunks to store our clothes. We will arrange our mattress on the floor tonight. Readers might be interested to have a look at the Tumbleweed Tiny House


The main house


Sunrise 0614am

Ness departed about 1130 after her husband Edward arrived, we had a brief chat about how much one accumulates when you stay in one place for a while and waved them and their newly accumulated sofa farewell.

Simon busied himself with some minor repairs to our "rig" and I tackled the rhubarb patch, with a vague sense of déjà vu having weeded a similarly large patch some 280 kms away last week, the weeds here are worse! Simon was about to start whipper snippering in the veggie garden until rain halted play and has not ceased yet.

Ann left us to our own devices while she when out for dinner, we watched TV and ate dinner of steak and salad. The salad courtesy of Kay and Eric, just wish I could remember the name of tomato variety.

Early start tomorrow.

Night All

Susan

P.S. The new WOOFERs rang to say they changed their plans, so just S&S here for now!

P.P.S. Thanks for blogging Susan! I think our readers will appreciate a change in style for a while. Cheers Simon (who has much less hayfever today!)

Day 302 Woodbridge Friday 25th November 2011

Kaye and Eric with Honeydin


Kaye's mosaic path and Honeydin


Honeydin on the porch


Lunch in Hobart



Hi folks,

A warm sunny day with the temperature peaking at around 25. Perfect weather for packing, which we did this morning, all morning! To be fair we had 3 loads of washed clothes. Things went relatively smoothly. However we managed to leave a number of items behind, much easier to do when you aren't leaving a bare motel unit. I am now minus a pair of old sports shoes and a beer. Susan left her camp booties plus tea bags etc. We will pick these up next time we are passing through. We finally said goodbye to Eric and Kaye at around 11. We have enjoyed our time here and would be happy to return again.

We drove steadily down the Midland Highway encountering the usual calibre of Tasmanian drivers i.e. waiting until the last moment as the over taking lane finishes to pass or passing on bends over double lines.

We were struck by how much drier the countryside is towards Hobart. This is born out by a rainfall map that shows annual falls equivalent to Adelaide. Mind you this is the lowest with averages well above 3 metres for the west coast.

Arriving In Hobart we met up with Morphine and Fanfan for a latish lunch at their favourite Asian restaurant on Sandy Bay Road. It was good to catch up with them again and hear their tales of what they have been up to. We eventually headed off after a couple of U turns and visits to non existent service stations down the southern outlet road. We arrived at Woodbridge at around 630 I think.

After a meet and greet with our host Ann we unloaded some of our gear into our cabin. There is one other helpexer here (Ness) but she leaves tomorrow so we can decide if we move into the main house or stay in the cabin. Susan has the top bunk tonight.

Anne is leaving at 6 in the morning to run her stall at Salamanca Markets. On Sunday we will be going to another market the "farm gate" one with her. Fortunately this is a leave at 8 o'clock job. The house and property looks very smart. We will post some pics over the next day or so to show the area.

We had a nice noodle chicken tea with rhubarb and ice cream for dessert cooked by Ness.

I should mention the weather. As we climbed the hill leaving Hobart we drove into low cloud. This has turned to steady drizzle. I have the roof bag packed out properly so their better not be any water inside it tomorrow!
catch you later

Cheers Simon

Day 301 Nowhere Else Thursday 24th November 2011

Hi Folks,
All being well we will depart tomorrow. A if on cue the weather turned on a glorious day for our last day. This morning we did the required packing as much as we could do given that thee were several loads of washing to do before we could pack our clothes. As I write this a large pile sits on the bed. After some pottering we drove to Devonport to pick up Susan's repaired jewellery. We were thwarted briefly as the man who opens the safe was at lunch. We did the same and had a good little lunch in "The Lane".
After rescuing the jewels we returned home to hang the washing. We drove to Sheffield parked and walked around the while tow, it's not that large viewing the main attraction which is the murals. I am not sure how many there are but it would be around 30. Back home I recommissioned the wireless internet into the car including rigging u the directional aerial. I don't know that it is working a whole lot better than the one I took out. Susan is still struggling with signal and mine is about the same although fluctuating. Hopefully it will come good when we move. Else I can waste I mean spenD some more money on it.
Susan cooked a nice meat pie for tea and dessert was the left over sticky date pudding. She has been repairing clothes this evening. Back on the road tomorrow. Hopefully we can get away reasonably early but i doubt it will be before 10.
Night Folks.

Day 300 Nowhere Else Wednesday 23rd November 2011

Top of door repair..exciting huh



The knot that you use to go around the post



The insulator knot



Hydro



A variety of insulators



Ratchet corner



The long side of the fence


Hi folks,
Drum roll ... day 300 .. tah dah.
We celebrated by learning a new skill. Fence making. Kenny put the poles in yesterday as you may recall and a couple of wires with Susan watching. He gave us another 5 minute training session and we set to it. The wire we were using is quite hard according to Kenny rather than the softer grade which is easier to bend. The wire was hard for Susan to bend and cut. We persevered and did a reasonable job although if you look at the pictures you can see a definite lack of vertical alignment between similar elements. We can now add fence building to our CV. This was a 6 strand fence 5 electric and one earth.
We rounded out the day with Susan cutting the lawn and cooking tea and me transplanting carrots and completing the minor rust repair on the pajero.
I have included a picture of "hydro". He gave me a good laugh last night when i was bending into the engine bay of the Pajero and his head suddenly appeared in the bay from underneath.
We are going to pack tomorrow and go to Sheffield to see the murals. We will sleep here tomorrow night and leave first thing Friday for our next assignment. We have resolved to take a couple of weeks between future postings to do the 100% tourist thing.
Night folks

cheers Simon

Day 299 Nowhere Else Tuesday 22nd November 2011

Hi folks,
The main event of the day was putting in the posts for the new fence and for the trellis to espalier the fruit trees.
I checked the greenhouse but such is the automation it was all fine.
Kenny and his son put the posts while we flittered around the edges. Fencing is one of those jobs that looks easy when people who know what they are doing are doing it. Tomorrow it will be our turn to put the wires on so that should be interesting. W cleared away some old wood laying in the paddock and pottered in the garden. I divided up some carrot seedlings which were sown so heavily (by Fanfan ex PBR helpexer) as to resemble grass. Susan finished diggind beds around the trees .
After work I built my little voltage switch to switch the dual battery switch on and off automatically. It is now fitted after a few hiccups and works ok.
I have been following a thread on the Pajero news group re rust under the top seals of the rear door in late model Pajeros. I checked mine and I have one little rust blister. I am not too concerned since it is a 7 year old car, it will be easy to repair and it is out of sight so paint matching is not an issue. Looks like moisture gets trapped under the seal and eventually surface rust occurs probably due to the paint being a bit thin.
That's all apart from noting tomorrow is day 300 away from home. Home! I wonder where that is?
Night folks
Simon

Day 298 Nowhere Else Monday 21st November 2011

A very distant view of the kookaburra. You can just see the small bird in it's mouth.


Hi Folks,
Hello! Another gusty showery day. We ventured out into the garden. My first task was to remove five pine trees. This was pretty straight forward. Dig out around the roots and cut the trunk as far down as possible with the pruning saw. The hand sawing was hard work for an old softy but eventually I got through it and had the cut trees stacked in a pile on top of the ash from the last fire.
You may recall i recounted a little while ago the disappearance of the ducklings at Parsons Bay. Today when i was working i observed a fairly large kookaburra on a fence post in the next paddock with a small bird struggling in it's mouth. By the time I returned with my camera and long lens it was raining the the kookaburra was further away. The picture above does show it if you look hard and use your imagination. It does confirm that kookaburras eat small birds! Wished I could have got a better picture. Another missed opportunity to win the Attenborough photographic medal!
Susan in the meantime was digging the vegetable garden beds and weeding. It was then on to planting seeds, sweetcorn and beetroot. I started transplanting the carrot seedlings and will continue this tomorrow. At 4 I headed to Devonport picking up some discount coffee beans, a discounted bluetooth mouse, my next attempt to improve Susan's wireless experience (a directional antenna)and an electronic kit to control the switching of the dual battery controller in the car. The controller drains the main battery to the tune of 0.4 amps until it disconnects the auxiliary battery.
Kaye and Eric are heading to Melbourne for the day tomorrow. I have been briefed on what to check on in the greenhouse. We also have Ken coming to put up the sheep fencing so it should be an interesting day. Hopefully nothing will go wrong.
Susan is spending the evening on her ongoing cross stitch project while i try and back up my travel laptop. Hopefully we will get some better weather soon! We still want to view the murals in Sheffield!

cheers Simon

Day 297 Nowhere Else Sunday 20th November 2011

Hi Folks,
A blustery showery day with sun and hail. Susan rehung the curtains this morning ably assisted by me! while simultaneously helping prepare salads for lunch.
We had a BBQ lunch today. Eric's brother John and his wife Yvonne were our guests. I made myself useful by cooking the BBQ. Dessert was scones with delicious home made strawberry jam and whipped cream. I over indulged per usual. It was a lunch filled with convivial conversation most enjoyable. John and Kaye were called away by the need to return to their farm for the afternoon milking!
Later on in the afternoon I cleaned the BBQ. The rest of the day was fairly leisurely. We had a light tea of salads and spent the evening pottering.
I have been reminded I left out of the blog a funny incident from dinner last night. I was stretching up and had my arms in the weightlifting pose and Susan decided to feel my bicep. I responded by flexing the muscle bigger macho style. I felt a small twinge of cramp and for hilarity I dropped my arm and said "Aargh cramp". Kaye laughed, which was unfortunate since she had a sip of wine in her mouth which ended up on the table, then we all laughed again.

Night folks

Simon

Day 296 Nowhere Else Saturday 19th November 2011

Puddling making



Garden 1.



Garden 1. Elm trees in the background.



Garden 2. Built around the old Sheffield Olympic swimming pool. The pool was built in the creek bed and its water is creek water.



Down stream from the pool dam




Garden 3. Newly established and still maturing



Tasmania has around 50% of the worlds legal poppy production. These are great signs!



Heysen like view of Mount Roland (apart from the green fields).



Mount Roland again. Note Brown's cows coming in for milking


Hi All,
We awoke to cloudy skies that quickly gave way to warm sunny conditions of around 21C.
Susan and Kaye departed to Devonport at 830 to make charity Christmas "pudlings" for the Zonta group. I started slowly and did a few odd jobs, the dishes, shovelled out the combustion heater and raked out the fire adding a few more branches. The main job of rejigging the curtain rods fell over due to the discovery of an unbeknownst joint which rendered the task impractical.
After Susan returned and lunch was consumed we drove to three open gardens in the local area. They all had something different and unique to offer and we spent a pleasant afternoon in the sun strolling around them. The small world syndrome struck again at the last. Susan in conversation found the owners were from Mount Compass and that they lived adjacent to and know Terry and Denny who are the parents of Matt the father of Susan's grand children. After ice creams in Sheffield we returned home for a short break before leaving for our dinner date at Glencoe House with Kaye and Eric. The food was excellent as was the wine, the company and the hosts.
Another tough day in the country. We could see ourselves living here!

Cheers Simon