Day 79 Nubeena Thursday 14th April 2011

Barilla Bay


Restaurant view


Artwork come seat in a city arcade



Timber sculpture in the mall

Hi Folks,

Our day off! Started with a spa and some housekeeping before we left for Hobart at 11:00. Susan decided we would have lunch at Barilla Bay an oyster farm with a restaurant just before Sorell. The food was good although I thought the main courses were a tad on the small side but that's just me! We had a mixed dozen of 3 different types of oysters for entree. Followed by Atlantic salmon for Susan and Seafood Laksa for me. Laksa is one of the dishes we could and should prepare at the resort for the communal dinner as long as we can cater for the vegans and seafood allergists.

We then proceeded into Hobart to the Northern suburb of Derwent Bridge where i visited Jaycar to pick up some driver bits.

I have said it before but the road system around Hobart is crap and today was no different, narrow roads clogged with traffic.

We proceeded to the city centre and parked in good old Elizabeth Street for $1.40 an hour. Susan visited the beauty parlor for a quick wax job and we then perused the shops. Susan focused on a secondhand book shop one of the better ones I have seen and ended up spending $40. The rest of the afternoon was spent in outdoor shops with nothing bought to justify the time. Sometimes it is good to just kick the tyres.

We drove around to the Village Cinema complex however there was nothing suitable in the normal section. The Kings Speech was in gold class but at $23 a throw we wandered up the street to a Vietnamese Restaurant and spent $60 on a nice tea. Then it was back to Sorell for coffee at Maccas if they hadn't turned their machine off. Well it was late all of 9 o'clock! The Wood fired pizza place supplied coffee and hot chocolate and with Susan at the wheel and me driving the laptop we set off down the well worn track back home in light rain.

Unfortunately we dispatched our first road kill (of the mammal variety) since we started travelling last year with Susan at the wheel, a smallish wallaby. The rest of the journey passed without incident.

Bed time folks!

Cheers

Simon

Day 78 Nubeena Wednesday 14th April 2011

Scarlet Robin



Scarlet Robin



Left to right, Agnes - France, Melody UK, Susan, Caryn - Tasmania, Rebecca- Ireland, Tatiana - Taiwan, Ilan- The Boss, Jimmy - Taiwan, Lynne - Aust, Nik - Holland, Wei Ting, Taiwan, Peach - Hong Kong


Hi All,
Some pictures above to relieve the monotony of the blog.

Rebecca left today and although she was happy to be going the place will be poorer for it. My repayment for shouting her one of my James Squire Golden Ales was 5 cans of Carlton Draught and a bottle of dealcoholised red wine imported from the USA that she found in her room.

I had a slow start to the day awaking at 9:00 and not entering the work arena until 10:15. It's a bit hard to get motivated when it is pissing down with rain.

Then followed the usual routine in the pool area although I did add some soda ash to the spa as it was a tad low at pH7. 20 grams moved the pH of 2600 litres up to 7.8 indicating the unbuffered nature of the water as we fill it with rainwater as the tank water has a tannin stain. Anyway enough of the chemistry.

As the rain continued I had another couple of gutters to clean one which had reblocked after being cleaned a fortnight ago and one that I had made a mental note to do and which had slipped from my brain.

The other task for the day was sorting out the mouse plague. To this end the boss will be buying more poison tomorrow whether it be the granular stuff or the wax blocks. I am determined we won't use it inside, but under the buildings and in the laundry where the traps can't keep up. Last thing we need is a kid nibbling one in a room or mice dying in the wall cavities! For the rooms I have requested 6 or 8 of the plastic spring traps mentioned in an earlier blog for use in the units. My intention is to rotate these through the rooms especially those where a guest has reported rodents.

I finally managed to get pictures of scarlet robins today. They have been a bit elusive. There are also some nice parrots I want o snap but they fly away before I get into camera range however I will persevere.

Susan's painful thighs had resolved this morning however a day standing and working has seen them aching again. I commented tonight she has "everypartofthebodyitis". This may mean we need to adjourn to a warmer climate!

Tomorrow is our day off and I think we will give walking a rest and have a day relaxing in the big smoke (Hobart). The weather is clear tonight so looks like it will be sunny tomorrow. I shall test and treat the pools tonight before I go to bed for my own peace of mind.

We have roast pork again for our community dinner should be served shortly.

Catch you later folks

Cheers

Simon

Day 77 Nubeena Tuesday 12th April 2011

Hi Folks,

A day of solid rain today! Must have been 60mm all up.

This morning I introduced Jimmy to some of the basic tasks of pool maintenance and then set him to cleaning up the shed in preparation for chanting tonight. In the end it was not required since the event was moved into the main building. As the rain increased in volume the drainage inadequacies of the roofs became evident so I donned my water proofs and clambered around them clearing gutters. After that I dug some trenches around the water tanks to channel away the overflow from the shed. Then it was on to rounding up the chickens and shooing them back into the pen. Had to laugh they were standing in the pouring rain drinking water from the water bin. The evening was spent doing some small equipment repairs and tidying up.

Susan spent a long day in the standing and working in the laundry and is suffering tonight with pain in her thighs. Hopefully nurofen and a hot water bottle will settle things down.

Night folks

Cheers Simon

Day 76 Nubeena Monday 11th April 2011

Hello,

A day of drizzle and light rain. I achieved couple of things. First was replumbing the water supply hose to the pool making it underground and tidier than before. The second repairing the table tennis table. Both tasks assisted by Jimmy from Taiwan. After we repaired the table we had a fairly long hit of table tennis before I was called away as "something weird has happened to the table out the front of 19".

I tried to explain the phrase "Going for a jimmy" to our Taiwanese helpers. In hindsight I probably shouldn't have. Jimmy was a bit bemused!

I made pita pizzas for tea that turned out surprisingly well and finished the day in the spa the same way I started it.

Susan's big challenge today was filling out the 28 pages of the health care card application, something that doesn't fill me with excitement! Full house here tonight so a busy housekeeping day tomorrow.

Cheers Folks

Simon

Day 75 Nubeena Sunday 10th April 2011

Dear All,

A regular day at the office today. With not a huge amount to report. We have a lot of helpers at the moment they are just about tripping over each other. I suggested we give one to each room as a servant, which got a good laugh. Hell I was serious! Theoretically it should enable a few of the jobs around here to get done. However throw in a language barrier and skills deficit and it gets a bit harder.

However that's what we get paid the big money for! Speaking of which the census positions are now open for applications so we better get on to it. We will apply locally and see what happens. If successful we will be condemned to a winter in this northernmost Antarctic colony. There are several scenarios swirling around in the ether at the moment. Hopefully in the next few weeks the ether will turn to concrete.

Cheers Simon

Day 74 Nubeena Saturday 10th April 2011

View from Mangion Blow Hole back toward Remarkable Cave


Mangion Blow Hole - "Nature imitates life/Life imitates nature"


View out to sea from Mangion Blow Hole


Crescent Bay


View from Mount Brown back to Crescent Bay and Port Arthur


"One more for the cairn" atop Mount Brown


"Happy Bushwalkers"

Hi Folks,

Well the perfect weather abated for our day off. A windy cloudy day but mercifully not cold. The wind was from the north a portent of a change on the way.

We headed out around 1030 taking Jimmy with us for his day out at Port Arthur. Before leaving I got him to ring our Telstra phone from his Optus one to store his number so we could ring him on our way back from walking to arrange a pick up. Of course I didn't realise there was no Optus coverage at Port Arthur! Doh!

After coffee at Port Arthur we drove to the start of the walk at Remarkable Cave.
The walk was mainly flat as we headed towards Crescent Beach and Mount Brown with some soft dune sand to contend with and travelled through thick coastal scrub up to head height in places. The track was narrow and the bushes did a good job of scratching my calves. The first stop was Maingon Blowhole. A very deep fissure in the ground with no railings around. It was very precarious trying to peek over to see the water especially with the wind! We moved on.

I could say we elected to walk to the end of Crescent Beach first before returning to take the spur up to Mount brown. However the truth was I missed the turn off.

Anyway we walked to the end of Crescent Beach. I explored a bit further towards the headland where more blowholes were located. After returning to the beach we had a light lunch and returned along the beach to climb up Mount Brown. The view from the top was excellent but the wind was strong. We returned down the hill, Susan picking her way carefully over the flat rocks. We returned to the car after completing the 11km in around 5 hours. From there to Port Arthur picking up Jimmy and returning to the resort and the nice warm spa to relieve out muscles.

Catch you later,

Cheers Simon


Crescent Beach



Blowhole at end of the Beach



Mount Brown Panorama

Day 73 Nubeena Friday 9th April 2011

Hi Folks,

A long day for the helpers today. Susan started off walking around the resort gathering "special projects" from the boss before he disappeared for a day or so. She after organising room cleaning before she left disappeared to Helen and Bobs. The rest was a pretty standard longish day.

The weather was glorious. We decided last night to have a fire tonight. Jimmy and I collected the wood. In the end we decided not to proceed since it was rather windy and we didn't want to burn the paddock down while the boss was away.

Tonight's blog is short since I have spent the evening testing out my new secondhand Nokia E71 phone I bought off Ebay. It arrived today and I now have Optus reception! Susan wants one as well so in between trying this one out especially the GPS function I have been wading through a list of possible to bid on in the next few days.

Ok it is late and I must get to bed. I want to enjoy our day off tomorrow! Hopefully a good walk and some nice pictures.

Cheers Simon