East Coast Adventure Day 1

Yes, I know - I left the last post with a promise of more on our MONA experience.  It's just that there were so many photos I decided it would be better to put it all into a photo "journal" to make it easier for all to see.  I hope you have all been able to access the MONA album sent to members of my Travel Circle (I know Mrs R. in the UK has viewed it - and thanks for the comments -  it was an absolutely brilliant experience both in the apartment and the museum).
Following on from our MONA adventure we spent a couple of days working in this beautiful garden - pruning roses, trimming edges, clearing stepping stones, and much more.  I also fitted in another quilting morning with the small group of local ladies that have made me feel very welcome.  I also, unfortunately, had a bit of a fall when walking our lovely Billy along the Middleton esplanade - wouldn't have been so bad if it had been on the beach with soft sand, but it was on the gravel road and I took a few layers of skin off my hands and knees and put my shoulder out again.  So after that little episode and all that hard work in the garden, our trip to the East Coast was a welcome break.
As we had to drop Billy off on the northern side of Hobart we elected to drive across country to Bicheno on the way to the coast and then drive back to Hobart along the coast road on the Saturday.

Dysart House, Kempton

Our adventure started with a short side track into a little town called Kempton.  Here we discovered the beautiful house, Dysart. In the mid-1800s it was one of the largest Inns in the district and in the early 1900s it was used as a scholastic establishment for young ladies. It is now in private ownership.

Campbell Church

Wetlands area Oatlands

Playground Oatlands

Callington Mill

Moving on from Kempton we once again took a 'side-track' and stopped into the beautiful village of Oatlands. 
 
Here we discovered the recently restored Callington Mill, which is once again grinding flour and baking artisan breads (whatever they might be!).  
There are beautiful sandstone cottages, churches and colonial mansions, all built with convict labour in the 1800s.  Here you will also see the nation's oldest court house, built in 1829. We also discovered a lovely wetlands area. It was a delight to visit this village but a little too cold to stay wandering for too long - 4 degrees with a wind-chill factor of about minus 4 degrees!   

Back in the warmth of the vehicle we continued our adventure and noticed some rather unique "silhouettes" along the highway.  These depict scenes from the past and have been created by two local sculptors.

Eliza and the Ram

A little further north, before heading east to the coast, we stopped for a warming coffee in the town of Campbell Town.  We had been here before, in 2008, when we discovered the "history" bricks in the footpaths in the main street.
Earlier this year they erected a sculpture of Eliza Forlonge, who along with her two sons, was responsible for the development of the sheep industry in this region.

Tree carvings 3

Tree carvings 1

There are also a number of wooden sculptures that have been added to the banks of the river that were not there in 2008.  These have been created by Eddie Freeman of Ross, carved from tree trunks with a chainsaw.  These carvings graphically highlight unique parts of the local history.  This man is also responsible for all the wood carvings we have seen in other areas of Tasmania.

Tree Carvings info

Tree carvings 2 - Tassie Devil

From Campbell Town we continued our trek across country to the East Coast and our lovely accommodation at Bicheno.

Artist's impression of Bicheno

What a lovely surprise it was to walk into the deluxe apartment at the Harvey Farm Lodge.  This four bedroom unit was delightful (although very cold when we first arrived, until we got the fire roaring).  With views over the ocean and so much room to move we knew we had booked the right place for our east coast adventure.

Flying High in the lounge

Romance renewed

Kitchen/dining delight

Early morning over Bicheno

Sunrise Day 2

We had some wonderful sunrises over the ocean and our two days trekking around the area gave us the opportunity to see some of the areas we missed on our visit in 2008.

Oyster Cove Lookout

Douglas Apsley Waterhole

The Douglas Apsley Gorge waterhole was delightful but due to the amount of water running through the gorge we were unable to walk any further than the waterhole.
After visiting the waterhole we headed further north along the coast to the Ironstone Micro-brewery for lunch and a locally produced pilsner, which was very tasty. The views from the dining room were beautiful.

Ironstone Brewery entrance

Views from Ironstone Brewery

Following lunch we continued north along the coast to St Helens.  The OGO had a hidden agenda for this part of the trip -he was on a mission to get himself some of those luscious oysters we had found in 2008.  Sure enough - into St Helens and turn off to Binalong Bay and there be the oyster farm.  At $8.00 per dozen (unopened of course) we bought three dozen to take back with us - trust me, all three dozen have been devoured and enjoyed by all!

Diana's Basin beach

Surfing at Denison Beach

Returning to Bicheno we stopped in at Diana's Basin beach and then Denison Beach where we watched some local boys enjoying the surf - they must be cracked getting into the ocean here in the middle of winter - check out the wet suits they have to wear to avoid hyperthermia!


It seems our time here is almost at an end, and I have not been able to keep you all up to date with everything we have been doing. There are more photos of our Tassie adventures in the photo albums that I will be sharing with you and I will try to post again tomorrow with more about our East Coast adventure.

Cultural Adventure on the North Side

Great weather for ducks

Another wet and windy day but who can complain after the wonderful surprise the OGO gave me last Monday - keep those little minds pure please. Lol. 
 
After the wonderful day spent on the Ida Bay Railway we planned a trip to Salamanca Market for the Saturday, a day in the garden (rose pruning) on Sunday after a visit to Snug markets for produce, and a second 'adventure' to Bruny Island on Monday.  

Walking in the Rain

Best laid plans of man were not to eventuate - Saturday the OGO didn't look too good after a very sleepless night, so no drive to Hobart said Mrs OGO - day of rest for the OGO and time in the garden for me.  Good thing I worked in the garden that day - poured with rain all day Sunday, but we did manage a very damp walk with Billy on the Snug River track so not all was lost. 

Things didn't improve on Monday morning when Mrs OGO had problems walking - result - no 'adventure' to Bruny Island today! bummer. 

As the day, and Mrs OGO, improved, we continued our discussions with much fervour about what activities we wanted to fit in before we leave Tassie in three weeks time, including planning a three day trip to the East Coast (24-26 July). The 'bucket' list seemed quite reasonable, but of course a lot depended on the weather - not just for the planned activities but for work in the garden to finish the rose pruning - the latter being one of the main conditions of our house-sitting and main request from the owners before they left for their own travels.

'Bucket' list - another Bruny Island 'adventure'; 3 day trip to East Coast (already settled on date, just book accommodation); Salamanca market (include that at end of 3 day East Coast trip); Hobart CBD (can do on Monday 5th August - our extra day before leaving); and a visit to MONA (that would be a full day in Hobart). The latter required some internet work for times, costs, etc - and then suddenly an unpredictable, 'romantic' OGO appeared in our lounge room.  Where did he come from?!!

Panorama of Derwent River

Searching the MONA site we discovered that not only was MONA an unusual museum and gallery, it also had some rather unusual accommodation on the grounds.  
Now this is no ordinary motel - these are eight of the most expensive, elite SC apartments on the Derwent River - and not even in my dreams would I consider staying there.  But it seems an opportunity presented itself for the OGO to book an apartment for one night at half price (still not factored into the budget of the Minister of Peace and Finance) but it was only offered for Tuesday night (that being the next day!) --  and what do you know -- early Tuesday morning Mrs OGO is packing an overnight case for a romantic overnight getaway in Hobart! Knock me down with a feather.

Now you have to know the background to this development (i.e. MONA, apartments, and Moorilla vineyard) and have some knowledge of the owner, David Walsh, to appreciate the whole scenario that has unfolded here.

Entrance to MONA

David Walsh suffers from Aspergers (I think that is the correct spelling). He made his fortune through gambling on the horses, and other things, on money he borrowed from friends.  He had always 'collected' things from the time he was a small boy, and eventually his collection 'outgrew' his accommodation.  His story is quite amazing and very interesting - and so is MONA - the Museum of Old and New Art.  To get a better understanding of this very, very unusual and 'quirky' museum you should visit the MONA website at www.mona.net.au

Derwent River at night

For family and friends that have our email address/es you can even view the tours that we took through the museum by just 'retrieving my tour' under the 'O' on the top menu. You will need to enter the email address though.
This was quite an unusual 'cultural adventure' -- and  a wonderful place to spend a romantic getaway.

Here I shall leave you to 'investigate' the MONA site and all it has to offer visitors. In my next post I will give you a look at what we enjoyed on our day of 'cultural adventure' to MONA. 

Tasmanian Travels

How quickly the month has passed.  We have been out and about quite a lot since my last post, not to mention how busy we have been in the garden here.  Time to share a few 'adventures' with you and even more photos.

Our little "adventure" to Bruny Island just whetted our appetite for more little 'adventures' locally. As the weather has been so mild, even warm some days, we have ventured out on some short 'local' walks  - well, within 110km from Greenslade - so I shall attempt to give you a little summary of each of our day 'adventures' and tell you about a little surprise that the OGO gave me this week!

Base of Snug Falls

SNUG FALLS:  24kms from home base; 2kms return walk to base of falls.  This was meant to be an 'easy' walk for me - and going down to the falls was relatively easy although quite slippery and uneven under foot. There had been quite a few days of rain prior to our day out and the falls were quite magnificent.  Very little bird life (but it is winter so to be expected fewer birds around) but the scenery down into the gorge was beautiful.

Simon Burgess

Local Blacksmith

Local Doctor

Local Policeman

GEEVESTON: about 60kms from home base. A lovely quiet timber town south of Huonville, there are some beautiful wooden figures in the main street, that have been carved by chainsaw.
  
One such carving is that of Simon Burgess, who won silver medals in the rowing at the Olympic Games in Sydney and Athens, and captain of the Australian men's rowing team for three years. This is a town that exists because of the timber logging industry despite the intense battle in the 1980s with conservationists over logging the Farmhouse Creek forests - which are now protected from logging! 

Geeveston is also the turn-off point for the Hartz Mountains (which was to be the destination for our next 'adventure') and the Tahune Airwalk (which we opted to pass on at $25.00 per person!).

Waratah Lookout Shed

ARVE FALLS & WARATAH LOOKOUT: about 90kms from home base. A short walk in the Hartz Mountains National Park.

Smoking trees

The OGO Slipping

Our next little 'adventure' was to be another easy, or moderate, stroll to the Arve Falls. On the way we stopped at the Arve River Reserve for our morning coffee and even the trees were breathing 'smoke'! It was definitely a cool morning.

...and Sliding

Arve Falls Track

We had been here before in the Spring of 2008, but we loved the area so much we thought a return trip was worth it.  Little did we know that walking on this day would hold its own challenges - snow and ice! The OGO had great difficulty staying upright and we didn't actually make it to the Falls lookout as the icy track was far too dangerous.  We did however slip and slide our way into the Waratah Lookout.  Photos? Plenty - and video too!!

There is a lot more to share with you (just because I have been slack in updating my posts!) so will join you again tomorrow.

Island Adventure

Already two weeks have passed and we have settled very quickly into our 'temporary' home here in Gordon.

The weather has been quite kind to us considering it is winter, at least until yesterday when we experienced almost cyclonic winds.  We had three very, very frosty mornings in the first week and 19mm of rain the second  night here.  Admittedly there have been some 'cool' days and we have taken full advantage of the wood fire in the lounge.

The garden is divine with our own stream and waterfall running along the boundary of the property.   We even have a 'fairy house' under one of the trees.  Jonquils are already in flower and there are hundreds of bulbs starting to show their green leaves.  Many of the rose bushes are still in flower.  We are regularly visited by green rosellas, honeyeaters, and scarlet red robins. 

There are vegetables and herbs in the garden and we have enjoyed delicious hot soups and fruit desserts from the garden produce - potato and leek soup; pumpkin and fig soup; rhubarb and apple crumble; rhubarb and fig creamed rice; citrus syrup tea-cake (with custard of course), and some delicious home-made lemon curd.

The OGO has spent a few hours on the ride-on and this month we have about 200 rose bushes to prune. He is, of course, in his element with the number of birds around the area and has a multitude of photos already.Life has not been all about the garden though.

Last week we took the ferry across to Bruny Island for the day.  What a lovely place to visit.  Once on the island (15 minutes on the car ferry), we travelled the main road to Adventure Bay where we planned to walk one of the tracks. 

Track to Beach

Along the way we stopped at the lookout at the isthmus between the north and south islands. I took one look at the number of steps to the lookout and promptly elected to take the steps down to the beach! We spent a lovely 45 minutes on the beach and never did make it to the lookout.

Adventure Bay

At Adventure Bay we walked the track to Grass Point where we spied scarlet robins, firetail finches, Pacific gulls, yellow chinned honeyeaters, and pied oystercatchers.  We also spotted a very large school of fish in the bay and found a beautiful underwater garden.

Before leaving Adventure Bay we were delighted to spot a small group of wallabies and pademelons in a small cleared area amongst the trees.  Even more delighted to find a couple of 'white, albino' wallabies - photos to prove it!!!! these are the most beautiful dazzling white creatures we have ever seen.

Monday must have been our special day.  Not only did we JUST make the 9.30am ferry (they actually waited for us as we approached the pay booth), we saw the rare white wallaby, AND...... we spotted a whale in the Channel.  Yep, we sure did.  

We left Adventure Bay on the eastern side of South Bruny and drove across to Alonnah on the western (or Channel) side to have lunch at the Bruny Hotel.  Sitting at a table by the window, enjoying the afternoon sun, we spotted what we at first thought was a couple of dolphins.  The OGO thought it too large for dolphins and then Mrs OGO noticed a water spout, announced there was a whale in the Channel, and cleared the pub!. 

The publican said whales in the Channel these days is quite an uncommon sight.  Many years ago there were so many whales in the Channel they used to keep people living in this area awake at night with the sounds they make but not so these days. 

So what a fabulous day we had for our first adventure on the Apple Isle. I hope there will be more 'special days' to share with you over the next four weeks.

Gorge, Fever, and Travelling Again

Red-capped Robin - Nairana

After a long ten weeks in the 'Bush' we arrived home on Wednesday, 12th June - but only for a few short days as we headed off again on Monday, 17th June.  This time to the beautiful Apple Isle, Tasmania.  Yes, I know - it's Winter, it's cold, it's Tasmania - have we lost our minds!?  No, this will be another 'adventure' and a chance for me to attend the annual exhibition for the Tasmania Quilters Guild in Hobart.


After leaving Nairana NP on the morning of 7th June we spent the weekend with the lovely Mr and Mrs K.  And what a lovely weekend it was.  The boys went out and set the crab pots down at the creek whilst Mrs K and I caught up on crafty things.  Apparently the mozzies were rather monstrous at the creek and made a meal of the OGO with some devastating effects as we discovered on Sunday.

Although it was a little damp and overcast on the Saturday we had a lovely guided tour of an area near Eungella with a stop off at a couple of properties in the area that were for sale.  It was obvious that the young couple were very interested in one particular property and whilst enjoying a winter style lunch at the Eungella Chalet my thoughts were confirmed - they had made an offer on the 60 acre property and would become the proud owners following bank appraisal later in the week.  Well done guys and what a beautiful spot to live.

Big Foot Lookout

Leaving Sarina we headed for Cania Gorge for a couple of nights. The OGO was not well and had been awake most of the night with a fever but we had to be home by Wednesday so we pushed on.  There are some great walks at the Gorge but as the OGO was not at all well we only managed a very short walk to the picnic ground and along the creek.  Lots of damage along the creek from the floods earlier this year.

Nankeen Heron

Still bird-watching we spotted a Nankeen night heron and some beautiful King parrots along the creek. 

King Parrot

Another night of high fevers, shivers, and soaked nightwear, left both RRs exhausted and very worried that the OGO had maybe contracted Dengue Fever from the mozzie bites.  This was confirmed over the next few days as the fever progressed.


No visit to the doctor, of course - not able to convince the OGO it was necessary - so we flew out of Brisbane on Monday morning and arrived here in Gordon early Monday evening. 

Our 'temporary home' is just beautiful - views to die for and five acres of lush grass, roses galore and over 60,000 spring bulbs that will be in flower befor we leave here.

Billy 'the Kid'

We have a little 'companion' - Billy - who loves to chase a ball and has adopted the OGO.

View from Kitchen window

There is a log fire in the lounge and lovely comfy leather chairs.  We have an old-fashioned brass bed in our room and every room has French doors leading onto wide verandahs. There is a veggie garden with leeks, broad beans, broccoli, parsnips, potatoes, onions, caulis, rocket, and lots of fresh herbs. Lemon, tamarillo, and fig trees, and berry bushes are all providing good fruit as well.  

Scarlet Robin - Tasmania

This is a five acre property with views over the D'entrecasteaux Channel and Bruny Island.

There is a lovely creek and waterfall on the boundary, and a lovely 'hidden' walk down to the beach. And the OGO has already been happily 'snapping' birds not seen on the mainland! His only wish - for the sun to shine a little more!



 After three days of total relaxation the OGO has almost recovered from his fevers, shivers, and aches and we shall no doubt start taking a few little driving tours around the district in the next few days.