Monday, 22 July 2013

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. 

Saturday, 20 July 2013

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.






Tuesday, 2 July 2013

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.