Good Night!!

Tell its late, I can't spell.

Anbd thats it for tonight folks.

I have to be up bright and early in the morning, I am going birding!!

Old Golfers never die, they just lose their balls!

Balls or no balls, it is a beautiful Golf Course, one of best in Australia but soon to be superceded by an even more spectacular one just down the road, the land owned by the same rich potato grower! Yes that is right, before it was a Golf Course of International repute it was a Potato Field. Golfers come from far and wide to tread the hallowed turf (and get away from the wife!)

Unfortunately they were burning off in Victoria and the smoke drifted right across the Bass Strait and spoilt the clarity of my photos but I think you can get the general idea.

We made this trip up because when Ken's brother was here recently (he plays Golf) they had thought of going up there for a game but I doubt whether he would have been so keen when he found out what it would cost, about $100 for a round of 18 holes (cheaper if you are a Tasmanian)

The Batman Bridge

To get from one side of the river Tamar to the other you have to cross the Batman Bridge!! Makes sense! It is quite a spectacular Bridge and I risked life and limb to stand in the middle of the road to get the third photo. Under the Bridge is a Recreational area which is an offroad (so free) overnight stop for caravans and travellers in general. Quite a pleasant picnic spot for us on our way to Bridport.

Stuffed!!

One morning we found ourselves at the Tamar Wetlands Centre. We have been there before on a previous visit, it is a good place for birding. In the Interpretation Centre there were a few tatty birds, the Parks & Wildlife Lady apologised for the state of them and said they were always last in line when it came to getting new specimens. However, when we showed an interest in the beautiful wombat she told us that he - Maurice - was their latest addition and that they are always on the lookout for newly dead animals or birds, not too squashed if they are roadkill!!
Maurice was her find, he was so newly dead that he was still on his feet, fancy that? He was in the bush behind their shack, so she got the wheelbarrow, and her husband, and managed to get him - Maurice - not her husband - to the Museum in Launceston where they freeze dried him - Maurice, not her husband - and then stuffed him!!

Exercises!!

We didn't realise that our apartment was on the first floor - no lift - so we had plenty of exercise up and down these stairs!!

The Old Boys Network!

Start the day right - with a confab at the meeting place, which was the first trip of the day to put money into the Pay and Display machine. This started at 8.30 sharp, one old boy defaulted by five minutes and got a $20 fine!! and went on till 5.30 in the evening, bit of a pain really.

Eating - again

In York Town Square there was a Japanese Restaurant with a Sushi Train - new to me, I have had sushi (see earlier post) but didn't know it sometimes came by train!!

We really enjoyed our meal here, so much so that Ken and I came back another two times in the one week, bringing our friends here for our last night. It was reasonably prices, neat small servings and all freshly cooked if you had something other than sushi. Can't wait to try out a Japanese place in Hobart now.

Night Photography

This is York Town Square by Night!! Our apartment was in this Square, right in the middle of town, and Heidi and I decided it was time we had a go at night photography. We set the camera up on the tripod and put the tripod up on three chairs, as the only window without flyscreens was in the living room and it qas quite high up. The rest was easy, just set the camera for 'night photography' and use the time exposure, which keeps the shutter open - are you still with me?

Anyway here are the results, we were quite pleased.

Platypusses and Echidnas

Boo Hoo - all my photos of Platypusses were rubbish, they are so difficult to photograph. But what about the Echidnas, they made up for it.

Ken and I drove up to Beauty Point on the Monday to visit the Platypus and Echidna House. I will not give up though, one day I will get the perfect photo of a Platypus.

I did not realise that these two animals have so much in common, they are the only two Monotremes in the world who are egg laying mammals, and their eggs are both identical and very small. The echidnas on the mainland are more prickly as they have no fur, whereas in Tasmania they need prickles AND fur, to keep out the cold. They are quite fast moving, and travel anything up to 5 km a day.

Eating again - Breakfast for Heidi this time!

We had a three bedroom apartment right in the centre of Launceston, in York Town Square. The upside was the little cafe right opposite our place which had a bakery and turned out lovely fresh croissants and weak lattes,just what Heidi liked for breakfast (we had cereal, we are diabetic - boo hoo!)

The downside was that from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm we had to feed the parking meter if we wanted to stay in the Square. We realise how expensive parking is in Launceston compared with Hobart, where you get the first hour and a half free in the car parks, in Launceston, as I found last time we were in England, everywhere it is "Pay & Display" and the fine for not continually feeding the meter was $20, as our neighbour found out, to his cost!!

Lunchtime!

We took a break for lunch at a converted Church, quite quaint, and it didn't take long to polish off the tasty Beef roll we ordered.

We're Back!!

To get from Hobart to Launceston you have to travel the Midland Highway, now known as "The Heritage Highway!" This Highway is some 160 miles long and has a bad reputation for accidents. I don't really understand why, as there are plenty of overtaking lanes, most accidents seem to be head-on collisions and although the speed limit is 110 km obviously people do not keep to this.

Anyway, that apart, it has been made more interesting lately by the addition of these silhouettes along the way. I liked the surveyors and the Highwayman saying "Stand and Deliver" and the others, they are all very lifelike in spite of being just 'shadows' and they add a certain something to what could otherwise be a boring journey. There were others, but it was not always convenient to get off the highway and in a safe position to photograph them.

Hope you won't miss me!

Ken, Heidi and I are off to Launceston tomorrow, Heidi will come back on Tuesday but we will be staying for the week in a three bedroom apartment right in the middle of the town, in York Town Square!

On Monday we will go up to Beauty Point, there are Seahorses and Platypusses there, so look forward to some good photos.

Next Friday Ken and I are in a Statewide Golf Croquet Competition, we are quite looking forward to that, it will be fun and it doesn't matter if we don't win! But we will try!!

So the Blog will be a bit quiet for the next few days but I'll make up for it when I return.

Bye for now!

Boo Hoo it didn't 'do' the photos so here they are again!

Girls day - again.

Our monthly chinwag and eatfest was at our house yesterday, so we had Homity Pie (an old favourite from Tea House days) with various salads, I tried out my Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar and my Extra Virgin Tasmanian Olive Oil on the salads, yummy! and for 'afters' we had Belgian Lemon Cake, sorry I didn't take a photo but that was great and went down well, they all wanted the recipe. Sometimes I wonder if they just say that OR they really mean it!!!!

Then I gave some of them a quick computer lesson on Picasa, I think when they saw how easy and quick it is to upload photos they will go home and put it on their computers, after all it doesn't cost anything!

So the other photos are just quick ones of Diane and Wendy.

A proliferation of Bush Beans!

I have so many bush beans they are coming out of my ears!

I dread going out into the vegie garden at the moment as they are all crying out to be picked and there are only so many beans you can eat. I have not tried freezing them, I feel they lose their taste, if you were nearer I could give them to you!!

Roadside Bonus

This is a bunch of flowers I picked up at a Roadside Stall for $3! And it was not even out in the country, but in busy Kingston. I think it is great that people put out their excess produce and plants for people like me, who like a bargain (and no Middle Man)

I was looking through a few Blogs the other day, and it struck me how "deep and meaningful" some Blogs are - mine is just short and sweet!!

I'm up in the clouds!

On the way back from Evandale on Monday, after the rain had finally stopped, I had to pull over onto the hard shoulder to take this photo of the clouds and the sky, the sky was absolutely fantastic and I like this photo so much that I am having it enlarged, I will let you know how it turns out, it might be worth framing. If it is as beautiful as this from down here you wouldn't mind going to heaven, would you?

Monday was a holiday here - one of the many Mondays they tack onto a weekend - so we drove up to the pretty little town on Evandale, some two hundred km from Hobart. Once a year they have the John Glover Competition, this is in honour of the Landscape Artist who settled in this part of the state in his latter years and was buried in a little cemetery a few km down the road. This is the most prestigious Art Competition in Tasmania and the winner receives $35,000 so not bad. As with all Art, you really wonder how some of the entrants were chosen and how the Judges selected the winning entry, which to my mind was far from the best one. We did have more luck in selecting the 'Viewers Choice' which was a snow scene in Old Growth Forest, with lichen on the barks of the trees which was so realistic. The result of this was announced on TV tonight.

There are some beautiful old buildings (well up to 200 years old maybe - I am beginning to sound like a local!) the main street is "quaint" and there are galleries on every corner. The town also boasts some beautiful churches and these were just two which took my fancy.

Arty Farty Weekend

As both Joan and Linda had artworks in the local Cygnet Annual Art Show we went down there to have a look. The standard was high and Joan's pictures were firstclass. She uses Pastels and is really very good at what she does. Could not actually take photos of her entries as 1. they were both framed and behind glass so you get lots of reflections in the glass, and two, the one we liked best was hung too high.

I liked the Angel, he reminded me of Ken! My favourite was the third one, which was actually a photograph printed on canvas, in black and white, quite stunning.

Little Miss Muffett

would have a fit if she lived here!! How about this for a nice big Huntsman spider, not deadly but would make you go a bit numb if she bit you, but why should she, she is probably more scared of you than you are of her, so leave her alone and she will go home, dragging her tail behind her! I think I have got my nursery rhymes a bit mixed up but then it is such a long time since..... Enough of that!