Polishing the Silver!

Won't have to do this anymore! Why? Cos my Competition days are over, in fact so are my Croquet days!

Sunrise over Redwood!

It was a great one this morning, unlike the day we are expecting - gale force winds and a temperature of 24 degrees, so bushfire weather!

Maybe we might venture out to the State Cinema to see Song for Marion, a new UK film,in limited release.

Wow!

It's 6 am, can't sleep so have been transported to Bavaria, to Tegelberg, Queen Mary's Bridge and fairytale Neuschwanstein. I have heard all about King Ludwig ll and his friendship with Wagner, his early mysterious death and have seen the beautiful mountain filled countryside where he liked to spend his time. All this beauty is accompanied by Wagner's beautiful music AND you learn a little history along the way.

I am really enjoying this Series on SBS by the BBC and marvel at the fact that I can watch it all on my trusty IPad.

Last week I was in The Lake District, this week Germany and next comes South Africa but I cannot really imagine that SA will hold my attention as much as these past two weeks.

Downton Abbey Final

Boo Hoo, it's over, for now, and what a way to finish, a new baby loses his father, his cousin lost her mother at birth, so perhaps the remaining parents might get together!

I am still waiting for the DVDs from the library, last time I checked I was still ninetieth on the waiting list, so I am not holding my breath!

The next movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWbyBLVbiXw&feature=youtu.be

Ducks galore

how is this for a welcoming committee and how disappointed they were when we had nothing to give them!

Four Days on The Island

we have made it to youtube!!! copy and paste the link to see the first Newham production and let me know what you think of it. will we make it to the cannes film festival? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yIvq-Htgco&feature=youtu.be

Celebrating Kens birthday

We were helped to do this by the three wise monkeys, alias Marge, Shirley and Helga.

Frustration!

How difficult can they make it? I (with Heidi's help) have made a couple of little movies, but THEY don't make it easy for you to show them, nevertheless, I will not admit defeat yet!

Can't wait to go to bed tonight!

Bought our first fitted electric blanket, bliss!

This morning

We had this beautiful rainbow over Margate and I thought of my brother-in-law Bernard.

Craft group

I have joined the Probus Craft Group and our project at the moment is a quilt of appliqued birds. I have done a blue wren and am now working on a Pied Oystercatcher ( will show you when they are finished) yesterday we were talking about what other birds we could do and they all thought I was being rude when I suggested a Shag on a rock! But just look at this fantastic photo I got from the net. A Shag is another name for a Cormorant.

King island

King Island is a little island off the northwest coast of Tasmania. It is approximately 60 km long by 35 km wide, has more wallabies than people, is very laid back, nobody locks their doors and keys can safely be left in ignitions. Our rental accommodation was open when we got there, and we had no keys. They have three policemen but they are there to keep an eye on the fishermen rather than the landlubbers!

We went with friends Jos and Daphne for four days on the island, which is very peaceful and quite interesting.

We hired a 4WD which turned out to be a twin cab Ute, not the easiest to get UP into, but we got plenty of practice over the four days.

The view of the harbour at Grassy from the spa!

Kelp, and more Kelp

This is the third big export from King Island.

After the kelp is collected from the rocks it is hung up to dry on huge racks for a few days, then taken into sheds where it is dried again and then crushed into small pieces, bagged up and shipped off to Scotland, where it is used in all manner of things, eg cosmetics, icecream, pharmaceuticals, in fact so many things we use everyday have kelp in them.

What lovely colours in the kelp.

Kelp on the rocky foreshore.

I approve of the name of this great beach

we are down near Currie where the Kelp is harvested.

Jos and ken had fun with the kelp stems found all along the beach!

Ken, enjoying the Cheese Tasting at the K.I. Dairy

And our King Island Beef Pies from the Bakery. It can't get much better, the cows have it good here!

Enjoying the spa!

when Daphne gets in it is bound to overflow. And then into the sauna to finish us off!

Wallabies, wallabies,

wallabies everywhere at dusk, there must be far more wallabies than the 2000 inhabitants go the island.

King island beef

of course! The dinner our hosts cooked for us, borsch to start with, then this, then pannacotta flavoured with King Island Honey. All very tasteful, so much so that I forgot to take photos of the other two courses!

The tallest lighthouse

in the Southern Hemisphere. The walls are ten feet thick and made of locally quarried granite.

Warning!

This is what they do with their dead Possums!

Four wheel drive stuff!

Lavinia Beach

Must be one of the best, and least accessible, on the island

Ich sitze hier und schneide Speck!

Sorry to all you none speaking German people.

The view through the rushes

Saw lots of wild turkeys

but they all turned their backs on us and hurried away. Perhaps someone told them that we eat them on Christmas Day!

Grassy

This is where we stayed, one of the three "towns" on King Island, the capital being Currie and the third place, Naracoopa, which we drove through and didn't see a soul!

Still making the most of the wine and cheese in the sunroom.

The neighbours came to call!

The Calcified Forest

Thousands of years ago these trees were covered in sand and then submerged. The sand set like plaster of Paris and eventually the trees themselves died. The plaster casts, hollow now, are gradually crumbling away.

Another rough bit of coastline down the south end of K.I.