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This is how to keep up in touch with me when I'm on my travels. Hope you like it - please give me feedback as to what you might like to see on it - or not!



Tuesday 27 March 2012

Bruny island

We spent the weekend on Bruny Island to the south of Hobart. It consists of N and S islands joined by a very narrow isthmus, which is a point where the fairy penguins come in from the sea to nest in burrows in the dunes each evening (correction Most evenings). This is something I very much wanted to see, and Chris was keen to go mountain biking on the island so we took the ferry over with him and his mate Dan and their bikes. Jon and I spent the night in a holiday cottage. A friend of Chris's was doing a month's voluntary lighthouse keeping so they stayed there at her cottage.





The lighthouse was first lit in 1838 and is the oldest continuously-manned lighthouse in Australia. It was decommissioned in 1996, when it was replaced by a solar-powered tower. So Chris's friend minds the automatic weather station and takes manual readings, and looks after the old lighthouse. We all went up inside the lighthouse with champagne and snacks for a bit of a party as this was her last week there. At the very top we took turns to sit inside the light chamber surrounded by lenses and were slowly rotated, for the most surreal experience of ever-changing distorted visions of stormy skies, or people peering in at us. Not an occasion to be taking any mind-bending drugs!








Jon and I left this happy party to go and see the penguins. We had to drive carefully as it was dusk and there were lots of death-defying hoppers loping across the tracks in front of the car. We watched for penguins for about an hour without success. Apparently, there are fewer to see at this time of year when they're moulting. We were just returning in the car, disappointed, when there was suddenly a lone penguin on the road caught in our headlights, looking very disoriented and oh so cute. (they are only about 12 to 18 inches tall) He wandered this way and that, clearly wondering which way was home (I know that feeling) until we took pity on him and turned off the lights, thanking him wholeheartedly for being so cooperative. Unfortunately no photo, as it was unfair to keep him standing around posing.

We all went on a wildlife cruise next morning in perfect weather (it was wildly variable the previous day, with squally showers, cold and very windy). This showed us some of the remarkable rock features and caves, as well as sea birds and fur seals - a really good 3 hour tour.


Dropping Dan off at home, we were invited in for a cuppa and saw Kate's (this is a shared house) mud house which she has recently built at the bottom of the garden, which slopes very steeply down to the sea. She told me how she wants to spread the word about the technique of building these houses, hoping to make a living running practical workshops in fact. I really loved her "pod" but think I'd want double glazing and air conditioning in that climate!
I'd love to share photos of this but the only ones I took are on my phone and it invokes the wrath of the iPad so I can't. Blame Apple not me.

It's now Tuesday, we've just had a lovely afternoon on the beach. We went back to Tinderbox Bay at my request because it was so quiet - no traffic noise or other people at all, and the council workmen turned up 10 minutes later to cut and strim the grass. So we had our BBQ and went on to Fossil Cove where Chris snorkelled and we were the fossils.






Next stop Melbourne. Maybe no WiFi maybe no blog.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Huon Rd,South Hobart,Australia

Friday 23 March 2012

East coast trip

It's Thursday night and we got back about 6 from our 4 day tour of part of the East coast. We've been lucky with the weather, mostly fine and sunny. And accommodation has worked out well. Jon and I have found rooms as required and Chris has camped out, but mostly made good use of our showers and kitchen facilities. Which seems like cheating to me, but don't tell him I said so.
We started off by visiting Port Arthur's penal settlement. This was fascinating and very well presented.
All three of us are more interested in natural features than museums and towns so we've taken in some wonderful sights,- blowholes, rock arches, tunnel caves and tessellated pavements











- and passed through and walked in very varied countryside and coast. Chris has swum



but we've opted out, as the water's pretty cold. But the beaches are just beautiful and, being the end of the season, practically deserted.

For me the highlight was a visit to a conservation park for Tasmanian devils. And it wasn't even the devils themselves, though they were interesting to see and learn about. There is a dreadful facial cancer afflicting them in the wild and this park maintains a breeding programme of disease-free devils, with a view to releasing them when there is a vaccine or the disease has been eradicated. Since there are only about 300 altogether, it is unlikely that the population will survive.




It was the Forestier kangaroos we loved. Feeding time meant visitors hand-feeding them. It was lovely to be so close, to have them feeding from our hands and to stroke their softly furry backs. Jon took about 50 photos of Chris and me amongst them and I have only been able to delete the ones with his finger in the way or out of focus. I just can't ditch any of them.







We spent three nights away. The first was in a lovely B&B on a hillside with a telescope on the terrace overlooking Wedge Bay.



The stars were beautiful and the owners pointed out the constellations and the Southern Cross. In the morning when Chris turned up, he was welcomed to the breakfast table and given tea and toast.



We set off from there to the devils, about 20 minutes drive away, and were just going in when we were hailed by the owner bringing Chris' sweater, which had been left behind. I must say we have found the natives very friendly and helpful everywhere!

The second night we struggled to find anywhere and ended up in a real dive which was a shed very poorly converted into a self-catering apartment with a bathroom not only not en-suite, but in a separate outhouse. Not good.

But the last one was again lovely, on a small farm near Deloraine with complimentary freshly baked muffins, and bacon and new-laid eggs for breakfast. Our landlords were utterly confused that Chris chose to bivouac on their lawn instead of taking advantage of one of the beds in the second bedroom. I can understand why.

We drove back today through the lake district and are preparing for a trip to Bruny Island on Saturday/Sunday. We were hoping to see the fairy penguins marching in from the sea for the night but the season is September to February. It looks as though "the season" may mean just the summer period when there are tours and guides on hand and it's warm enough to want to be standing around at night. But we'll see. We've been lucky with everything so far so who knows? We're taking Chris and his mate Dan and their bikes on a combined camp/B&B/driving/cycling trip to the island.

Today is Friday and Chris is rebuilding Betty, the touring bike he took through Indonesia. She's been stripped and repainted and he's now finding out how very worn all the parts are which he needs to put back. So it's a long job.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Huon Rd,South Hobart,Australia

Sunday 18 March 2012

Lost by the Octopus

Chris lives in S Hobart partway up Mount Wellington, which means that
A) the views over the city, the harbour and beyond are terrific
B) everywhere you look to walk from here is on a steep hill

Further up the hill there are a lot of forest trails and we took one to go and see the octopus tree. It's not immediately obvious why it's so-called but when we walked round it we saw that the roots surround a rock and look very like tentacles.




This was just a 15 minute walk from the road along a well-marked trail and Chris suggested that he and Jon walk back to the car and drive on to Sphynx Rock while I walked on a little further to take a trail on the left which would lead me to the same place in about 15 minutes. He gave me a map which almost covered the point where the trails diverged and set me off.

Unfortunately the map wasn't very up to date and didn't include one of the newer trails at all so I went hopelessly off track. This was in tall forest with no clear vision of the surroundings and of course, this was the only occasion on this trip when I didn't have my phone with me.

To cut a long story short, I eventually decided it would be best to head back to the Octopus and out to the road we'd driven up. This meant that I came out onto the road about a mile and a half downhill from the Sphynx rock and about an hour late. So I flagged down the first car and hitched a lift with a young couple who had docked in Hobart in a cruise ship and were exploring for a few hours in a hire car. As we passed a picnic area I was lucky enough to spot the ute parked up. Chris was running the trails trying to find me and Jon was near the ute waiting for the two of us to sort ourselves out!

I thought this was quite an adventure but Chris was pretty cool about it. This was no outback, no bush-walk, No danger involved. He had to go to work from 3pm till 11and I was unimpressed to learn that he had decided if I didn't turn up before 3 he would have gone to work, and would ring Jon at 7 and if I still hadn't turned up would have got a party of his friends together to search. If not located by 10 they would have called out a formal search party. Can you imagine the state I would have been in by then?

Anyway, reunited we had a barbecue. Picnic sites here often are provided with electric or wood-fired BBQs. All really laid-on. While we were cooking, my rescuers came by again and they turned out to be a speech therapist and a young medic, at the same stage as Chris. They were very interested to hear about Chris's experience of working in Tasmania, compared with the UK.

Chris biked down to his shift



and Jon and I went to FlickrFest in the evening, the opening of a short-films festival at the arts cinema, which consisted of seven short films followed by pizza and wine.

COOL BIKE RACKS


We can see why Hobart appeals to Chris, with its alternative scene in the city but gorgeous countryside and coast on the doorstep, and the whole population crazy for outdoor pursuits. He's already involved in mountain biking, running, surfing, climbing and sea kayaking, and hopes to try skiing and snowboarding this winter. He'll dive too, when his gear arrives.
CLIFTON BEACH


Apart from the above, we've spent time in the museum, been to a BBQ at a colleague of Chris', been eating wonderful seafood at the harbour, had a tour of the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling ship,



taken in the amazing view from the top of Mount Wellington at night, and been to the outrageous MONA, the museum of old and new art, which includes, among other things, a bizarre digestive system which is fed regularly with food at one end and results in poo at the other! But is this art, do I hear you ask?

THE CLOACA - see the poo?


Tomorrow we're off on a tour of the east coast, starting with Port Arthur so it will be a few days before I add to this blog. Plenty of time to get lost again!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Huon Rd,South Hobart,Australia

Thursday 15 March 2012

Bridge climb photos

Here's the way to view the photos if you wish. The info was on a kind of credit card which had stuck itself to the underside of the case of my iPad which I moved around but only ever one way up. Good hiding place.

www.bridgeclimbphotos.com
Use my code AVJ4-4673 to see my photos


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Huon Rd,South Hobart,Australia

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Tasmania first impressions

Tuesday was our first full day here. It's lovely to be with Chris after a whole year. We went westwards along the coast road to Kettering (yes, really!) and Margate and Kingston- it's amusing to see how many place names speak of home, though not surprising when you think of it.

First stop at lovely Tinderbox Bay. It was the silence which was so remarkable. We were the only people there and there was no traffic noise at all. What a change after Sydney. We were well ready for it.



On around the coast, along the Huon estuary then inland to the Hartz Mountains National Park. Learnt quite a bit about the management of old-growth forest and walked in and above the rainforest on the Tahune Air Walk. Huge trees and tree ferns and a beautiful place to walk in.
This is a string-bark eucalyptus, which dangles its dry bark to help it catch fire, as it needs a fire to clear the ground for its seedlings.


Rainforest in Hartz mountains national park


Jon and Chris walking out to the cantilever on the air walk.


Today Chris had to work from lunchtime. We were out by 7.20 to take one of the doctors to the airport. Chris has bought a car for our visit. It cost all of £140 because it has an engine problem "but it's never let anyone down" ! And this lovely doctor swops her big reliable utility vehicle ("ute") with anyone who has visitors to ferry around. So now we have the ute for the next two weeks. How good is that? Oh, and we're staying in the house Chris lodges in, because his landlady has moved out for us, so we can have her room. What lovely people.






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Huon Rd,South Hobart,Australia

Blue Mountains

Bill took us to a local walk which gave great views and told us numerous stories about the locality.

One of these was about a Mr Everett, the owner of a large house whose grounds had one of these magnificent views as a backdrop.



He decided that it would make a remarkable place to hold outdoor concerts and began to do so, but neighbors complained about the noise, eventually succeeding in getting him banned from holding the concerts. Everett had two statues erected in his garden, of Olive Oyl (from Popeye) and Buffhead, which he thought resembled his neighbors. Here they are.......



We went on the most amazing cable train ride to the floor of the Jamison valley, which starts off gently then abruptly descends almost vertically. At the bottom there's a walk through the rainforest to Katoomba waterfall.







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Huon Rd,South Hobart,Australia

Sydney post corrections/additions

Still trying to get to grips with this business of blogging from the iPad.
Here are some more photos I tried to include with the last post, and sorry I missed out the link for viewing pictures of the bridge climb, which has now become the missing link. When it turns up I'll post it.

This is Bill's hoist, and him and Jon in the garage examining the Amilcar






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Huon Rd,South Hobart,Australia

Monday 12 March 2012

A week in Sydney

Writing on the plane to Hobart, excited
at the prospect of seeing Chris for the first time for a year.
The iPad continues to do its best to thwart my every move. We have a love-hate relationship which may become more loving if I ever get the better of it. I don't help myself by forgetting various work-arounds I laboriously search out and then forget I've sorted! Such as this app I downloaded at home in a frantic last-minute attempt to bypass the iPad's attempts to block me from blogging. We'll have to see if I manage to upload this text AND add photos when I connect to the Internet.
We've had a great time in Sydney. Wisest move was buying travel passes for bus, tram, ferry and train. It's been economical and fun hopping on and off all forms of transport.
We took the train to Leura in the Blue Mountains to visit a car friend of a car friend!! It was the day the heavens opened over Sydney and we were drenched before we even caught the ferry. The storm was so fierce it even soaked the postcards and maps inside my bag. We thought we'd dry out on the 2 hour train ride but it was damp and cold all the way. Not what we expected at all. However, Bill more than made up for it.

83 years old and as lively and interesting a tour guide as you could wish for. He plays clarinet, guitar and whistle, in a jazz band regularly; runs a 1923 supercharged Amilcar and a X15 modern mid engined Fiat sportscar; collects clocks and other memorabilia; is writing his eighth book - these are short factual books on a wide variety of subjects, and beautifully produced; he's a structural engineer and recently designed and built an annex to his house to house either visitors or a future live-in carer. I loved the pulley he has rigged up to hoist his groceries from his car on the drive up to the balcony. He ran us round all the main viewpoints of the Blue Mountains, regaling us with interesting facts and terrifying us with his sudden stop-start motoring. A great day out, despite the weather.
Other highlights of our stay in Sydney were seeing The Marriage of Figaro at the Opera House, a really amusing production, and really exciting to be there. It even included a dead stag on stage, which seemed to be present only as an obstacle to be stepped around by all the participants.
And of course the Bridge Climb. I met and befriended Doreen, a very brave lady my own age who was afraid of heights. She was doing the climb with her husband but seemed to value my support too so they insisted I was included in all their photos. Mine can be seen at until the end of the month.
Did it under cloudless skies with superb views, the day after the great storm, so a tremendous experience.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Parliament St,Sandy Bay,Australia

Friday 9 March 2012

24 hours in Dubai

The first leg as far as Dubai was over 6 hours and left an hour late but wasn't too bad. Worse was the realisation that our room wasn't available until midday (this being 8.45 am). We desperately wanted a lie down as neither of us slept on the flight.  Our nephew, Michael, and his girlfriend Olla, are working in Dubai at the moment and they showed up to take us around. They did a very good job and we oohed and ahed at the amazing buildings, but were actually appalled at the ostentatious wealth and racism. The Philipinos are at the bottom of the pecking order, followed by the black Africans and Pakistanis.  We saw a documentary on the plane about the building of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, and in the evening sat having dinner beside the water in front of it which, every half hour erupted in a spectacular water fountain show. With the lights in the skyscrapers all round it was a quite magical experience. Unfortunately all the photos of that evening are on my Blackberry and Apple doesn't like Blackberry so despite my best efforts I haven't been able to get photos from my phone onto the iPad, damn it. I get so cross with the iPad for dictating to me all the time.  Now I'm struggling to include photos here. In fact I probably will have to email them separately.