End of year

Wow. I can hardly believe we're nearing the end of 2016. And hence soon on the downward slope of our holiday out here.  I hate that point when you realise that there's more time behind you than ahead. In life terms I guess that's around the age of 45!!

Xmas Day. Well, we did have a barbecue on the beach at Taroona Bay but it was quite late by the time Chris and Elen got away so pics aren't great. Elen swam and pronounced the water lovely and warm - we took her word for it! There was a family group nearby including a student nurse from the department, a keen climber (the vast majority of their colleagues are into some or several sports, one reason Chris loves it here). She and her partner rigged up a tightrope between the trees. Chris was hoping I'd have a go but I'm afraid I chickened out. It had been a very hot day and Jon and I lazed the day away reading in the shade too lazy to go and look at what was going on on the beach, which We should have done. So that was our strange Xmas, apart from phone calls home, burgers, sausages and tightrope walking on the beach.

We started out by saying we would just spend time here more or less as at home in a very leisurely routine but I've been a bit seduced by the knowledge that I'm sitting on an island I might not visit again. Even if I do, there's lots of exploring out there. Senior-style exploring admittedly. Like finding a good restaurant with a sea view, or organising a temporary disabled badge, or working out a back route home from  the shops. My god, that sounds boring. But it hasn't been. Next week we may feel a little younger when we go to the Cygnet Folk Festival. 

Chris and Elen are spending three days as medics at the Falls Festival at the moment, the biggest festival in Tasmania. He'll pay for it with 5-6 days continuous shifts afterwards so we won't see much of him for a while. However middle of the month he has a few days off so we are hoping to go away again for a night or two, up the East coast this time.

Just heard the news that there was a serious crush at the Falls Festival with 60 injured, 13 seriously. But it was in Victoria, not Tasmania, so there must be several different venues for the same event. That one must have kept the medics busy.

So what else have we been doing?  Continuing to stock our rental with bits and bobs from charity shops such as kitchen utensils and containers, DVDs to watch and books to read. I've been thinking often of our Canadian friend Maryse (who may well read this so I'd better be careful). She and her partner travel a great deal and for long periods. She carries with her her favourite chefs knife, yeast flakes and other equipment she feels essential. Here we had no sharp knife, no containers for left-overs etc, no table mats.   I know, I know, you're laughing at me, as indeed I am myself. Maryse wouldn't, I'm sure.

Now we're all organised the apartment suits us well. Josie is not often around but very pleasant when we meet. We use her washing machine and clothes rack and lovely garden. It only takes us 10 minutes to drive to Chris' or downtown Hobart. Local shops are only 3 minutes away. Nearest barbecues less. We have enough space and it's nice and easy living on one level.

Rather more entertaining has been discovering many of the lovely bays around here. We are only about 5 miles up the river Derwent so have mostly been exploring both banks of the river and its many inlets and beaches. There are such lovely places and views it has been a pleasure to have the leisure to wander around with Google safely on board to get us home again. With Chris we tend to go to seaside beaches.

Went to look at electric bikes the other day. They're quite popular here to judge by the number of outlets , though we've not seen many on the road. I'm quite interested in getting one for the future in hope of keeping me going that bit longer. Not a good idea to get one too soon though as I'm sure it would tempt me to be lazy.

Sorry I havent been able to include photos. For some reason the latest I can call up from the iPad I'm writing on is September. I'll post more to FB so have a look there if you're interested.

Finding our feet

At last I've taken some photos of our temporary home. There's a lovely garden with separate patios which is perhaps the best thing about it, something not usual except in expensive lettings.

OMG. I'm having so much trouble with this post. I have got photos on my iPad  and on my phone, but can I get them into this blog? No way. It will have to wait. It may be because I'm connecting through my mobile. Goodness knows. I'll try another time. 

We're seeing quite a bit of Chris but the best thing about being here for so long is we don't have to cram things in and can give him plenty of time for himself and with Elen. So our time passes in, up till recently, getting organised here with all the food and equipment we need to survive in a new situation. More recently we have been free to explore. We are gradually exploring the riverside locations upstream. We are a little north of Hobart city in Lutana on the west bank of the river Derwent so we drive upriver staying as close to the water as possible. Lots of creeks and foreshores.

We love the way Australia encourages use of outdoor spaces. Everywhere we go we find parkland with fixed electric or gas barbecues (functioning and not vandalised) and tables and benches. I did tell you all that I had visions of Xmas day barbecuing on the beach but Chris says most barbecues will be booked up! He is working a day shift so won't be free till 6.30. So maybe Jon and I will just go and mingle with the throngs on the beach during the day and BBQ in the evening. We'll see.

On our anniversary we ended up not going out for a posh dinner (surprise?) but Chris took us over to Cygnet, an interesting drive to a lovely little town down south. We had an outdoor organic café lunch. There's a good folk festival there in January every year so we intend to come, though Chris will be working unfortunately.

I've just lost a whole load of writing on here so will fill in briefly

I was telling you that we had sleet and snow on the mountain when we were launching Chris on his downward trail ride on his mountain bike (he loves to get a ride up which we can do as we can get his bike in the back of the car). We usually start off by sharing time over coffees at an outdoor coffee stop up there but it was not too comfortable last time.

And we had some fun in the charity shop choosing an"old lady outfit" for Chris to go to a party in. At least he didn't even ask me if I had anything suitable!! If you want to see how he looked he's posted a photo on FB.

We've had only one incident here so far which was a bathroom flood. It was a good one though. Hot tap at the basin, no overflow, emptied the hot tank (landlady's too) and so much water that it overtook the sill and soaked a lot of carpet. If it happens to you, the best way to clear the water off a hard surface is a bucket and dustpan. The pan acts as a squeegee.

It's now the evening of Thursday 22nd and I'm determined to post this before the 23rd! 

We've just spent two lovely days on Bruny Island. Chris had two consecutive days off work and Elen is in Melbourne visiting her family so we went over to Bruny, spending the night in a two bedroom house right on Adventure Bay. It was a gorgeous house with huge windows opening onto a large decking balcony with the most spectacular view of the bay. 

We caught a mid-morning ferry and drove down. Stopped at a very popular oyster sales and restaurant. Jon and I don't like fresh oysters but we do like smoked tinned ones so we thought we'd try freshly prepared cooked ones. Tried them WonTon style as little Chinese parcels and ones with bacon in BBQ sauce. Not specially impressed by either so now we know. I can't see what all the fuss is about. 

We had been told that Cloudy Bay was worth seeing. It meant crossing from E to W via a very rough road -  glad Chris was driving, and we weren't always sure where we were. Quite an epic trip. 

I wish I could show you some of the beautiful white empty beaches surrounded by forests. The waters cold though, but the day temperature is warming up gradually. This evening I am still in a Tshirt at 11.30 but some nights we have been wearing long sleeves and fleeces indoors. 

We won't see much of Chris now for a while. He is working over Xmas and New Year and working at a festival in between. So more self-guided exploring for us. 

So have a really lovely Xmas everyone. I'll do my best to make you all jealous with photos of beaches and sunshine but don't hold your breath, it may never happen. 






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

First notes from Tas

I've decided to keep you updated by reviving the blog.

We've been in Tasmania just over a week though it seems much longer.

Airport assistance worked very well for us but the journey took its toll on Jon. He needed a lot of help to stand from his seat so it seemed like he disturbed me every time I was drifting off to sleep. So neither of us slept much in  flight but at least we were comfortable in our posh seats.

7.5 hours to Dubai, 2 hours refuelling and having to go through security again, 13 hours to Sydney, towards the end of which Jon became disoriented, imagining things about the other passengers etc. And he was scared we were going to crash as we landed. 3 hours in Sydney and a change of terminal for the 1.5 hours domestic flight to Hobart. It was such a relief to see Chris waiting for us.

So soon it was midday and we're at our new home and Chris has to go to work. After looking round the place our new landlady, Josie, took us to the local shops for groceries and a visit to the mobility shop. We're staying in the granny annexe attached to Josie's house so it's nice and spacious and no stairs. There are veggies, herbs and chooks in the grounds and a lovely flower garden. We have our own patio in the garden and the use of the washing machine any time.

And now we've got to know each other we share Josie's portable modem for WiFi. The signal is too weak to work from one house to the other but our hours are completely different so it works out. Josie works 3 nights at the same hospital as Chris and gives me the router as she leaves. I put it back through the adjoining door when I go to bed. When she's not working she goes to bed very early and gets up about 4am (!) to play computer games online. Couldn't have arranged things better.

It has taken 4-5 days to get the annexe equipped. For instance, no washing up liquid, no basin plug, no waste basket, and of course it's practically impossible to buy all the necessary food items in one go. So hard to think of all the things you use but expect to be present in the cupboard like salt, cling film etc etc. Fortunately there's a comprehensive shopping centre not far.

When she saw Jon's mobility Josie spoke to her daughter, also a nurse, who had seen a 4 wheeled walker in a charity shop. By the next day, she had gone to see if it was still there, rung her mum to ask if she thought we would mind paying $35 and delivered it.

Chris has "hired" us a car from a mate for $125AU a week - about £80. It's a 4WD Subaru estate and its owner says he knows it has quite a few scratches and dents so not to worry if we add any! Tassie drivers are very laid back so I have got away with a few mistakes and late lane changes.

Most nerve wracking was my first outing. Chris drove us to his place and set my phone navigator for the charity shop I wanted. We needed furniture would you believe - nothing in the bedroom except a wardrobe with no hangers. No drawers or bedside lockers/tables so everything was on the floor. Anyway, we picked up what we wanted at the shop in town and then had to get back home. At this point I realised I didn't know our home address. I could only remember that the road began with a C. Even Chris's address I didn't know as he hasn't been there long and I've never needed it. I thought I had added the locations to my satnav but couldn't find them so it seemed they had not saved properly. At this point I noticed that my phone was nearly out of charge and realised that if it went down i was sunk. I couldn't phone Chris or even tell anyone his number as it was only in my phone. Eventually I did find Chris's location had ended up as a bookmark in the satnav so we drove back there and I was able to retrace my route back "home" from there as he had pointed out the turns as he drove. Lesson learned. First outing in a new place - get everything in line before setting out.

We were hoping to escape from Xmas out here but I'm afraid it's everywhere - what a surprise! At the weekend there was a teddy run which involved 5,000 bikers riding to the harbour area with toys for charity on their bikes. Chris had arranged to meet us down there so we walked round the market for a while then drifted over to watch the bikes. To our surprise Chris rode past us. He'd found it impossible to park our car after dropping us off as many of the roads were closed off so he'd gone back home and picked up his bike and coming back found himself in the pack of riders.

I've been a few days writing this bit by bit so it's now Friday 9th, UPDATE . It's our 47th wedding anniversary on Monday and Chris is going to book a good restaurant for us all.

Other things done - surfing at Sandy Bay - well, watching Chris. And watching Chris and Elen climbing then going on to BBQ. And the cinema last night to see "I, Daniel Blake" which was great but made us so angry. And a local transport museum, mostly steam trains, buses and trams. A couple of nice drives.

This has been a mammoth catch-up.  Don't worry, from now on it'll be much shorter.

Introduction to Santiago Chile

Journey uneventful, but even the half-empty plane and two seats to myself didn't enable me to sleep so by the time I got to bed at 11.30 pm on Thursday I had spent nearly 40 hours with only maybe 30-40 minutes sleep. I hate long flights - left home on Wednesday 10:15, arrived Santiago at 08:50 on Thursday (12:50 time in UK). The views of the mountains on approaching to land were amazing.

'

DOGS
It's very noticeable. There are dogs everywhere, all very laid-back, peaceful, and healthy and well-fed, but clearly owner-less. They lie around in the streets and traffic goes round them, they come and lie on your feet and want stroking if you sit down, they may accompany you if you are strolling, they even take buses - hop-on, hop-off?
Chris and I took a 3 hour walking tour and learnt how this came about.
Immigrants from rural parts of Ecuador and Peru arrived with their families and their dogs, treating them as they had always done in the countryside, letting them run wild. Eventually the government decided that all these feral dogs had become a problem and organised a public kennel and dog-catching scheme. Dogs were taken off the streets and, if unclaimed, were killed. Inevitably some were killed which did have owners and the public became so angry that they mobilised to render the scheme ineffective by taking the dogs into their homes when the wardens were coming. The scheme was dropped and people continued to care for the street dogs and now you can see everywhere on the pavements bowls of food and water, cushions or cardboard for beds and people even make coats for them.

A poor street dog

VALPARAISO
We came over here by bus 1.5 hours, £7 return and it's great. We've been warned about some dodgy parts but it's mostly safe and very friendly but above all colourful. There's a flat strip along the edge of the sea then the town very quickly rises up steeply above with hundreds of steps and lots of funiculars and there are murals and graffiti everywhere and I love it.
We went on a walking tour the first day the best part of which was a mad bus ride up the hilly streets. We learned how the murals came about. Ships coming into the port would leave behind corrugated iron sheets which the locals used to surround and protect their houses. The ships often spent time repainting and left paint behind too which got used to adorn the corrugated sheets. This spread to decorating walls and steps and now it's awash with colour. And I can't show you.  Damn.
I've spent lots of time wandering round with my mouth open and camera ready. The port is very much a big commercial one, none of that pretty marina stuff but Chris and I walked along to where the sea lions hang out on a concrete platform just off the beach. Tomorrow we're going to take the bus a short way along the coast to Vina del Mar.

Give way to the right

We finally solved the mystery of the strange driver behaviour in our village. This came up at our aperos evening.  
The main D road goes right through the village but we have observed that many drivers on it give way to the Trebes road which joins it. We have taken the precaution of doing the same but not knowing why we do so here and not in other similar situations elsewhere. This is the answer

This sign at the entrance to the village means that you have just lost your automatic right to priority and must give way to the right. 


This is the sign when you're leaving the village and back to having priority.

In practice in Villaier, people mostly only observe it in relation to the (fairly main) Trebes road but I have been given way to when coming out of a very minor side street.
It wouldn't be too bad if the application of the rule were consistent but you definitely can't rely on it! 
I wonder who spread the rumour that the French had abandoned "priorité à droite"

Apéros

Last week we invited some friends for apéros. These were the hairdresser and her husband, Marie-Anik and Alain, and our new neighbour Laurence, who was kind enough to come and introduce herself when she saw our car parked outside. My hairdresser has always been very patient with my attempts at conversation and last year had us round for apéros with our Canadian visitors.
On that occasion I looked up the rules and found that one should not take wine, as it infers that your host hasn't any - or at least not good taste in wines ! - and should leave by 8.30 at the latest so your hosts can get their evening meal. So we took some chocolates but so enjoyed the company that it was about 9.30 before we left.  I wrote a thank-you email afterwards apologising for outstaying our welcome which was very graciously replied to - words to the effect that on an occasion such as that one doesn't watch the time.  So far so good.

So we invited them this time, along with Laurence who has bought the house at the end of our street. They came at 7 and brought a bottle of rosé and one of champagne. We had lots of nibbles and sat out in the courtyard. As time went on, we replenished the nibbles, and then the wine and eventually, about 11.30, made coffee.  They all insisted on clearing and washing up - Jon fell backwards climbing the stairs from the garden, which was a dramatic finish, but pretty well unhurt, though he broke a branch off the hibiscus.  So we finished up after midnight, full of olives, biscuits, nuts, bruchettas, fruit etc and wondering who wrote the rule book.

In the mountains

Two weeks ago we spent a wonderful few days up in the Pyrenees near Font Romeu.  I went walking there two years ago with French friends (some of you may remember pictures of the needle through my big toe on that occasion). At that time we noticed a hotel situated high up but on a plateau with flat walking around, and therefore suitable for Jon.  So we finally got round to booking in there for a couple of nights and it was gorgeous. It's at over 2000m so the air was crisp but the sun hot. Just lovely. We took a picnic and walked slowly to a nearby lake.

That's the hotel, Les Bones Hores, in the background

While Jon rested after our picnic I wandered off and saw 3 different species of gentians.

Lake Pradelle

Jon so loved it that he walked further than either of us thought he was able to these days.





The next day we walked about the same distance but along the road this time as the surface of the tracks is quite uneven.  Another picnic, this time in a meadow bright with Euphorbias.

I was there too