spring

It's been a busy couple of weeks.   We have had family staying with us.   Have consequently done more sight seeing  and less work around the place.

The Tall Ships are in Hobart presently.  Hobart loves a good festival.   people turn out from everywhere and clog the city centre.    Parking is a problem!

I took the Kids on Saturday.   oddly enough I managed to get a park on the waterfront.   The water front and the lawns of  Parliament were transformed.    The 150 year old Steam powered Carousel was a Hit,   cranking along with organ pipe music.

the McCredden Girls,  Summer,  Kiralee and Ella.
 

Hula hoops on the lawns of parliament.   There were Tug of wars going on between the crews of the various tall ships.

Today I have been Mowing.  Its remarkable how just a bit of warmer weather sets the grass and the thistles going.   I have learnt how to take the blades off the Mower having bent one on a rock.   I straightened it yesterday and have rebent it today.   High carbon Steel doesn't like being bent on rocks.   it seems to have a memory for its bent shape but not its straight one.

8 months

We have been in Tassie 8 months now.    We have survived winter,  it wasn't as bad as I thought it should be.    People at work assure me that it has been a very mild and dry winter.   I have found that the mornings tend to be delightful,  clear and blue skys.  Later in the day it clouds up but oddly by the time I get home from work at about 9pm  the sky is clear and all the stars are out.    I know the actual number of stars doesn't change,  but being away from big city lights there are definitely more stars in the Tassie night sky.
I used to see a few rainbows in my old job out and about.   The Bass coast was always a highlight.  I love the odd places and times that a rainbow would appear,   sometimes feeling like it is on show just for me.    The  weather in Tas is so changeable it seems that rainbows are just days apart.    the locals don't seem to notice or appreciate them,   "yeah we get lots of rainbows"  is a common comment.

looking SouthEast across the Block

The Tall Ships come to Hobart on Friday.   Planning to take the family to the water front to have a look.   Its a five day program complete with fire works on the opening night (Friday).

Snug. Odd name nice village

The aptly named village of Snug lies just north of Kettering.   I cannot be certain where it got its name from but I presume it relates to its protected bay and estuary.   First impressions of the village reminds my of areas of Kilsyth in Melbourne.   We have occaision to visit Snug frequently,  the Kids go to school there,   the girls do dancing in the snug hall and Will plays footie in the Channel junior football club.  
What this means is that midweek,  on a Wednesday we have the pleasure of spending about 3 hours at the snug foreshore/footy oval while the kids do their thing.   Its not as pleasant in the middle of winter but in autumn spring and summer its lovely.    I like to walk around and collect pinecones for the fire.


Snug river Estuary



Snug beach looking south
 



North Bank of Snug River

 Adjoining the footy oval,  with its own Boat ramp into Snug River is the Channel (Snug) Scouts.    In the warmer months it's great to see all the kids messing about in boats and having a great time.   I was never a scout myself,   having a sense that right wing paramilitary   organisations have caused a great deal of trouble in the past.   My views have softened somewhat,   I think the kids would get a lot out of it.


Snug Scout Hall

tasmania the home of classic cars

Now I know that 1990 was over 20 years ago but for me it was a significant year as it was the year I got my license.    As with most P platers back then we either drove our parents cars or purchased our own cars.   our choices of cars reflected our financial situations,  most cars age being our own +/- 5 years.   This is probably still true  of most of todays P platers,   putting them in early 90's commodores, Hyundai's and  corollas .
   
Tasmania is different to Melbourne.  I have seen cars here that are no longer existent on the mainland,  most having been crushed.   These cars are reasonably maintained and obviously cherished.   Interestingly most of the surviving cars are Japanese,  perhaps better made in the first place than many Australian made cars

I have used my Iphone to snap some pics of these cars around Hobart.    classic but not necessarily desirable.

When the Wind blows

Let the wind blow said the house,
I`ll still stand.
When the wind blows,
I feel grand.
On this land
I`ll always stand.
Missing a plank or two,
Or maybe a screw,
That just lets the wind blow through


John d Smith clearly wasn't talking about my greenhouse.

Purchased from KD Hardware,  at $59 it was a bargain.   It had full standing headroom and built in shelves and everything.    I imagine it was made in china.   
Having spent about 3 hours assembling the frame and getting the cover to fit right I as feeling pretty pleased with myself.    I tied the cover to the frame pegged it  and weighed the frame down with 4bags of potting mix so that it couldn't tip over.

Yes of course the bloody thing flew away like a rocket.   quite spectacular really.    It ended up around the corner in the dam.     Its now lying in a crumpled pile back in shed.    I am now planning version 2.   There are lots of cheapies on ebay but I might think about something a bit more substantial.

six months on

It has been six months since we moved to Tasmania from Melbourne.  

Our Block in January 2013.   Hot and Dry


 

 

Monday the 8th July2013

We have experienced our first heavy Frosts.  Crunchy under foot,   delightful and still.    I had my first experience with Tasmanian icy roads.  Despite the Channel Highway being close to the water,   we experienced a number of sections of road covered with Ice.   I managed to slide the car sideways through the middle of Margate.   It was probably a bit disconcerting for the oncoming traffic.   It was interesting to feel the cars traction control cutting in and out,   it tended to set up a side to side wobble as you drove along.  I didn't really like it.

  

It is hard to tell from the picture but our lower dam has been covered with Ice for the last few days.    The ice was up to 10mm thick in places.    Will had a lovely time collecting large sheets of ice which he then smashed like glass on a tree stump.

 

 

 

Our Orchard is in.  4 Apple,  1 Pear,   2 Peach,  1 Peacharine,  1 Nectarine,   1 grafted Plum,  2 Apricots,  1 cherry,   1 Lemon,  1 Lime,   1 Olive tree.    

There were an area  in the orchard that was very wet.  We decided to put in some Aggi drains to deal with the winter water.   Hand dug and filled,   they were quite a bit of effort.

 

One thing I have realised is that I can no longer dig ditches all day.    I developed a bit of  pain in my right Elbow that has taken two weeks to resolve.   It made me consider what mechanical aides I might use for future landscaping projects.  The economy in Tasmania is a lot smaller and slower than the mainland and the market place for second hand machinery is much smaller.    I spotted a Kubota  tractor for sale on gumtree,  its only small but it is fitted with a rotary hoe and more importantly a front  end loader.     It's rated to pick up about 200kg which is plenty given that it only weighs 500kg itself.  It should make life a bit easier.

 

 

 

 



 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dark MOFO.    Hobart is in it's grips!   This is not a revolution or uprising,  nor is it a racist rant.   It is  a Arts festival celebrating the winter solstice.    lots of lights and music .   Large scale public art.   The opening was marked by turning on a bloody great big light,    apparently it is the intellectual property of the artist  Ryoji Ikeda.   


Its called 'beam in thine own eyes'   The picture does not do it justice.   on a clear night the beam of light is supposed to go 15km up.   It probably does,   we can see the light from our place in Kettering which is 30 ks from Hobart.    
I wonder what MOFO actually stands for ?

Went to Bruny Island last weekend.   had a good day.    Went down to Cape Bruny to see the light House.   Its in the South Bruny National Park.   An interesting fact that is not on the national parks website is that there is an entry permit scheme,   which involves  putting $24 dollars in an envelope and posting it in the box.   I personally thought it was abit steep for a half hour visit.   They clearly don't spend the money on the road. 

I haven't had my stuff together the last few days.   I know this because on Saturday I bought some boots and left my visa card in the store.  I discovered this when I went to pay for lunch and realised I didn't have it.   I  went back to the workwear shop but this being a Saturday in Hobart the bloody shop shut at twelve.    Today I had to go into town (Hobart) to get it.   Uneventful trip apart from stopping to get petrol on the way.    I was surprised and somewhat embarrassed  to discover that they have a 'unable to pay account' form that I needed to fill in along with a promise to come back and  pay the account today.

Spent some time this afternoon putting together a hot house.

 

The instructions were a bit hard to follow and I managed to break 2 of the pieces. 

It's only tiny and I have to duck to get through the door.   I hope to grow some seedlings for the vegie garden.   It remains to be seen if the wild life will allow me to do this..











coffee

Coffee.    I was in our local bakery yesterday  grabbing a Coffee.   I found myself asking the bakery girl if they had Raw Sugar.    The look she gave me said it all.   I am still very much a Mainlander.

Bushfire recovery

Saturday before Mothers day we took a trip down the Tasman Peninsular.   This is down the road towards Port Arthur, south east of Hobart,  through the areas that were affected by the January Bushfires.   We thought it might be a good opportunity to support the local businesses.   We bought a great lunch from the Dunally Bakery and took some time to drive though the township that was burnt to the waters edge in places.
The picture above was immediately post fire.   It was burnt to the ground on January 4th and with community support and I suspect a lot of effort it was able to re open in early feb,  only one week after school went back.








Other parts of the Town are slowly being fixed.   Lots of  bare blocks with Caravans and water tanks.   Now that the weather has started to cool down I wonder what sort of winter these residents are going to endure.   One upside  is that there is vast quantities of scorched firewood being cut and stacked.   This seems to be a Tasmanian obsession,  again I wonder just how cold winter is going to be.

We proceeded further down the peninsular,  stopping and looking at great places like EagleHawk Neck,  Sommers Bay,  Pirate Bay,  Tesselated Pavement,   the Blow Hole and Devils Kitchen.

 

 

 



 

The most surprising thing for our day out was that  no one got wet,   not even Will

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its not winter yet.

Autumn in Tasmania is proving to be delightful.   Cool fresh clear days with blue skys.    Colors changing across the landscape,  woodfires burning,   people getting around in puffer jackets.   Flannelet and wool shirts,   beanies and scarfs  are common.    It is interesting that there is not the 'Bogan' association that exists between flannelet and jeans in Melbourne.   Most of the shirts I've seen worn have been carefully ironed and are tucked in,  even if the wearer is wearing tracksuit pants!

Tas School holidays have been and gone.   we managed to all get to Melbourne for a few days.   It was good to catch up with family and some friends.   We spent one day up at Kilmore,   the kids had a great time,  the quad bike was a hit.   It was interesting to see the different ways the kids operated the bike.   Ella and Kiri were like timid old ladies puttering around.   Summer and Will wanted to go fast and hear it roar.  it was a it frightening really,   sitting on the back yelling "Slow!".   the kids thought it was funny,  the more you yelled the faster they tried to go and the more they laughed.  I'm not sure where they they got that from!

A Snap shot of me at work.  I look like a bit of a twit really.   a medical version of a great Australian inventor/bushranger.   I was being fitted for a Duckbill mask,  to keep me safe from airborne viruses such as swine flu or bird flu.   The process involves initial testing where you  are sprayed with a bitter aerosol just to chk that you can taste it.  This only takes a minute or two.    About an hour later  the testing resumes with a duckbill mask on.   The second session  takes about 7 minutes,  in which you are sprayed with bitter aerosol and asked to breath through your mouth and move you head as directed.   I must admit I did not really enjoy this,   the Perspex fogged up rapidly, and despite the open top,  it kind of felt like you had placed a plastic bag over your head.   This fitting and test is an annual event.    I look forward to next year.

Gaz

Roaring beach Tasmania.   This shot was taken before Summer and Will were soaked by a bigger wave.   Summer didn't like it.   Will didn't seem to care too much.     Roaring Beach is a seaside holiday spot on the Esperance Coast road,  between Geeveston and Dover.    It is a lot like Sandy Point in Victoria,   beautiful beach and not many people around.  

Easter Sunday in Dover.  Cool but Sunny at times about 15degrees.  The Dover Sailing Club were sailing Dinghy's off the beach.    Hardy souls in their wetsuits and life jackets.     

 I was rostered to work Thursday,  good Friday and Easter Saturday.   The unit has been quite busy,  apparently its not always like this.    I am beginning to gain some insight into the politics of the unit.  We seem to be frequently  short staffed,  resulting  in delays to elective surgery.   Every day I seem to get txt messages advising of Shifts available.     Talking to the other nurses they have said that shortages are common.   Oddly,  it seems that the last couple of years the Tasmanian government has not employed Graduate Nurses or run a graduate nurse program.    This resulted in most of the graduate nurses finding work interstate.   Apparently this was done as a budgetary  initiative,  a cost saving.   I wonder which public service DH thought that up.   His or Her logic is mostly sound.   If you don't employ people you don't have to pay them,  therefore making a saving.    I  guess its a good thing really,    plenty of OT if you want it.   An interesting fact I learnt at Orientation was that there are about 200 more administrators   employed than there are doctors employed.     It reminded me of an episode of Yes Minister except it's not funny.

Having collected the trailer 2 wks ago,  the kids have been keen for the tramp to be put together again.    These Spring free tramps really are  a clever design.   I took the time to put leather gloves on before starting to tension and click the fibreglass rods into place.      result : no blister,  no blood and no whining.  makes quite a change really.
In Mount Martha the tramp totally dominated the backyard.   Here is seems smaller and less imposing.  

Quick trip

I managed to spend Friday and Saturday in Melbourne.   As part of our move to Tasmania  I had packed my garage onto a large tandem trailer attached to our landcruiser.    My intention had been to take it across on the ship in December of last year,   but for a number of reasons I ended up storing it at my brother in laws.  I had thought that I would retrieve it about 2 weeks after we moved but again this took much longer than anticipated.   Tassie time is different to Melbourne time.    Getting my work roster sorted took longer and organising availability on the Spirit of Tasmania took longer still. 


parked at Port Melbourne.  Heavy

  I flew over on JetStar on Thursday.   Apparently the weather in Melbourne had caused disruptions,   pushing my flight back to 2145.      Having squeezed my self into 14c,    the Hostie was very kind and asked me if I was comfortable and if I would like to sit up front.   I  was very pleased and managed to un wedge myself and scooted up to row 1a,  opposite the Hostie's seats.    Anyone over 6'3" needs to be prepared to firstly hit their head on the way through the door and then jam them selves in tight,  apologising to the others  in their row for using their leg room.   I felt like a smug bastard as I walked to the front of the plane.

I had a good two days in Melbourne.    I was nervous and worried about the car.   I had parked it 2 months ago,  knowing the battery was dodgy and radiator leaking.    I visited MoParts in Croydon to get a new battery.  It struck me that the old guy who runs it is still there,   20 years after I first bought
parts for the Datto and the Chev.   

Toyota make great Cars.     New battery in,  more water in the radiator,  check the oil and crank it over.   It started and ran perfectly.   I tested it by taking a 6x4 trailer or building rubble to the Tip for my mother.     It was fine.    I was starting to worry about just how much weight I had on board.   I needed to use low range to get the trailer up Christoph's driveway and at times the rubber mudflaps were scraping on the road.   It is hard to estimate just how much weight I had on.   Here's a list of some of the things that were in the Car.

2lt Datsun engine
6 bottle jacks
2 chain hoists
2 trolley jacks,  one small one large.
Hydraulic pipe bender and Dies.
6 metal tool boxes (full)
2 5mt herc Alloy Chains
tirfor winch with 25mt Stainless Cable
full set fibre glass poles for springfree trampoline
2 wooden 8 ft oars
overnight bag,  sleeping bag for on the ship
other stuff to fill the spaces,   jars of jam, 
On the roof an extension ladder and 15ft Row boat.  


Looking at the picture I suspect I was over loaded.   It towed OK if you kept your speed under 85 and didn't try to stop quickly. 

I was hoping for a smooth trip across.  

mid afternoon.  waiting to board

clearing sky at 2000

 Getting on the ship was quick this time,  only 150 cars to go on so it only took 1.5hrs instead of the usual 2.    It was a quiet trip,  there were not many people on the ship.  I had taken a cold bag with snacks but I decided to grace the Captains table with my presence.   No bowtie was required,  it is a self serve buffet,  almost as good as the Moe Racing Club Carvery.

Roast Beef with Vegies
 

I figured that if it tasted good on the way down it would be okay  if it came up again.
The trip was okay,  pretty smooth really.

I managed to catch a film on the way across.    Argo .     I had heard from a friend that it was good.  I really enjoyed it.    I remember when I was a kid,  watching the news and seeing blindfolded people being paraded by crazys with guns chanting Death to America.  It didn't make much sense then but I have a greater appreciation of American Foreign policy now.
I had  booked a recliner chair for the crossing,  knowing that I wouldn't be able to sleep in it.  After the film I took my bag, sleeping bag and pillow up to deck 10.   The forward bar was completely empty so I stretched out on a comfortable bench seat and went to sleep.   I woke each hour with a start,  leaping to my feet and looking around.   I laughed at my self the third time I  did it,   it got less funny after that.   I was kept company by the ghosts of passengers past.

Back in Tassie  the trip down to Kettering proved mostly uneventful.     There were gale force winds and rain,   not ideal for towing.   I got blown around a lot and had a few moments,  but mostly managed to stay in my lane.    A couple of the hills slowed me and everyone behind me down,  the Southern Outlet from Hobart was particularly bad.    Flat to the floor in 1st gear,   crawling along at about 20kmh and wondering if I was going to need low range to get to the top.  

I have started unpacking the car and trailer.    the shed is quite large and it is starting to resemble my shed in Montrose minus the concrete floor.   Its  a bit like Christmas really,  looking into boxes and discovering lost treasures.  I thought I had been quite brutal cleaning out junk prior to the move,  but it is evident that some junk/treasure made its way aboard.   I am really pleased to have my tools now as I have missed them the  last 3 months. 


 gaz














 

drive

I have been at work the last couple of nights.  It has been over five years since I did proper nightshift.    It's funny the things you forget,    the early morning windy nausea,  eyes that feel red raw,  the slightly scary drive home and  the pleasure of trying to sleep in the daylight.   It actually hasn't been too bad,   I only need to do 3 ND a month.   The first night on is okay because you are rested before hand.   The second night is okay because you have slept and are halfway through.   The last night is okay because it is the last night.   Last night I had my break at 0330 and attempted to sleep  in a dark waiting room on the floor.   The sheet I had spread out to lie on did little to cushion the concrete floor.   At any other time you would not contemplate sleeping on a hard floor,   but having incurred a sleep debt,  I slept.    I was a bit stiff when I got up.
It is very easy to get obsessed with how many hours sleep you have had and how many interruptions to sleep have occurred.   I have actively decided to not obsess. 

Night shift has corresponded with the guys from Channel Earthmoving coming to do the drive way.  It has been nice to get up in the afternoon and go to the block and see what progress has been made.   Barry the operator is doing a great job interpreting my slightly vague instructions/suggestions about what I want done.  

It has been rolled and will be dressed with fines tomorrow.    It will be nice to be able to get my car up and down the drive without it behaving like a plough.



gaz