LUCKY AT LOW HEAD

After The Storm

Well, best laid plans and all that!!! We headed off from St Helens with Bridport in mind. The drive was an interesting one, albeit a little more challenging than we had anticipated. We found ourselves back in mountainous country sporting winding roads with lots of twists, turns, steep inclines and devilsome dips. Our policy of always endeavouring to travel on Sundays (with the van in tow) proved once again to be sensible as there were no timber trucks to terrorise us. The traffic flow too, was light and caused us no problems.

Rustic Beauty

The trip to Bridport was only around 100ks but it did take us a little longer than anticipated due to the road conditions. We did finally lumber into a delightful little caravan park right on the ocean only to discover that.............it was closing the following day for ‘renovations’! Great!! We were quite disappointed, not only because we were looking forward to stopping, but also because it really did look inviting. Ah well, onwards and westwards – we elected to continue on our way to George Town which would have been our next stop anyway – it was only another 60 or so ks so off we trundled. The country-side was not terribly inspiring, fairly typical coastal stuff, flattish, scrubby and not very appealing. This was a first for us in Tasmania I have to say. Arriving in George Town we found a small, attractive town which appeared to be let’s say, down on its luck. The town was well maintained, neat and tidy but it just had ‘that’ look about it. We followed the signs to the Caravan Park which was located not in George Town itself, but at neighbouring Low Head. The Park was well set up with immaculate ablutions and a dump point at each powered site – brilliant! As per usual these days, bar one other van, we were all alone there. The park was directly opposite the shore and we took a front bay so as to capitalise on the somewhat ordinary water views. It was not actually the ocean we were looking at but rather the Tamar River, just inside the mouth. There was a substantial tide and for a good part of the time when the tide was out, the exposed black rocks and mud comprised most of the view. There were a few gulls and of course the ever present masked plovers, but other than that it was a little desolate we felt. It is hard to believe I am belittling water views but they were not that impressive – mind you – you could purchase a water front property there for a couple of hundred thousand – we would be paying close to a cool mill at home for the same thing.

One of the Low Head Lighthouses

When we arrived, the wind was screaming in from the north west – it continued to scream for the first 3 days we were there and then the rain came down – well – we were not sure what to be the most worried about – being blown off the planet or being washed out to sea!!! The park was very flat and as it turned out, very boggy. The water just laid around and walking around in ankle high grass was interesting – the squelching was unattractive to say the least as were the cold wet feet. I squelched my way across to the ladies one evening and as I was attending to affairs I was astounded and not a little concerned when all the pipes started to bubble and gurgle – it sounded like we were under attack from a swamp monster. As I hurriedly returned to the van, all the dump points started to gurgle around me – it was an eerie and somewhat disquieting experience I must say. Even though common sense told me it was just the drains gurgling, I have to confess to wasting no time in returning to the van.

Batman Bridge Across The Tamar

Despite the bad weather we took a series of drives out of town exploring. We headed back east and dropped in at several little fishing villages Weymouth and Bellingham amongst them. We also checked out the Tam O’ Shanter Golf Course and accompanying settlement. It was all quite desolate and the ocean views whist expansive did not excite us. Perhaps it was the weather. Once again the property prices for absolute water frontages were amazingly low – although snob value seemed to add to the prices at Tam O’Shanter.

We also drove out to have a look at Mt Direction to the north of us and all along the upper reaches of the Tamar. We did find some amazingly pretty and desirable spots along the river – gorgeous views of the river and rolling pasture lands – typical Tassie and beautiful. Little towns like Legana and Exeter beguiled us and further north, the other side of Beaconsfield (the site of the mining disaster of a couple of years ago) Beauty Point impressed also. The top of the Tamar, a little spot called Greens Beach failed to impress although the property values there were a little higher than elsewhere. It’s odd sometimes to see how developers have managed to inflate prices in areas no better than those around them.

While in Beauty Point we visited Platypus House, this was worth doing and seeing these amazing and wonderful creatures up close was a pleasure as was interacting with the delightful echidnas they keep there.

George Town as I mentioned before seemed a little down on its luck – we had the feeling there was a fair bit of unemployment there – there was also a high proportion of elderly (just like us!) living in the area. The town did sport a Woolworths tho, and seemed to have reasonable infrastructure.

Hmmmm............

All in all it was a pleasant if uninspiring stay and we left there feeling rather fortunate to have withstood the very considerable force the elements had cast against us there.

Until next time, think positive and weather the storm. Stephanie.

Scenic View At Beauty Point

SCINTILATING ST HELENS

Tranquil Waters

Well, it just gets better and better – Tasmania that is! I have to confess however, to a certain amount of ennui on both our parts as we are I think finally yearning for the wide open spaces of the mainland – or perhaps – we have just had enough cold and wet for a while. As we intend heading towards the Gippsland when we return to the ‘North Island’ I suspect it will be a little while before that particular wish is granted.

Back to St Helens however – the drive from Swansea was surreal – the sun was shining, the day was warm (by Tassie standards that is) and as we were travelling through lush farming land fringed by turquoise oceans the day seemed incandescent!

We decided that we would leave our photo taking to the following days and after booking in took a brief but very inspiring tour of the small town and surrounds. The whole place seemed to be drenched by water of one kind or another. The town sits on a very protected inlet which sports a small wharf supporting the local fishing boats. The inlet is, from what we saw, generally calm and often prettily reflective. Roads run each side of the town out to the open ocean, which in contrast is quite ferocious. The road to the north takes you out to the famous Bay of Fires which I will tell you a little more about shortly.

Foolishly we thought that we would have good weather for a few days, alas however, the next day dawned bleak and wet – that wet stayed with us for the next four days and we were cross with ourselves for not taking more sunny photos when we had the chance. Not to be deterred however, we made the best of it. The last two days we were there, the sun did come out again and we made up for lost time with the cameras.

Whilst in St Helens we stayed at the Big 4 Caravan Park – apart from a few stalwart permanents, we were for most of the time the only campers. A few others came and went but by and large we had this very well run and friendly park to ourselves. The manager there (Neville) was very obliging and lent DD a ladder in order that he could have yet another attempt at fixing the very persistent leak in the van. The amenities block seemed to be near new and was immaculately maintained. I dare say in the warmer months the place would be packed.

Across the Bay to St Helens

The town is neat and well supported by a good number of shops and services including two IGA supermarkets. There was an Art Exhibition on in town and I took time out to have a sticky beak at the very high quality of art on display. I was itching to paint after my visit there of course.







PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE PADDOCK

A Common Sight

As the weather promised to be patchy for most of Tuesday we decided to take a drive inland to see both the Pub in the Paddock and the St Columbia Falls. What we had failed to understand was that if the weather was ordinary on the coast, inland it was dismal; we drove along winding roads thru’ very damp but lush farmlands. A photo I will post will give you an insight into what a great many of the Tassie farms look like – this little house sat wetly on the hillside, puffing out smoke and surrounded by an interesting array of detritus.

As we drove out of St Helens we saw signs advertising The Shop In The Bush – intrigued we stopped for a gander. What an amazing shop! It was a bric-a-brac shop – beautifully set out, displaying all manner of previously loved ‘stuff’ along with an impressive range of natural products. The shop also sported an incredible range of old books – several of which I purchased. I was bought up on good old fashioned children’s books, one of which was May Gibbs Snugglepot and Cuddlepie – sadly somewhere along life’s bumpy road I became separated from my beautiful old book and was thrilled to see a very close facsimile in this shop. Some $60 or so later we left the shop, DD looking somewhat bemused by my purchase. My replacement book cost $45 and the man in the shop told me I could have paid much more on the open market. I guess I could be a little gullible but I really am chuffed to have my book.

St Columbus Falls

The further into the steep ranges we travelled the worse the weather became. A light drizzle became a constant deluge and the visibility reduced to not much more that several metres. It was becoming apparent that a walk to the water-fall was not going to happen. We were back in rain-forest country again, unwittingly as we had not really expected that to happen in this area. We found the car-park for the falls and as the rain was still coming down we decided not to ‘do’ the walk. We were quite thrilled however, when we spotted the falls through the mists. The falls it seems are quite tall and a reasonably good view can be had from the road. Having obtained a rather misty and somewhat distant photo of the falls we felt somewhat mollified and turned back to explore the Pub in the Paddock.

Inside The Pub

Ever since we had arrived in Tassie, various folk had told us about the Pub in the Paddock. I must say we were a little confused as it is also referred to as the Pig in the Paddock and of course, DD in his own inimitable style was calling it the Pig in the Poke which is most likely how we will now remember it for all eternity. I have to say here, that I don’t mean to ‘cast nasturtiums’ over the pub at all – it is a wonderful little enterprise and very well run. The pub does indeed sit in the middle of a paddock and the star of the enterprise, Priscilla the Pig has her own warm sty right next to the erstwhile establishment. It seems that Priscilla enjoys a beer and on a good day, patrons are encouraged to buy her a beer which she obligingly quaffs to the delight of all, most of all I imagine, Priscilla herself (and the landlady who gets to pocket the do ray me). We decided against aiding and abetting Priscilla’s drinking problem after hearing how the camel up north died because of his drinking problem. Instead we explored the very well decorated establishment and enjoyed a light lunch beautifully prepared and presented by the pub cook. After lunch we wandered outside, braving the rain which was still falling, albeit in a very misty fashion, to view the Pig. Priscilla is no dope, determining no doubt that we didn’t have a treat for her, she stubbornly stayed inside her own warm dwelling and completely ignored us. Over the other side of the pub however were a couple of young horses. They were happy to chat with us and one of them became very excited when he spotted us and with his tail held high galloped over to see us with great enthusiasm. His excitement was soon dashed however when he realised we had nothing to offer.

He Was So Happy to See Us

DON’T BE SUCH A COW!

Leaving the Pig in the Poke we moved back towards St Helens, stopping first at Pyengana “Real Milk” – this enterprise is both a dairy and a cheese-making establishment. We had heard about this from a fellow camper and were keen to witness the automated milking system set up there – it was amazing. We watched as the sturdy black and white bovines plodded determinedly up to the gate, pushed their way in and then in a reasonably orderly manner walked onto the platform, patiently stood while the apparatus clamped itself onto their awaiting teats, calmly stepped off once emptied, stopped to have a back and head rub under the also automated cow-scratcher then finally moved on to have a munch at the specially provided post milking trough before wandering back out to the paddocks. The only disturbance to the whole very calm process seemed to be one particularly greedy cow who refused to budge from the feed bucket much to the aggravation of those behind her. It was amusing watching the second cow trying unsuccessfully to convince her to move on. I hadn’t realised that cows could be such cows!

I wanted to purchase some of the very excellent cheese they had on offer but in order to do this was compelled to have a ‘cheese tasting’ – DD had wandered off to the car and so feeling rather embarrassed I was left alone for my ‘lecture’. The chap was very thorough and insisted on giving me tastes of the cheese at all different stages of production. I have to say, as much as I love cheese, and I really do loooove cheese, it was a bit much, so close after lunch. I had to ask the man to make the samples much smaller – now that has to be a first. I was duly impressed however and came away with a fully matured and a soft flavoured cheese – they were very good and I did learn quite a bit about cheese making. It seems that what we buy in the supermarkets is ‘crap’, pardon the expression. What they were selling of course was the real McCoy – I dare say there was a certain amount of self-serving in the lecture, but I suspect a good amount of truth as well.

Enjoying a Back Scratch

GREAT BAYS OF FIRE

So, The Bay of Fires – well, it was hard to get the lad excited about going out to see the Bay of Fires, especially as the weather was not particularly wonderful, but we did go, not only once but twice. The first day we ventured out there we stopped and checked out all the little bays and free camping spots leading out to the main Bay of Fires area. Despite the weather the colours of the rocks that give the bay its name were quite bright and it was easy to see where the name came from. I have been unable to definitively find out how the rocks get their bright orange colouration but it is indicated that it is due to the iron ore content – I thought I had read previously it was due to a fungus but I can’t confirm this.

Famous Colours of The Bay of Fires

More Colours

We went out again at the end of the week when the weather improved dramatically and we had a delightful sun drenched day discovering all the colourful bays in the close vicinity. They ranged from rocky and colourful to sandy and picturesque. We found quite a few free campers in the little coves and bays along the way. We spoke at length to one of these characters – he informed us that he lives on the Western side of the island in the warmer months and then moves to the east side in the winter. He was quite a character and we couldn’t help but think that he has life by the proverbials. His overheads would be minimal and as a keen (and successful) fisherman he catches a great deal of his own tucker. He told us that when he leaves his van on the west side to visit the north island, the rangers keep a weather eye on his van for him. He doesn’t pay to stay on the East side – all in all he has it pretty well worked out!

Sandy Bays

Our Canny Fisherman

SKIMMING SCAMANDER

As we had perfect weather that day we left the Bay of Fires and travelled southwards to Scamander. We had passed thru’ with the van in tow and had promised ourselves to go back to have a better look. When we had a good look at the place we were almost sorry we hadn’t opted to stay there. It is delightful. The town is situated on the mouth of a river (sorry I can’t tell you what it is) and was to us at least, somewhat reminiscent of our beloved Kalbarri. The ocean pounded the shores and the accumulated rocks and wreckage that adorned the river mouth whilst just inside the mouth the river settled into a peaceful waterway providing a calm and protected sanctuary for various water birds including a good number of pelicans.

Entrance The Mouth of The River





Peaceful Waters Inside the Mouth

We decided to be good and not indulge in a take away lunch that day and instead decided to have an ice cream. DD left me to enjoy the scenery while he climbed the hill to buy us the ice-cream. Half an hour and many photos later, the lad returned – bearing not two ice-creams but a delicious serving of fresh fish and chips. It seems that when confronted by a price he couldn’t resist and fresh local fish and home- made chips, the lad just couldn’t find a good reason not to indulge. So indulge we did, sitting in the sun right on the mouth of the river – it was delightful. Replete we turned Zed back towards St Helens, passing on our way the local gunslinger and a couple of his rather dubious looking mates.

Local Character

Until next time live, love and be happy – Stephanie.

Tranquility Along the Way

SOMULANT SWANSEA

From The Caravan Park - Stunning!

Now, I was thinking that this would be a very short little entry as we really didn’t do much during our 1 week stay in the very quiet little seaside town of Swansea – then I reviewed the photos – wow! We really did see a whole heap of wonderful things while we were staying there. So many in fact that I feel obliged to split them into several chapters, (so to speak) – the first one had better be Swansea itself I guess as that was our base after all.

Evening Falls - Ever So Softly

What can I tell you? We stayed at the Schouten Beach Caravan Park and I have to say it was a quiet affair. For the vast majority of the time we had the entire park to ourselves, not even the permanent residents were home! Towards the last couple of days tho’ we were joined by two couples and their vans – they were taking the big break from Devonport on the North West Coast of Tasmania to a getaway for four whole days – they had decided firstly to come to the seaside (despite living at the seaside themselves) – they were delightful folk but it really highlighted the difference between Tassie, Taswegians and the mainland (North Island) and its inhabitants.
Whilst Swansea was incredibly quiet during our stay we are lead to believe that in the summer months it is absolutely packed with sun-seekers from both the mainland and The Apple Isle. We can certainly believe this as the place is unbelievably beautiful and the beaches are definitely family safe. In addition to the beauty and safety of Swansea itself, it is the ‘jumping off place’ for Wineglass Bay and Coles Bay – major tourist spots.
We arrived on Sunday the 16th just in time for DD to take me out for my *#th birthday on Monday. There is not a great deal on offer during the winter months, but we decided on the Bark Mill Tavern (museum attached) and sat down to an incredibly good meal which included succulent oysters and juicy steaks. It was blowing a gale and pouring outside and we sat in warm and cosy comfort in front of a roaring fire – it was sublime and somewhat surreal.

Happy Birthday To Me

ROSS - WATCH OUT FOR THAT LEAKING ELEPHANT!!

The first couple of days we were in Swansea the weather was abysmal – although having said that, they desperately needed the rain so we were happy for the locals. The East coast of Tassie is notoriously dry and we were amazed to see that the paddocks there were still sere and brown – in June!! Our site at the CP was right on the ocean so rather than stay in the van and be buffeted by wind and rain we decided on the Tuesday to take the rather long drive inland to see both Campbell Town and Ross.

On the way to Campbell Town we spotted a sign indicating a turn off to Lake Leake – being inquisitive souls we decided to investigate.  Hmmm, have you ever had one of these spur of the moment ideas that you have pondered the wisdom of later?  Well, Lake Leake was a very different sort of place indeed.  To be fair, I dare say that on a sunny day, that is if they ever have them there, it would be a delightful little spot – on a dim day like this one however, it was something else indeed.  We passed the local drinking hole and spotted a picture of what must have been the publican – un-good indeed!  A scaly looking character to say the least!  We found the lake, it should have been called Lake Dismal; the dark gloomy waters smirked at us as we passed, the dead trees it had drowned trapped haplessly in its lambent currents.  Mists drifted eerily across the surface of the waters. The ‘fishing shacks’ all should have had bearded banjo playing characters sitting astride rockers on their front verandas.  We only spotted one sign of habitation – just one chimney stack smoking – what were they burning – the blood runs cold to imagine.   Even the water birds were strange – we passed a group of around 100 small water-hens all swimming in a close circle on the dark water surface – obviously some sort of dark magic was in play here.  Hastily we turned Zed around and headed back to the main road trying to ignore the haunting strains of banjo music and sinister laughter.



Eerie Mists Waft Across the Dark Waters



Yeah, sure they want us stay here........not on your Nelly!

These Birds Were Obviously Under Some Dark Spell

These two towns, particularly Ross are what you might call “Olde Worlde” – full of picturesque old buildings (beautifully maintained/restored) and English deciduous trees and gardens. It must have been exquisite in the autumn with all the coloured foliage – now it has a more severe beauty with the bare bones of the trees providing sculptured skeletons against leaden skies. We stopped in Ross to have a gander at a local Art Exhibition and to buy a couple of, you guessed it, Scallop Pies to eat for lunch – we will miss these things when we leave Tasmania! Eating as we travelled we drove back up the Midlands Highway thru’ Campbell Town once again finally turning back towards the coast. We traversed the Fingal Valley thru’ a couple of tiny towns and spectacular rural scenery, eventually thru’ the ranges and Elephant Pass back to the coast.

Skeletal Trees Frame This Beautiful Old Church

We were immensely pleased that we did not have the van behind us crossing Elephant Pass – we had been forewarned and glad of it too. We have travelled over some amazing mountains here, some with Jezzy attached, but this one, would have been the most challenging. It was not so much the steepness, but rather the narrow road combined with a multitude of hair-pin bends – frighteningly, this road is used by large log-trucks which hurtle along seemingly careless of other road users.

Dry Paddocks Along the Way

The scenery was stunning to say the least, but due to the extreme weather that day, sadly I didn’t get a great many photos. I have to confess that hanging out the window of Zed getting pelted by freezing rain drops in super cold air is not really my idea of fun – even my trusty mittens, scarf and jacket are not really proof against that sort of thing.

WILD SEAS AT BICHENO

Giant Surf Pounding the Rocks

Heading south along the coast we passed through an incredibly beautiful Bicheno. This is one of, if not the only, town on the east coast where the sea is unprotected from either reefs or bays – the waves as a result crashed exultantly onto the rock strewn shore line. The town itself appealed to me immensely and we were able to get some amazing shots of the ocean and rocks as we were passing thru’. It is with great sadness however that I have to tell you that within days of our visit there, a young boy and his father were lost to those very same waves and rocks whilst fishing. A dreadful loss and the sort of thing that just rocks little country towns like this to their very core!

SPIKED!

Wednesday the weather was little better and we were glad that we had made plans that day to catch up with an old work mate of DD’s who has recently made the huge sea-change from Sydney town to Swansea. Pedro and his wife Lyn moved down here some four years ago and built themselves a lovely home with incredible views from the front of the house across the seascape and from the back across the bush and hills. As is the way in many country towns they have become part of the community being involved with both the community paper and the coast-guard. They had nothing but praise for Swansea and only regretted they had waited so long to make the move.

Bad Weather - Great Photo

As the day was yet young we headed south from Swansea after bidding farewell to Pedro and Lyn. We checked out some of the pretty little spots we had spotted when pulling the van to Swansea. We discovered some stunning little coves and camping spots along the way and proved I think that it doesn’t have to be a sunny day in order to get good photos – we managed between us to get some fairly decent storm and sun shots of ocean and shore. I hope you like them too!


Desolation On The Shore


I had been told of a particular landmark along this drive – it has to be one of the most peculiar things we have seen so far in Tassie – and we have seen some odd things! This one is called Spiky Bridge – it is located right next to Spiky Beach – the bridge itself was constructed by convict labour. Whilst there is a good sign bearing a description of the bridge and its history, nowhere can we find any real explanation for the construction style. The bridge is not a pretty thing, far from it in fact. The bulk of it is utilitarian and bleak looking, and the ‘rim’ of the bridge on each side has sharp rocks inset into the concrete making the whole thing appear as if from some sort of horror story – not a place I would wish to be in the middle of the night I have to say – the whole place gave me a decidedly creepy feeling.

What Can I Say?

PASS THE WINEGLASS – PLEASE!

The weather gradually improved over the week and finally on Thursday we ventured out to have a look at Coles Bay and the famous Wineglass Bay. We were still dogged by heavy clouds and the odd sprinkle of rain but by and large it was as good a day as we are likely to get in Tasmania at this time of the year. Driving out towards Coles bay we had our first close up look at the Hazards – the hills that dominate this peninsular – they are amazingly conical and comprised largely of giant orange coloured rocks which have been painted by mother nature over eons to present today as major works of art – stark against the sky.

The Hazards Behind This Rocky Bay

As we had been alone in the Caravan Park for most of our stay, we were amazed when we arrived at the car park for Wineglass Bay to discover it was packed!! People by the dozens swarmed all over the place, stalking determinedly towards the very testing walk up to view the famous bay. I am very sad and embarrassed to declare here that we didn’t do the walk – my knees simply will not go there anymore – I felt badly for DD and suggested he go without me but he gallantly declined – he did mumble something about me ‘letting him off the hook’ but I still feel bad. Mind you, as we concluded, Wineglass Bay is so very photographed we feel like we have seen it anyway – we have watched many a documentary dedicated to the place and so didn’t feel terribly deprived. If it had been our first destination here I dare say we would have felt differently and I would probably have made the effort – but sadly I feel we are now almost ‘over it’ as they say these days and only too happy to give a few things a miss. I think it is time we headed back to the mainland as we are both becoming a little blasé about the beauty here.

From The LightHouse Walk

Anyway, we found a good walk up to and around the lighthouse – this was much easier for me to manage and we found some wonderful photo shots looking back towards Wineglass Bay. We drove around Coles Bay enjoying the picturesque scenery and neat homes nestled between the Hazards and the ocean – lunching at one of the multitude of little bays along the way.

Amazing Colours

We took a drive out the following day to Dolphin Sands and Nine Mile Beach – this is an odd little piece of land nestled in along the small River/Inlet that separates the mainland from the Hazards. The real estate there was, as is so often the case here, cheap as chips, particularly if you wanted to have a couple of hectares between you and your neighbours.

This raises an interesting point about Tasmania; have you ever wondered where all the old caravans have gone? As you travel this great land of ours, have you noticed that there are very few old vans being towed around? We have! We have often wondered where all the old vans went – well, now we know! We couldn’t tell you how many blocks we have seen down here sporting a shed and a caravan – we did see the same sort of thing on the Eyre Peninsula in SA when we were there a couple of years ago, but here it is very popular indeed. If you go onto the Real Estate pages online you will find these little gems for sale – mobs of ‘em! Cheap too!

Tranquil Waters At Dolphin Sands

So..........I think I have told you everything you need to know about Swansea – quiet in the winter, a hub of activity in the summer – beautiful one moment and glorious the next. From Swansea we drove up to St Helens where you now find us – but you will be glad to know I’ll save all of that for our next chat. I cannot remember if I told you or not, but we have booked our return trip to the mainland (finally I hear you say) and we will be heading back to the North Island on the 27th July. From there we will explore the Gippsland and Lakes areas before slowly heading in a homewards direction.

Be happy and treat every day as if it is your last. Stephanie

Calm

TOO MANY COOKS AND NOT ENOUGH GNOMES

Go On - Paint Me - I Dare You!!

Well, good morning world! I write this missive from a cool, breezy and very overcast Swansea. Yes, we have finally left the Eagle’s Nest and made our way east. Before I regale you with tales of Swansea however, I feel it only right that we farewell Kingston – I just know you are all keen to hear the final episode of our stay there.
Our second stint at Kingston covered three pretty easy over weeks – having ticked all of our boxes there we simply wandered around the area enjoying the local atmosphere. One negative come positive was that our satellite system ceased working. DD is not sure what exactly the cause of the demise was. He did have it set up and working well but one of the resident possums knocked the whole thing over (or possibly the wind) and he just could not get it going again. He assumed eventually that as that system was slotted to cease operation this year, it had finally passed its ‘use by date’. Incidentally the only reason we had the system up and running there was so we could watch our beloved footy. Unlike WA, Tassie seems to show very little AFL on free to air telly. We have now missed two of our own games one of which we went down badly in – perhaps it was not a bad thing we couldn’t watch it!
Due to the death of our old system DD decided to purchase a new VAST system – this had been our plan for some time. Enthusiastically we ventured down to Hobart town and purchased a brand new VAST system and equally enthusiastically we drove back up the mountain to install the new system. I was sat at my laptop tapping away and was vaguely aware of DD coming and going, coming – going, coming – going,..................! Daisy was going ballistic as every time DD left the house, she would charge madly down to the other end of the house and then madly back again – one of her many little games. This wonderful activity seemed to go on for a very long time – poor old Daisy must have been exhausted. The gloomy look on DD’s face worsened – when I finally asked the inevitable question, it evolved that the brand new system worked no better than the old one – that is not at all. Oh dear!


Was It Her?

 Back down the mountain we went and the bloke at the shop tested our system and found that it worked perfectly well – we (he) can only conclude that the problem was our location and that the abundance of trees combined with a very large mountain must have blocked the signal. We are yet to test the system here and from the noises DD is making I rather think he is not going to go there. Our wonderful team play this Friday night we think and so the game should be broadcast on free to air – I don’t think the lad is prepared to try again just in case he finds he has lost his touch completely. Poor old DD – he has for some time been the ‘park expert’ on setting up satellite systems – the ‘go to’ bloke for all the other campers – it is not easy now to find that he may have lost his touch.

Guarding the Sat Dish (against possums)

One plus for me was that the VAST shop was directly opposite an art supply shop – marvellous! I went in to have a squiz and came out with a small set of inks – oh the joy! I had to leave my inks at home as they are just too difficult and heavy to carry with us. I immediately sat down to do a couple of quick inks and did produce one that was passable – not my best work, but not too shabby. I donated this one to Lee but sadly forgot to get DD to photograph it so cannot show it to you. The second ink I tried to do, is still in an incomplete state in my folder – the air was at the end simply too cold and wet and the ink just would not dry – no, not even with a hair dryer! I do now have a small supply of inks with me and so perhaps may at some time get the opportunity to finish the second one.
Inking and painting leads me to the gnomes. When Lee was away the first time, I tried to get into my painting and failed miserably – I had my paints out tho’ and was determined to paint something. I noticed that she had a few very sad looking gnomes lazing around the house and asked if I could restore them to their former glory – she was only too happy for me to do a ‘make-over’ on her little folk – ultimately joining the fun herself. We managed to turn a very sad little group into a dazzling bunch of happy characters. We enjoyed the experience so much that we sought out other wee folk to ‘fix’. We found that strangely, sad gnomes were in short supply. Lee’s friend Dave did contribute one very gloomy looking fellow (Doc) who had become separated from his head at some stage – he is now gloriously back intact and sporting brand new clothes. We have now become avid gnome spotters and look for the little men everywhere. We are even considering starting up our own small enterprise doing ‘make-overs’ on gnomes and expect to sport of sign of some sort, asking folk to ‘bring us their little folk’ – you never know, we could be onto something. The really funny thing was that after we had restored all Lee’s gnomes, I saw that at the Chelsea Flower Show this year, the little folk have been allowed back in after a one hundred year banishment. It seems that they were banished due to being considered too tacky – now why on earth would anyone think that? Even more curious was the fact that they had a competition of sorts, revolving around the painting and re-decorating of the gnomes – obviously I am very much in touch with world affairs on some subliminal level to have intuited all of this way down in Tasmania!


Before & During the Makeover



Typical Crows Supporter?!

Now, I’m sure that you would like to know how our heroine (Lee) fared on her trip across the Nullarbor with the daughter and the two ferals. Well, I have to tell you our girl and her girl did amazingly well. Before leaving Perth, they had to arrange for the beautiful daughter, Jeddah or Jeds for short, to leave work, sub-let her unit and get rid of a significant amount of accumulated ‘stuff’. As Jeddah had been unwell they had, initially at least, to take things sort of slowly. Lee is as I may have mentioned, more than slightly manic – this was a good thing this time as she managed to get Jeds organised in very short time indeed. As Jed’s health improved she put her own somewhat manic energy into the project and these two amazing women managed to accomplish all of this within 9 days!! The Real Estate people didn’t make it any easier for them (as is their want) and the antics of a couple of 6 months old kittens who were not supposed to be there made things even more challenging.

Doc (on the right) fully restored with his new mates.

Jeddah’s old 4 door 4wd ute had some work done on it during Lee’s first visit and was now loaded up with all Jed’s ‘stuff’ in preparation for the trip across. The ‘ferals’ were installed on the back seat in a very large share cage and our ladies were ready to rock and roll. They were all set up with camping gear just in case the ute decided to lie down and die somewhere. They managed to leave Perth around midday on the Friday and reached Southern Cross that evening. They stayed at some units behind the pub and found out very early in the piece that these places charge like wounded bulls for tucker. Deciding against eating a $40 steak for tea, they opted to share a garlic bread and some liquid libations and after a lively evening packed it in. The ferals were smuggled in and out of the units (and all the other units on the way across) and the girls hit the road again, early if not bright the next morning. The second night was at Balladonia where they made friends with a bunch of other travellers – by now the ladies had decided this on the road stuff was a bit of fun and were enjoying the experience. We spoke to them on the phone that night and were told that Jeds was off searching for a BBQ on which to cook their snags and that all was reasonably right with the world.
The next night I spoke to a slightly unenthusiastic Lee on the phone – they were at Eucla and as she spoke to me she could see one of the ferals hanging off the top of the curtains in their overnight unit. Hmmm, considering they were (the ferals) incognito this was not necessarily wonderful! At that stage Lee, who suffers from ‘nurses back’ was in some pain and they planned to spend the next day quietly enjoying the pleasures of Eucla before re-commencing their journey one day hence. Needless to say that didn’t happen – it seems the stress of trying to keep the ferals quiet in the unit was just too much to bear. You need to understand here that the two small cats were confined to their cage all and every day and so when they were released in the evenings it was time to play and play they did all bloody night!!! Lee was not getting much sleep – Jeds with the complacency of youth of course, was able to get some shut eye despite the antics of the ferals.
Play time for one of the kittens was somewhat curtailed the next morning when it fell into the toilet!! Jeddah was at the basin, doing her makeup and hair when she heard a strange and panicky sort of noise – one of the kittens, investigating the toilet bowl, as some cats tend to do, had overbalanced and fallen in – unable to get a purchase on the enamel bowl it was frantically doing circles inside the bowl trying to scrabble its way out. A wet and unhappy cat was finally extricated from the loo – for those of you with a lurid turn of mind, yes – the loo had been flushed previously and so it was not as bad as it could have been and no, Jeds did not try to flush the loo with the cat contained therein – I know a few of you blokes particularly would have been hard pressed not to push that button!!
The next night found the girls at Ceduna where they did stay for a couple of nights, attempting to get a bit of a rest. From Ceduna to Gawler they travelled and we finally received an SMS on Thursday at around midday advising us that they were booked on the Spirit that evening and were just leaving Gawler!!! We were somewhat perturbed and confused by this message, but it evolved that there had been a delay in the passage of the SMS which had been sent that morning.
So............it was at around 10.30 the next morning the sound of a motor roaring and horn blasting and the sight of a white and dusty ute racing up the mountain alerted me to the fact that any peace I may have been enjoying was about to be totally shattered! The trip across the Straight had been uneventful, albeit rough with 4 metre swell and Jeds suffering from sea-sickness. It seems a completely unmerciful mother kept directing her attention to the port holes where on level 8, the waves were crashing – unkind I would have thought!
So, mother, daughter and ferals all arrived home in one piece. The trusty ute which I think should be named The White Elephant did them proud. They really only had two problems, the first was of their own creation – they were approached by a trusty caravanner by the name of Eddy somewhere on the crossing – Eddy informed them they were dropping copious quantities of oil – it evolved that they had fallen into the trap, in their enthusiasm not to run out of oil, of over-filling the oil and it was predictably all running out. The wonderful bloke, Eddy, who said he used to be a mechanic, drained the oil for them and they were fine. This was probably their first encounter with one of ‘us’ – it is good to know that this bloke Eddy did the right thing and upheld the honour of all caravanners everywhere.

The only other real problem and it was not a serious one was that they were unable to attach their tarp sufficiently tight enough to stop it from bellowing out behind them in true parachute style. The parachute possibly added to their copious consumption of fuel a little as did the weight of all Jed’s stuff, but all in all it worked quite well.
So they were home! This was my first chance to really meet the beautiful daughter Jeddah – what a stunner; very much like her mother would have been at a similar age I suspect! Imagine a tall willowy blonde with incredible skin, a sparkling and effervescent personality and a slightly ethereal beauty – now you have Jeddah. Within 5 minutes of their arrival a purple car catapulted up the driveway at oh, say the speed of light, and out tumbled the ecstatic boyfriend straight into the outstretched arms of his darling. So sweet! So sweet too, the antics of the Darling Daisy when she spotted not only her mother but her sister getting out of the White Elephant – I missed the moment sadly, but the old girl nearly turned herself inside out getting out of Zed and into Jeddah’s arms.
The ferals were duly installed into Jeddah’s stand alone studio where Bugsy prowled watching them from outside. In fact, Bugs spent a considerable amount of time during the next couple of days, prowling outside of that window, inspecting the two young animals on the other side of the glass. I believe that the ferals have now been released from their captivity and one of them has latched onto poor old Daisy, following her everywhere – I doubt the old girl really wants to be step-mum to a young inquisitive puss, but it sounds like she is going to have no choice.

Welcoming Committee

The girls arrived Friday and as promised I ‘did’ dinner that night, after filling everyone up on party pies during the afternoon – needless to say in my own inimitable style, I over-fed everyone to some considerable extent. The menu? Marinated Lamb Shoulder served with good old French Onion Potatoes and a Special Stephanie Tossed Salad followed by a rather yummy but super rich Chocolate Brownie style desert with hot chocolate sauce, ice-cream and cream. Hmmm, all very nice but oh boy – way too much. Sometime during the meal, Lee mentioned that she intended to provide dinner the following evening. Great, that should be much better – surely Lee would be much more sensible than yours truly and cut back on the tucker a little. Ummm,..... well first came lunch – we both provided lunch and as the kids decided to bugger off on their own affairs, 3 grown up people who should have known better sat down to eat left over party pies and sausage rolls, hot chips, ham and pickles and soft white buns. Great! Then it was time for tea – Lee went to town and baked a large roast of pork with all the accompaniments and oodles of crunchy crackling. She served the roast with her own signature dish of crispy crunchy baked vegetables (which require seemingly hours of standing over a frypan turning the little darlings) – it was all absolutely delicious of course. Aaron did mention something during the meal about consuming so much the previous evening that his tummy didn’t feel normal until around 4 in the morning and yet here he was again (hogging all the crackling I might add) back on the tooth. We followed this amazing repast with the remainder of the chocolate brownie stuff and yes, we were stuffed – totally. Of course we had to wash it all down with a goodly quantity of good quality white!

Glorious Day From The Mountain

As I waddled out the next morning to share a morning cuppa with Lee – she once again extended the invitation to stay a little longer. I again declined her kind offer, but this time in some desperation. I pointed out to her, that should we stay any longer we would doubtless kill all of us by over provision of food. It was like duelling cooks! There is some compulsion in women of our generation to feed, feed, feed! I think it was the way we were brought up – we were all taught, by our own mothers usually, that one must make sure that everyone is stuffed with food – it was after all supposed to be the way to a man’s heart! We now know in a more enlightened world that it usually ends up instead, in stopping a man’s heart!
So my friends, we are gone from Kingston and their world is slowly returning to normal – mind you I doubt with those two zany females that it will ever really be normal – they would never be sooooo boring. We are back in our van and re-acquainting ourselves with caravan life. It is quite strange, as we have really been out of this lifestyle for around 6 weeks – the longest stretch since we started our first journey some 3 and a half years ago – it actually feels both odd and wonderful. We do enjoy our little space in Jezzy but we have in that short space of time forgotten, albeit temporarily, where things are and how things work. It is a strange and complex dance we do in the van keeping everything in its place whilst maintaining good relations with each other and some vestige of sanity.

Next time I will tell you all about Swansea and surrounds but until then be kind to each other and be proud of who you are – you are unique and wonderful! Steph.

No - I didn't paint this one!

I thought for a change, you might like a recipe or two, the first of these is my Special Salad which consists of nothing more that tossing washed baby cos and baby spinach leaves together with fetta, fried prosciutto, marinated stuffed olives, sun dried tomatoes, Spanish onion sliced ever so thinly and thin slivers of yellow capsicum. You don’t need to dress this salad as the olives and tomatoes do the job for you.

The following desert recipe was sourced from the Woolworths Good Taste magazine and having made it I can vouch for its rich delish taste.

CHOC-CARAMEL BROWNIE PUDDING & HOT FUDGE SAUCE

INGREDIENTS

• Melted butter to grease

• 200g pkt dark cooking chocolate, coarsely chopped

• 200g butter, chopped

• 3 eggs

• 2 egg yolks

• 279g (1 ¼ cups) caster sugar

• 115g (3/4 cup plain flour)

• 35g (1/3 cup) cocoa powder, sifted.

• 200g pkt Arnott’s Caramel Crowns (in the chocolate biscuit section)

• Vanilla Ice-cream, to serve

HOT FUDGE SAUCE

200g dark chocolate, finely chopped

250g (1 cup) thickened cream

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 160c. Brush a 16 x 26cm base measurement slice pan with melted butter. Line with baking paper, allowing the sides to overhang.

2. Place the chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan half-filled with simmering water (making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water). Stir with a metal spoon until melted and smooth. (GIRLS I SIMPLY MELTED THIS IN THE MICROWAVE!) Set aside to cool slightly. Transfer to a large bowl.

3. Whisk the eggs and egg yolks in a jug until combined. Add to the chocolate mixture and stir until combined. Stir in the sugar, flour and cocoa powder.

4. Pour half the mixture into the lined pan. Place the biscuits on top of the mixture, spacing evenly and pressing down slightly into the mixture. Pour over the remaining chocolate mixture and gently spread to cover the biscuits. Smooth the surface.

5. Bake for 40 minutes or until crumbs cling to a skewer inserted into the centre. Set aside to cool slightly.

6. To make the hot fudge sauce, place the chocolate and cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook stirring for 5 minutes until smooth.

7. Cut brownie into pieces –serve with ice-cream and hot fudge sauce.

FREEZING TIP

To freeze brownies, wrap in 2 layers of plastic wrap. Defrost at room temp and cook in the microwave for 30 secs or until warmed thru’.