Hi! How is everyone? Its been a busy week. Childhood/neighbourhood friends came over to Tassie to ride their bikes around the state… starting at our place! (L – R Roger, Lisa, Brandt and Clinton)
And yes… I did get to go for a ride… and 8 hour ride… through the wild west coast weather to Strahan and back!!
I loved it – very exciting way to travel! Disappointed for the guys not being able to see the amazing views down that way. We were sodden and fairly chilled, so we called up Jeff and left instructions to have the fire roaring for us. It was bliss walking into the house! The fire had its work cut out drying all the gear!
(Photos courtesy of the guys)
I was relieved to see sunshine the next morning!
It was just fabulous seeing them all again. I was in the same year as Clinton – mortal enemies until about year 8. His older brother Brandt I was best buds with for a number of years. Roger was part of the group of kids that we hung out with in our area (his parents owned the corner shop) They (never me) used to get into so many scrapes as kids and general mischief along with dodginess haha They all grew up to be pretty amazing humans 🙂
Happily they got some great weather for the rest of their week here.
Fishing was high on the ‘to do’ list
As well as test driving all the pubs and eating places possible
There were some exciting moments on the road of course…
(No-one hurt but because of the impeccable vehicle placing over the culvert, no one could get past for an hour or so!)
The brothers doing a fair hike up to see Wineglass Bay… in motorbike boots!! Erk!!
Brant got back to our place early so I took him on a drive along the NW Coast to see the sights… Then did the same with Clinton when he arrived back… but on the back of his bike (Roger went back a day earlier than the others)
So bright the light!! Clinton was the best windbreak to ride pillion behind! After a while of not seeing him I forget how solid he is!!!
It was so enjoyable seeing them all again and showing off our bit of Tassie (actually having visitors again!) Seems all quiet at Norwich House now!!
I know you’ve seen some pic’s of my sister Rosemary’s ceramics here and there when I’ve been lucky enough to be a recipient… but thought I’d pop up a link to an online shop she created in case anyone wanted to take a peek at the cool things she is making.
I bought a lovely big salad bowl to give to the young couple who I just did wedding photos for as their wedding present. (Something unique AND useful)
Now I have a lovely lot of bowls in various sizes which are in constant use for this and that.
Check out what Rosemary has here if you like looking at that kind of thing.
We’re quite attached to ceramics so at least one of us in the family is making them! We’d LOVE to do a trip back to Japan to collect some more… (On my future To Do list)
Hi! The butterflies and bees are going nuts over my sunflowers! I am so pleased with them – considering how late I threw the seeds into the ground!
I’ve got some friends due to arrive Monday night so have been trying to sort out rooms and clean up in among photo processing and garden stuff
I’ve done a few more photos today but now need to write a list and get off my butt.
Pip helpfully snuggled down in the guest bed while I was trying to make it
Mum got me this sign… haha. Time to let go of worrying about constant cat hair. (yes yes, we have vacuumed)
Cousin Jeff popped by the other day with a load of firewood
Idiotically I went with Jeff on one of his longer hikes (17km) yesterday THEN decided I better stack this. Jeff mowed down the back then helped me finish off here
My body hates me.
It still hates me this morning, so sitting and post processing photos was the only sensible start to the day!
Anyway – thanks to everyone that popped by the comments section and had a chat! Was lovely to hear news from around the world! Cheers
Hello hello!!! Miss me?? 🙂 I had a really lovely time away – so great to catch up with family and a few close friends! I am up to my eyeballs in photos… I’ve the last Overland ones to do, 1000 wedding shots to sort through and a bunch from my time away as well!!
I came home to beautiful ripe corn and a bazillion zucchinis!! We are fanging through the corn nightly and its SO GOOD!!
I am experimenting with dehydrating the zukes with the aim to grind into flour. Apparently its a thing! Has anyone tried it before?
Jeff has been walking around the country roads as his hiking thing lately. We’re talking 20 plus km hikes. I really want to join in but my heel says… best not. (I am booked in to see a podiatrist next month so fingers crossed) So I am sticking to the 1-2 hour modest 8km hikes. Anyways, Jeff has been grazing on blackberries and found a good spot along one of the roads so we drove over and picked 3kgs!! Gotta love free food (you know, because at this time of year I don’t have enough veggies to sort out!!) Anyway, these beauties are cooked and moolied (sieved) and I chucked them in the freezer to make jam when I’ve not got quite as much on my plate (so to speak…)
Time to dig up the remaining potatoes!! This year the harvest was distinctly underwhelming compared to other seasons! Not sure if its the seed potato, the weather or my soil.
Still plenty to keep us going for a while…
Will add some good stuff to this plot – maybe even some green manure if I get my act together, then will later top with straw to keep those pesty weeds low.
Pumpkins!! Green yellow and orange… hmmmm – and I have no idea what they are but they look fabulous!
Hey! How’s the price of fuel in your neighbourhood these days? Is it positively frightening?? Our car broke just before the wedding and in the week it was in the garage, fuel jumped about 20 cents a litre … we were sitting at about $1.92/lt before I left to the mainland. In town yesterday it was $2.13. Thats just regular unleaded petrol The premium is now at $2.28 and diesel is $2.30!!!
We’ve got some serious thinking to do re our vehicle… its old and thirsty. So either changing it totally or getting a small run about car to do shopping and for Jeff to go to work in. Ugh. Or a pony and cart. Or an electric bike. Its especially rough on people in rural areas – Tasmania sucks when it comes to public transport. A car is a must really.
I ate part of that carrot in the photo!! So yes… carrots are getting to the nice picking point. We’ve also had a lot of pears and I am looking to make a spiced pear paste (Tomorrows goal)
Colourful pickings! While we are getting tomatoes, we are getting nothing like previous seasons either! Summer arrived too late.
Got the wheelbarrow of garlic and made a good start on cleaning them all up to store. We needed the wheelbarrow back.
I had back to back markets on the weekend… Elliot – which was pretty slow going. And unfortunately due to some insurance issues, they are closing it down until further notice which is a real shame. The hall committee don’t want to put any effort into support of the market so… thats that! I also went down to Sisters Beach where they were running an excellent little market at the back of the local shop. An excellent array of stalls and lots of people coming through Great atmosphere and I sold well.
I have some friends booked to come down to Tassie on their motorbikes in about a week… so have to get everything ship shape before they arrive!! So between that, the garden, the cooking and the 7 squillion photos to post process, I am going to be kept firmly out of mischief over the coming weeks!!
I hope you are all well, despite the world still being upside down and throwing up crazy challenges, parts of Australia being washed away in floods and Russia trying for WW3. (Its heartbreaking and horrifying seeing what Ukraine is being subjected to) I guess its too much to ask for some smooth sailing for a while?
Drop by in the comments section and let me know how you are faring! Would love to hear from you Cheers and Hugs
Hi! Busy busy here. Had a wedding to shoot yesterday. Was a lovely day – of course a long long one on my feet. I officially slothed today
Above is where I left off with the chook yard. Last week Jeff and I got to and pulled the rest down
This little shelter was never convenient. Especially if the chooks decided to lay eggs in there. No easy way to reach the back corner
And gone
The duck yard is sorely neglected. The blackberry was a pest to sort out
That stuff has grabby thorns EVERYWHERE! Pliers and snippers helped as the thorns went straight through my gloves.
Time to bring out the parang
The structure I put up intending to grow things up on it… Sigh. At least the blackberry got a bit of use out of it
Time for the whippersnipper
We didn’t actually set out to clear the duck yard but… with everything out of the way and cleared it will make rebuilding anything a lot less crowded and irritating
Meanwhile… Flossie found a zucchini leaf to snooze under…
Better
More manageable.
I am still keen to save the wisteria!
Oh… I found an excellent hollow log in the duck yard from one of the failed gardens and repurposed it for the new white geranium that I bought at the last market
Found a spot…
And filled with potting mix! So far its looking quite happy there!
The next Overland set of photos isn’t far away… then I have my eye on about a thousand images from yesterday to sort and post process. That’ll keep me out of mischief!! Cheers!
Hello! Continuing on through the damp countryside on our way to Pelion Hut
It was the right time of year to see the Myrtle orange fungi (Or beech orange) (Cyttaria gunnii) It grows specifically on myrtle beech trees. Apparently its edible but I’ve not tried it.
From what I understand, the fungi emerges from the galls.
Pretty sure I’ve photographed that stick before…
Jeff would disappear every now and again
Everything looked rather spooky – so no sweeping views but also not so hot!
Still lots of interesting things to look at
Jeff gone.
Back into the forests
A steady trudge upwards – picking our way carefully over the rocky trail
Lots of moss covering everything!
And still we go up… I think its one of our favourite stretches of track
Twisty trees
We were on the lookout for Jeff’s favourite boulder
There!
Bob the Boulder??
From big things, to the small things
Moss and lichens
Onward!
A slight stretch of downhill is nice.
And just when one has had enough of stepping over rockys and roots,
We come back out into the ‘open’
The views got a bit limited
But they had artistic scope,
back into the forests…
This river is usually rushing – that day it was a mere dribble
This part of the trek does seem to go on for a good long while
How beautiful are the tree trunk colours?
They are a bright spot in a predominately green world
Your head needs to be pointed down a lot on these tracks.
Having the camera makes me stop and look up a lot more
I think the colours are richer in the rain too
Nothing much has been done to this part of the track where it nearly washed away a couple of years back
At least with the trees blocking the way, if you lost your footing you wouldn’t go too far down
We stopped by the Forth River for a bite to eat. I was appreciating the fresh apples!
Fresh fruit like this is heavy to carry but I think worth the effort
From this point we had a long ascent up before going down into Pelion so I put the camera away. By that point I needed to remove the weight from around my neck.
Welcome to the tracks most stinkiest dunny.
They were diabolical! Usually they aren’t the most fragrant places but this time they must have been five minutes from being due from an industrial clean out. The aroma floated quite away from the structure too!! We camped a fair way up and away and were grateful we had masks with us! Ahhh… the joys!
Oh! Of course I didn’t have my camera out on the last part of my hike in when I saw a big fat Tasmanian Devil hightailing it down the path in front of me!!! Doh!
I’ll leave you with the non-view from the hut at Pelion Shame… one of the nicest views from the huts on the track! Cheers!
Hi!! Just a quick garden update while I fiddle-faddle around with the next lot of Overland photos! I think the corn doubled in size in the week we were gone. Just noticed some fluffy tops showing and tiny cobs forming!
We are also drowning in apple cucumbers and zucchinis. And YUM on the new potatoes.
Ahem… well, the garden and lawns were a bit feral… so we had to put some effort into bringing them back under control
Jeff on the mower and whippersnipper and me pulling out stuff left right and centre
New lettuce patch! I left one in there going to seed to collect them.
Yikes on the main garden. It didn’t get mowed last time Jeff did the yard and now we are paying for it!
I filled three or four barrow loads while Jeff went mad on the whippersnipper
Now I can see where my veggies are!
The carrots are healthy looking but again… a number are trying to race to seed before any are ready to pick!!
The back veranda garden needed an overhaul… the feverfew was a bit… tired
I pulled one up and replaced it with a young one (they self seed everywhere) but the one on the right was still quite sturdy… just needed a haircut
I also moved a couple of self seeded cape gooseberries up to the side garden that I cleared a while ago. They look SO SAD
But they’re tough and will probably bounce back
I want them to hide that corner and the unused hot water cylinder
This side was also looking a wee bit out of control. So I got brutal and sorted it out. Now I need to throw in some more rocket seeds. I am missing the rocket already in our salads
Still not oodles of tomatoes – and there is a rat or mice in the hothouse nibbling on the ones I do have… Not pleased about that! Have to pop some live traps in there to try to remove them!
I’ve been sharing out the zucchinis and cucumbers – just too many for two people! I’ve been enjoying making zucchini fritters – we had some tonight! Makes a lovely side to the dinner. I’ve also eaten through my latest batch of pickled beetroot so I am going to have to get cooking again soon! There are some big ones in the garden totally ready for action!
Hello!! Hmmmm perhaps I should have tilted that photo a wee bit. Never mind. So… we were up before 5am last Monday to drive down to Lake St Claire to drop off our car at the finish point, then drive back up to Cradle. One of my lovely cousins leant us her car so we could do a car shuffle (they were travelling down to Cradle later to collect it) In itself that’s a big day as you’re looking at about 8 hours on the road driving.
This was actually the day before our official start date on the Overland. The plan was to collect our passes then hike up to Scott-Kilvert hut for the first night, which is part way down the track, then start officially the next day.
It was HOT! We aren’t used to hot anymore. We’d booked at this time of year to accompany friends on the journey… but they bailed out and we didn’t really think to postpone. Just stuck with the dates we took. March/April is our preferred time.
I struggled right from the start. (Can you tell? My photos are STILL crooked haha) The heat was a killer, the early start, a nice dose of anxiety and of course with my foot – not quite as fit as I would have liked to have been.
In the end I just felt awful. I pushed on for a while (because I am stubborn) but we rounded a bend and I saw where I had to go really steeply up and my face must have etched out this picture… Jeff said he hadn’t ever seen that look before and took it upon himself to bail out and go back before heat stroke became a ‘thing’
Very luckily we found a place to stay… (I had looked but nothing was available when I was trying to book a week earlier) So we got a better nights sleep and set off for round two the following morning – our official start.
So…off we go again. Back on the bus to Ronny’s Creek to try again. Even though we were on the track earlier, it was still drainingly hot and hard work. I was looking forward to getting to Crater Lake so I could jump into it. I wasn’t full of energy, but today it was Jeff that struggled. He is super fit and ready for this but he just couldn’t get it together mentally or physically! We think the recent booster shot had something to do with that. We were at the Lake for probably 30 minutes in fierce debate on whether to continue or not! The biggest problem with going back was transport. Our car was at the finish line and we don’t own phones to just call people to come on a rescue mission… apart from the VERY big ask that would be. And around here? Buses aren’t a ‘thing’ (OK yes, it also would have been a pretty solid ego blow haha)
Finally Jeff said “Lets just go” I had actually no idea if he meant forward or back – in the end of course… it was onward and upward.
I didn’t have the camera out until we got to the top of Marions and let me tell you… that was one miserable hard slog that day! (The camera is heavy and I didn’t want to think about it dragging on my neck until I had done the worst of it) You’ve seen the photos before… you know what that climb looks like (if you are new to this blog… link to photos of going up Marions is here )
Basically I go 10-20 steps and stop. Rinse – Repeat. Might not win any land speed records but it gets you there in bite sized pieces.
We sat for a while and had more to drink and a snack and then continued on.
It wasn’t until this point that we both felt quite a weight (metaphorically) off our shoulders and knew we could really do this! Was amazing the difference. Of course the camera had to come out – because if I didn’t use it I might as well have shoved a 2kg paperweight into my pack!!
Across the top towards the base of Cradle… it varies between boardwalk and rough stone ground.
Every water way is a refill in our bottles. A lot drier up there than usual of course. (Except us… we were puddles of sweat.)
I do like trundling across this part.
(Barn Bluff in the background there… I was pretty positive that there would be no extra mountain climbing for us this trip!)
There was a bit of cloud about and it made the hiking that little bit easier when the sun dipped behind them.
I never fail to feel the awe of this mountain when I am right beside it. It just looms and makes me feel a little bit insignificant in the grand scheme of things. (But not in a bad way)
Its odd to see this path without water! 3 out of the previous 4 times I’ve done this, its been under water and a lot of mud and rock hopping!
A quick look back
It was a pretty season for wildflowers
Starting to feel a lot more remote now as we look across the mountain ranges
No running water.
Most of the tarns up here were dry
A little bit of water in this one made for some nice reflections
I like the way the path disappears into the greenery here
We filled our bottles again here which was good as it was the last bit of running water we saw between here and the hut
We have a Sawyer Mini filtering bag and depending on the source, we will sometimes filter and sometimes not. But its a handy thing to have to make sure you are not drinking anything dodgy. These bits of water were good for soaking our hats and heads before moving on.
Anyway, I will leave you here and hopefully work on some more photos tomorrow – you’ll get the whole trek in odd chunks this time instead of neatly packaged into days! Hope you are all having a lovely week so far Cheers!
Hello! We got back home at about 9pm last night… to a VERY happy Pip He was at the kitchen window… “Yowl” “Hi Pip! Miss us?” “Yowl” “We missed you too!” “Yowl” “We’ll be in in a minute” “Yowl” “Just getting our bags” “Yowl”
This was funny and tragic and all very loud. It took about an hour before he toned down the howling. But we got lots of cuddles and purrs and he stuck to my heels like glue when not in my arms!
We did the six days (opted out of the 7th day around the lake) in five and it was the most challenging Overland we’d done for a number of reasons. But we made it and pretty pleased with ourselves. Jeff was a hero this morning by getting up early and opening the sealed bags of hiking clothes and putting them through the laundry! The only thing I would have wanted to do would be to set them on fire!
We’ve had a blissfully slow relaxing day, finishing off with a lovely dinner mostly from fresh home grown veggies (so good) I’ve made a start on sorting/post processing photos so should be able to share all the little ‘ups and downs’ (literal and figurative) with you soon!
