Category: Uncategorized

And on and up we go!

Going up is ok – but kinda wasn’t looking forward to coming back down over this!

Scramble scramble

Lovely native pepper-berry.

A lot of conglomerate rock up here

Views just kept getting more amazing.

And finally coming about to a spot where we saw our destination!

Not long after this I ‘Had a Little Moment’ !!
I just overheated and felt really bad. Had to sit and take off my pack – and also charmingly throw up whatever was left in my tummy.
Yay.
Luckily I had a nurse on hand. Hat came off, gaiters off – but sadly there was no wiping of furrowed brow.
I got a bottle of water tipped down my back.
Not in the least bit romantic but it sure helped!! 😀

Still enjoying the views while I got my equilibrium back.
Jeff wanted to know if we should turn back…. “Not on your bloody life!”
Definitely not after getting that far!
It just took about 10 minutes to rest and cool down – and I was perfectly fine.
Onward!

Coming out over the other side was nothing short of spectacular!

We got to the edge where we could see the little town of Tulla

But not at the trig point!

There was no clear path to the trig point and we were not actually keen to crab walk across this rock. Trying to remind ourselves we are not lithe young things anymore.

So we decided to sit and rest and enjoy the views before going back

What a spot hey?

I took a few more snaps before we started back… then we spotted the ‘track’ that we missed that would take us to the very top.
Short debate ensued – then decided we would be annoyed for not putting in 10 more minutes of effort.

And there we go!! End in sight!

A dizzingly look down – but hard to get that from the photo!

And here is me again – just because I am happy to have made it and Jeff got a couple of nice shots of me too haha

And now time to turn and head for home!
Plus we got to use a whole new set of muscles for the long trip down. The tops of my thighs are aching badly today – mostly from putting the brakes on for a couple of hours!

What’s the worst sound when hiking in places like this?
Well… I now know its when you’ve turned a corner and behind you, you hear a great lot of earth and stones give way and go crashing down the slope and you wonder if your husband has gone with it!!
Not a nice moment. Luckily he had the other foot firmly planted and his weight was not on the part of the track that disappeared!!

Helpful ‘do not cross’ rock barriers so you don’t go wandering the wrong way

Sketchy narrow mountain tracks.

Lovely markers.

At this point I was looking for a place in the sun to sit and have something to eat.
Very excited to use my bee-wrap for my sandwiches. 😀

Doesn’t that look both pretty AND environmental?

Yummy egg sandwiches and the best seat in town.

Energy restored – time to move on.

The rope climb! Which I didn’t photograph on the way up.
So glad that was there.
Again – the photos make it hard to see how steep (vertical) this section was!

Anyway, Jeff down safe and sound

My turn.
Thought it was best to concentrate on hanging on not taking snaps

Eventually I got down too… then it was more traipsing down through the afternoon sun

What a day.
It took us not quite 6 hours!
Definitely worth all the effort – even through the aches, it was a really enjoyable day!
Hope you’ve enjoyed it from a more comfortable viewpoint!!! 😀

Cheers

Hello! Saturday and its steadily raining. A good day to stay in my nightie, catch up on the blog and maybe do some soap later!

Well… the latest hiking adventure! Mt Murchison.
1275mt (4183ft) above sea level including a climb of about 700mt within a 2.5km space.
In otherwords – a bit relentless haha

Below was the flattest part of the hike. Crossing the road to the starting point.

Straight up into the bush.

(apologies in advance for all the Jeff-Butt photos haha)

Just so you know what you are in for.

This area was so pretty

The river track is good for keeping up the fitness but it doesn’t prepare your legs quite enough for this. I stopped a lot but keep reminding myself we are not doing this as a race. We are meant to enjoy it as well!
We were late getting to the start because there were so many roadworks slowing us and stopping us on the way – so we were a little unsure on the timing.

Finally we broke out of the bush and got some of our first views

From this hike you actually get a good view of the Overland Track, but we couldn’t quite pinpoint the exact mountains from this side. Still… was great to see.

We didn’t actually check the map carefully to see which mountain was the one we were climbing. At this point we didn’t know if we would be swinging about to the left or heading straight ahead.

Love the geological formations

Already so far above the road

That tarn was looking awfully inviting! We were sweating quite a bit!

Some of the track had fairly steep dropoffs.

We found out a bit further on that we were actually heading up to the right and the summit was hidden behind what we were climbing. We met some people coming down who told us. They had a dog with them too! First time the dog had been on such a climb and he was looking pretty pleased with it all! He was firmly attached to his owner – the rope climb part must have been a challenge for them!! 😀

Some great rocks up here too! Jeff believes there was zinc in the quartz.

Still going up up up and no sign of the summit!
We were keen to find some water too.

We found water but lost the track!!
Actually we lost the track a few times so I can certainly understand the warnings for this climb in bad weather.
Sometimes there were little yellow markers on trees or scrub but they weren’t obvious or many.
What we mainly looked out for were the rock cairns.

I am not sure who did them all – rangers or a cumulative effort by hikers, but they were really great in keeping us on track or getting us back on track!

Anyway, we finally found the right way to go and continued on up.

So many times I stopped just to look around (and rest) and enjoy the view.

Heaps of fat grasshoppers everywhere – all colours too!!

I’ll pause here – time for a hot drink maybe?
Be back soon with Part Two!
Cheers!

Hi!
I didn’t take it easy today – and I should of!
Still… got a major job done (cleaning bbq area) which has been bugging me again forever.
I just finished post processing yesterdays hiking photos but will blog about it tomorrow (as I am scheduling in a slow day).

Quick snap of the lovely little basket of food picked for tonights dinner.
So very much enjoying having some home picked lettuce again! Not to mention branching out a little from the cos lettuce!

Hope your week has ended fabulously!
Cheers!

Haha – Pip was out with me today… he ended up under the decking and came out covered in spiderwebs! And he has a sticky eyebrow, probably from schmoozling his face against the sappy wood out the front!

Hello!!
Just a sneak peak of a few photos. I am very ready for bed!
But wanted to share a snippet of our day!

We want to climb and hike in a number of different places in Tassie over the summer season.
Today we drove down to Mt Murchison – then hiked up!
I’ll delve into the full story tomorrow (probably haha)
It was a tough climb – relentlessly up, unstable underfoot and we lost the track a few times!

BUT – it was stunningly beautiful and worth the sweat and aching muscles. The views were amazing and all the little shrubs and plants were so enjoyable to walk through.

After a couple of hours climbing – we spotted the trig point! The end was in sight!

Anyway – I am looking forward to a nice long sleep and will attack the photos tomorrow and hopefully come up with a story too!
Sure made a difference from digging in the garden!

Cheers!

Hi!! Here we are mid week. Thought the weather might be a bit dodgy this morning but it turned out pretty nice!
Got a lot of planting done.

I got 50 potatoes planted in here! I promptly mulched because I don’t want those awful weeds to come rampaging straight back.

Jeff did a lot of work along the fence, pulled back the rebar and guttering (?) and got all the big weeds out that were impossible to get to.
The chooks had a splendid time ‘helping’

See all the logs of wood? Jeff was filling in some holes with dirt and as fast as he filled them, the girls dug them out with delight!
There might have been a few swear words involved haha

Finally finished filling this little bed. Planted it with my collected seeds. Its got sweet pea up the back – with the idea for them to climb the fence.
Marigolds down each side and down the middle sections.
Rocket all along the front and sunflowers in the midde.
Hope that all turns out well!
Now… to wait!

The garden beds that have had the conditioned straw in them have lovely soil… so I have high hopes.
Planted out the Golden Nugget pumpkins. (Small and yellow ones I think – first time to grow)

And in the interests of having more pesto than one can point a stick at… more basil.

Of course all the new seedlings were tucked up in their bottles for the night

Mulched the zucchinis

Oh – I also planted some nasturtiums in the big Hugelkultur bed. Hopefully soon the butternut pumpkins will be ready to go out there too.

More rocket seeds developing and the bees love this patch.

Dill!! In the herb spiral!! Very exciting times!

The promise of a strawberry!

Liliums about to flower I think!

Anyway, got a big day planned tomorrow so better scoot off to bed.
Cheers!

This was the patch I’ve been procrastinating about.
I knew it was going to be no fun to dig.
I considered making a no-dig garden but I am running out of straw and new soil…. so…
Flex the muscles and call in the husband!
Jeff helped me out here which was great. Lots of twitch in here as well as a heap of grass clumps that had no intentions of coming out quietly!
For a relatively small area – it took a LONG time.
The soil is actually rather nice – big improvement on when we first started using the area a few seasons back. I reckon the potatoes will do well in here.

Apart from general watering etc, I didn’t have the oomph left to do any other gardening.
So I went inside and made soap – another two batches.
Yesterday I made a double batch of the cedar and saffron – its so lovely.
Today I unmoulded the dragonfly ones – leaving them an extra day made a difference in the ease of getting them out too.

Such pretty swirls! I am addicted to cutting the loaf soaps haha

I had enough mixture to make a few of the square soaps too.

Bedtime for me!
Hope your day was fabulous 🙂

Cheers!

That single spike of iris burst forth today! So lovely.
I wish I had of had the time to clear the area to give the other plants a chance. Oh well… can’t do it all!

We planned to at least dig the second potato patch and maybe get the raspberry netting up.
Got into the gardening clothes, put the sign and egg table out… and it – you guessed it! POURED!
And got cold.
Sigh.
On the upside, a fellow drove right in and bought eggs haha.
I ended up taking the table in early.

New plan.
Hothouse.

Tentacular the Passionfruit has started budding up. His tentacles are starting to reach out a bit too. Want to keep him firmly under control this season. I need LIGHT in the hothouse!

Because I am mad keen and determined to have an insane amount of basil this season so I can make tons of pesto… I keep buying whatever seedlings I find as well as the seeds I’ve planted.
I found a pot at one of the supermarkets of well established basil.
I decided best to leave them in a clump as they were so far along.

I moved the worm farm and popped the cucumber seedlings in the ground and brought in a new trellis for them. They were going nowhere in their pots.

I also planted some seeds – some new pumpkin seeds, (goldilocks??) chilli, thyme and some flowers – portulaca.

Tomato flowers!!

OK… this is what is happening to my strawberries in one of the new patches. I am ruling out over or under watering.
I am wondering if the straw is too close to the layer of the soil/mushroom compost mix and is either composting under there and burning them or leaching away some vital nutrient.
Never having had issues with strawberries before I am not sure. Perhaps a soil testing kit although I will be in trouble if that truckload of soil mix is dodgy!!

My patch of brown onion and leeks are looking really good!

I reckon it might be time to even use a few of the leeks for something!

Very excited to spy some pears making a start!!

After all the fussing about in the hothouse I came in and made a double batch of soap. I did more of the cedar/saffron fragrance because it was so nice. The new colour mix was great too (similar to last lot but slightly stronger I think)
Will be fun to unmould and cut tomorrow.

Hope your weekend has been fantastic!
Cheers!

(Our beautiful boy under the cherry blossoms!)

Today was another of those mad spring weather days. Lots of rain – the occasional hailstorm. I went out and re-covered up some of the seedlings.
I opted to stay inside – so made myself useful and cleaned up the house.

Anyway – these are just the latest soaps. The above is cranberry and pomegranate. I do need to get some red colouring!! Oh well.

This one is cedar & saffron. Love the scent and the colour mix turned out great!!

These ones are ‘Woodland Elves’
Not sure what that means smell-wise but I think its a bit herb-like. Reminds me of rosemary a bit…

I might need to pick up more of the dragonfly moulds when I spot them on sale next. I’d like to be able to make more than 4 at once.

Check out my bargain!! These paper plate holders were being sold on FB marketplace – Fiona spotted them for me. $10 for 34 of them!
I had borrowed some off Sharon to display my soaps on for the market stall and they looked great so was keen to find some of my own.
Now I am set!

I unmoulded these today and they look lovely – and smell great! Applejack Peel!! The ones I am pressing the apple blossom flowers for!

Anyway… thats the weeks soap update!!
Enjoy your weekend!
Cheers

Hello.
Yesterday I might have slightly overdone things!!
Hiking 12kms before a long afternoon doing yard work is not the brightest thing I have done all week!! 😀

While Jeff was knee deep in some areas of the garden, I moved stuff out of his way, raked grass and cleaned the chook house

At this time of year – the grass grows madly fast!

Nice to have things tidy again. And we can see the chooks again. 😀

An iris is about to bloom! Not many spikes so far though …

Ten days spring onion growth! Not bad

The parsley is growing beautifully with no help from me. Both the parsley and spring onion went into a potato salad tonight.

Little Moo with his tongue out waiting for some silverbeet!

I didn’t prune the roses – but some are starting to show.

The apple blossoms are so pretty! I am pressing some in the hope once flat and dry I can use them on top of some soap as a ‘garnish’

Still beautiful – now petals are starting to fall so it looks a bit snow like on the ground!

Anyway – hope your week finishes well and you have a super dooper weekend planned!
Cheers!

Hello!!
Gosh – long time since ‘Ruby Tuesday’
And honestly it was a bit of a fluke!
I wanted to go down and take some rhubarb and some plants for Ruby’s garden.
I’ve also been waiting for a nice day when she was feeling in tip top condition so she could come up home for a garden tour as we have done so much since she was last here.
Sorry – I only took snaps under the cherry blossom tree, but they are lovely ones!

She’s been enjoying the ‘lay down’ chair (poolside deck chair) at home in this lovely weather, soaking up the sunshine like a cat!
She is certainly slowing down a bit these days – gets puffed out easily! She’s still quite miffed about it too! Hard to slow up when you’ve been such a busy person all your life. She chuckles and says she walks up the garden, then has to come back and sit down… “and do this” she says, holding her wrist….
After a moment of puzzlement I realise that ‘Nurse Ruby’ is taking her pulse so she knows when she’s ok to get going again!!
I laughed so much – but so sensible!!

She came up and walked the entire garden with me, checking it all out and all the new things we have going on. As long as we were going slow she was fine.

She was mightily impressed with the new gardens we are building out the back with the herb spiral etc!
We sat on the back veranda for a while and chatted before driving back.
(Via the photo shoot under the blossoms)
I planted the spare strawberries I had in her patch – that had spare space, popped a couple of cucumber seedlings into her hothouse and put in a couple of zucchinis that I also had extra – and a bin of coffee grounds into her compost.

We had lunch and another cuppa before I headed back.
It was really lovely!
Wouldn’t I love to be so spritely and photogenic at 103!!!

Cheers