Another trip South



One of the local timber sheds - we're hoping to build one similar to this.

Well, another trip has come and gone. November is truly the prettiest time to visit the valley. Although I love it in all seasons it is at its lushest and most impressive, to the Australian eye, in the Spring. The hills are green and lush. The orchards are passed flowering and are now deep green patches of cherry-flavoured promise. The water and sky is the clearest blue. Even the most modest of gardens have roses and peonies to rival any mainland botanic garden and spark more than a hint of jealousy in any avid gardener.


Fresh Peonies from Sally's garden. (Plant Hunters)

Unfortunately as someone who knows more about the local wildlife this growth brings, I see the long thick grass at our place and just think 'snakes'. Our next trip in March when the grass dries out, will require us to walk with very big sticks! Tiger snakes are prolific down here. But I comfort myself with the knowledge that statewide, more people are killed by the jack jumper ant than tiger snakes. And somehow I can't bring myself to be too afraid of an ant.


Green, green, green. Spring is lush in the valley
and we can see it all from our place.

We took the opportunity to measure the block for a shed and maybe where to place some fences around the house site. Below is Geoff walking a fenceline to the right of our house. To the right of Geoff will still be the hay paddock. On the left between the hay paddock and the house, I plan to plant a lovely cool climate garden the envy of all! Click here to check out the inspiration.  



Geoff marking out a fenceline. To the left will be a garden.

We had visitors with us on this trip. Geoff's parents and a family friend Shan, came with us. We happily played tour guide. There is so much to see down there - you're never at a loss for something to do.
Sally Johannsohn runs a rare plant nursery called Plant Hunters in Neika and Shan had had a telephone relationship with Sally for a number of years so Shan was very keen to visit Sally and meet her face to face. Well, what a lovely lady Sally is. She was very keen to show us around her beautiful garden picking the most amazing peonies (see photo above). She was also keen to find out lots about Geoff and me and our plans for Tassie. She's given me her email address and I will be in touch soon.

We also met another wonderful character in Roger Scales from the Woodbridge Smokehouse. One phone call to see if we could stop by and have a squiz at his setup - and we were there all afternoon while he showed us his organic apple orchards, his prize-winning rooster 'Jock' and his fantasy house site that has the most amazing view over the D'Entrecasteaux Channel I have ever seen. We finally got to see his smokehouse and taste the amazing produce. First class.

Below are a few photos from Cygnet and surrounds;



Bumble Bees!

The front yard of our accomodation 'Inglehope'.








One of the many interesting boats
on Port Cygnet.

The wetlands at Cygnet.

The old apple processing plant.



A local cottage in full Spring splendour.



The 2011 Huon Show

Beautiful day for a country fair.

A big part of our trip was heading to the Huon Show. It's a big old-fashioned country show held in Ranelagh just north of Huonville. I would think that most people in the valley dropped in at some point. There was draught horses (my favourite!), show jumping, vintage machinery displays, chainsaw carving, wood chopping events, bullock driving demonstration - you could even have a go yourself, animal judging (sheep, poultry, alpacas, goats, cattle etc.), flower arranging, crafts and of course sideshow alley. Chip-on-a-stick and Pluto pups. Geoff, his Dad and I had a great day - the weather was perfect.  Although the harsh Tasmanian sun did manage to burn my skin against my best efforts to keep it off. Enjoy the photos.

Dairy goats.

Love the draught horses!

Driving the bullock team.

The boys from the Hobart Vintage Machinery Society.

Cattle sales.

Eww! Tiger snakes! This man is crazy.

Sideshow alley.

'Nuff said.

We're on the (Google) map!

Excitement plus here at the Southam's.
Our farm is now on Google Street View!
Check it out here.

'Back to Reality' and 'Why Sydney isn't such a bad place :-)'

Well, the last Tassie trip is but a memory - rapidly fading from my mind by the benality of work, bills and city living. I do take heart though from the fact that every time I visit the place we've decided to call home, I get an energy and sense of renewal never within my reach in the city. I also feel that we've made the right choice in where to start putting down roots. Every time we visit we meet a few more people. They vary between the 'colonial' (longtime Tassie farmers) to recent tree-changers and everything inbetween. The one emulsifying factor between these varying personalities is a love for the valley and a wish to live just a little simpler.

Let's reel back from romance and talk reality. I have started an online TAFE course in Web Development to try and increase my employment prospects down south. "It is the way of the future"... In my dreams we can start our life and build our house and farm without ever working for a wage again. Hmmm. Geoff is still plugging away at his electrical trade certificate (and doing extremely well, I might add). He will be finished in under 1 year. All these steps take us closer.

Every time we visit my anxiety eases. Every time we visit I love it even more.

But...

The weather in Sydney has been beautiful. Blue skies and warm spring temperatures. It's times like this that I think of all the cities in Australia, Sydney is the best. I had an appointment in the city today - I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Hyde Park and generally people watching. The shops shit me but the old sandstone buildings in Sydney are beautiful. The magnificent big green Morton Bay Fig trees in Hyde Park make for ethereal native sculptures. The young kids practising their 'ollies' and 'kick flips' (who knew I was so well versed?!) etc. on their skateboards and the BMX riders are mesmerising - They video their expertise to publish on websites. I love watching people 'doing their thing'. Makes me wish I had 'a thing'....other than people watching.

A sunny day on Sydney Harbour

Balmoral Beach

Balmoral Beach

Another 'friend' in urban Sydney

One of our balcony 'friends'

I don't think U2 will be touring to Cygnet any time soon :-)

10 days of Winter

On the first day of Winter... 

Salamanca Markets - Hobart

Straight from the airport to the Salamanca Markets. Picked up some beautiful veges, charcuterie from Rare Food, ate German sausages for breakfast (beats Qantas) and a huge bag of apples.  Yum.

After the markets and a quick stop at the Salad Bowl in South Hobart for some wine and other yummy stuff, we headed to the valley.

The rest of the day was spent driving around, seeing 'The Farm' making a fire then making dinner.

On the second day of Winter...

Barry the Koala - has lived at the Sanctuary most of his long life.

A trip to the Bonorong Wildlife Centre north of Hobart.

A great day hanging out with lots of Aussie animals. Kangaroos, wallabies, and heaps of other marsupials, Tassie Devils and lots of birds. You can get really close and personal to the animals here. They are the only 24hr wildlife rescue service in Tasmania. If you have ever been to Tassie you will not fail to notice the wildlife as a lot of it ends up on the roads... Luckily these guys are there to help the injured and get them back to the wild as soon as possible.

Morris the Wombat - An orphan due for release in about 8 months - Cute!!

One of the many Kangas with Joey!!

On the third day of Winter...

The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is an amazing new world-class, privately funded art gallery/ museum on the banks of the Derwent River. It is the brain-child of David Walsh, a wealthy Tasmanian-born entrepreneur and autodidact who made his millions basically counting cards at casinos and online gambling sites. MONA is run not-for-profit and has one of the most confronting, mesmerizing and fascinating galleries I have ever seen. Below are some stock photos from the website. If ever in Hobart - go to the MONA with an open mind - it's free, it's eccentric, it's fanciful, it's like Wonderland and I felt like Alice.

On the fourth day of Winter...

After a lush breakfast of poached eggs and black pudding at the Red Velvet Lounge, I spent most of the day crocheting my blanket in front of the fire. Geoff went for a big walk to the bottom of the block and took these photos;

Panorama taken from the middle bottom of the block.

Panorama taken from bottom right.

On the fifth day of Winter...

We spent this day driving around the Cygnet area trying to see our block from different parts of town. I'm surprised how often it pops up into view on the hills.

Taken from the other side of the valley. Our place is at the top of the hill directly in the middle of shot.


A bit easier to see our place. It is pretty much the whole clear area up top of the hill.

Taken from the road going up the hill to our place. The rows of blackwoods are a great beacon to locating our place on the hill.

On the sixth day of Winter.... Snow!!!!

How exciting! Despite the long, dark, windy and cold winters in Tassie, to actually get snow to settle on the ground is definately not an annual event. The fact that it happened while we were there is amazing.

Here are two photos taken a day apart;

Wednesday

Thursday

Here's some more snow shots taken from 'The Farm'. The snow lasted until about midday and covered the whole block which meant it snowed down to about 200m.

Panorama taken from the top dam looking toward the house site.


The Hay Paddock.

Arty view across to the north.

Our resident farm creatures - Elly and Timmy.

On the seventh day of Winter...

Today was a trip across the D'Entrecasteaux Channel to the provincial Bruny Island. Bruny is a rugged sparsely settled island with some amazing artisans creating the most beautiful food - bread, cheese, smoked goods, the world's best oysters etc. I wonder how long it will be sparsely settled though as there are many signs advertising housing estates.

I love the ferry ride to Bruny. Takes about 15 minutes and the giant, steel car ferry, the "Mirambeena" ensures a generally smooth ride despite the roaring winds that tear up the channel.

Here are some arty shots taken from the ferry;

Here are some shots around the island;



On the eighth day of Winter....

We decided (against our better judgement) to try to take the hired X-Trail down to the bottom of the block. In summer with a dry hill, it may have been fine. After walking around the bottom for a while discovering parts of our block like this;

and this;

we were driven back into the car by the rain, sleet then snow. We tried to get up the slippery hill. We tried and tried. We were stuck about halfway up the hill in the snow. Luckily we had met our great neighbours Martin and Carol who are real farmers with all the big-boy farm stuff. One call to Marty for the tractor eased our minds. Marty was happy to help out a neighbour and I think had a hearty laugh at our expense. As it turned out we didn't need the tractor, Marty talked me (well, barked orders) through driving out of the predicament and I was successful! It was embarrassing but I've learnt some valuable driving skills and that you can rely on your neighbours for help, no matter how silly you are.

On the ninth day of Winter....

Another breakfast at the Red Velvet Lounge. Mmmm mushrooms on toast with a poached egg. And another day spent driving around the area;

It is the valley of rainbows - they are everywhere, every hour, every day.

The view from our lovely accommodation - Moon River Retreat.

The snow-capped mountains behind Huonville.

On the tenth day of Winter....

On what has become a departure day tradition - Breakfast at Jackman and McRoss bakery in Battery Point, Hobart. They seriously make the best scrambled eggs and smoked salmon (don't forget the danish puff pastry base);

Taken outside Jackman & McRoss

The best thing about Hobart airport -

You get to walk onto the plane, loads from the front and back and no delay in taking off. Doors lock, safety demonstation, taxi then take off!

See you in November, Tassie!