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!