Monthly Archives: December 2015

52 in 52 update

31 Thursday Dec 2015

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At the beginning of this year, rather than commit to new year resolutions, I set myself a challenge to achieve 52 things in 52 weeks.

 It was a random list, a mix of places to visit, things to learn, things to do, sometimes a one off achievement, sometimes an ongoing commitment over twelve months.

It’s been a fun year working through my 52 challenges. It’s not important that three were not completed and eight will be carried over to next year. The journey itself has been a success.

Tasmania was so absorbing that we didn’t go exploring on the mainland. The food is fresh and delicious so I have eaten too much and not lost weight. Better care of my health will be a continual challenge for next year.

There aren’t any drive-in cinema’s here, but I’ve been to drive-in speedway and powerboat races. We aren’t close to the west coast so we haven’t seen an ocean moon set this year.

I have done new things that weren’t on my list back at the beginning of the year. I’ve seen penguins in the wild, seen dolphins from my lounge window. I’ve seen the Aurora Australis and participated in a Guinness World Record.

2015 was always going to be an amazing year ~ my mid life gap year, no work, a move across the world. These quirky challenges have added to the dimension of the past twelve months.

Carried forward to next year:

7 ~ Drive along Australia’s Great Ocean Road

10 ~ Get a new job

12 ~ Visit Cradle Mountain National Park, Tasmania

20 ~ See moon set over the ocean

22 ~ Skinny dip in the ocean

23 ~ Go to a drive in movie

29 ~ Get to a healthy BMI and maintain it

30 ~ Visit Western Australia

 

Completed:

1 ~ Visit Gibraltar ✔✔

2 ~ Live in another country for 6 months minimum ✔✔

3 ~ Drive a left hand drive car on the right hand side of the road ✔✔

4 ~ Send a postcard every week for a year ✔✔

5 ~ Join “postcrossing” ✔✔

6 ~ Blog for a year ✔✔

8 ~ Visit Puddleduck Vineyard on a picnic day or duck race day ✔✔

9 ~ Live by the sea ✔✔

11 ~ Do some voluntary work ✔✔

13 ~ Complete 365 Photo a Day ✔✔

14 ~ Make blueberry muffins ✔✔

15 ~ Make a driftwood Christmas tree ✔✔

16 ~ Complete “a sentence a day” journal ✔✔

17 ~ Learn the Southern night sky ✔✔

18 ~ See the Milky Way ✔✔

19 ~ See moon rise over the ocean ✔✔

21 ~ Bake my own bread ✔✔

24 ~ Participate in a protest ✔✔

25 ~ Go to an Aussie Rules match ✔✔

26 ~ Go to a rugby match ✔✔

27 ~ Paint a picture ✔✔

28 ~ Revisit MONA in Hobart ✔✔

31 ~ Send a message in a bottle ✔✔

32 ~ Observe a court case at The Old Bailey, London ✔✔

33 ~ Learn more photography techniques ✔✔

34 ~ Learn more photo editing techniques ✔✔

35 ~ Watch 10 movies that were made before I was born ✔✔

36 ~ Take a moonlit walk on a beach ✔✔

37 ~ Lie on my back in the rain and watch the drops fall ✔✔

38 ~ Draw a picture / message in the sand on a beach ✔✔

41 ~ Hike on Mount Wellington, Hobart ✔✔

42 ~ Re-read my original gap year journals from 1985 ✔✔

43 ~ Reduce my alcohol intake, have alcohol free weekdays unless special occasion ✔✔

44 ~ Visit Penitentiary Chapel in Hobart ✔✔

45 ~ Regularly go to the local farmers market ✔✔

46 ~ Make banana bread with C~M ✔✔

47 ~ Complete London Underground Circle Line challenge – own version ✔✔

49 ~ Expand my blog network and blogs I follow ✔✔

50 ~ Organise my jewelry and wear it more often ✔✔

51 ~ Sort out my wardrobe and be realistic ✔✔

52 ~ Take a selfie every week for a year ✔✔

 

Not completed:

39 ~ Breakfast at the Duck and Waffle, Heron Tower in London ✘

40 ~ Dinner at Garagistes restaurant in Hobart ✘

48 ~ Expand my Twitter network ✘

 

What do I want to achieve in 2016?

Changing Seasons – December – Definitely Summer

31 Thursday Dec 2015

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My head knows that the seasons here in Tasmania are back to front from my UK background. So I’m posting this monthly series to record the changing seasons and to encourage my mind to grasp this southern hemisphere reality.

December is summer.

It’s been a month of flowers, some familiar, lavender and hydrangea but also some unusual and beautiful natives such as “kangaroo paw”. You can see how the name originated from the shape of the buds before the delicate flower opens.

Dec kp1Dec kp2Dec kp3Version 2

It has been a month of fresh local fruit at road side stalls and farmer’s markets. Cherries and raspberries and stoned fruit are simply delicious. They have so much flavour compared to the imported fruit we used to see in UK supermarkets throughout the whole year. Orchards are heavy with fruit waiting to be picked.

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December has been hot days searching out the shade, relaxed evenings, pastel sunsets, showers and rainbows.

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It’s been Christmas decorations in shops and on some buses. My favourite shop window was the local wool shop “We wish ewe a merry Christmas”.

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And of course it has been a month of yachts, with the Sydney to Hobart race.

Sydney to Hobart

30 Wednesday Dec 2015

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On Boxing Day, a few yachts set off from Sydney for an annual race to Hobart.

Most sport events have a set time frame. A game of tennis can drag on, a cricket match can finish early, perhaps extra time at football. Yachting has it’s own timing, dependent on the weather conditions.

Hobart doesn’t sleep for several days as the city awaits the arrival of the yachts.

The race originated in 1945 with nine yachts when the fastest boat took 6 days 14 hours 22 minutes to complete the course of 628 nautical miles.

The current race record is 1 day 18 hours 23 minutes set by “Wild Oats XI” in 2012.

This year’s race has been the toughest in over a decade. Three start lines in Sydney Harbour saw 108 yachts set off but a southerly storm on the first night resulted in 31 boats having to retire due to damage. Broken mast, mainsails, rudders and dagger boards (whatever they are).

The fastest boat, “Comanche”, was expected at dusk on Monday. We watched, we waited, we checked the RSHYR website, tv news and Twitter for updates.

As dusk settled into darkness, the dark silhouette of this 100 foot yacht with it’s 295 foot mast appeared around the final headland, approaching Hobart city. An entourage of red lights surrounded the super maxi yacht. Locals out on small yachts, motor boats, jet ski, to welcome them to the finish line. A wonderful spectacle (although no photos). Thousands of people lined the waterfront, cheering as the yacht finally moored.

Although “Comanche” took “line honours” there are other trophies at stake. A detailed handicap system based on yacht class, size, age etc calculates an overall winner of the Tattersall Cup.

Several hours passed before the next boat arrived. After 2 days 19 hours and 45 minutes at sea, two boats appeared with just a few yards separating them as they vied for second and third place. We watched this early morning race within a race, cheering on the Aussie boat that separated the American’s in the top three. As the day progressed, a few more yachts arrived, each welcomed on the water and on land. Others will arrive over the coming days.

To add to the mix, a separate Tassie race began in Launceston on Sunday. 285 nautical miles around the north and east coast of the island, finishing in Hobart along with the Sydney boats.

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The race for 2nd and 3rd position as “Rambler” unfurls it’s spinnaker. “Ragamuffin 100” in the background.

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5th place.

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“Comanche” at the waterfront. Along with other finishers.

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News coverage.

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The cup.

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This is Hobart now.

Ham in a bag

29 Tuesday Dec 2015

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Instead of roast turkey for our Christmas meal, we had seafood. However, it seems a traditional here to also have a ham for the festive season.

With happy memories of his childhood in mind, Aussie Mate checked out various stores and butchers before choosing a rather large piece of meat for just three people.

Apparently, we also needed a “ham bag”. This was all new to me.

 

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The ham has been delicious…

… heated on the barbeque with a fig jam and cider glaze, alongside pink eye potatoes,

… cold with salad,

… ham and eggs for breakfast,

… in a sandwich.

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Guess what we have for dinner today?

I’m going to look at leftover recipes, ham and potato rosti, ham and pea soup, ham curry?

Up close with the locals

28 Monday Dec 2015

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I’m doing the full Aussie experience this Christmas. Today we visited Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary.

We fed the kangaroos. Some were happy to get up very close while others took little notice of the humans wandering in their enclosure. The mum’s with joey’s legs sticking out of their pouches sat away from the lads.

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I was surprised to see koala’s as there are none in the wild here in Tasmania. One was very well camouflaged in his gum leaves.

A koala 1Version 2A koala 3A koala 4

It was good to see a wombat out in the open, even though I couldn’t get a face on photo.

A wombat 2A wombat 1

This echnida was very active, walking around and going for a swim in his pool.

A echnida 2A echnida

The tawny frogmouth bird is an unusual creature. It is nocturnal and often mistaken for an owl.

A tawny frogmouth

There were the expected reptiles, blue tongue lizards and tiger snakes.

And there was this sulphur crested cockatoo that had been raised as a pet. He is over 100 years old.

A cockatoo

And, of course, Tasmanian Devil’s.

A devil

Bonorong is a lovely small animal park, doing valuable work as the only 24 hour wildlife rescue service in Tasmania.

A Summer Christmas

26 Saturday Dec 2015

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There were two familiar things about this Christmas. Watching the film “Love Actually” on Christmas Eve and chatting to family via Skype and FaceTime and iMessage.

Everything else seemed very odd. We’ve had lovely days which felt like holiday days with the bonus of gifts. It has not actually felt like Christmas.

Christmas Day lunch consisted of prawns and scallops on the barbeque, with salads. Dessert was fruit pavlova. Delicious food suitable to the 36°C temperatures. We drank chilled sparkling wine with ice cubes containing raspberries and mint leaves.

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We went for a walk along the beach, paddled in the shallows while other families swam and played on the sand, cooked lunch on the public barbeques on grass behind the promenade.

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This week’s photo challenge is “now”. So before we reminisce on the past twelve months and plan for the coming year, here is my contribution to capturing “now”. My first Aussie Christmas.

<a href=”https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/now/”>Now</a&gt;

Christmas wishes

23 Wednesday Dec 2015

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23rd

A quick post to wish all family and friends a merry Christmas and happy new year.

Many thanks for reading my blog, for the likes and comments. It has been an interesting year and I have made many new online friends. It’s great to be part of such a wonderful virtual community.

Hope you have the opportunity to relax and enjoy the festive season.

Summer Solstice in December

22 Tuesday Dec 2015

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Yesterday was the solstice, the longest day in the southern hemisphere.

In Hobart, we have clear skies, wall to wall sunshine, a gentle breeze, temperatures in the twenties.

First light at 4.52am

Sunrise at 5.28 am

Sunset at 8.49pm

Last light at 9.24pm

This compares to our shortest day in June with sunrise at 7.41am and sunset at 4.42pm.

The current La Nina, where sea surface temperatures in the Pacific are lower than normal, is causing unusual weather conditions around the world. Heatwaves in mainland Australia, storms and a cyclone in Sydney suburbs last week. Mild wet winter in the northern hemisphere.

As our favourite coffee shop chalk board stated recently…..

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