11 Monday Feb 2019
Posted in days out, Uncategorized
This festival took place in Hobart over the weekend. A wonderful collection of wooden boats from tall ships to kayaks, historical vessels to brand new.
Here are just a few photos from the weekend.
The HMB Endeavor, a replica of James Cook’s ship when he charted New Zealand and the eastern coast of Australia between 1768 and 1771.
From Cook’s cabin looking at “James Craig” built in 1874 in England, abandoned in Tasmania in 1930’s, restored in the 1970’s.
04 Monday Feb 2019
Posted in photography, remembering / musing
Although the bushfires are still burning, the immediate threat to communities has been downgraded from the highest “emergency” alert level , to “watch and act”, so people have been able to return to their homes.
We are hearing more individual stories, not just the headlines. The personal tales of a difficult few weeks.
Hotel and petrol station owners who stayed in the evacuated towns, to help firefighters.
Friends evacuated, staying with relatives, their car loaded with some clothes, bedding, their “treasures” and vital documents. We’ve had interesting conversations at work about what we’d take and the diminished value of the “stuff” in our homes that we could live without.
I chatted to our client who has family members staying in her small three bedroom, one bathroom home – 14 people including teenage boys!, 4 dogs, 10 guinea pigs, 2 birds and 3 cats. They had two slow cookers on the go so people could eat in relays, the washing machine was going non-stop, mattresses everywhere, no room “to swing a cat”. Her fingers crossed that her plumbing doesn’t get blocked or break down.
Another elderly client “wasn’t taking any chances”, she was packed and ready to leave in a hurry as she’d lived through the devasting fires fifty years ago that left 62 people dead, 900 injured and over seven thousand homeless.
A young couple who hadn’t seen their baby son for days, he’s with his grandparents while they stayed to defend their home and farm buildings from ember attacks and to feed the animals.
A local fisherman sailed 11 tonnes of donated supplies to two cut off towns on Friday, food, drinks, pet food, toiletries and sanitary products. Shops are empty as the road south had been closed.
Anxiety levels have been high with this fire, as the threat and evacuation dragged on. Pets have gone missing, unused to their temporary surroundings. The prolonged smoke has caused its own health issues.
There are always a few helicopters flying over Hobart, small rescue helicopters, tourist flights, private aircraft. But now there are large noisy helicopters heading to and from the airport, fire fighting craft, water bombers, helicopters that you can hear before you see them, loud thundering craft that sound like the opening scene from “Miss Saigon”.
We’ve had a couple of calmer days, but the fires are expected to burn for weeks and there is little rain forecast for February.
Children are due to return to school this coming week after the summer holidays. There are contingencies for students and staff will relocate to primary and high schools in the evacuation area.
We are seeing the best of people, a strong community spirit, helping neighbours, stangers and huge gratitude and support for all emergency service crew.
On a lighter note, the smoke filled atmosphere has produced some stunning sun rises and sun sets.
31 Thursday Jan 2019
Posted in one with nature
January has been a month of bush fires, here in Tasmania.
There are currently 3 major fires burning out of control, each caused by dry lightning strikes. All have threatened towns, communities, rural residents, national parks and tourist attractions. Thanks to round the clock efforts of the Tasmanian Fire Service, the volunteers of the State Emergency Service and fire fighters from mainland Australia and New Zealand, only a handful of properties have been lost to date. There are over 50 active bush fires on the TFS website alert page.
The fire at Gell River which started on 28th December, has burnt 27,958 hectares. Another in the Central Plateau, which started on 15th January has burnt 51,140 hectares and one in the South West National Park at Tahune/Riveaux, which started on 16th January, has burnt approximately 56,230 hectares.
To put into perspective, the total area burnt to date, is equivalent of 135,328 rugby pitches, or 135,328 four hundred metre tracks. Or 86% of the area within the M25 in England.
The fire front is currently 1,300 km long.
An evacuation centre is temporary home to hundreds of residents. Many others are staying with relatives or in hotels. Volunteers are providing support and practical help such as meals to the evacuees and fire fighters. Some residents are staying to defend their homes and livelihoods, to help create containment lines.
Even though the closest fire is over 50kms away, smoke has been drifting across Hobart on and off for weeks. Again, today there was a strong smell of smoke when I got up, visibility was low, smoke inside our homes and workplaces. At times we can taste the smoke.
Last week, the rising full moon, was dark red, brighter than any lunar eclipse. An unnerving glow of smoke in the darkness.
It’s very eerie and scary, the worst fire experience I’ve had since we’ve lived here.
The Tahune Airwalk has been devasted, although fortunately the visitor centre has been saved.
(Photos without my signature are from TFS or local news websites)
Praise and thanks to all emergency personal who are battling these fires.
27 Thursday Dec 2018
Posted in days out, one with nature
Last weekend, we visited Australia’s largest and oldest lavender farm, here in Tasmania. We timed it perfectly.
“The fields contain approximately 65,000 plants and the total length of the rows are 200 kilometres. Harvesting takes place in January.”
The scene and the scent were both beautiful. We wandered along the rows, amongst the plants and enjoyed lavender inspired treats in the café.
03 Saturday Nov 2018
Posted in days out, photography
Today, Surf Safari celebrated 50 years of continuous surf craft racing in Tasmania – making it the longest running surf craft event in Australia.
Surf boards, kayaks, outriggers and surf boats, raced over courses from 2km to 28km with competitors of all age groups. After a stormy night the weather improved slightly but conditions were tough for the longer races, out on the open water.
This year, it was held on our local beach so I wondered along, took some photos, enjoyed a coffee and a famous Aussie “sausage sizzle” 🙂
26 Friday Oct 2018
Posted in days out, one with nature
Maria Island is a delight. An island of history, of beauty, an island with no vehicles, no shops. A place to relax and connect with nature.
The island is a thirty minute ferry off the east coast of Tasmania. The Painted Cliffs are stunning coloured sandstone sculptured by the sea and wind.
The Fossil Cliffs are limestone rocks containing numerous and varied fossils.
There are white beaches, open spaces, bush tracks.
The historic settlement of Darlington has been a convict probation station, a camp for whalers and sealers, a Victorian resort. The island has housed a cement works along with farming and fishing.
It is now a National Park and wildlife sanctuary. As well as wombats, there are wallabies and numerous bird species.
25 Thursday Oct 2018
Posted in days out, one with nature
We’ve spent the day on Maria Island. An island off the east cost of Tasmania.
I’ll write about it later but I wanted to share these photos of wombats. Wild wombats on the island that are very healthy and very tolerant of walkers with cameras. In total we saw 21 wombats, on grass, in a barn, crossing the footpath, one with a youngster.
“Since the late 1960s Maria Island has become a kind of Noah’s Ark, as a number of threatened species have been introduced here in a bid to protect their kind. The very things that made the island a convict settlement, now make it an ideal refuge for plant and animal species that are elsewhere under threat.”
08 Friday Jun 2018
Posted in photography, remembering / musing
This is Willow Court. A three-sided building with verandah, surrounding a central quadrangle. It dates back to 1830.
Originally, it was a barracks for sick and infirm convicts. Other buildings were added to the site, 23 in total between 1830 and 1968.
Over the years, the name of the institution housed here changed … invalid depot … lunatic asylum … hospital for the insane … mental diseases hospital. These names reflected changes in the community and government attitude towards intellectual disability and mental illness.
In 2000 Willow Court closed its doors as patients were de-institutionalised and cared for within the community. Tasmania was the first state in Australia to adopt the “social model of care”.
Communities were left with large empty buildings and equally large maintenance bills, often too much for small municipal councils or state governments to bear through their rate payer/tax payer base. Theft, arson and vandalism all added to already growing problems of natural decay.
Today, some buildings have been renovated and re-purposed. A popular restaurant, a motel, antique shops, sets for film and tv filming, for art installations. There is talk of a museum. The Antique Shop is a fitting companion, linking items from the past to these historical buildings,
Other buildings continue to decay whilst new owners are sought.
Willow Court is of national significance as an asylum that was in continuous use for 170 years and as the first to close. It is still used in the education of students in disability, aged care and mental health.
05 Tuesday Jun 2018
Posted in days out, photography
What do you do when you race for the ferry with four minutes to spare, but it’s already full so you wait an hour for the next one. You take random photos and let the grandson drive!
We’d had a lovely Monday exploring Bruny Island, a twenty-minute ferry ride from the mainland of Tasmania. An island off and island off the island continent of Australia.
13 Sunday May 2018
Posted in one with nature, weekly photo challenge
My place in the world is Tasmania and it looks spectacular now, in autumn.
These trees on the bank of the River Derwent at Bushy Park show their autumn glow, even on a grey day.
A unique deciduous beech tree, “fagus” (nothofagus gunnii) changes colour at this time of year. The trees grow to about two meters. The leaves are the size of my thumb nail. We visited the “fagus festival” at Mount Field National Park a couple of weeks ago.
The Japanese Garden within the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens in Hobart has a range of red maple trees.
