Feb 2009

Got a good café morning in and uploaded more blog pages. Nearly up to date after several weeks of neglect – sorry to those of you who have been loyal readers! :-)

Hung around the Fishing Boat harbour and were enjoying a coffee when a crane pulled up to lift a boat up out of the water. Once it started to come out of the water, we realised it was very badly damaged. Apparently some kids were down the park after school last Friday and found some styrofoam that was being used in the park for the work that the council was doing. They apparently set some alight and then cast it off down the river. It stopped next to this guys boat and did approx $90,000 worth of damage to his Bertram 34!

The onlooker who was telling us the story said the sadest part was the guy only bought the boat a few months ago. He has terminal cancer and wanted to enjoy his last months/years with the boat. Now he'll have to deal with all this stuff which was quite sad. Apparently the kid who did the crime is well known to the story teller, but they all agreed not to tell the boat owner for the kids safety!

Walked around and enjoyed the town some more. Took Midget to the vet as she has been limping on and off for some time. Vet needs to knock her out a bit, so re-booked here in for Tuesday for xray.

Took a drive up to the Lookout and lighthouse. Tabletop lookout 13.8 million years old the rocks. All just 6kms from town. There is a great 30 minute walk from the lookout to the Lighthouse and return that we did. The views were breath taking.

Then decided to head to the Glenn McGrath Foundation fundraiser in town tonight. It was held at the local Theatre. A gorgeous heritage building that’s been quite nicely restored.

He gave a fabulous talk and told some great jokes about Warnie and Simmo. The Andrew Simonds one was the best. The conversation came up as a question from the audience asked what he thought of Simmo. He said he was the best natural born cricket player he’s ever seen – as long as he doesn’t think. He then referred to a day when a batsman came back into the changerooms and had three initials written on the top side of his bat. All the guys asked what the initials meant. They stood for the first letter of each word he wanted to remind himself of before he batted; pertaining to patience and calm before he batted. Apparently Simmo jumped up grabbed his bat and a felt pen and quickly scribbled two letters on the top of his bat. The saw the letters “S” and “W” on his bat and asked what they stood for. He said Swing Hard. So it just goes to prove that Simmo just shouldn’t think, he should just play and do what he does best, as soon as he returns from his latest disaster. Actually Glenn did speak quite highly of him as a player and hoped that his return wasn’t too far away.

He also spoke of his wife and kids. Hard to imagine that just 8 months ago she died. I’m surprised he is out doing these sorts of talks. But he said that the main focus of the McGrath Foundation is to be able to provide a Breast Care Nurse in every country hospital in Australia. They have so far funded 58 positions around Australia from the money they’ve raised. It was great that they’d achieved so much in the short time the foundation has been going.

Many qued up to get autographs and get their copy of cook books and also Glenn’s book signed before the Auction of a few cricket items happened. I’m glad we went.

Well got an early start. Found a place to stay down by the waterfront near the woodchip pile. Broke the aerial off the van while accessing a carpark yesterday. Did the rounds of the useless cheap car shops such as Auto1 and Repco. None of these shops keep anything in stock anymore. All have to be ordered in. Ended up going to Ford and paid double the price to get one in the next day…

Headed off 20kms down the road to Wynyard. What a joy! What a relief! Not a wood chip in sight and a gorgeous town to boot! Found the most loveliest Book Café for sale along with old 1894 heritage house… This place is heaven. The locals are lovely (mind you we haven’t met a horrible person yet since we arrived (except kids who have the personality of a pencil and don’t turn into human beings till they turn 30 (at least))) – boy am I sounding old! See http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?a=o&t=res&c=41931099&tm=1235544084&cc=AUSTRALIA&id=105271265&p=10&header=&s=tas&snf=rbs for all the pics. I can feel my soup kitchen boiling over. Anyone want to buy a lovely three storey beachside duplex in Mandurah?

My Wana Be Bookcafe

Steve went paddling up the Inglis River and I went for a walk along the lovely waterside paths. Its so peaceful and relaxing here. Quite a nice sized town and just an hour from Devonport. There are 3 pubs and lots of cafes and lovely parks along the river and oceanfront.

Midget assisting a poor innocent fisherman

Stoped the night overlooking the river in a perfectly quiet spot. I could get used to this…

Had a walk around Ulverstone and enjoyed a coffee at a café. Quite a nice little town. Lots of lovely wooden houses and a great park on the waterfront. Not sure what the deal is but there are huge monuments to all naval boats of Australia’s past. Lots of memorials etc. Also one to Nuff Nuff – a local prostitute in Sydney who served the navy very well apparently. A strange but interesting inclusion into the solemn but lovely park.

Next we headed to Penguin – what a cute name for a town. This place was lovely because you passed lots of rocks out into the water that made a lovely spectacle to look at. The bay was quite large and protected. The winds had been bad all day, but in Penguin they picked up and nearly carted us away. We stopped for pancakes at the local church and then a pie at the bakery for sale. There were some great buildings in town and we found an ideal place for my soup kitchen. Trying to talk Kerry Jennings into coming in with us in a book café (with my soup kitchen). Haven’t managed to convince her as yet! :-)

Penguin Goal!

Happy Mr & Mrs Cow - will you check out their view!

Great spot and very friendly locals. No large plots of land for sale around the town though. You could by 5 acres in Penguin for the same price as 100 acres about 50kms away! Amazing price variations between the ocean (bigger towns) and inland (crappy roads).

Next we moved on to Burnie. Still the horrible place we visited last time, only this time the wood chip pile almost blocked daylight from entering the town it was so huge, and they charged the same parking rates ALL around the town as Hobart – so surprising. We couldn’t believe a small town could have such an attitude. We tried to go to the movies but we weren’t going to spend another $3 more on parking – even if we could find a spot. Crazy! We left as soon as we could find the exit.

Got a great sleep in and laundry done in town. Another leisurely and lazy day. Sauntered into Devonport to catch up on blogs and stuff while still having mobile reception.

Went to the movies and saw Ghost Town. It was quite good. Micky Gervaise was very good. He always seems to get interesting parts.

Headed on out of town to get a good sleep out of the big smoke. Stopped in Ulverstone along the lovely waterfront for the night.

Got a late start and headed off to the Wooden Boat Expo in Launceston. It was much easier to see the boats in this marina because of the floating pontoon platforms. But there certainly weren’t as many as there were in Hobart.

We then set a course to Yorktown. Something we missed when we visited the Seahorses with Wayne & Sharon. Yorktown was the place of the first landing in Tasmania, or Van Diemen’s Land as it was first named, back in 1804. They set up camp along a beautiful stretch of the river. Approx 300 people were residing there. But the worst part was there was 6 miles of mud to climb over to get to the town. There is a mock up of a building there, but its all but gone. Apparently by 1806 they had discovered Launceston and decided to move the settlement there and by 1808 the settlement was actually relocated and Yorktown abandoned. By 1809 Yorktown was a ruin. In early 1900s the town got a new lease of life and was a major orange growing area till the 1970s when all the oranges were removed! We were recommended a fabulous organic fruit & veg place to visit. We found some very well priced items and stocked up the fridge. He seemed to have a really good business. He said he employs 5 full time people and has been going for 15 years. He has built up quite a reputation with local restaurateurs’ who are now using much of his produce. It was great to see someone doing their own thing and making a successful business out of it.

If you look closely at this picture you can see the crooked lines on the timber. These are the actual edges of the trees used to make the planks. They are about an inch thick too! Amazing. I've never seen these except in Tassie.

We then continued around to Port Sorell just 20kms from Devonport. A busy little holiday spot that reminded me of the Mandurah of old. Lots of little shacks dotted with lots of newer and larger holiday homes.

We drove past this funky little place that I had to photograph. We were taken aback by the simplicity of it, as well as its 7.5* energy rating. Over east (and hopefully the rest of Australia thanks to Bob Brown and his negotiations for the rescue package) Australia will soon have an energy rating on all houses sold. So to be able to sell an old house, you will have to get a consultant in to access the energy viability of your house. So if you have a water tank, you get some points, if you have solar hot water you get points, if you have good orientation on your house you also get points etc. I believe they also look at your electricity bills to find out how much you spend on heating and cooling your home to determine you score. Most states in the program require a minimum of 5 stars for all NEW houses built, but this is the first one I've seen that came at at 7.5* - and it looks good to boot!

We found a nice quiet spot at the end of a street next to the beach to call home.