midget working really hard

So Kev, we really want you to sell our house in Mandurah for us ASAP, and Donna we really want you to sell our house in Midland for us ASAP.

Yesterday we booked flights back to Perth from Noosa so we could drop off the dog and van to mum and dad for babysitting. Today we decided that it was best to just drive back. We’ve been having problems with our tenant in Midland. He is behind on the rent and he won’t respond and let me know when he’ll be leaving. So we’ve decided its best to drive back so we have transport and accommodation in case we don’t have a place to stay.

We were going to put everything on the market, but when we’ve had enquiries to rent our Subiaco 2 bedroom unit for $900PW, its really hard to part with that sort of income. And when we’re also getting $700PW for our 1 bedroom units in West Perth, you really cant look that one in the mouth either… so best to leave them where they are and get rid of the two that are not able to make the big bucks.

I’ve really enjoyed my time in Mandurah and really feel that we’ve lived life to the full there. But I really want more trees and a garden and to get back to the earth and reality and nature and enjoy a more real lifestyle. We’ve even decided to go off the grid with our next house and be totally free of electricity ties. Will have to find some cheap candles.

We were listening to a show on the radio, where a town was concerned at the fruit and vege available in their town with Woolworth’s holding them to random with their crap unripened food. So they’re trying to make their town less dependent on these facilities. They’ve introduced free fruit trees and free vege and salad seeds to ALL residents. They’ve also started cooking classes and talks from people about making compost and other things to help make the community more self sufficient and self reliant. I was really taken aback at their approach.

I’ve spoken to the City of Mandurah on many occasions about their environmental policies. I sent an email to the Director of Environmental Management. Not only did I (eventually) get a 2 page letter! I can’t believe that in this day and age that people still insist on putting words on bits of paper, when legally emails have been acceptable in a court of law for over 10 years. But the response was bureaucratic and it was obvious they were doing the same old same old and no one wanted to move on. I’ve contacted the Mayor on many occasions and never even received a response. Its feelings like these that disempower people and pushes them away from a community that doesn’t value its public’s input.

This is why I want to move somewhere smaller and more caring towards its residents. I’m not saying that it will be perfect, but when a town gets too big, it doesn’t have the feeling of caring for its residents. That’s what I’m looking for in a new place to live. The feeling of belonging.

The other epiphany was the realisation that we’re on this planet to give. If we are not giving then we are taking, so what we do in life has to be of the giving end. This is more fulfilling and creates more than likely the feeling of “happiness”.

While I prattle on totally sober, I must let you know how enlightening in many ways our trip to Tassie has been. Just one week shy of 2 months, we’ve barely scratched the surface, yet we cant wait to get back!

We boarded the boat bound for Melbourne town quite sad we were leaving.

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real potatoes!

We took a walk and loved seeing the old buildings, many of which are older than Melbourne. We then found ourselves at the White House – a traditional fortress style house and enclosed yard with bakery. The bakery is still operational and we couldn’t resist a yummy pie and sausage roll that had just come out of their nearly 200 year old wood fired oven! They had photos lining the wall of the complete rebuild that the oven had where most of the brickworks to the domed burner was replaced. Quite a job, and one I’m sure wouldn’t be undertaken in this day and age for any private commercial activity. It was just spectacular to see and enjoy. Such a great little town.

Decided we should move on, and as we passed through Deloraine, we should say another hello to it again! Stopped in the tourist office and Steve found a Truffle Farm for us to visit. We drove just 8kms out of town and were amazed at the facilities. We really enjoyed it and they were really helpful at answering all our questions. We had a private escorted tour in a 4WD through their two properties. They help people setup truffle farms and also sell trees (inoculated with truffle spores). It was a fascinating 2 hour tour. They also drove us past a 7 acre plot almost adjoining one of their properties with a half built stone house for sale for $66,000! Hmmmm food for thought! A great way to get into truffles.

a truffle ready for harvest in a couple of months

Decided to head into Wynyard before it gets dark.

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With our sleep reduced we were quite tired by morning. Especially the dog who was almost wiped out!

Another cool start to the day and after a large coffee and muffin we were ready to face the day. We headed back the long way to Launceston and stopped at the next town out called Pyengana. This was home to the Pub in the Paddock. Where the legendary pigs that drink beer live. I know Wayne really wanted to get here, but you didn’t really miss much. It all appeared to be a profit making experience where you had to by the special “pig beer” from the bar and then feed it. I’m not sure what it was, but the two pigs were large.

We then headed back to the Pyengana Dairy and had a lovely bowl of cauliflower and cheese soup and some homemade herb & cheese damper – yum. We then sampled some cheeses and bought some cheddar with herbs as well as cheddar with caraway. Delicious!

We then moved on to Legerwood and the wooden carvings we drove past on the way in. It appears that they were planted in 1918 after the locals who died in the first world war. Ten trees in all. Not sure what they were but they had been sick for some time when they were finally told they were dead. Rather than pull them out, and loose the connection to the people who died for them, they commissioned an chainsaw sculptor who turned them into lovely memorials to the war, local hero’s and other things important to the community. They’ve done a great job of keeping them, and its obvious it’s a top tourist destination given the numbers stopping both times we’ve now been there. Given it was also 3kms off the highway too!

Enjoyed the lovely windy roads through the countryside back to Launceston. It was an interesting mix of rolling green hills and still quite a bit of forest. Very lovely.

Decided to keep going past Launceston and arrived in a town that we’d now driven past about 4 or 5 times and not stopped in called Westbury. Arrived in the dark and found a nice quiet spot around the sports ground to call home for the night.

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Midget enjoyed an early rise and a fishing expedition with Steve on the jetty right in front of our campervan. After Midget enjoyed almost taking the head of a Yellow-Eyed something or other that was supposed to be a good eating fish. We managed to save it from her, before we threw it back, but not before she ate the rest of Steve’s bait. She’s such a gutz!

We then enjoyed a walk into town and Midget met Bob and his brother, and we saw another staffie along the way. Its certainly a doggy town. Its really friendly and interesting, but its just a shame there is so much holiday houses as it really creates a great hole in the town, as we’ve found living in Mandurah. Its really hard to build a community when you’ve never even met some of your neighbours.

Time Capsule

Eventually we prised ourselves away from the bay and headed to Bennalong Bay and Bay of Fires – Travel Magazine; Conde de Naste (have I got that in any way correct?) voted this the best bay in the world! Not to mention Lonely Planet! So we trundled on out there to find the lovely white sandy beaches they’d promised as well as no camping throughout the town. But there were 5 camping spots between the two towns on a lovely pristine beach that were listed in the CAMPS4 book, but naturally they were chock-a-block and stuffed full of oversized caravans and 5th wheelers. So we decided to head back to the privacy of St Helen’s.

Midget was happy either way as she loved the fishing and beach where ever we were. Enjoyed the hot afternoon sun on the lovely soft grass under a shady tree.

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Wandered around and found St Mary’s to be much more lively that we’d previously seen. We have been having problems with our Midland tenant and decided to issue his breach notice. Found the Online Centre and printed out the stuff and posted it off. Seems our trip home next month is going to be work, work, work…

We headed through the St Mary’s Pass – the magnificent tree clad mountains that have narrow roads scrolling around the edges. Nearly got ran off the side of a cliff by a truck that was in the middle of the road when he took a blind corner. Luckily he moved back as I had no where to go!

Hit Scamander, Beaumaris and then St Mary’s. They almost merged into one as the cliff tops are all lined with varying degrees of beach house. Some scabby old Mandurah types, through to flashy new ones, and everything in between.

They seem to be suffering like most holiday spots, in that there are many houses but not many permanent residents, and they don’t have as many facilities as towns of half the size with a more permanent population, but they are gorgeous none the less. Having the sun out and it being a lovely day, always makes it even more lovely.

Arrived late in the arvo at St Mary’s. The hub of the area. There is even a cinema in this neck of the woods! Two video stores and several great junk shops. Its also a town filled with Staffies. We’ve actually seen more Staffies in town than we’ve seen other dogs! Midget played with Bob and his old brother (I forget his name). Bob was young and crazy and the old one was lovely and very placid. On the way back from the café we saw a tan coloured Staffie.

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and;

yesterday's new born calf!

He then took a walk on a mountain just out of Scottsdale. It wasn’t as good as others he’d done he said. Midget was almost crippled by the walk.

We took a back road through to Ringarooma and Mathinna which had some really crappy unsealed roads for about 20kms but saved us doubling back on our journey. We arrived at St Mary’s late the in afternoon in time to catch the lovely health food shop. I spoke to the owner for some time and she was really helpful and offered some great advise about opening up a shop such as hers.

Got good TV reception and watched a bit before a nice peaceful sleep at their sports ground.

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Arrived at Jansz just in time for lunch. Enjoyed a vintage 2005 Rose Sparking which was divine, especially with a platter of King Island cheeses and Bob’s Beetroots – a lovely sweet pickled variety, dried fruits and stunning shady ash trees and timber outdoor settings around a lake. This is the life. We shared our table with a german couple here on holiday. Actually they were going to rent a house in Noosa for 4 years from next winter. They were heading off back to Melbourne tomorrow for a couple of weeks before heading home for spring. They’re just about finished up a 4 month holiday of Australia. Their 4th! What a great life eh?!

Decided it was time to move on and enjoy the rest of the bright sunny days and daylight. Arrived at Lilydale around 4pm. Most of the nice shops had closed and it was all but missed. Looked like a great walk to the Lilydale falls, but had to move on to Scottsdale to empty the toilet (important stuff).

Arrived in Scottsdale in time to see all the shops closed – including the video store??? Had a walk around till it got too cold and then found the dump point and then the show grounds for sleep.

this carving was made by a colourful local who has since died. he hated waste and when this tree fell over he carved it into the town's new tourism centrepiece.

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Its quite a pretty spot, but with too many trees taken away, its also very windy. We plotted a course for Piper Brook. It’s the head of the Tamar Valley wineries. Home to my favourite Jantz – who do a fabulous Rose Champagne. We managed to do a trip through Piper Brook Vineyard before the 5pm close. We found ourselves down on the river in Bellingham for a lovely sunset on the river and a quiet night.

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1887 Water Fountain Launceston

We then visited the Harley Davidson exhibition. Well I should say Steve did and I checked up on emails. The Launceston one also comes with its own Bar and live music on the weekends.

We then took Midget to the vet for her third injection, and left town. Arrived in George Town in time to take a walk around the point.

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Then we saw the demonstration by Craig from the Carbon Cops show on ABC. He gave a great talk on the TV show and how it started, and they weren’t even sure what they were going to be able to achieve by it, but its turned into a great performer and they are still running another series, so it obviously has the ratings also. I must admit I liked the show. I thought I knew quite a bit about what to do in the house to make it efficient, but I still learnt something new in almost every episode. He’s quite a good presenter and gave a very informative presentation such as; when is wise to upgrade your fridge? He said if you are going to be getting two or more stars or more, then its worth while upgrading. If its only one star then the actually energy expended actually making the machine doesn’t outweigh the benefit. But you do start saving money immediately on the purchase; as soon as your next power bill comes in. And apparently 9% of your electricity bill is devoted to your fridge, it’s a considerable chunk out of the alterable budget. I did read somewhere that they say you should upgrade your fridge every 9 years as I guess that might take the increase in efficiency of the fridges into consideration. Anyway it all helps. Obviously he was from Victoria and given the water restrictions etc, he was focusing on water etc. He was shocked and horrified that Hobart (and Strahan for that matter) don’t have a single water metre in town. So no one has any need to conserve water in any way. You wont see a single rain water tank in Hobart (or Strahan either). Strange eh? Hence our desire to be there. As the water sources are drying up, we think we should be safe in Strahan with an average rainfall of 2.5m/year!

Craig also told us an amazing story about his HD box that he had for this TV. He was discussing about turning off appliances at the switch, which of course is difficult to do when its tucked behind TV cabinets etc. So he bought a remote switch to turn all appliances off from his couch. He said the remote switch uses 0.3W – which actually is worthwhile. What he didn’t know till he took his little gizmo home that measures consumption and tested this HD box. While in use it used 32W. In standby mode it used 31W. Apparently a product of cheap Chinese mass produced electronics. Its cheapest to just turn the clock off thereby saving the almighty 1W! He was ropable, and thereby well and truly felt his $7 purchase of the remote control switch was justified. He said the toaster and kettle don’t save any power, its all those devices with the little lights and more that cost the money to run.

Steve also got a ride on a Segway. They had two on display that were zooming around the show. They really can move. I guess that’s why they’ve had a few accidents on them.

We met a few designers and drafties that could help us with our extension at Strahan but we’re still not sure what to do. Have to start working on a plan.

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Made it to Launceston in time to catch Love the Beast – Eric Bana’s latest very personal offering. What a hoot. It was quite interesting. Even more so as we recognised some of the scenery that the Targa Tasmania “the big race” was filmed in. It was an interesting look at life, passion and of course, cars.

Stayed in a park in the rain.

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We then stopped back at the boat’s personal 50 acres of bush and waterfall to enjoy a lunch in the shelter provided and then a great walk out to the waterfall. We were each given a small photo album which had numbered pictures which we matched up with numbered plants along the walk. I think the walk was the best bit. The lunch was nice, apart from cask wine – eeew!

I don’t think the trip @ $85PP with no eftpos or credit cards was a bit steep. I think the Gordon River World Heritage trip was much more beautiful and interesting.

THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
North West Coast Tasmania

I cast my pebble onto the shore of Eternity.
To be washed by the Ocean of Time
It has shape, form and substance.
It is me
One day it will be no more.
More witness from the aeons
That today I came and stood
At the Edge of the World.

Brian Linder

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Oh by the by… The VDL Co still owns about 50,000 acres in the north western most corner of Tassie. They’ve fenced the lot off and only let people in who’ve paid lots of money. It appears its just as strange now as it was back in the 1800s! Not sure who owns it these days, but there is no mention made of it in town, as if they’ve disappeared. Very strange.

Up the road further were lovely artisans crafting cheese boards, jewellery boxes, pepper mills and many other great bowls and such. It was busy and bustling with tourists galore.

Decided we should move on to Smithton, just 15kms up the road. Stopping along the way at a lovely timber workshop; we were amazed at the fabulous timber collection on this massive rural property with the largest shed I’d seen in ages chock-a-block with timbers of all sorts!

Smithton was not as pretty as Stanley. Home to Gunns – need we say more, and also McCains, and other multinationals. It was factory city and not very appealing. Although they did have a nice waterfront area. We did hear from people in Stanley that they picked up some freshly caught and shucked oysters for $10/doz! We found out where they were but were closed by the time we got there.

Headed off down the road further to Greens Beach. We could see across the bay the fabulous wind farm that had been installed at the most West point of the state. Of course, it too, was windy. It was actually quite a distance on a dirt road, so we didn’t drive out, but found it peaceful and tranquil watching the blades slowly turn from this side of the bay.

sunset @ Greens Beach

We then headed down to Arthur River where we’d heard there was another great boat trip to be had.

Stayed in the State Park run stopping spot as there was no where else to pull up. The car ferry crosses every day from 9am till 5pm. Only other way across was the pedestrian walk way or boat!

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The walk to The Nut was fraught with wind. We staggered up the very steep incline and met some people walking down who offered us their tickets to ride back on the chair lift. We walked the 2km track around the top of The Nut, almost being blown off at points around the cliff edges. They’d had some tree replanting (?) and it provided a fabulous windbreak, but many of the lookouts were dangerous and blocked off as they didn’t have the money to repair them and fix them up.

view from Highfield to The Nut

I took the chairlift down, which was quite scary as it was so steep! Steve braved the walk down the hill.

We then hightailed it over to Highfield, the HQ of the VDL Co Agent. What a fabulous house. Steeped in history and with $3m already spent you can hardly see where its gone! The National Parks & Wildlife who run the estate, have done a fabulous job of interpreting the history and famous people connected with the site. They have great plans for the site including café and further renovations throughout.

We made it back in time to await the 5:30pm opening of the pub for the Bush Slam night of nights! It looked like most of the town turned out to see it. What it is is a 6 part program hosted by HG Nelson. He is given 6 different locations around Australia that are unique and interesting. He takes along a famous poet and they meet up with a local poet and they have 3 days in the town to meet the locals, tour around and then they have 2 minutes to recite a poem on the meaning of the town. Its quite interesting. When we met James Blundell yesterday after the filming, we were admiring the building and he offered to take a photo of us in front of it. Steve said he’d rather a picture of him with me. We walked and talked with him back to his cottage and he was just fascinated with the appeal and history of the town. He ended up doing his poem, and as it turned out a song he wrote that afternoon also, on Juliana Curr, the nearly 3 year old daughter of Edward Curr who tragically died on the property while playing with their pet dog in a cart. There is a memorial in the garden to her. It apparently affected her mother so much, she was never the same again. I was quite taken by his poem. It was quite heart warming when you knew the tragic story of Juliana.

Anyway the show goes to air around Grand Final time we were told. It was quite interesting being part of a studio audience as it were. HG had to make the legal announcement that; anyone who was in the room agreed to be filmed and if there was anyone in the room who was with someone they shouldn’t be with then they should leave. It was really funny, but they had to give their legal statements before they could begin filming. We also had to do some pre-recorded clapping so they could dub it in later if the sound wasn’t quite right! It was quite surreal. And as quickly as it started, it was all over. Then they got on to James doing his song and everyone kicking back and enjoying the band for the rest of the night. We were the last ones to leave the bar for the night. Met some interesting people from Sydney and chatted to them for most of the night. I think Steve is going to have a saw head in the morning.

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Finally got our 1.2kms walk in from town to Fossil Bluff. Its an amazing 380 million years old and deposited by glacial action. The view is spectacular 360o of fabulous coastline can be seen from the top.

Meandered our way to Stanley. It was a comfortable 60km trip down the road to the Northern and most Western town on the Island. Steeped in history is Stanley, and full of stories as well as the buildings that tell the tales.

The claim to its modern day fame is “the Nut”. Stanley’s point is covered in what is believed to be a huge lava vent that came up from under ground and overflowed into a huge mound of solid rock. In 1892 while upgrading their port facilities, they lit some humongous amount of explosives to try and use some of the rock for their boat harbour, but all it managed to do was chip the surface of a bit of rock and there it stayed. Until 12 years later it fell off the side of the cliff making a large straight edge to the rock. No one has ever tried to mould it again since then.

VDL Office - now accommodation

Stanley also has a very chequered past from the dealings of the Van Diemen’s Land Company’s ownership and opening up of the area. VDL Co were a company commissioned by Royal Ascent from England. They fought tooth and nail for a large chunk of what was thought to be the most prosperous part of central Tasmania. They were not well favoured by Governor Arthur who would only give them this untamed corner of the Island, as he didn’t wish them to have any power. They are well known in the history of the area as the Government of NW Tasmania, as they appeared to be a law unto themselves.

Though plagued with problems, they set up shop in Stanley building a granite stone building in 1825. They managed to kill 95% of their 5000 sheep within the first 12 months of arriving in the area. Its now considered the most fertile land in the country. Sadly due to the total deforestation of the countryside, its also the windiest part of the country too!

They appointed an Agent as their manager in Tasmania. The first was Edward Curr. He was not very well liked and was blamed for many an Aboriginal massacre in the region. The VLD Co posted a fifty pound reward for the capture of the last Aboriginal family in the region. They were responsible for the extinction of the Aboriginal people from this corner of the island.

The company constructed a managers’ residents called Highfield House from 1832-1835. This housed the Curr’s and their 15 children! It was built entirely of convict labour. They even built a fortress to house the convicts in while constructing the house.

The town consists of a well preserved main street where the Stanley Hotel still appears to stand as it did in all the old photos that survive of the town. The rest of the street consists of cute eating places, art gallery, and many holiday accommodation places.

We also drove up the main street to see HG Nelson and James Blundell filming their up and coming TV show on ABC ”Bush Slam”. We couldn’t believe our luck. We’d heard they were working on it, but had no idea when it was on. We walked past the pub to see the sign emblazoned on the balcony inviting all and sundry to join in the studio audience tomorrow night at 5:30pm. What timing!

James Blundell and me

We managed to score a table at the pub for dinner and there was a huge wait. We’d heard that the Stanley Hotel won the Hotel’s Association of Australia’s Award in 2008 for Best Bistro Counter Meal. It was certainly showing in the packed atmosphere of over 250 people fed in about 1.5 hours! It was buzzing. We really enjoyed our dinner.

Staggered back to our van on the waterfront. In for a very windy night.

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Great to see such a turn out. There were farm animals for the kids to pat, spinners making wool then the most beautiful scarfs and beanies etc, lots of great food stalls, german folk singers, tractor pulling competitions, an old fashioned pair of draft horses ploughing a field. The owners used them to plough their 100 acre property and said they do a much better job than conventional machinery which just flattens the soil. These girls were doing a fabulous job of seriously turning over rock hard soil and about 30cm of it too!

There were also a display of old cars and motorbikes, army vehicles and a Steve informs me a bofor 20mm flak gun – (you had to be there) it made a huge racket even without bullets. There were great displays of wood turners, toy train displays, every DVD known to man on; farming, machinery, trains, engines, tractors etc. It was a huge day. There was even a guy selling LED light globes. We picked up a couple for the van. So incredibly bright too!

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We decided we should get a move on to make it to Sheffield for the SteamFest 2009. We arrived late in the afternoon just in time to park the van at the oval and walk into town for dinner. Found a fabulous café for dinner and had the most fantastic dinner. They said they weren’t normally open for dinner, but did because of the show. The place was packed. Turned out there was also a Rodeo on 15kms out of town as well as a huge rowing event at Lake Barrington just up the road. Apparently all the accommodation around was booked out for miles. Great to see such a nice place buzzing with life.

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We drove around town and checked out the property that we’d fallen in love with; 3 Vivien Street. It’s a lovely 4 bedroom 1890s heritage house on 1.5 acres backing onto the Hogarth Falls. It’s a lovely 40 minute rainforest walk along a platypus filled creek. Its just beautiful. The creek is in 3 Vivian Street’s backyard. Its such a fabulous setting. So peaceful and tranquil.

Turns out the council gardener is the next door neighbour – Jim. He’s such an interesting character. Also met the couple next door to him who had a similar house. They were also very lovely and all wanted us to join their street! We fell in love with it. We’ve also been told we can build cabins on the block for accommodation as there is such a shortage of holiday accommodation in the town. It has so much potential. The current owners also used to supply the town with organic vegies through the local IGA store. How fabulous is that!

Went back and measured up and took more photos later in the day. So much potential. So much space and right on the water. Even a spot for the boat.

view from back of house out to Hogarth Falls

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Had to stop for soup for lunch. Too cold and had to get out of the wind. Found that most of the commercial buildings in town are all owned by the Federal Hotel. There is a Federal Pie – much like the Mrs Macs of Tassie, not sure if they’re all connected, but its sad that all the commercial property is stitched up by one crowd.

Anyway met Jan and Sam. Jan has been travelling around in her Coaster for the last 3 years with here little terrier Sam. He certainly lives the life! Had coffee and a drink with Jan. Spent the night in the People’s Park after the very friendly shire gardener offered us a night’s stay. He was quite a card. Said this was the best place in the world to live. He said he moved here about a year ago and just loves it. He said it’s a great place with really great people. The mayor is supposedly a bit of a card and really enjoys his job of making things happen!

Had a horrid night with some noisy West Australians drinking and keeping everyone up, so we had to drive off and find somewhere else to park. Apparently the caravan park was over flowing so people were sent to People’s Park to stay. It was quite crowded. Actually felt like we were in a caravan park!

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A great house for sale on 1/2 acre just $155,000!

We almost got wipped off the road by a couple of trucks that weren’t stopping for anything, as well as a few huge gusts of winds that caught us coming off cliffs on the way down hills. This was quite scary at the time.

Arrived at Rosebery in time for lunch, and Zeehan in time for the last 2 hours at their fabulous museum. Needless to say we didn’t get to see it all. What a fabulous collection of old photos of the region that they have. So much history in photos. Also got to see the fabulous buildings they are restoring as a community heritage group – West Coast Heritage. They have done a fabulous job already of what they have.

Arrived in Strahan in time for a blistery visit to the very busy hotel for dinner. Were told we’d have a 20 minute wait for a table on a Wednesday night! Amazing!

Spent the night with many others on the water front at the boat launching ramp. Had the wind and rain beating against the van all night. Very cold. Hard to warm up enough to get to sleep. Minimum was 8o, but very bitie cold wind.

Wynyard – Zeehan – Strahan remains copyright of the author cssc, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Woke to rain. Well really just a light drizzle. It appears it hasn’t rained around these parts for some time.

Today we dropped Midget off for her x-rays. She’s having her hips looked at in detail. She’s been hurting herself too often lately. Need to find out if something can be done to fix this problem.

Got washing done and more BAS/bookwork…

Had a very quiet day without a dog to entertain or get under our feet. Picked her up at 5pm to find she was very wobbly from the aesthetic. She has been diagnosed with bad arthritis in both hips. Worst in the right hip. Poor possum. So the vet has started her on a cartilage rebuilding injections, the first today and then weekly. Seems we’ll never get out of here…

Enjoyed watching Midget unable to control herself. Knew we were in for a quiet night! :-)

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Had a nice relaxing day catching up with bookwork and getting my already late BAS started… Steve worked on more of his book. Nice pleasant if not windy and slightly overcast day. Still cant complain, as today in Melbourne they’ve issued a warning about evacuation due to fire risk again. We even received the text message that they said they were going to send to all residents from the Victorian Police. I don't know why we got one, maybe because our signal had been detected in the area in the last month or so. My parents didn't get one???

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Had a fabulous night in the deafening silence of the bush. No crickets or birds, just the wind. It was beautiful. Had a walk down to Dip Falls; along the very steep set of sloping steps to the bottom. It’s a popular place offering several sheltered seating areas, toilets and even a couple of BBQ’s albeit wood ones.

A lovely solid timber bridge over the river tops it off. We arrived at 11am and found the next tour at 11:30am, so we had time to enjoy a Bush Stew and beautiful soup both with herb damper – yum! We sat at fabulous tables made of burl eucalyptus slabs made all glossy and shiny by varnish topped off with a base made of train wheels.

We then enjoyed a tour with just 4 participants. He started in his shed made with the slab weatherboards lining the walls (like in the photo of the house from Beaconsfield). It looks fabulous in the raw, as you see all the colours in the timber. He showed us the cutting tools including metal wedges used to help split the green timber. Interesting fact: split timber is best for shingles and weatherboards and left untreated will last 40 years due to the water just running off them. Machine cut rots in a few years without treatment!

We then walked through some of the 50 acre property of old logging forest. It had been logged in the 1930s and 1970s in the better selective logging method, where only the oldest an large trees are removed, leaving the younger ones to grow to their full potential. We also saw a Sassafrass sapling and were able to sniff a leaf. It was used in the earlier days as a tea as well as flavour in beer. It has a lovely sweet smelling oil scent when crumpled up. Fabulous stuff!

Well it looks like we’ve missed Clean Up Australia Day. We couldn’t get on the internet to find out where to go for our nearest cleanup. Steve said I clean up almost every day as I’m always picking up rubbish anyway, so we’ll have to leave it at that.

But after hearing that SA have had a 20% increase in the number of drink containers collected since they increased their refund from 5c to 10c. Its also created a $13.5million recycling industry and saved tons of rubbish from going into landfill around the state. So many new jobs have been created though this and it all stays in the local communities that run the programs. It sounds so fabulous. So I encourage you to email your local member and request they immediately enable a Bill to be put to the WA Parliament to get this going in WA. We really do need it.

Mawbanna - Wynyard remains copyright of the author cssc, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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One thing the Real Estate Agent mentioned to us about the town of Wynyard, with a population of 5,500, is that half the town are in the religious category with a few out their churches, and the rest are the drinkers. I think we’d fit into the latter category? What do you think? So we ended up at JC’s Café with a quote from the bible on the bottom of the board outside the door… JC – say no more. But the owner was lovely and very chatty. Made great toasties and good fair trade coffee!

Decided since we had to be back on Tuesday morning for Midget at the vet, we should get out of town for a day or so. So we headed a few kilometres up the road to Boat Harbour Beach. What a gorgeous spot. Stunning white sandy beaches, a fabulous café and not a boat in sight? Though we did see a couple of kayaks and a windsurfer…

The beach was busy with locals enjoying the hot sun. We enjoyed a lovely lunch at the café as well as a fine bottle of Tasmanian Champers – 42o South. It was very tasty. Midget was busting her gut to get down on the beach to play with the crazy ball mad kelpie who had been running up and down the beach looking for people willing to throw the ball for him. Midget was carrying on like her throat was cut as she wasn’t able to join in. Whilst we finished of lunch and I enjoyed a delicious Mango & Passionfruit Crème Brule, we noticed the vet having lunch with his wife and mother at the other end of the café. You can run but you can’t hide in this town!

After Midget got a great swim in and cooled off, we returned to the car where the temperature gauge read 39o in the sun as the outside temperature.

Headed out to Mawbanna, where we’d been recommended not by one, but two different people to visit the Water Wheel Creek. There is a great wood turner, train, cafe and its supposed to be all very interesting. We arrived 10 minutes before closing, so decided we should check out the waterfall and tall tree. Found the fabulous rainforest full of tree ferns. It never ceases to amaze me how incredible our natural environment is in this fine country of ours. Rainforest in Tassie! Who would have thought? We viewed the fabulous Browntop Stringybark, or Eucalyptus Obliqua for those more botanically minded. It being 62m tall and 16m diameter around its base! It was phenomenal to see such giant trees, and given we’d passed many a Forestry Tasmania plantations on the drive out, even more the amazing!

Spent the night in the car park of this dog friendly paradise…

Wynyard – Boat House Beach - Mawbanna remains copyright of the author cssc, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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