end of August still in lovely in Tasmania

My flight back from warm Adelaide was smooth. We flew above the clouds, but coming down through the clouds to Hobart was a bit rough. Here it was cold, wet and windy when I arrived.
Bushwalking was cancelled last Thursday but it wasn’t too bad the weather here. We went for a bracing walk along the beach with both the dogs and in the afternoon we started to dig up the seepage drainage pipes as it appears blocked. We’ve had the septic tank pumped out back in June. This land is all sand and it should soak away! The home owner had warned us that something was not quite right. We suspect tree roots are the problem. Home maintenance happens everywhere!
The back yard looks like a construction site but we can’t dig it all in one day.

On Friday morning, I went for a long walk by myself AND BOTH DOGS while S went ‘community car driving’ – 2 trips to Hobart. Both passengers were most appreciative, as they were driven straight to their Dr’s door. S hasn’t tried to look for a job. He doesn’t want to, and doesn’t need to, but he enjoys this volunteer driving.

We walked with the Saturday group to Denman’s Cove on Tasman Peninsula. It was east and directly facing Port Arthur. The weather was wintry but only light showers so it was OK. It was a rugged bush track but delightful. We “lost” an hour because 4 of us “newbies” got disorientated when we were left behind by the group when we stopped to put on our ‘shower proof trousers’. I am going to say I kept saying “I’m not happy” with the track we 4 took. So we went back to the junction, had a cuppa tea, and were about to leave a note to say we have gone back to the cars when several of the forward group came back to look for us! So we were led along the correct track and caught up to the group. Unfortunately one of our 4 has just been diagnosed with Thyroid cancer and he was a slow walker. He slowed us down to catching up. The track we then took was mountain goat like and he was tiring. He ended up saying “You guys go on and we’ll walk back” (we= his wife and him) It was a there and back walk. Denman Cove was really nice – quite indented on the west side of the eastern part of the Tasman Peninsula opposite Port Arthur. 2 women were first time walkers and it was not an easy walk. (They were slow but coped) It was only about 8kms but rough terrain. Twice we had to cross wet creeks, and that was particularly tricky. We had the choice of a big round slippery gum tree bridge or a narrower burnt but bumpy log. I chose the latter and used along stick in the water as a ‘3rd leg’. S’s boots are slippery and he, with most of the others scrambled on all fours and on bums on the wide slippery tree-bridge. It was very interesting as far as getting “lost”. The Peregrine bushwalkers have strict rules – a leader and a “whip”, who knows the route and always walks last. And at every intersection of tracks the group must stop for all to catch up, and you should always be able to see the person in front and the person behind. The group was most apologetic that they had lost us! Neither of the Tassie walking groups is a formalised club, and we quite like the relaxed way they operate.


Our next exploring walk was the Marion Bay Spit, a bird sanctuary east of Dunalley on the Tasman Peninsula. It was a cool windy day and we saw no birds. But as usual the company was good.

We had a wonderful time with B and G who arrived 10pm on Thursday night. The weather forecast was abysmal, but it was fabulously warm and sunny all week-end. On Friday, we 4 went for a long local walk with the dogs along the coast from here to Spectacle Point- yes fabulous view. It was picture perfect.
Then we left early on Saturday to visit Bruny Island. We caught the 9.30am ferry from Kettering and drove south to the far light-house. It was not sun-shiny down south but really great scenery. Then we drove to Adventure Bay where Captain Cook landed on his 2nd voyage. We did a lovely walk/hike around the coast and climbed up and up and up along some high cliffs, appropriately called the Fluted Cape. It was quite a challenge. We caught the ferry at 5.30pm and got home late. The dogs didn’t get a walk that day, and they were restless that night.
On Sunday we took the dogs with us in the car to the Tasman Peninsula (not far south of Dunalley) on the western side near Murdunna. It was new territory for us as we walked around the coast from Sommer’s Beach. It was great and we reckon we walked about 6kms AND the dogs were exhausted.

It is the end of winter and on my walk with the dogs this week I saw 2 gardens being watered. There is no mains pressure in this area: everyone has rainwater tanks. I hope it was only grey water being pumped out of the holding tank. It is truly dry here. Hobart should have 500mm a year and so far has had 250mm. We are 30km east of Hobart and always get less anyway.
I don’t like walking in the rain and it has rarely rained!
Yesterday our 2nd group we’ve joined walked about 8 km at Nan Chauncy’s (a renowned Tasmanian children’s author; most famous book “They Found a Cave”) old family property now a nature reserve approximately 40 km from Hobart on the Midland Highway. It was dry sclerophyll forest – so dry – no creeks were flowing. There were some attractive rock faces and caves in the cliff face. It was another lovely walk. However it makes us fear for the summer being so dry.

The Tasman walking group, who walk on Thursdays, climbed up to Mt Nelson’s signal point from near the Wrest Point casino, Sandy Bay, Hobart. I say ‘climbed’ but it was a path up through bushland in a valley between the suburbs. The weather was perfect and we could see forever! Signal Point has a clear view of the entrance to Storm Bay – between Bellerive peninsula and Bruny Island. We clambered down on the southern side to Taranna and caught the bus along the coast back to the cars. Great fun!

Yes we do a lot of walking with 2 groups every week AND dog walking for an hour every day too. Yes we return home from our group bushwalk and straight away get the leads on the dogs and walk along the beach to Dodge’s Ferry.

The class where I’m teaching is OK with only one real pill of a kid. I did my own thing. I was left minimal information on what to teach them. It is not a really happy staff. But at least no-one is breathing down your neck. Of course I had yard duty both days. One thing I wish I knew about is there was no tea/coffee provided. You had to bring your own!!! Nobody told me. At least I now know the kids and have started on some ideas for next week’s teaching. I am enjoying teaching again.

You’ll never guess what we did August 31st. We went to a Taiko concert in Hobart. It was fantastic. All drums were played by locals and it was very polished, loud and energetic. We found out about it on Friday and decided to go to the matinee performance on Sunday afternoon. There were 6 main big drums, one huge drum at the back, and several other kinds. The group had altogether about 20 members. As expected several styles were presented. Four of the drummers were especially good.