SEPTEMBER JOURNAL

NO! We didn’t go for a bike ride on Father’s Day. S wanted to go to the Museum/Art Gallery complex. First we spent an hour in the Aborigine room. Then at 2:30 we had a guided tour that was supposed to last for an hour but we were treated to nearly 2 hours. It was fascinating and we want to go back and “fill in the gaps”. There were lots of captions that we didn’t have time to read. We didn’t even go into the Antarctic room. Did you know there were many Chinese immigrants in the early days in the north of Tasmania for alluvial gold and tin mining? The Art Gallery had a special exhibition of “City of Hobart Art Prize 08 – 2D/Fine Art and 3D/Craft & Design; celebrating 20 years”. So it was 2008 entrants and the prize winners over the last 20 years. We only had a quick look and need to return, and to have a longer look at the old paintings collection, particularly Glover’s work.

Thursday’s walk was one of the best. It was on the SW of the Tasman Peninsula, across private land to this fabulous beach called Roaring Beach. SW swells come here and it is popular for surfing. A sculptor lives nearby and he has made some unusual beach theme benches. Again this was a place we would not have discovered on our own. We are so grateful to being shown these places by the locals. The owner on a nearby farm has found a convicts leg iron in the bush. It was not that far from Port Arthur. We walked to the top of a hill which was part of the semaphore relay communication system “in the old days” and next week we are going a bit further north to Communication Hill, which is the next signal point north.

We did another absolutely fabulous bushwalk to Cape Hauy, on Tasman Peninsula due east of Port Arthur way over the Tasman Sea side (east). We started at Fortescue Bay, which is a “must camp there one day” place. Have a look at the indentation on a map! The walk was tiring because it was up and down, and rocky – you had to watch your feet. The walk totalled 11.5km according to my pedometer. We started in forest and ended on windswept low scrub. Cape Hauy is so interesting geologically. It is very high and steep above the sea. There are 2 very narrow chasms on the point (a tourist boat goes between one when the weather allows – like one did today.) There is a pillar called the Totem Pole which is a metre square and comes straight up from the water. It is about 5 metres away from the other cliffs. The Totem Pole is a challenge to mountaineers and there were 2 climbing it today! We didn’t see them start but there was a rope from the main cliff out to the Totem Pole. It is on our “Gunna” list to do the boat trip from Eaglehawk Neck down to Tasman Island and go close up to all these wonderful cliffs.

Apart from regularly walking the dogs we are still digging up the new seepage pit for the sewerage. It is easy because it is sand, but still very physical. We have been disheartened by several cave-ins (remember it IS sand). The depth is almost shoulder high – er - deep I mean! We have to get enough depth for it to flow down with gravity. Throwing the sand up and over the heap is hard work! My job has been to clear the surface sand back away from the trench. The other problem is the weather. Winds have been gale force and it is like a desert sand-storm. Grit has been flying around the yard and coming into the house. We are getting sick of this project! Very soon we’ll get the plumber here again to tell us if the trench is deep enough and buy some gravel which is needed to lay the pipes on. That won’t be an easy job either. The gravel will be dropped off at the front of the house because there is a low carport on the side of the house. A wheel barrow will be used to bring the gravel to the trench – a long hard job!
The gravel was delivered in the driveway on Monday. The 4 cubic metres cost $240. It was not the smallest size but the next size up which made it a bit harder to shovel.
At last it was Tuesday – the plumber was coming. We were getting disheartened by all the side wall collapses that were occurring. We dug the last collapse out and he came at 9:30am. Our depth and gradient passed the test. We were allowed to start putting gravel down to make a bed for the pipe.
I took the two dogs for a walk as the side gates had to be open, and the dogs were being a b... nuisance with their jumping and running around. The old earthenware pipe from the septic tank to the seepage tank was chock-a-block with tree root hairs and crap. The plumber offered to install a “switch valve” so the waste water could go either to the old seepage tank or the new seepage tank. You could manually turn it over with a lever with a long arm down an inspection pipe at ground level. Sounded OK but the fitting cost $220. We made an executive decision to forget the old tank as who knows how blocked up that was! After the new seepage pipe was laid we had to cover and surround the pipe with more gravel. The plumber wanted 20cm of gravel on top. Then he laid a metre wide layer of thin felt to prevent sand getting in the gravel too much.
There is too much sand, because of the gravel, but there is a neighbour who has a low block and he accepted some “filling”. Now the garden is being restored. It can’t be a lawn because of the dogs. We have put wire guards around all the plants!

On Thursday I went bushwalking! (S was persuaded to do volunteer driving as they were short – handed er.. short of drivers) It was not to Communication Hill as was planned because Gunns are logging there right now. So.. we walked at Lime Bay Reserve, which is on the NW “knob” of the Tasman Peninsula. The weather was fabulous and the walk great. We walked near the water around the coastline. We saw some pretty scenery and oohed and aarhed at Slopin Island about 1km away. Some of us intend kayaking there! This part of the peninsula used to be heavily treed and many historical relics eg remains of a convict made rock jetty that used to have a tramway on it to take timber out to the boat. It is hard to comprehend the area was thickly forested because now it is so extremely dry and agricultural. The Reserve was schlerophyll vegetation and many casurinas on the coast. I had a lovely day!
S went for a bike ride and I walked the dogs about 3kms one way where it is my designated area on the main road for litter clean up for this month. Fortunately, S came along with the car when I had finished so I drove the car and the rubbish home while S walked the dogs back. They are sleeping well this afternoon! Next month I will be given a different zone – so we don’t get bored!
4 of us got this group started and some more people want to join us now. Next meeting is here at night in 2 weeks time. We have to get the Council to help us get rid of the litter. It is too much for our regular bins. Hopefully now the initial clean up has been done and it will be easy maintenance. Tasmania has an awful attitude to litter. They should start with the SA 5c (now 10c) bottle/can/carton deposit system.
We didn’t walk with the Sorell Strollers on Saturday as we had done their designated walk a few weeks ago. We were looking forward to doing our ‘own thing’ either bike riding or walking somewhere new with the dogs. The wind was strong and weather threatened to rain and so bike riding was definitely “out”. Eventually I said “Well I’m walking.” I went alone to a sheep farm near Sorell where we walked 2 weeks ago because I lost my pedometer there. I wanted to check that it wasn’t at morning tea place or lunch, when I took my pack off. I didn’t find it! The walk was quick alone! I did in 2 hours what the group stretches to most of the day. And it was most enjoyable. I saw lots of little lambs and an echidna.
Rain and wind have been forecast often but it is only strong winds, usually northerly. They are not ‘nice’ winds. There have been some spits of rain, just enough to rush out and rescue the washing off the line! Rain would be welcome but at night please God! Did I tell you we have a new and efficient way to save gray water in the shower? We use the council black box recycle bin under the shower. It gathers more water than the bucket! (Council has recently delivered new big wheely recycle bins) We save dishwashing water too. The garden plants are surviving. S has just washed the car with that gray water. Will we get our “We Save Water” badge now?
Today (Sunday) we were looking forward to a bike ride BUT the wind was a bit strong and we suddenly discovered Sam had a cut on his leg that needed veterinary attention. Both dogs tear around the garden and push and shove each other and Bailey is the stronger. They scrap like kids! The cut was clean and deep and would perhaps have healed OK but we thought we ought to get it checked out. It had to be on Sunday with a surcharge! Well the Vet gave him a general anaesthetic so he would keep still for stitches and kept him “in” until 3:30pm. Yep it cost heaps - $320!!!! Once we found out we would be spending the day in Hobart we decided to chase up replacing a Corning Ware casserole dish that I broke last night. No luck! Myer had a sale of Corning Ware but the container nearest to it in size had no lid. Kmart, Big W, kitchenware shop “Habitat” did not stock any. So I guess it will be on our shopping list when we come to the mainland.
We decided to go for a walk with Bailey to Knocklofty Park west of Hobart. This park was natural woodland and at one spot there was a copy of a 1831 Glover painting, that we saw in the Tas Museum Art gallery. The modern landscape had more trees! Another interesting thing we observed lots of big yachts (at least 15) motoring back up the Derwent. Our hypothesis was an overnight yacht race down south and they all had to motor home on Sunday against the strong northerly wind.

Poor little Sam felt a bit sorry for himself the next day. I had to walk Bailey alone so he could get rid of his energy there rather than scrapping in the garden with Sam.

Thursday was another great walk to Gunner’s Quoin. If you look up a dictionary it will say “quoin (n) an external solid angle of a wall or the like.” It was a steep hill all around but one face was a sheer edge. We approached it from the back, not the steep face! The range is called the Meehan range. It goes from Bellerive on the east side of the Derwent River by Hobart to Bridgewater /Brighton which is the far north of Hobart. The ranges are very hilly and tree covered but certainly not rainforest. We could have been in SA up behind Elizabeth. It was extremely dry.
We left the cars at Risdon Dam (supplies Bellerive peninsula) and did a circuitous route. We enjoyed it and reckon it was about 14kms. On the way home we shopped at Sorell. S unpacked the car while I walked the dogs about 3kms!

On Sunday it was “our day”. (First we walked the dogs for an hour) We drove north through Runnymede to Levendale to a country fair to assist the community , and farmers in the drought. It was as lovely and old fashioned. There were home-made crafts etc in the hall along with the Primary School kids “Decorate a Boot” competition. On the school oval there were pony rides, ‘Guess the weight of the bull’ competition, a sheep dog demonstration, and cute baby animals in the “Barmy Farmy”. A log splitting demonstration and a few food stalls with local produce eg apples and potatoes, surrounded the oval. It was obvious that the locals got behind it all and made it a great fair.
Afterwards we drove back a different route via Buckland, where we stopped at a beaut native plant nursery and bought a few plants to fill in the backyard! Then cross country through hills too steep for farming, and poor soil. There Gunns had quite a few young Blue Gum plantations. We joined the main road at Forcett which is not far from Lewisham. We enjoyed our day of exploration.