"I must go down to the seas again"

Having been in Lonnie 2mths, we were both missing the sea alot. Lonnie is inland about 50kms at the joining of 2 rivers. And rivers just dont smell the same as the sea! So when we were offered the loan of a car for the weekend, we took the opportunity enthusiastically.

Our plans for where to go in the car automatically included somewhere where we could see the sea, so we headed down to the mouth of the river we live by, to George Town, and Low Head. Some pretty lighthouses there, with an old pilot station complex (that is now accomodation if you want to go stay in little whitewashed cottages). Our first sniff of the sea when we got out of the car was bliss :)

After looking round Low Head we then drove to Bridport, a cute little seaside village, apparently where folk from Launceston used to go for their seaside holidays. Lovely golden sandy beaches, and calm blue bays. Found a nice cafe where we had lunch before continuing on our drive.

We drove through Scotsdale, wasn't much open by this time, so we headed to what the locals call The Stump (and what is actually called The Scottsdale Forest EcoCentre ) - an eco building that houses the Information Centre and one of the Forestry offices.

We completed a loop by coming home via Lilydale -  the town that is apparently famous for it's painted poles! (A bit like how Tirau has all the corregated iron sculptures) Turned out that the base of every lamp post or power pole has a mural painted on it!

Was nice to get out and about (and see the sea!) and be able to do the supermarket shopping with out having to worry about carrying it home!!

Next adventure, Easter, when we have rented a car for 3 days :)

Team Building

Having had a couple of changes to the staff at The Atrium Cafe (where I work), Janie (the owner) invited us to go with her on a yoga retreat...somewhere out of Launceston.  The idea being we could get to know each other a bit better, and have some R&R. The others were unable to go, but Friday 12th March saw Janie and I leaving the cafe a little early to drive to the retreat.

It was nice to be heading out of town and seeing another part of Tasmania. Unfortunately for me the weekend didn't start off so restful, within the first few seconds of arriving at the location of the retreat (a lovely farm over near a mountain range I've forgotten the name of!) I managed to stand in the middle of a nest of Jack Jumper Ants. Ants...how bad could it be you say? Well these ants, probably about 1.5cm in length (so much bigger than te ants in NZ) are also biting ants...and not bits like mosquitos or sandflies...but nasty stingy bites that can result in death! Luckily for me I didnt react, but some people have anaphylactic reactions to their bites, and it seems they haven't sorted a reliable anti-venom. For me they were very sore, and gave me a fright...welcome to Australian Wildlife! Luckily the lady running the yoga retreat was on hand with Thyme Oil (a natural remedy for the bites) which worked wonders, and by the next day my toe was only slightly tender when touched.

The weekend was a nice break, a chance to meet some new people and get out of the city. Besides meeting the jack jumpers, I also got to see an echidna (like a hedgehog!), and listen to the kookaburras (they make crazy noises!). Here are a few photos of the farm.

The photo on the left is of the yoga studio - it is built of straw bales.

On the way home, we stopped at Christmas Hills Raspberry farm...they do the best raspberry baked cheesecake :)

The Daily Grind

We have both settled in to a bit of normality over here. The weeks are filled with Ollie going to school, me going to work, having dinner together in the evenings, Ollie studying and me doing my own thing so as not to distract him from studying :) (this normally involves watching TV, reading or working on a craft project).

Our weekends often involve going out for brunch together - our weekly treat - walking to the supermarket for our weekly grocery shop, and study. The last couple of weekends, Ollie has studied with Wayne and some classmates, while Wayne's fiancee Suzanne and I have spent time together. This weekend just been Suzanne and I went to the Body & Soul Festival. The study sessions often end with a BBQ at Wayne's place.

My job is going well. I work 2.30pm - 5.30pm, Mon- Fri, in The Atrium Cafe. I also get a few extra hours here and there depending on what is happening. Last week we catered for a monring tea - for the opening of a company called Elephant Property, so I prepared most of the food for this, including these cupcakes.

Realised we didnt include a photo of the outside of our place, so here you go :) the garden area in front of our apartment is currently being landscaped so once it has been finished we'll get some photos of that too.

Our place is the ground floor window on the otherside of the ramp.

We often walk along by the river - its a chance to look at some boats.....

A view of the city from one of our twilight walks.

There are often events happening in City Park - which as we've mentioned before we think of it as our back yard. We went to listen to the Tasmanian Youth Orchestra yesterday and had a little picnic.

Not part of the orchestra...but they live in the park!

Might not be able to see them so well, but they are a type of monkey.

And Ollie, head in the books - a very common site!

National Penny Farthing Championships

Evandale is a little town about 20mins away from Launceston and every year the National Penny Farthing Champs are held there. Ollie's class mate Wayne, and his wife Susan took us out to Evandale to watch the racing. The races form part of the Evandale Village Fair - where they have all the normal fair like things such as face painting and pony rides, along with vintage cars on display, traction engines, people dressed up in period costume, and they all participated in a Grand Parade around the village square.


It was quite amazing watching people race the Penny Farthings - some people were in full racing lycra while others were in traditional clothes. They got to great speeds, and some really looked like they were going to topple over as they went round the corners!  There were also some baby penny farthings that children were riding in the parade.

The day was finished off with an evening in our back yard - City Park - where they had Symphony Under the Stars. The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra were playing in the park, along with a young Australian Opera singer. Was a lovely night for it, and it was obviously a popluar event as the park was packed - with people having picnics, some had even bought tables and candles etc and were having candle-lit dinners there!

Tastes of Tasmania

(this blog is written in retrospect as I got a little behind!)

Valentine's weekend, and everything was happening in Launceston. The footy was on Saturday night, the Wooden Boat Rally and Festivale were on all weekend. So we had a busy weekend experiencing the local culture.

The wooden boat rally was a free event at the local marina (free things are always a bonus!) with a variety of different boats there...we spent a few hours drooling over the beautiful boats, which kind of helped give Ollie a boat fix - he's missing his yacht the most!

A lovely wooden kayak.

Ollie drooling over an interesting little boat.

The little boat has a steam outboard.

A Baby Boat..beautifully made, literally only big enough for a baby.

Festivale is Launcestons once a year big festival - a celebration of local food, wine, beer and Aussie music. Seems everyone decends on Lonnie for the weekend. Our house is a prime location for this event...with our lounge windows open we can hear the music as if we're right there, and its a very very short walk to the City Park where it was held when we wanted to go and taste the goodies as well as listen. We went Saturday evening, having dinner there, and listening to some great bands and watching some interesting street theatre. We even stayed to hear Daryl Braithwaite...think he was the 70s teenage heart throb, well known by everyone but us. We had some yummy food including local cheeses, ice creams, strawberries etc. We enjoyed it so much we splashed out and went back on Sunday, having lunch there and trying the other foods we hadn't tried yet - such as baked raspberry cheesecake...definately worth it! It was a well run event, and a great way of experiencing a bit of Tasmania.

The Victor Charlie Charlies playing at Festivale

Home Sweet Home...well for now!

Finally we have unpacked the suitcases...after nearly 4 weeks of living out of our suitcases, we have moved into a fully furnished 2 bedroom apartment. Its brand new - we're the first people to live here, so everything is shiny and flash :)

Our Lounge

Our Kitchen/Dining Room

                                                                                  Our Bedroom

Last week was spent in our temporary apartment - we affectionately named the hill it was on as Everest...well some days walking up it in the heat it felt like we were climbing a mountain! Good view of the valley Launceston is in from the apartment.

Our 2nd week in Tassie, was a productive one - Ollie aced his first exam, getting 98%, and I got a job. Only casual and temporary but its a start. Its in a cafe/bakery - I get to make sandwiches, filled rolls and coffee's as well as serving the customers. I also get to make myself coffee's - its all part of the practice!

Did quite a bit more walking - can't break the trend now! It was quite nice in the evenings when it was a bit cooler to walk around the neighbourhood - lots of interesting old villa's and house's to look at.

Now to settle in to our aparment, job and uni!

We will walk 500 miles...

We've been in Lonnie (as Launceston is affectionally known by the locals) for a week now. And it feels like most of that week has been spent walking...and walking some more!

Monday, our first day in the big smoke, was spent walking round all the real estate agents we could find. We were hoping for a 2 bedroom fully furnished place in a certain budget. All the ones we had seen listed on the internet had gone by the time we got here. One agent showed us a brand new one, right in town but a little out of our planned budget, so we started looking at un-furnished options. We thought we might get a place for cheaper then spend the rest of our budget on renting or buying furniture. Unfortunately most of the unfurnished places had gone too - everyone doing the same as us! The few unfurnished places available were more expensive than we had hoped, and by the time we started costing furniture etc we were going to be paying the same as the fully furnished place we looked at, but have less furniture and furnishings. So We put an application in for the fully furnished place.

And then we had to wait, as Tuesday was Australia Day, so nothing was happening. In fact being a public holiday in a small town meant that there weren't even that many cafes etc open for us to eat at. It seems that every time a meal time came around we would walk every street of the CBD looking for a cheap cafe to eat at. We now have a few favourites that we stick to!

Being Aussie Day we decided to do some more exploring - this involved more walking! We walked up Cataract Gorge to the First Basin Reserve.

This area is quite a scenic spot with lots of different walks in the reserve. At the First Basin there is a lake as well as a swimming pool, a couple of cafes and a cable car that goes from one side of the gorge to the other.

Wednesday I had a days work - managed to pick up a day of nannying for our potential landlords, which was a bonus. So while I worked, Ollie went out to explore the Uni and the buses to and from. We also found out that our application for the apartment had been accepted...however its totally new, and they wont have finished furnishing it until Feb 6th. An extra week in the back packers, it was going to be :(

Friday, Ollie had his orientation day. Course starts with two weeks of Maths, and discovered his first exam is a week away! It will be a full on year for him.

We also got a call from the real estate agent, offering to put us into another apartment for a week until our one was ready. We gladly accepted this offer -  knowing the study Ollie was going to be doing, having some space of our own was a relief.

So Ollie's last relaxing weekend before he hits the books, was spent shifting into the temporary apartment and walking some more...there were rumours of a place selling cupcakes a few blocks out of town, so we had to walk there, and the Esk market needed to be explored.

Now for Ollie to start studying and me to start job hunting!