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!

Ferry, Car, Plane, Bus, Tram, Bus, Plane, Shuttle....

Now if any of you are contemplating visiting us in Tasmania, let me assure you it does not take 2 days to get to Launceston! However for us it did.....

We needed to go via Christchurch to leave my car at my parents place (as they are looking after it for me - thanks!) so we left Wellington early Saturday (23rd) morning, on the Bluebridge ferry, along with Ollie's parents. They were coming to Picton to go sailing on Ollie & Theo's yacht for a holiday. Nice crossing on the ferry, and gave Ollie a chance to say bye to his work mates, and his ship Monte Stello.

A quick bite to eat in Picton before Ollie had a moment saying good bye to the yacht Cloudy Bay...oh and his parents :)

We then drove to Christchurch in time for dinner with my parents, a few hours sleep and then a very early start! At the airport by 0500hrs (thanks mum for dropping us off!) and on a plane outta there. We arrived in Melbourne at 0830 local time, and cleared customs/immigration easily - do they know who they let into the country? te he

We then had some time to spare, so caught a bus into the city, where we had some food (not sure what meal it counted as!) and a walk around the city. Didn't have time to go to the tennis, but did catch a Tram and visited the Queen Victoria Markets, before heading back to the airport.

A short flight this time, followed by a shuttle ride ending at the Launceston Backpackers, which is currently our home. Arrived to find lovely sunny summery weather...we'll be happy if this keeps up.

Now to start the business of house and job hunting!

The Stairs to the Attic

This is the story of our adventure to Tasmania. We're only going for 10mths which may not seem like a long time, however we decided to rent the house out while we're gone...this meant we had to put our (what seemed little before) house hold into storage...the storage being in Ollie's parents attic.

Like when you think a job is going to only take 5 mins it always takes longer...the packing and moving took a long time, 3 solid days plus all the bits before that. At the same time Ollie had the yacht out of the water doing repairs and anti-fouling it - 2 big jobs at the same time!




After endless trips between Lower Hutt and Eastbourne, all our belongings are now in the Attic, and all we have left with us is what we are taking with us (well technically...we may have to put more in the Attic if there's too much for our suitcase!). Muscles are complaining from all the trips up the stairs carrying boxes, but the house is empty and sparkling clean, and the tenants started moving in today. We hope they like our little house :)

We have a week left before we leave NZ - a chance to catch up with friends and family, update CVs and line up rental properties in Tassie for viewing.