Its been six weeks already since we have been home....seems like only yesterday we were busily counting down the 200+ days til we left for holidays!

:( How sad. Time to plan for more adventures.

Everyone is settled back into school. Prue is in year 5, Julian in year 7, Madi is in year 9 and Michaela is in her last year of school ! Eek ! Time is just flying by! I have a "stand in" newbie principal for this year. My regular boss has been seconded. It has been "interesting" of late.

On Friday, we finally got our solar panels added to our roof. Hopefully we will see a huge reduction to our power bills. Next on the agenda is a water tank then more food storage. After that we save for our next holiday?! Hmm...camping is cheap! :)

Today we bought Julian a flute so that he can continue with lessons at school. Thanks to Hailey, we managed to find a few in the papers - we found a suitable one in Ellenbrook for $175. Could have been hundreds more so I was grateful for the find ! We also signed up for another season of soccer, which will begin in April sometime. 

5th-12th January - Melbourne

Note to self : ALWAYS check dates for travel - TWICE ! Sigh.

It was with sadness we packed, stacked and said good-bye to Poppy Fred and Grannie. It was a chilly morning and packing up the bags was slightly stressful with bag weight limits been exceeded and having to "shuffle" stuff around...

The flight was uneventful and we enjoyed the short flight. The iPods were put to good use as there was no in-house entertainment for such a short flight. The Jetstar crew were very efficient and baggage claim was simple. Our best idea was to hire a car from Hertz. We got a white Kia Carnival and with Lindi's very awesome instructions, were on the road again ! Woo hoo ! Melbourne's city roads were busy - even for the middle of the day! There was lots of "interesting" art work scattered around the city to make things just that bit interesting. Harv commented that there had been quite a number of road changes with new-er freeways. Lindi and Craig lived on the side of a mountain called Monbulk and it was a twisty, windy road up through some very pretty forests. An hour and a half later we pulled into the Parsons home.

Lots of hugs and happy greetings, a tour of the house and a quick run down of what we wanted to do while we were visiting etc. Off we went for a walk around the neighbourhood and to take Bentley (the resident dog) for a walk. We ended up at the local high school where everyone was encouraged to join in a game of "Four Square". Hmmm...I'm a wee bit rusty ! :P



I'm in the 2nd square! woot woot !



Bentley the SUPER DOG !

Dinner was a very delicious spaghetti bolognaise and we had home made ice cream for desserts. Mmmm...

Friday morning saw us back on the road again. This time we were off to explore the local D.F.O. (to the un-initiated : Direct Factory Outlet). WOW ! So many shops and so many awesome bargains! The groups split up so that those "serious" shoppers could shop and the less interested could just wander and people watch.  I picked up a pair of leather boots for $50 ! Most pleased with that. The girls and I argued over a pair of children's shoes for me - they were neon colours with LOTS of bling and they lit up when you took a step! Unfortunately I got shouted down and left reluctantly without them. :( More on that later...

The girls picked up a few bargains themselves - shoes for $5 and blouses. Nice. We found a Krispy Kreme shop and pigged out on a treat to revive ourselves. Who knew shopping would be such hard work?

 

We called it quits after only 4hrs because Craig had a really sore back and was hobbling. Sad. It was fun though. Moblie phones were used to rally everyone - thank heavens for technology.

Back at the ranch, the cousins played board games - a French version of Monoploy Spongebob. Things were quite "interesting" with the competition at stake....

Craig, Shelby, Lacey and Lindi Parsons

We headed to the Parson's favourite Indian restaurant for dinner that night. SO YUMMY ! We pigged out yet again on some very delicious curry, rice and Naan bread. The company was fun and Craig was in full flight with his very funny and witty comments. Was excellent fun times.

Saturday morning saw us heading off to "Erica" to see Teagan, Asher and Huxley Brookes (Craig's daughter, son-in-law and grandson). On the way, we were witness to a motorbike accident. We stopped to help the man and his "L" plate wife who had taken a corner too fast and spun out of control over a very steep embankment. He had hurt his shoulder and arm very badly and we had to call an ambulance - which came within 10mins. The motorbike was in tea trees and was very difficult to manoeuvre so Harv and Josh pushed in down to the flats and lent it against the trees.

After that little drama, the rest of the trip was uneventful. Teagan and Asher's new residence was Asher's dad's farm. The houses  were built in a community like atmosphere with a communal pool and outhouses. Quite unique. It was almost like a holiday resort. The children enjoyed the plunge into the pool and we had a BBQ lunch. The "boys" played " 8 Ball" in the games room with the "girls" cheering them on. The competition was fierce!

On the way back to Monbulk, we stopped for petrol and OH MY GOODNESS ...we went to a Krispy Kreme outlet that produced the delicious treats !! I was SO EXCITED !! There was a HUGE viewing window with written instructions on what you were watching and you could see the production lines and how the yummy donuts were created. IT WAS AWESOME and one of the highlights of our adventures. We got "freebies"...a freshly made original glaze donut..FRESH out of the oven. BLISS! Of course, we had to take some home too....

YUMMY !! Krispy Kremes...Australian style !

Sunday was church. Because the ward had only recently been divided, people were still getting to know who was in their ward and not...so we weren't seen as visitors from interstate...not the friendliest of all...but it was good. I wore my red hat again just for fun.

Quiet games and chatting was the order of the afternoon and we enjoyed going for another walk around the very pretty neighbourhood.

Monday was dedicated to seeing where Craig worked. We went to William Ricketts Sanctuary to view the AMAZING artwork created by an eccentric and very talented "Bill". Was a very interesting place with such beauty. It was then on to the Rhododendron Gardens. Craig's back was aching with all the walking so he went to get a "golf buggy" to take us on a mini-tour. What fun! The gardens were very beautiful. Lots of hard work and dedication went into its creation.

One of the many amazing sculptures by William Ricketts.

Standing in the "doorway" of the soul...

On the way to our next destination, we bypassed to a shop I had seen earlier. It had to be the most fantastic toy shop I had seen in years! It was called "Geppeto's". I had a hard time trying to decided what to buy ! Very cool stuff. The place was obviously very popular and full to capacity with locals and tourists alike. I got a few things for school and a gift for Dominic.

Next was a bird park called "Grants". Craig saw a workmate there who told us we missed all the excitement and drama by half an hour - one of the tour buses that bought tourists had caught fire!

We didnt pay to feed the birds because there were so many tourists already feeding the birds. There were some feeders around the place that we grabbed handfuls of seeds and the birds came to us anyways. Bonus ! The children were quite fascinated with the Cockatoos and Rosella's. We later had icecream for a treat before heading back home again.

Thank heavens I asked Harvey to check emails. We THOUGHT we had an extra day or two in Melbourne and had plans to go into the city for a wander around...unfortunately ...we DIDNT ! Tuesday was the last full day and we had promised the girls that we would go to Chadstone on the last day...

Chadstone is boasted as being the biggest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere. With over 500 shops I could understand why. Pity we didnt have time to cover all of the shops! I saw it as an "omen" that the first shop we saw upon entry was a "Sketchers" shoe shop! I convinced the girls that I HAD TO HAVE the bling shoes that I had seen previously! Unfortunately for me tho, the Sketchers in Chadstone didnt have my size - but not to be unbeaten the wonderful sales lady found me a pair just as bling-y as the one we had seen ...just not as colourful. When I explained that I was a special needs teacher and why I wanted the shoes the sales lady was so lovely - she searched all through the storeroom until she could find me the shoes that were the brightest ! I was very, very happy !

Michaela and Madi were happy little shoppers and we could have probably done a few more hours of shopping, but again, the whingers won out. We met for lunch in the food hall and had just enough time to get a few presents. Josh and Julian had "op-ed out" of shopping and had gone to see a movie. What clever boys.

Wednesday morning was some-what subdued...we were sad that our adventure was almost over...Last minuet packing was done and "mother earth" decided to unleash a HUGE thunderstorm over us ! The ride to the airport was a little "hairy" at times with the heavy rains.

Our pilot must have been a newbie...our take off and landing were rather bumpy!

Papa picked us up from the airport and we experienced the extremes of weather...from 14c in Melbourne to the 34c in Perth. Ick !

What an adventure it has been. We have seen lots and done lots and had a fantastic and wonderful time. The children have bonded and we have been complemented quite a lot on their awesome behaviour and how well they have "gelled" as a team. I am so proud of them.

Last Day In Tassie : Wrest Point Casino, Battery Point, Arthur Circus and Sandy Bay Beach

Our last day in Tassie was busy! Lots of packing and sorting and the like...we had a little adventure along the way.

Wrest Point Casino

We decided that since we were within budget, we would go out for lunch in a "nice" place. Poppy decided we should  do a last minuet tour of the Casino (the first in Australia), Battery Point and Sandy Bay Beach. Off we went in convoy and in search of a good meal. The "Coffee Shop" was suggested and it turned out to be a glorified Sizzlers with an open area for buffet and a chocolate fountain. Boy did we STUFF our selves ! The food was gorgeous ! Steaks were tender, spring rolls (we decided they were the equivalent to Chinese pies!), honey chicken wings, scalloped potatoes, steamed veggies, roast pumpkin, soups, salads and of course, roast beef or turkey.MMMMMMMmmm!

The major hit was the desserts bar : pavlova, jellies, chocolate mousse, pastries, cheesecake, chocolate cake, cheese platters, unlimited icecream, chocolate fountain AND  creme brulee` ! Phwoar !! Madi did us proud - with FOUR helpings of dessert ! 

Mmmm....lunch ...all you can eat buffet.



We wandered around the Casino a little and Poppy went snap happy for a bit. There was only a limit to where we could poke our heads into for a look.

Our after lunch tour was very interesting. Sandy Bay beach was in the "ritzy" part of Hobart with real estate in excess of $2million and up. Mostly beautifully restored federation homes.  The beach was in a sheltered bay so it was very quiet. Poppy Fred said that the government has plowed quite a large amount of money into the area to keep the beach from erosion. The largest house in the area was owned by an undertaker! Who said that there isnt money in dying?!

The look out @ Mr Nelson

The signal station @ the top point of Mt Nelson.

Battery Point was where the signals were sent from Mt Nelson before being forwarded to Port Arthur. The area was built like a quaint little village. Lots of lovely restored buildings converted into businesses. Very pretty.

Arthur's Circus was a whole bunch of house built into a circle...thus the name.

We were too full to eat dinner so Poppy Fred made us "special desserts" from a recipe handed down from one generation to another....Poached cherries with ice cream...ohhhh...so DIVINE !

Back at the ranch, frantic cleaning ensued to make sure we havent exceeded baggage amount..?! Eek ! Could be quite close !

Some things I have learnt about Tasmania in the past three weeks :

• 95% of roads in Tasmania are curvy with LOTS of twists
• Some people in Tasmania can be very, very rude (but you can get that any where)
• People in Tasmania are curious about our large family (you have FIVE children?!) It isnt THAT many peoples! Get over it !
• Some people in Tasmania feel sorry for us being such a large family and give very, very generous discounts -THANK YOU : lady at Russell Falls who sold us a Parks Pass for half price, the bus driver who didnt charge us for the four students and then gave us concessions for the three adults, to the man in Avoca who rang up our food purchases twice to make sure that he didnt make a mistake AND THEN gave us a HUGE discount on our food and drinks ! (I dont think he made any profit from our purchases)
• Tasmania has BEAUTIFUL scenery no matter which direction you look in
• There is sadly a lot of road kill on Tasmania roads
• It can get quite warm in the summertime in Tassie
• Poppy and Grannie miss us...and we miss them
• Ladies in Hobart dont wear hats to church...who knew?!
• Salamanca Markets is a great place to wander
• Eating food from the Taste of Tasmania COULD BE dodgy to one's health
• Possums are NOISY critters when they are fighting for territory
• I missed my mum and dad when I am away for Christmas - more than they will ever know
• Watching fireworks for Poppy Fred's balcony sure beats being in the crowds with rude obnoxious drinkers

Mt Wellington, Female Factory and Signal Station Mt Nelson

Sunday was a low-key day for us. It was not quite how I planned to spend New Years Day ! :( I had an unhappy tummy from ..??!! So it was stay low (close to the loo) and entertainment via the DVD. Thankfully, the girls had received some church related DVD's so it was a little more appropriate. Prue had a BAD case of top and bottom ends and it was quite violent...so that required some quiet days at home too. We made Grannie some birthday cards for her stockpile and we surfed the net.



HAPPY 2012 ! Photo take from Poppy's balcony.

Today we went to Mount Wellington. Although it was slightly hazy, it was a gorgeous view from the top.  It was slightly breezy but nice because the sun was burning hot. The first ever warm-ish day in Hobart since we have been here! Lots of visitors to the Mount today - since its a public holiday in lieu of New Years Day. The lookout was very busy with tourists and visitors from all over Australia. There was quite a number of people on bikes going up and down the mountain too. Pity my camera doesnt  take panoramic photos.

 

Posing from the viewing platform.

 

Proof that we made it that high !



In South Hobart is the convict "Female Factory"...we joked to with Josh and Julian that was were the girls were made ! :P Hee hee hee ! On a more serious note, it was where women who were to complete their incarceration would be sent to. Hard labour was required with the women working under harsh conditions and long hours. Children were removed from their mothers and placed in orphanages. Some very, very sad stories. Unfortunately for us, being a public holiday, we missed out on seeing home of the wares produced and also missed out on taste testing fudge made on the premises. Sad.



Looking for the females at the factory...



On the way back to Poppy's house, we went up to the signal station. Interesting history there too. Messages would be sent to Battery Point signal station and then onto Port Arthur.  Again, we could see the panoramic views from the top. The "King of the Derwent" race was on - yachts would race one another from the mouth of the river up to the bridge. I think it would have been hard going for the yachties because there not a lot of breeze today. It was a great view of the race from above. Poppy Fred got a little snap happy today !

Lunch was using up all the left overs from Christmas and New Years.

S-L-O-W-L-Y working our way through all the FOOD !

Was a nice day. Only a few more days here before the cavalry move onto Melbourne.

New Years Eve, Special Friends and Seven Mile Beach

Harvey's best friends are Angus and Sian Sinclair. They live at Seven Mile Beach ...in Tasmania and Harv has missed them greatly. The good news is that we all had a fun and fabulous day today just "hanging out" and being together.

Boogie boarding...well attempting to ...

Self-portraits...

Gus and Sian have two children - Cameron is turning 6 in a few days and Abbie is 19months old and very adorable. Today, Gus took the children and Harv out fishing in his dinghy "Snowflake 2". It was a first for Prue to not only go fishing, but on a dinghy ! The non-enthusiastic boat lovers ie. ME, stayed on shore. Since there was so many of  us, Gus went out twice, once with Madi, Julian and Cameron - supervised by Gus and Harv, and the second outing with Josh, Michaela and Prue with the supervisors. The children had a fantastic time ! Julian was the fisherman of the day - catching the first fish within SECONDS of putting his line into the water, followed up with two more ! Madi got a Flathead, Prue got one, Michaela got one, Josh got two and Harv got one. A great mornings work ! Well done sailors !

 

All geared up to go!



Snowflake 11



Getting outta the water.



I enjoyed basking in the sun, supervising the swimmers and eating junk food. It was awesome. We saw the funniest sight (photos to come). Some guy drove a tractor onto the beach...and he hauled up his dinghy ! I guess that's how he "rolls" ! :P Was such a funny sight.

Back at Gus and Sian's home,we had a delicious lunch of freshly caught fish and salmon....YUUUMMMM !!! It was SO DELICOUS ! Lots of laughs all around and the children enjoyed jumping around on a bouncy castle that the Sinclairs had hired for Cameron's upcoming party (tomorrow). Cameron had heaps of fun chatting away with "the BIG kids". Abbie was cute as a button hanging out with the girls.



Our catch! All cleaned, cut , crumbed then BBQ-ed...YUM!



It was so nice to have a relaxing day chit-chatting and catching up. I was complemented numerous times on how wonderful our children are. I was a proud mummy today. :) I kinda like my children - like A LOT ! They are so awesome !

In the evening, we sat and grazed on salads and leftovers. We also had snacks and watched two lots of fireworks that the city of Hobart hosted. The early fireworks are for families with young children and started at 9:30pm, the second lot at midnight. Large bonus being up on the side of the mountain overlooking the bay! SO swish ! Ha ha ha !

Happy 2012 world !

Taste of Tasmania

 It was a cloudy but warmish day today. Poppy Fred did two runs to get us to the waterfront in time for the opening of "Taste of Tasmania".

The grounds of Taste of Tasmania.

The children's area had lots of FREE (we like free) activities for the younger children. There were cricket games, face painting, play dough areas, colouring tables, children cooking demonstrations, an area for LARGE Leggo bits, fishing games, food stalls and a small stage for buskers. Very family friendly.



There was a large number of people lined up for entry to the Princess Boatshed and there was a surge of bodies after the countdown for the festival to begin. Two very big marques were outside the shed that was designated places for the wineries to showcase and sell their wares and inside the shed was more stalls that sold alcohol and food stalls. It was a little disappointing for us non-drinkers to see how many stalls had alcohol and how few food stalls that were different was available. Mostly, the stalls sold seafood - which on consideration makes sense since we are on a port - but there was one stall that sold Angus beef, one that sold Turkish food, a few (no more than 5) that sold desserts/cafe like cakes and maybe one or two stalls that sold Asian food. I'm not sure what it was I was expecting, but that wasnt it !



Calamari and chips 2 Taste of Tasmania.

 After a quick stroll to see what was on offer we wandered off to watch a chocolatier chef make a "White Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake". It was entertaining and informative and the children enjoyed the "freebie" chocolate. I learnt what "tempering" chocolate meant. I think I'll stick to purchasing the done thing...wayyyyy too much fuss and bother ! The chef used at least a dozen bowls to make one  no-so-big cheesecake. Blah. The finished effect was excellent but I dont think I'll be replicating it in a big hurry.

 We wandered into the city for a quick look around at the post-Christmas sales. Nothing very interesting or worth us getting excess luggage about. Ho-hum.

We thought we would save Poppy two trips to take us home again...so we walked into the city and caught the bus. I told the bus driver that we needed three adult fares and four student fares. He told me $5.40 so I gave him $10.40 and waited for my change. As he gave me change, I realised he had not charged me for the children and when I queried him he said "Yep! Have a nice day!", winked at me and smiled! When I sat down I realised that he had charged the three adults consession fares! What a blessing! I expected to pay $25 - which is what it cost the last time. I told Harvey that we must look poor or something and the bus driver took pity on us! :)

Our plans were some-what foiled when we got back to Poppy's house and found that he wasnt home! We had a half hour wait til he turned up to let us in.


Waiting for Poppy to turn up with keys to let us in ...



In the afternoon, we were invited by Grannie's sister Myrna Hutchins, for a BBQ dinner at their farm in the Huon Valley. So again in convoy, we made our way down. Was a beautiful drive.

We got to meet Harvey's cousins Scott and Michael and Uncle Don. Michael's family joined us for dinner and so we got to meet Kerry, his wife, Jack 10yrs, Annie 9yrs, Elijah 3yrs and baby Poppy 3mths. Lovely people. Dinner was yummy and we enjoyed everyones company.

I sneezed and sneezed til I finally got some medication into myself. Unfortunately for us, the wind was COLD and it picked up just after we had eaten, so after a quick tour of the farm, we were back on the road again. A fun day.



(L- R) Aunty Mryna, Jack, Uncle Don, Michaela, Kerry (with Poppy in the blanket), Belinda, Josh, Scott
sitting - Michael with Elijah and Annie, Harv with Prue.





Eagle Hawkes Neck and Port Arthur

Cloud free, clear days are hard to come by in Hobart, but today we were blessed. So up and early we go into the cars and drove in convoy to Eagle Hawkes Neck first, then Port Arthur.

The roads were all windy and twisty as per Tasmanian roads and roadkill plentiful. Sadly, we were the contributors to roadkill today. :( The girls and I were "slightly" traumatise with me running over a poor innocent Bluetounge lizard who thought it prudent to cross a super busy highway...in the middle of the day! The crunch under wheels was NOT a pleasant sound ! We prayed that Heavenly Father and the lizard would forgive us for the little oops.

Eagle Hawkes Neck

Eagle Hawkes Neck was full of tourists like us. In fact, we were "stalked" by no less than FOUR buses full of tourists. The "neck" was truly spectacular! The "neck" is a narrow spit of land that in the convict days, a string of dogs were tied - to ravage the prisoners if they chose to escape. We jostled with the tourists to get into a good position for photos and we giggled over some of their silly behaviours.

Silly tourist !



The Blowholes..in action!

 Mother nature is so clever. The blowholes were so cleverly created and although the swell was not huge enough to produce significant "woosh" it was still fun to see.

Around the corner was a place called "The Devil's Kitchen". Wow factor! Around from that was a tiny little "suburb" of sorts (population was less than 100 so do I call it a suburb?) that was called Doo. Every house in the area was given a "Doo" name like : Doo-Little, Doo-I-Give-A-Doo?, XanaDoo, Just Doo It, She'll Doo, Rum Doo, Doo-lishus (cafe)...Cute.


Devil's Kitchen



Port Arthur was bustling. People poured out of the numerous buses and cars rolled in. We estimated at its peak, there would have been close to 1500 people ! Thankfully it was a huge place and so it wasn't really a big issue. It made my heart smile knowing that so many people were interested in our history. :)

Our tour guide was an elderly gentleman called Tom. He had a HUGE BOOMING VOICE and he eloquently gave us some very interesting facts and figures of some of the more prominent buildings as well as an overview of the convicts and their lives. He was a very knowledgeable man.

Once were were "let loose" we walked, and walked and walked around each building reading the interesting placards and noting the more notorious bits of history. One of the children's favourite places to visit is the penitentiary where NO one was able to see or speak to another prisoner. Even at church, the prisoners were in tiny little cubicles where they could not even see the person on their other sides. Talk about deprivation! SO tragic. The prisoners were only allowed out for one hour a day to exercise and the rest of the time, they were locked into their teeny-tiny cell and expected to work. I think I would have just gone loopy with no one allowed to talk to me !

The corrals the prisoners were put in so they could not see or speak to another prisoner.

Included with our tour was a half hour boat cruise around the bay that makes up Port Arthur. In the centre of the port was a little island no bigger than 2 acres. It was called "The Isle of the Dead" and where many convicts were buried in unmarked graves. It is estimated that over 2500 convicts or the people who were their captours were buried. Spooky tours were being run but we had too much other stuff to see and experience to do that.

I was pleased to see that largely, everything in Port Arthur was kept in its original form. Apart from some "shoring up" of buildings to make them safe for tourists, the majority of the buildings were as the convicts built them. The bricks were not all uniform  because they were hand made. Some buildings were totally eroded because the convicts unwittingly used salt water to make the bricks and over time, the salt crystals in the bricks expanded and contracted which made the bricks unstable.

Some of the history was unbelievably sad. A lot of the "soldiers" who were to keep the convicts in line were quite cruel. Boys as young as nine were sent to "Van Diemen's Land" to do hard labour. It is their stories that were the saddest. It sure made our children appreciate how lucky they are to be living in this century with their luxurious lives.

After a big day out, we straggled home to a yummy dinner and into bed for an early night.