Turners Beach

Every morning for the past few weeks Lauren and I try to go for a quick run on Turners Beach. Today we found a raft and a dead stingray.

The gulls were busy devouring it, but they were too shy for the (iPhone) photo...

What will tomorrow bring?

Xmas Pressie

Lauren got me a bicycle mount for my camera. Not sure how often I will use it, but it sure is a fun toy! Here is the first clip of me coming down to the Devonport Pool, flying down Steele Street, over the speed bumps and into the carpark.

The next clip is just off the carpark going further down to Sawdust Bridge across the Don River, another very cool/fast downhill stretch.

Merry Xmas everyone!

Top of Mount Wellington

Walking up the ZigZags from The Springs and down the IceHouse Track is just an aswesome walk.

Next time we'll go up the IceHouse Track first and come down the ZigZag, see which is easier...

Some more pics <here>

Cradle Country

Lauren came over from Hobart to visit me and to walk around Cradle Mountain. After jogging from Ronnies carpark up to Crater Falls we scaled the cliffs up to the majestic Marion's lookout before heading down again, this time via Wombat Pool. Once back at the car we felt like stretching our legs and we ran from Ronnie's carpark to the Ranger Station. It felt longer then 5.5kms!!

Of course I put Lauren in the kayak in Devonport and introduced her to my child; Afullah.



....

Oma visiting Turners Beach

Although it rained when we got out of the car it cleared up quickly!

Low tide is always a bonus!

Building up a good apetite for home cooked dinner and home-brew!

Quamby Bluff

Lauren came out to Liffey Falls and Quamby Bluff. Somehow managed to avoid the rain once again. We have a habit of doing that!
Carboloading at Anvers was also not an easy task...

Behind Devonport Airport

The area behind the Devonport airport, is great for beach walking. When the wind blows against you you follow the little track, and you walk the beach with a tail-wind. Prefect! Unless another whale has stranded....

Phew gross

Such a pretty beach to run along and what do you find??? Some butchered whale cub of sorts. This one had a rope tied around its tail. I reported it to Parks and Wildlife.

Geocaching with Jes

Although we had 17 consecutive wet weekends in Devonport it does not stop me from walking around the Don River path.

Jes sometimes joins me with her dog or child, and recently we located another geocache. Needless to say I did not find it... Jes is quite a good tool to locate them!

Deep Creek Lake Maryland

Well, if I knew how to work an iBook (or iPhoto) I'd post a photo.... But this drives me nuts. Give me back my Picasa!! Tried loading Picasa on this iBook but it doesn't have an Intel processor which it requires...

Anyways, it is summer, it is nice, we went white water rafting on top of a mountain on a man made river!! We went boating and swimming, saw a movie, rode horses... and  tomorrow we go back to Springfield Virginia before heading to Virginia Beach.

Greetings from Maryland!

OAM Walt---

Kelcey Tier in the rain

Before going into the big planes for 30 odd hours I need to go for a good stretch.

Rain can't stop me, but this week it had a bit.

Today I ran out of excuses and enjoyed every bit of it.

Soccer in Launy

Last weekend I went with Killer (pictured on bottom) to the soccer in Launceston. It was an A-grade exhibition match for which Cindy had won us tickets by calling up a radio-station.

Reigning A-League champions Melbourne Victory (left) vs Adelaide United (red). Melbourne won! Read all about it <here>.


Killer was happy, as you can see from the above picture. More photos <here>.

Tennis in Tassie

The sun still goes down around 6pm, so the lights come on specially for Millan to finish his marathon matches. HEre he plays Michael which ended in 9-7 (just before dawn). Note the spectators have long gone.

That's no Hash!

Trakka and Tinsel put on a show tonight. They made us make our way to the Bowling Alley without trail, expected us to behave competetively and then made us walk to their garage to eat soggy chips, sausage rolls and crispy chips all flushed down with alcohol and down downs. Vegetables I suppose were carefully hidden in the tomato sauce.

Look how serious we are!
Strike after strike, flook after flook, but some of us weren't so lucky. GoneAgain had trouble keeping the ball out of the gutter till he ended with 2 strikes in a row to not finish last.

Dyke won, and paid for this in the Circle.

Cheese batting for the wrong team:

Next run at the Ashmore Residence on 66 Turners Beach Road, Turners Beach <map>.

Jes on the Forth River

We battled up the Forth River, through rain and wind, upstream and all! We managed to not get cold and wet somehow and shortly after getting the kayaks back on the car it started raining proper! Timing is everything.

Tennis

Started playing a bit of tennis! Friday afternoons and Sunday afternoons... Hope it works out, could be fun!

Overland Track in Winter

Would have been heaps of fun to be in the mountains for my birthday, battling snow for a week with a backpack strapped on. But this was not to be. After the majority of the participants cancelled there were only three left; myself, Smeg and Cindy. Then there was a swine-flu scarce, I got onto Tamiflu, Cindy got flu symptoms the day before going, and then we cancelled the trip... Not sure when we'll go, but my backpack is packed complete with dehydrated home cooked meals....

Cradle Country

 

Didnt get to go on the Overland Cough this time, but had a nice day around Cradle Mountain, watching cold snow and wind all around... Photos soon!

Kelcey Tier

Mushrooms always fascinate me when I walk around Kelcey Tier...
Speaking of fascinating, the backpackers in Devonport is certainly worthy of that adjective too"

Joe in Tas

Joe came to visit me from Canberra to check out the Tassie landscape. For her it was a Close Encounters of the Third Kind as she admitted having painted visions that now clearly appear to be Gunns Plains.

I walked her to Preston Falls, the Leven Canyon lookout, drove her past the vineyard , Gunns Plains Caves and took her to Burnie Hash . Was a fun weekend. More photos <here >.

Shipwreck

It was low tide on the Mersey River and the shipwreck was nicely exposed:

The G. Ward Cole, an Iron twin-screw steam dredge, 431/196 tons. # 95976, built in Renfrew, Scotland, 1889; reg. Melbourne 19/1890. Lbd 146.5 x 32.2 x 11.3 ft. Captain F. M. Calvert. This boat parted from her cables in a heavy squall and grounded on the Mersey River breakwater, Tasmania, 29 October 1930. Damaged beyond economical repair, dismantled and abandoned. The full length of the lower hull can still be seen at low water....

I was meant to go for a hike with friends and said I'd meet them at 730am at The Big Apple... So when I showed up at 830am... Duh! So I went for a paddle. Was very low tide and a nice breeze blowing. Reasonable rollers out of the river too, so I did not dare paddle out to the bluff. I did not have my skirt on either and i was a little frisky in my T-shirt, vest and wet pants!

Oma's P&O Cruise '09

Oma's birthday cruise from Sydney to New Caledonia and Vanuatu.

I must say I was most impressed to learn that in 9 days I barely found a spare minute to sit on deck and read! In fact there were so many activities that you had to make some difficult choices. Also, I took note that there were not just old people on board, but a good mix. Entertainment was first class complete with Steady Eddie and other well known talents!

Read more about the cruise <here> - written by a fellow passenger.

Another lovely day

Smoke on the horizon....