Monday, August 29, 2011

Tasmania in Winter!!

There is no doubt that Jan and I enjoy being on the move. I still have to finish a chapter about our visit to the Agarabi school in Papua New Guinea, that I started fifty years ago in 1961. But that story will just have to wait because since, we travelled back to Sydney for a month of catching up with Jan's family and friends as well as my daughter and family plus Woonona friends.

It was a busy month that began by travelling the Princess Highway from Melbourne to Sydney. Always a great journey that is never boring and always include parts we have not seen before. Sydney itself was busy and beautiful! Even though we spent over three weeks there, we could not fully cover everyone, to our regret!

On returning to Tasmania, we found we had misread (or more correctly, I misread) our itinerary and as a result landed back on Tassie soil a day earlier. The sad part of that was that we missed out seeing my sister in law in Bendigo. The 'silver lining' was that on arriving in Devonport we were welcomes by a glorious sunny day and, with the day totally to ourselves took our time getting back to Hobart.

It really was a remarkable day (perhaps, like all days in Tassie)with glorious scenery that tempted us to go off the highway at Deloraine and drive towards Mole Creek. Our cameras got busy and we now just want to share just a bit of the magic with you.

We were glad that there was little traffic on the road.
The scenery was sometimes magic with mist and sometimes just colourful.Above & below just took our breath away. Talk about
'sheep in pasture green....beside still waters' WOW!!
Looking at these trees, SPRING is on the way!
Above & below: Any wonder we took our time. Just sooooo good!
If you click on the image, you will see clearly snow on the mountains.
The locals told us that there has been a lot of snow this winter.

And all that clean air!

Further along highway we stopped off at the Copper Art Gallery in Carrick, which was interesting. Then on to Hagley, which is always a favourite village, especially St Marys church that is set so ideally in this rural vista.

Great spot and very peaceful!
As we continued to Hobart, we saw the evidence of much rain in Tasmania. For many years the State suffered severe droughts and now, thanks to the rain, the place is again lush and green. Even so, it does cause other problems. In the meantime, we enjoy the scene before our eyes:
The South Esk in flood. Not seen like this for years.

Finally back home. Always a special part of any holiday. We had a good time and are grateful to our family and friends who made our Sydney stay again so wonderful.

The view from our lounge looking towards Hobart at sunset.