Dirt, girls and cockatoos

Last week I had 3 cubic metres of vegie mix soil delivered. Unfortunately the truck was too big to get up the drive way but the driver did try. So I ended up with a large pile of beautiful topping for my vegetable gardens on my front drive.

 I started moving it that evening but to my delight Leigha came to stay that night and in the morning Leigha and Arianne helped move the huge pile onto my vegie gardens and stockpiled the remainder in my back carport ready for various areas that need to wait until further into winter.

 The driveway is now clear in less than 24 hours after deliver. Thank you so much Leigha and Arianne. At least getting my steps up two days this week have been quite easy (see previous entry).

 The cockatoos have invaded the street again as they do each year. They are after the Podocarpus fruits and leave a sticky mess all over the cars. So if you come to visit do not park your car under a tree at the moment.

Steps, steps and more steps

I've been wearing a Fitbit since Christmas to gauge just how active I am in my normal daily routine. Sometimes I can achieve a mere 2000 steps all day and my highest has been 20000 steps in one day. However, for the last four weeks I have set my goal at a minimum of 10000 steps each day. Today I achieved my goal and Fitbit has provided me with the graph below.

They decided I was an overachiever but I had to prove to myself that I could do it. On the occasions where the green bars just reach the 10000 line are probably days when I have had to jog on the spot to actually get there but I feel that is a legitimate exercise anyway and that I'm quite justified in counting it.

So the conclusion is YES - I can do a minimum of 10000 steps per day. Sometimes if I want a lazy day I just have to do a 10 minute row, some jogging on the spot or take a walk around the block to achieve my goal.

One thing I have noticed is that my core body muscles are much stronger than they have been for a long time with my combination of steps and Pilates.

Music, music, music!

Wow! April has been a month of music and it is going to continue. My musical commitments include...

The Sylvantones (the Sylvanvale choir) continues to practice every Monday after lunch in various retirement centres and performs at a variety of extra venues. Here we are at a dinner in 2013. Tonight we are performing at another dinner at Cronulla.

The Sutherland Shire Choral Society will be performing on Sunday 18 May. If you'd like tickets I have some for sale or you can buy them at the door. Details are on the website.

On Good Friday I performed Olivet to Calvary (Maunder) at St Stephen's Uniting Church in Macquarie Street. What an uplifting experience. I had never heard the work before and only had a week to learn it so it was quite a challenge.

At the afternoon tea that followed I expressed my love of sacred music and would love the opportunity to sing in such a choir and was immediately offered a position as an alto. So now I have a huge commitement to sing from 9-12am each Sunday in the St Stephen's Choir in the city. This means I'll be learning something new each week plus the alto parts for all the hymns. The psalms and some prayers are also sung for each service. I'd been invited to join this choir about 10 years ago but lifestyle commitments did not allow it. Now I can commit to at least half the Sundays in the year and am still allowed to take leave for various travel opportunities. This will also give me an opportunity to visit Mum more often as she lives just a few train stops away.

I will be performing Rutter's Gloria and the Duruflé Requiem with the Sydney Philharmonia Chorus Oz choir in the Opera House on Sunday 8 June. Tickets are available so please come along. This is a fabulous opportunity and again I have to learn it on my own with only the Saturday and Sunday of the long weekend to practise it en masse before the performance. I have joined this choir each year and this will be my 10th year I think.

So can I maintain all this music action? We'll see what happens.

Underhill Demolition Continues

Yesterday the demolition of rooves began and was completed in just 6 hours. One neighbour Cal and another neighbour Laurie worked like trojans to complete the job on a beautifully fine day.

From this...

...to this

Even the caravan roof was taken off safely.

The caravan was moved away from the new building site too. Apparently it only has two flat tyres.

Thanks Cal and Laurie.

Now the building of the new roof can begin as soon as the builders are ready.

Underhill Demolition Begins

Geoff and I have now cleared the covered areas at Underhill ready for the rooves to be removed.

We have now exposed lots more termites and are extremely glad that this job is starting at last. It would not be too long before the rooves collapsed on us. Surrey was watching them rot away over the last few years of his life and knew he would not be able to build any replacements. Geoff and I (and Ponyo) spent some time reflecting on good times as well as reasons for choices that have been made over the years.

We now have empty spaces where walls and furniture has 'always' been.

 We also have a rather large blue "Noah's Ark" of furniture covered in a few huge tarps that are tied down. I do hope they are protected enough until the new roof is ready.

The new roof is to have METAL uprights which we hope will thwart the termites a bit.

Boys and Ponyo

Last weekend I had a great time with a sleepover for Alex, Luke and Ponyo at my house. We all had a great time. Ponyo loves gardening and occasionally rearranges plants for me. The boys love sewing but we could not do any this time. However we did make pancakes for breakfast and played other games both inside and with Ponyo.

Tasmania - Hobart again

Saturday 8 March

I woke at about 7:45am after almost 12 hours sleep. Bag and washing sorting and a cuppa before Gail and Ian emerged and we went down to Salamanca Markets for egg and bacon rolls and coffee for breakfast. We did a bit of browsing and shopping but had to be home in time for Ian's regular radio interview.

For lunch we went to Castle Zayee for yum cha. Gail and Ian had not been there before and it proved to be somewhere they will not return to. The food was OK although some of the dishes were not what we expected.

Back home and I had a nap for about an hour although Gail and Ian kept sorting things then doing a first sort of photos. I spent a few hours downloading and sorting photos and culling emails then getting ready to go to dinner across the road at Carol and Joan's.

Another early night.

Sunday 9 March

This morning Ian slept in after coping with a migraine all night so Gail and I decided not to drag him sightseeing and I started my data entry job. By 11am I was finished so after emailing the file through to Lily I rang Julie to touch base with her.

Julie was about to leave to go to the Taste of Huon so invited me to join her. We had a quick drive down into the Huon Valley and joined the crowd. Unfortunately it was 29C so not condusive to a slow wander in the sun to view all the stalls. It was a bit of a disappointment really because each stall was serving a full meal or the queues were so long that you could not actually taste a variety although you could see what was available locally.

We left after we'd walked around the circuit and Julie drove me to Cygnet then around via the waters edge looking across towards Bruny Island. We had a short stop at Paradise Bay then a stop at Snug to visit Julie's friend Carol. We had a wine and nibbles in the shade which cooled us down a little.

Back in the car and into Hobart. We wandered around Salamanca Place and the Spiegeltent to see what was on. We decided to head to North Hobart for dinner at an Indonesian-Thai restaurant. I had a lovely duck wrap on roti bread and a mango lassi.

It had been great to catch up with Julie and chat about how we each fill our active retirement.

Home to watch a little TV with Gail and Ian who had recovered from his migraine. Then off to bed for a disturbed night as it was still very hot.

Monday 10 March

This morning we were all up and out for our Mt Field excursion quite early. The road up to Lake Dobson is amazing. Once in the National Park it just climbs. It doesn't go in and out of valleys but just goes up and up at an almost constant incline to nearly 1000m higher elevation.

On our walk around Lake Dobson we spent a lot of time trying to ID the plants. Some of them were quite amazing. There were four different Riccia spp and some fascinating Pandani that formed a forest. We also saw a Bassian Thrush who calmly fed along the track in front of us. There was a stunted pine that we later discovered was Huon Pine.

After our walk we headed on back down to the Tall Trees Walk. This was through a forest of Eucalyptus regnans (the world’s tallest flowering plant). Some of them were certainly huge! There were also Sassafras, Blackwood, Black Wattle, Nothofagus and more.

Down even further we stopped for a late lunch at the Visitor’s Centre before heading back into Hobart by late afternoon.

There was then a bit more botanising to do and I was able to catch up on a little more blogging. Then there was the labelling of Gail’s drawers that she bought when I was in Tasmania last November. 

We shared a lovely meal together before bed at last. The weather today has been bearable with even a few spots of rain when we were at Mt Field. Perhaps tonight’s sleep might be better than last night.

Tuesday 11 March

After breakfast and seeing Amelia off to school and a bit of internet and diary work, Gail and I headed for Mt Wellington at about noon. This was another steep climb road directly up!

We got out of the car at the top and were nearly blown off our feet but at least it was cooler than down in the town. We had a few drops of rain that felt quite solid and actually stung our cheeks. It was difficult to take photos because the wind was blowing me around so much.

We enjoyed a bit of botany again and even got to see a Crescent Honeyeater about a metre away – quite clearly. We’ve no idea how it survives in the wind up there.

Down the mountain again to the heat for a quick lunch and a bit more sorting before Lily arrived at about 3pm. Of course she was immediately plied with a myriad botanical questions but I was able to return the data sheets from my completed data entry task.

While Gail returned books to the library, Ian, Lily and I went to an outdoor gear shop to replace Lily’s lost torch. It was a fast shop but i had time to browse. Ian then drove Lily back to her car while Gail and I looked at shoes. Then we did a bit more shopping before returning home.

Dinner tonight was at Fish Frenzy down at the docks where we enjoyed a wonderful seafood platter for 2 between all of us. There was plenty of food to share. A short wander by the water then back home for wine and chocolate on the upstairs balcony to enjoy the fresh cool breeze that was coming in.

Wednesday 12 March

Gail took me for a walk to Knocklofty after breakfast. It is all so dry down here, not even any frog sounds in the frog ponds.

When we arrived home Gail had to rush to an appointment. Ian drove me to the airport and we said our goodbyes. After all the booking through of bag and security and time for coffee break the plane was about to board when an announcement came over that there would be a 3 hour delay while engineers were flown in from Melbourne to fix a problem.

What a wonderful two weeks I’ve had both in Hobart with Gail, Ian, Amelia and Julie but especially the week on the Curious Traveller science research field trip to the Arthur River.

Thank you all for my Curious Traveller experience.

Tasmania - Liffie Falls

Friday 7 March

Jimsy and I seem to have the same sleep patterns. We were both up soon after 6am and spent the morning quietly catching up on diaries and photo sorts before the others got up at about 8am.

A late breakfast and goodbyes to the UTAS team and Gail, Amelia and Brian before the bus set off for Launceston.

We had a detour to Liffie Falls with another detour because the map was not as clear as it should have been. We walked through forest of huge trees and giant tree ferns and saw lots of filmy ferns and bracket fungi. Because there are no termites in Tasmania the old trees rot more slowly and are very visible in the canopy as well as on the forest floor. There are many old stumps left from hand logging days with the step hold cuts still showing.

Axe cut step holds in a huge trunk.

Ian and Eucalyptus obliqua (50m tall - The Big Tree)

Our lunch stop was at the Deloraine Deli which sold all sorts of Tasmanian deli foods and bottled goods.

On then to drop off Lucinda, Matt and Jimsy then into town to drop Julie and Garry at their hotel thus saying goodbye to the last of the Curious Travellers. Ian and I then continued south to Hobart (2 more hours) and home at last. We three then collapsed into bed by 8pm for a long long sleep.

Tasmania - Mole Creek

Thursday 6 March
It was wonderful to sleep in. Woke at about 6:30am and took my time to pack then helped to pack some of the household gear and had breakfast.

Ian drove the volunteers in the bus as we left Arthur River and headed east along the coast to Burnie. There we had another pit stop at the park then headed for one of the vets. There had been a series of phone calls around Tassie to find a carer to take over with the joey and she had suggested that she would pick it up from the vet later that day. We named the joey Gini after our Gini who had found it.

After a coffee for some we headed on to Mole Creek and the Trowunna Devil Sanctuary. There we had a light lunch and a talk from Androo Kelly, the owner/manager. This was followed by a tour including lots of behind the scenes sections that tourists would not normally see. The experience at Trowunna was highlighted by three spotted tailed quolls that came up to me right at face level when every one else had moved away. I had to quickly take my camera off zoom because they were too close to me.

We then drove to our accommodation (Mole Creek Holiday Village) and settled in. What a beautiful cabin I am in – we've named it the “big house”. We have two cabins but the big house is our dining and lounging area.

Off to the Mole Creek Tavern to buy our drinks and go to sit beside the creek that runs through the pub grounds. We had been told there was a platypus there and lo-and-behold out came the platypus. What a joy to cap off all our experiences during the expedition! The only significant animal we have not seen is a Tasmanian Tiger and that is not likely.

We had dinner at the pub and Gail was able to relax a bit as she did not have to cook. There were the very informal thank yous and Jimsy and I, as veteran Australian Geographic scientific expeditioners, had written our thanks to the Curious Traveller and UTAS teams in the form of a very unpolished poem...

After tessellating cases and loading up the bus
We drove to Arthur River where we met the rest of us
To research Tassie Devils with the UTAS science crew
Led by the tireless Menna with Chris, Gini, Lily too.

Menna as our leader led us far along the track
Where we met all sorts of birds and quolls and devils in the sack,
We were scratched and burnt and tired but the data was all done
And now our journey's ended we'll remember all the fun.

Menna, thanks for mentoring and teaching us so much
And thanks to all the UTAS team for our part in your research.
We learnt about the west coast plants and habitats and weathers
How to ID poos and watch real scientific methods

But most of all we thank you Gail, Ian and Amelia
For your thoughtful, calm and patient cheer and even washing windows.
Such a crowd of disparate vollies, we were worse than cats to heard
But you coped with us superbly with just a kind word.

The dinners were delicious and breakfasts were quite beaut
With coffee, chocolate strawberries and skroggin for the ute
Slices, eggs, home made dishes, nothing goes to waste
But as we've found this week that everything has gone to our waist.

So thank you Gini, Lily, Chris and our leader Menna
Ian, Gail and also young Amelia
For all our fun and science we've shared together
You've satisfied our inner need to be a curious traveller.

After dinner we returned to the “big house” to watch “The case of the baby-faced assassin” which I had bought at the sanctuary shop. So the evening ended with a movie, a chocolate and a glass of wine before crashing into bed late again.