Tasmanian Odyssey Part One

Our first week in Woodbridge, Tasmania, courtesy of the Moon family, was a wonderful experience...

We arrived late at night but woke up to this fantastic view across the D'Entrecasteaux Channel to Bruny Island. Just breath-taking!

I got the chance to meet my cousin Gerard, who, with his late wife, Margaret, took the £10 crossing in 1965 with five children under seven!

Brave souls.. but what a brilliant move!

It was two of Gerard's sons and their families who so generously accommodated us for the holiday!

Here's Colin on the walk back from the beach up the paddock at Gordon and Sonya's house....

Somehow Lucinda always seemed to race him!!

We visited Salamanca Market in Hobart and then went on to the "Tasting", an annual event where stalls selling all types of food set up in the Market Hall and then you take the meal of your choice to the waterfront to share...

We went out fishing in Gordon's boat

We saw Sea Eagles

and one swooped for some steak which Gordon threw for it..

And YES we did catch some fish. The Flatheads over 32cm we could keep, so they made a tasty lunch...

Our "Welcome" barbecue was the ideal opportunity to bring out the special beer mats we'd had made by Caroline, owner of A Little Bit Vintage. The surname Moon was a perfect, as we'd asked Caroline to put "we're over the Moon to be here" on the mats.... They were the icing on the cake, so to speak. Thanks Caroline!!

We walked along the shore of Peppermint Bay..

and encountered native hens

and hundreds of plover

This Tasmanian Devil was at the Wildlife Park but we heard them at night preying on the many dead wallabies - the casualties of road traffic

We went to Richmond and saw the oldest surviving bridge in Tasmania. It was built by the convicts..

We had our first experience of temperate rainforest when we visited nearby Snug Falls, just up the road from Luci's school, Snug Primary. What a lovely name for a school! At this point there had been no rain since October so there was very little water in the Falls. We returned in the last week of the holiday to a very different scene.

And for us there was some time to relax...

Despite his age (50) Gordon could still do a pretty good roll on the trampoline!

Well that's part of the first week's adventures...

We were enchanted by the island and by our newly found relations. What an awesome family!

Photos of other weeks to follow!

Grande Vente Emmaus 2016

Today was the start of the three day Grande Vente Emmaus, at Chatellerault's Parc d'Expo...

Driving through the town took some pictures of the Vienne, swollen with the recent rainfall..

Whatever this sign said, it was pretty much useless today....

You can see from the line of debris just how high the flood waters had been...

The Grande Vente proved as interesting as ever and in addition to our purchases we bumped into Gaynor doing equally well with her 'finds'.

Tim, where were you??

Tasmania Bargains!

As many of our regular readers will know we have spent January in Woodbridge Tasmania.

As we have now sorted most of the 1000's of photographs (Elizabeth took 4,500+) we will, whether you like it or not, share some of them on our blog.

Here is one of the bargains to be had in Big W, a sort of sell everything supermarket...

Elizabeth did buy some new earphones BUT not these clearance ones...

Siskin Takeover

Following on from the previous two blogs, the poor Goldfinches have really had their noses pushed out.

You'll just have to wait your turn Goldfinches...

What I don't understand is where have they all come from and why have they come in numbers this year when we only usually see the odd one...

Siskin Follow up!

Colin mentioned the other day that Siskins can be quite feisty and hold their own in battles with the Goldfinch.

I'll leave you to make up your own minds from the following shots captured this morning...

 A peaceful feed??

Perhaps???

Or is it?

I won!!

And I won't tolerate any competition...

Certainly not from you!

I said YOU!!

Now you're just trying to confuse me...

Aghh!!!

Strikes me it's siskin of one and siskin of the other!!

Siskin

We seem to have neglected the blog over recent months in favour of posting things on Facebook. I feel it is about time we started to increase our blog rate, So here is my started for 8...

There appears to be more Siskins about this year than in previous years and they have developed a liking for our Niger seeds. It is interesting to watch as they are smaller than the Goldfinches but don't half stand their ground when battling over the feed...

Here are a few pictures.

Note to self... Blog More, Facebook less... Col