Winter Again !

Really Interesting!

Well, I was off to Melbourne for the day last Friday as part of a tour of the cities notable bicycle infrastructure. Most interesting for some I am sure. If you want more pictures of bike lanes let me know.


Here is our bus blocking a bike lane, cyclists really hate this.


Here are a couple of people blocking another bike lane, cyclists don't mind this so much as at least pedestrians are soft.

Winter at Last!

Today brought that wonderful wintery weather with showers blustering through from the south-west, blotting out the mountain, then spotlighting it with pale watery sunbursts, showing off the new powder coatings of snow. Rain hammered on the roof for it seems like the first time in four or five months!
Kauri finally consented to having her rug on, and joyfully trotted back to her goaty home after a couple of weeks on Kevin's bowling green (or brown).

Horses @ Owen and Sue's

Sorry I am a bit late putting these up and they are not crash hot really. Mum and I were around there for dinner and pick up hay for Karui Saturday before last. I tried uploading some video but it didn't work so you will have to make do with these pics of your darlings for now.

The Huon News June 11 2008

It is quite readable if you click to enlarge. I just can't wait for the comments.

Mike and Wendy's For Dinner

We were at Mike and Wendy's for dinner on Sunday night. Their big news is that they have sold their house and are busy over the next few months finishing it off for the new owners. They have bought a 100 acre block up the hills above Flowerpot. Most of it has a conservation covenant on it so they can only build on an 8 acre area but that is in a good spot with great views up the Channel.


Interesting drink - a Gimlet apparently. Honey, fresh limes, lots of ice and vodka and fancy swizzle (bush) stick.

The white boundary shows very roughly where their new block is, the red and green lines are the track of our Snake Is kayaking trip a week or so ago as mapped by Dave's GPS.

The Garden

We have both been busy in the garden this year. I did more when Lynne was tied down with Green Corps but now it's the other way around as she is home more.

As you can see we have done well with the cauliflowers; these are the first three - there are probably another half dozen and as you can see, we still have plenty of tomatoes.

Snake Island

Here we are Sunday morning and here is our brunch cooking on the stove after a great couple of days kayaking in the Channel.

Dave, Nicole, Kevin and the two of us kayaked across to Snake Island on Friday. We had been talking about the trip for some months and finally we were all free and the weather was suitable. Dave borrowed a kayak for Kevin, who is very keen on buying one; Nicole paddled a kayak we had borrowed for Kevin to try out which turned out to be too small for him.

We left Trial Bay in lovely winter sunshine, with a very light SE breeze.

Kevin wasn't comfortable in his kayak as the rudder pedals were too far away but it didn't take us very long before we were setting up camp at the usual spot. I hadn't been to Snake Island for a long time - certainly not since Craig and all the volunteers had completed removing all the erica. There also had been a number of bushfires in recent years but despite this the island was looking good.

You can tell it was a pretty cruisey trip as Dave brought along a camp table and chairs, lashed down on his back deck. We settled in around the fire and drank mulled wine (well what else do you drink on a winter kayaking trip?) and chatted and laughed into the evening.


The next day wasn't exactly an early start as we didn't get on the water until nearly midday! We still had plenty of time to get back to Trial Bay so decided to head south for a detour to Green Island and the fish farms en route. Saturday had started with a little drizzle and very low cloud but by the time we reached Green Island the cloud was breaking up. It was so calm though as you can see in the picture of Nicole above looking back towards Snake Island.

I thought I had discovered a dead seal on the rocks of Green Island until it woke with a roar; I am not sure which of us was most frightened as I bolted away from it in one direction and it headed in the opposite direction into the water.

Kauri!

Sunday night, well early evening, it is getting dark now at 5.30 and Mum has just gone down to give Kauri a feed of Economix and vitamins. She is looking good (Kauri is anyway!) even looking round, not fat "just good".

The Helms Had A Party

Well last Friday the Helms had a bit of a party, I didn't take many pictures, well only one actually - and here it is.
It was good to catch up with a few people we don't see very often.

Return of Washing Up Cam

The recently released third instalment of last Thursdays washing up has its debut here and now on Misty Hill Blog. Reviews of the first of this exciting four part series have been very positive.

"Is mum standing there videoing that?? oh dear i have silly parents!
but thank you! :P haha" says Meg from Arsargo Seprio.

As the tension mounts to the finale of this quadrilogy public acclaim for this gripping action series is growing to levels never experienced ever before.

Washing Up Cam II

Well here it is, the long awaited follow up to Washing Up Cam I. The action merges seamlessly from one video to the next. The tension is mounting as the big pots can't be avoided any longer.

Isn't the internet a wonderful thing - what would we do without it.

Washing-Up Cam I

This girls is a very special event, 'washing-up cam' comes to the Misty Hill Blog. Just being able to watch the excitement and action happening in your absence will make you home sick and want to come rushing home so as not to miss out.
To sustain the excitement of this important event this is the first of a gripping series covering yesterdays washing up in full.

Well You Asked For It!!

Mum says I can't post this because of the bedding piled up on your bed. The room was used when Pete and Sharon, their friends and the swarm of children were staying. And don't worry your vodka is still there!

Flat Out

The Hat!

Cool hat, I have been wearing it all day.

You can see I am going grey with the worry of you both being away!

Do you like my 'my space' pose?

Cape Barren Kayaking Trip

Well as you may know Lynne and I escaped for a week straight after Lynne finished the Green Corp job to go kayaking around Cape Barren Island. I don't need to say much, the photos will show how you that we had a fantastic trip.

Yes, I finally bought a cheap digital camera so expect more updates on our home life soon.

First of all a map of roughly were we went.

As you can see it is quite a crossing from the mainland to Clarke Island, about 23 km. The weather and the tides have to be right to contemplate such a long open water stretch. We were lucky the weather for the whole trip was fantastic and we had a good SE wind so we sailed across in two and half hours.


Our first campsite was at Spike Bay on Clarke Island, certainly one of the most comfortable and scenic of the whole trip. We spent a night back at Spike Bay before heading back across Banks Strait on our way home.














The day we crossed to Clarke Island was about two days before a full moon so most of the trip we had fantastic moonlit nights as well as some great sunsets.


























Lunch stop the next day at Freds Beach on the north coast of Cape Barren Island. We had a few hours of hard paddling into the wind on this day.













That nights campsite on the beach - we piled up a good thick layer of sea grass under the tent to make a very comfy bed for the night.













It is not often Franklin Sound is this calm. We had seen a couple of dolphins in the distance but a while later one came up for breath about half a paddle length to the left of the kayak, it gave both of us such a fright.













That day we camped on Vansittart Island, on the opposite side to the beach in the picture were landed on to explore the island in 2001. We climbed Gun Carriage Hill of course, this view is looking west down Franklin Sound. I took another series of pictures to make a panorama like on the one we have up from our previous visit.













This is the wreck of the Farsund off the east coast of Vansittart Island.













Another lunch spot on the east coast of Cape Barren where there were big pools of crystal clear drinking water in depressions on the granite slabs.













This video shows us sailing again on the south coast of Cape Barren approaching Sea Lion Narrows. The tidal currents through the narrows can be up to 5/6knots.

The last couple of days of the trip were pretty cruisey as we had plenty of time to kill. We had a long walk around Dyas Bay, from our camp on the beach. It was an incredibly calm day, absolutely silent apart from the crunch of sand under our feet.

A variety of pictures from Louisa's new camera, finally we have a working digital camera in the house, if only for a week.

The three of all us congregated around my computer were taken when we were on the phone last night.

After what seems to be a very long hot January and February this weekend has been cold, wet and wild. As you can see there was a good dusting of snow on the mountain and we had the fire on all day.

The picture of Anna was taken on their way to see Joe Cocker at the DEC.

Just To Keep You In Touch With Home.

Well Meg, Lynney, Sue and I were sitting around looking at your blog when Sue suggested we start one so you can see what we have been up to. The same thought had crossed my mind when I started yours - so here we are.

Mum and I went fishing today from Tinderbox in the double, the squid are running at the moment so we thought we would try and catch some. Despite pootling around in the Channel between Tinderbox and Dennes Point we didnt catch anything except a few very small flathead when Mum took the squid lure off and put a more usual one on the line.

The day was not totally wasted as we discovered some very nice mussels on the Dennes Point jetty.

Louisa is giving Maddy and Morgan horse riding lessons right now.