And adventures nearish to home
Thursday, 30 December 2021
Zali turns 18 in a few days and our gift to her (by her own request), is the house to herself for two nights. Actually she asked for more nights, but we settled on two as it was a bit hard to book anywhere else around this time of year. So we are staying at Lake Pedder Lodge in Strathgordon for the next two nights which means lots more hikes and exploring of the south west wilderness for us. Today we hiked up Mt Field East which was sensational. It was 10ish k all up and included quite a few little tarns, plenty of rocky scrambles, some delightful forest, amazing views and many many stunning flowers. 
 
above - at the top. Below - so many flowers.. 
 
After we finished we visited Russell and Horseshoe Falls with all the other tourists.. 
Then we continued on to Strathgordon. We've booked the restaurant for tomorrow night but tonight our plan was to save some money and cook with our camping stuff, so once we checked into the lodge (into our pretty basic room) we drove to nearby Ted's Beach and after taking a stroll around the little boardwalk, we cooked a delicious dinner while admiring the lake views. It was still t-shirt weather at 7pm which was pretty amazing. 
For some reason (something to do with Jett who used it last) our camping cutlery bag only contained 2 giant stirring spoons - it added to the novelty of the lovely evening. 
We're now resting our legs and watching Netflix. What a great day!
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More adventures at home
Wednesday, 29 December 2021
After a day of useful chores including finally fixing our clunky wardrobe doors which had been almost as annoying as the screeching shower head which we finally changed over this year (after suffering for 5 years), I was ready for another day out. I had thought I'd be by myself but much to my surprise Jett and Jon were keen to join me on a trip to Hartz Mountains and Duck Hole Lake. 
We've done this walk heaps of times but it's always worth another trip. At this time of year the waratahs are still just flowering and all the other flowers look lovely. 
It took us about 1:10 to get to the top. We were lucky to have it almost to ourselves as I reckon we passed about 50 people heading up as we descended. On our way out of the park we stopped for lunch and some short side trips to some falls and a lookout.  
The we set off on the fairly arduous 45 minute gravel road drive across to Duck Hole Lake carpark. It shouldn't have been quite so long but (in hindsight) Google was making fools of us. The walk into the lake was lovely and flat. 
By this point in the day Jett had had more than enough time with his parents so he was keen to get home. Unfortunately Google was still playing games with us and sent us on a 20 minute detour before we decided to over-rule it and follow our noses back to the highway (which we should have done in the first place of course!). We made it home by five. It was a big day for us. And also for Zali who took advantage of having the house to herself to make a 2 tier birthday cake (for herself), and 20 novelty cupcakes. She was nearly as exhausted as we were!
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Adventures at home
Wednesday, 29 December 2021
After a mostly uneventful trip back to Tassie I had the pleasure of taking a friend down to Port Arthur to do the Three Capes Track. Since I was down there I took the opportunity to do one of my favourite jog-hikes - the 18k Fortescue Bay loop. 
Some sections of the trail smelt like honey from the nearby native flowers. 
The loop takes me about 3 hours. Because I left late (11:15ish) I had the first 13kms pretty much to myself as the hikers were well ahead of me. Once I got to the Cape Huay turnoff it was very very busy with the daytrippers and the exhausted multi-day hikers finishing off their big adventure. It's great to see so many people out and about enjoying Tasmania.
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Back in Adelaide
Friday, 24 December 2021
I went for another walk/run first thing in the morning (to avoid the heat) in the nearby Belair National Park - one of my favourite things to do in Adelaide: 
Then we left for Ikea. We were intending to get breakfast from there but we were disappointed to discover that they only did breakfast on weekends (at least that's what their excuse was today). So it was chicken nuggets and chips for breakfast! After a leisurely stroll through the store, buying absolutely nothing functional... 
... we went for a swim at nearby West Beach with Jon's old schoolfriend Damien and his family. Surprisingly the water felt a lot warmer than at Kangaroo Island (which was an OK temperature anyway), but I didn't enjoy being nipped on the feet by the blue swimmer crabs! By the time we were out of the water and ready to head home it was after 3, which didn't really leave Jon enough time to make the trifle he'd been talking about making for days. I think the last time he made trifle was in the days before Zali was born, and she's just about to turn 18, so he's a bit out of practise. 
After more swimming and dinner Jett and I settled down to decorate a gingerbread house with various members of the Moffa clan. 
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KI Day 4
Friday, 24 December 2021
I started our last day on Kangaroo Island with a nice loop run that took in the usual farming sights. 
Then it was the usual flurry of tidying, packing, washing sheets and scoffing lunch before strolling onto the 1pm ferry back to the mainland. There was no rush to return to Adelaide, so we took in a few brand new sights on our way including Rapid Bay: 
and the odd lookout. 
Then we were back in Belair in time for a supermarket trip, a swim and a delicious dinner. |
KI Day 3
Wednesday, 22 December 2021
This morning I started the day with a run up the nearby Wallaby Track - which is sadly falling into disrepair since its creator and maintainer died last year. It's still a nice run though. Unfortunately Zali has picked up Jett's cold, so she was feeling under the weather and spent the day in bed. Jon, Jett and I had a leisurely morning at home then we left the house to do some touring and stay out from under the cleaner and occupational therapist who were coming to visit Shirley. We went to an art gallery at Baudin Beach (which had some lovely stuff), then after a quick look at Baudin Beach we drove around to another beach area called Island Beach. It's riddled with fancy holiday houses which we sticky beaked at as we drove by. They have a nice enough long beach but I don't think anywhere measures up to Penneshaw for swimming and safe beach activities. 
After our slow-driving stickybeaking we drove right out to the end of a little point which faced the township of American River. This was a nice discovery. 
We still had plenty of time so we climbed Prospect Hill, and took a look at Pennington Bay. 
By that time we had thoroughly deserved lunch, so we drove back to Penneshaw and went to a delightful cafe called Millie Maes. It's been nice that the weather has been perfect (not too hot or cold) for outdoor cafe dining. Particularly as this means we don't have to wear masks as we do indoors everywhere. After that we returned home to catch the last 5 minutes of the cleaner who was due to arrive hours earlier. After checking on Zali (she was fine), I took a quick jaunt around town and along the beach. 
By the time I got home it was our scheduled departure time for the afternoon's sight seeing. First was Cape Willoughby lighthouse:  
Then Antichamber Bay:  
Then it was home for a late dinner and some blogging. |
KI Day 2
Tuesday, 21 December 2021
Because we come so regularly it's often a challenge to find new places to visit, but armed with a new KI Map app we had a pretty good stab at it today!We started by bumping down a typical Kangaroo Island dirt road to a place called Redbanks, for obvious reasons.. 
 
It was pretty cool. Then we went onwards to Kingscote - the largest town on the island but one we seldom visit. We went to the honey shop, the art gallery, and most excitingly of all.. the hardware shop, which was stuffed full of everything. We bought some piping bags, eyeball cupcake decorations, a ridiculous cow shaped jug, and some other stuff that definitely wouldn't normally be classified as hardware. We could also have bought a birdcage, flippers, and christmas themed toilet paper but we had to consider luggage space and whether or not we had lost our sanity.  After Kingscote we did a quick stop at Emu Bay - which has a nice jetty and beach but I'm always put off by the fact that it's full of 4wds. 
From there we proceeded to another brand new place (for me anyway) - the KI Lavender Farm. It's not got a lot of lavender really (compared to what I've seen in Tassie), but it had a lovely place to each lunch.   Just down the road was the Eucalyptus Distillery place. It wasn't that exciting and once I got there I remembered I had actually been there before. Then we went on to our last stop, Cliffords Honey Farm, which we go to every time we visit because they have lovely honey icecream. I should have more photos of the kids but I could only find this tiny one of Jett in this collage from a previous visit. 
The kids sort of humoured me with a new photo. They are monsters. 
After our icecream we headed home with full stomachs. After a short rest I went out for a walk around the newish sculpture trail near the town.   
I got back to the house just in time for our 5pm swim at the local beach. What a lovely day.
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Bumpy Finish
Monday, 20 December 2021
It's been a bumpy road to the end of the year (and we aren't even completely there yet). Some bad stuff has happened, but some good things have happened too - I finished my Grad Cert in applied data science. Yay! Not sure how I will actually use it but I'm really glad I have it - if nothing else I was reassured that my many years out of higher education doesn't mean I've lost my ability to learn tricky technical stuff (and be tested on it!). 
I was flat out working on both my jobs until Friday, and this could have been much worse but working from home means there's still time to go for a run in the morning and still be at my desk at 8am. Those runs are never long but they are really nice. .png)
We also had a lovely family Christmas brunch last Saturday. We had a secret sock present theme - which proved to be good fun. I wish I'd taken more photos (as always), as all the socks were great - but these ones of Jett's were amongst my favourites. .png) .jpg)
Then last night we flew to Adelaide for the McComb Christmas. We got in very late and had to leave at 7am for the ferry to Kangaroo Island. I think the kids might have been suffering a little.. 
And now we have 3 nights here on Kangaroo Island before heading back to Adelaide. We took it pretty easy for most of the day but had a nice swim at the beach before dinner. Looking forward to a big trip out tomorrow.
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Before & After #50 : Jett
Monday, 20 December 2021
Speaking of weeds, last Thursday was Jett's last day of high school, and also the last day of wearing a school uniform. If you can call it a school uniform. It was held together with safety pins all through his final term. 
He wore his school uniform better back in his Collegiate and Sandy Bay Infant School days..  
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Weeds
Tuesday, 14 December 2021
Today I walked all through the botanical gardens, but the only photo I took was of this weed by the roadside on my way back to the car. 
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Cathedral Rock & Montague Thumbs Loop - take 3
Sunday, 12 December 2021
Although I've been to the top of Cathedral Rock about 10 times, today was only the third time I've done this 14ish km loop which continues along the ridge of Montague Thumbs and drops down to Wellington falls before descending back down to North West Bay river. At the summit I noticed that some of the bushes which died in the extreme heat a few years ago are growing back, and others have been completely overcome by moss:  
Each time I've done the loop I've had nervous moments about being on the right track, or even on a track at all, as it's so poorly marked in some parts.  
This time I noticed that a fair bit of track work had been done in the first 1/3 of the loop (left photo), but then the route transitioned to overgrown sections where your feet were on a track, but the rest of your body was bush bashing. The most difficult part of the circuit is thick and barely marked at all, and you have to be really careful not to stray from the occasionally cairned slightly trodden path. It's always a relief to hear the water and drop down to Wellington Falls which confirms that you won't have to spend the night in the bush like other lost bushwalkers before you.  
It was such a nice day that I dilly dallied a bit by the river above the waterfall before continuing onto the very well marked remainder of the route which crosses the pipeline track. It's always nice walking in Tasmania in December as the waratahs start to come out. The shelf mushroom reminded me of Zali's cake from this week.  
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Xmas tree tradition
Sunday, 12 December 2021
Since 2008 we have been getting our Christmas Trees from Pittwater Dunes. Armed with our $5 licence and a few saws, we'd walk through the dunes looking for the best tree around. Sometimes it took more walking than other times. I remember 20 minute walks dragging one or two trees behind us back to the car 
2008  .png) 
2012, 2007, 2012 Almost every time the tree was taller than the ceiling. Unfortunately the Parks and Wildlife service have now stopped letting the public loose in the dunes (I wonder if they aren't keen on people stumbling with axes). So this is how we get our tree now: 
This is Jon standing in the queue outside the local hardware store. It's not quite adventurous but it is a bit quicker and the teenagers aren't required. Which is a good thing as they are generally still sleeping in (regardless of the time of day) Even though the tradition of getting the tree isn't the same anymore, we do still decorate it together, and there will always be a moose at the top.  
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Other Projects
Sunday, 12 December 2021
This week Zali has been working on a yule log project. It's been a 3 day process and the results was pretty awesome looking and delicious. The meringue mushrooms looked identical to real life ones. 
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Other milestones
Sunday, 12 December 2021
Last Friday Jett went to his grade 10 leavers formal. In his brand new suit, shirt, tie and shoes. This formal is quite a milestone for grade 10 public schoolkids in Tassie as it marks leaving their high school and school uniforms the really structured school environment. The next step is year 11 & 12 at Hobart College. This isn't the greatest photo but he looked very flashy. 
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Massive Milestones
Sunday, 28 November 2021
A few weeks ago Zali finished her final exam in her final year of school. It's hard to believe she's completely finished! Both her college years have been Covid affected but I didn't want to let this milestone pass without any celebration, so while she was at school sitting her final exam I went and bought 100 balloons. 
I had plans to use a pump to pump them up but it didn't work at all so I had to use my lungs for every single one. It was a big job..  
It took more than 2 hours to blow them up, but it was worth it.. 
By the time I went to collect Zali at the end of the day the room was full. heh heh... Over the next few days we all took great delight in relocating the balloons to other rooms at the inconvenience of the occupant. Having 100 balloons is actually quite a pain when you want to get dressed, or go to bed. And there's also the risk that one or more will self destruct loudly in the middle of the night. Here they are in Jett's room: 
and then one night they turned up in our room: 
and in the end we let Jon loose with a pin in each hand. He destroyed them all in less than a minute. This was all that remained.. 
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