Ulverstone, Tasmania....we are still here!

We have been in Ulverstone, Tasmania, for eight weeks now and are loving it.

We go for a walk nearly every day, about 4  - 6 Kms around the town and through the parks.  It is a lovely walk, flat and pictureque.

It has been spring here and the gardens are beautiful.  It doesnt matter what sort of house, big or small, old or new, just about everyone seems to take an interest in their garden, well they do where we go walking anyway.   And the grass, it is green and very fine.

Walk with me while I point out some of the gardens and plants......

Can you see Nick hiding behind the Rhododendron.

I am not really up on flowers, trees etc but I have recognised a few:  Tulips, Roses, Azelas, Rhododendrons, Carnations, Cherry Blossoms, and many others.

There are Daffodils, Jonquils, Daisies, and others that I recognise but don't know their names.


Hope you enjoyed the walk....








The weather now is a mixture of summery and wintery days...it hasn't made up its mind what season it should be yet.  But, regardless, when the wind blows (and it does so often), it is cold, like it has come off the snow.

Well, we are in Tasmania after all and have just been through what the locals call a "very cold" winter. Looking forward to summer and berry season.

The plovers...good and bad

A couple of posts ago I mentioned that there were a couple of plovers (Masked Lapwing) near our van and that they had four eggs.   Well, they were pretty much due to hatch and the eggs disappeared. I was very upset for them.

No idea what happened to them but I suspect that the park managers got rid of them because they are on a powered site that they will need to have available to sell as the busy season comes on.  This is serious as plovers are protected in Tasmania, therefor any interference with the them, the nest, the eggs are not permitted.

Well, I am please to say that the other pair (not on a saleable site) hatched about four days ago and infact, we were just driving past when I noticed that two of the eggs had hatched and mother plover was still sitting on the third.

One newly born chick and an egg under Mum....she is posied to strike should I come any closer. 

Both parents look after the chicks..here they are watching me with beaded eyes.. one false move and they will  go on the offensive.

"I'm tired Mum, think I will have a little rest by you"

Unfortunatly, out of the three plovers born, there are only two left.

This is one of them that came walking past our van to day. For little birds, the parents make them walk a long way during the day, around the park looking for food.  The chicks feed themselves straight after being born.

Don't worry, Mum and Dad are close by. 

Coffee and Pipes....

We are coffee people and love to have a favourite cafe to visit, to chill out in, to talk or do the iPad thing.  We have been in Ulverstone for four weeks now and have not found such a place although we went to a small cafe with great fresh food in Wynyard called Ladybugs Cafe.    Actually, went there twice for lunch.

Well, I was reading in the paper about community groups and one of them was meeting at a place called Mansours.  And, I know where they are because I have seen the sign for the turn off to them on the many trips we have made into Devonport.

So, on our way back from Devonport on Tuesday we decided to call in.  Not sure if there is any connection between the cafe and the farm but Mansours Cafe is located on a farm that grows fuchsias in very large greenhouses.  Sue (who I will tell you about shortly) knew the people who originally had that farm when they ran cattle on it.  Sue and Geoff are locals who were born and raised in Burnie.

Panaramic view from the deck of Mansours to Lillico Beach

Well, what a surprise….the cafe was just lovely.  It had a great view over Lillico Beach Conversation Area,  comfortable seating and it was bright and clean.  We only had coffee which was nice and made to the 80 degree temperature as required by Nick, so he was a happy chappy.

They are predominately a Lebanese Cafe that does traditional breakfasts, Lebanese style food for lunch as well as cakes and scones that are baked on site.  Over the summer months they also do a Middle Eastern Banquet dinner on a Saturday Night. Tempting.....

We spoke with one of the owners Leonore who said they are not on the “tourist route” but they service the local community.  And, there were people there when we arrived and more came in, so it is obviously popular with the locals.

After a lovely coffee and perusing the menu for later,  we decided will definitely be back for more coffee as well breakfast and also for a lunch over the next four weeks or so that we are in the area.

Comfy & colourful couch

Very inviting

We also had some visitors on Tuesday, locals who live in Launceston.  We met Sue and Geoff when we were camped at Cosy Corner North at the beginning of August.  They were staying at the Big4 St Helens and drove out to Cosy Corner North with some friends to check it out.    They all came over to check out our vans and camping set up and we all hit it off straight away.  Sue and Geoff said we must get in touch with them when we came to Launceston which we did and had a lovely dinner at their house which has an awesome view of the Tamar River along with their friends Jules & John and our friends Deb and John.

Anyway, we had a lovely two evenings with them.  Sue was not well (a cold) but that didn't stop her enjoying herself.  We cooked roast lamb on the BBQ last night, Sue and I drank champers and Geoff and Nick had a whisky appreciation tasting of the whisky that Geoff brews.

Geoff piping for his dinner.....haha

Geoff is also an accomplished piper and he played for us in our annex on his “small pipes” it was great.  Geoff has piped at the Edinburgh Tattoo so he is obviously at a very high standard.  We hope to catch him playing when he is at St. Andrews Richmond Highland Gathering in Richmond Tasmania in February 2016.

So now we have a coffee spot...yay

Where are we? Yep....still in Tasmania, on the top so to speak.

Sunrise at Penguin, about 13 Kms west of Ulverstone.  Can you see the vapour trail?

We  have been living at the Big4 Ulverstone Holiday Park since the end of August and we like it here for a number of reasons.   

Home and annex (called our sunroom today) complete with our washing blowing in the breeze. 

You can see that the park is empty. What you do see are holiday vans around the perimeter. We  are on the other side of the amenities that you can just the edge of on the left. 

The rate is good $20 per night for a powered site...that is a WikiCamp special price until the end of November.  You have to mention WikiCamps on check in to get it.  

The park is not full, the sites are grass, the grounds and the area in general are level so it is great for walking or for riding our bikes, it is next to a very large park with a lovely walking tracks with a cafe at the end of it that does great coffee, breakfasts and lunch and the beach is just over the road.  Both Devonport and Burnie are only a short drive away.  Well, nothing is really far away in Tassie anyway. 

Part of the park next door

Panarama....looking to my left. 

Looking to my right

The beach across the road from the van park.  I am standing in front of the local Surf Lifesaving Club to take these photos.

Tide going out at the far end of the beach. 

There are lots of rabbits and plovers in the caravan park.  The plovers are a protected species but the rabbits are not.  I counted 9 out of our window yesterday, must of been a couple of generations of them.  

Since we have been here we have watched a number of baby plovers growing up and getting bigger.  They are territorial birds and mate for life. 

This plover and her mate have their territory near our van.  They lost their very young chick....it was there one day and gone the next.  We suspect it was taken by a cat that we have seen around the place at night.

Cat owners should be more responsible and ensure that their cats are secured at night to protect the wildlife.  Anyway, thats another story. 

I am pleased to report that she is sitting on four eggs, which she will continue to do for around 28 days before they hatch so we may not around to witness this momentous event. 

The eggs can be laid over a number of days, so the chicks won't all hatch together.  They leave the nest straight away though but will not be able to fly until they are about 8 weeks old and they will be 10 months old before they are fully independent.  

I wish them good luck with their new family.

I started with a sunrise, so will leave you know with a lovely sunset......beautiful as always and we never get tired of either of them.  

My Blog.....what's it all about.......

Hello......I have not blogged for a while and was not sure that I wanted to continue.  Now that we live on the road, I started this blog to have a record of where we have been and what we have done.

So, I analysed why I felt that I did not want to continue writing and I also re-read some of my blogs. I spoke with a couple of people about it, including my good friend Hilary and a lady named Nanette who popped over to read my blog after she read my comment on the "Down to Earth" blog that I follow.

I also remember what Phil (from the Marilyn and Phil duo we met in Snug who are building a "serf" house on Bruny) said about my blog and his advice was to write less and more often.  And, I think I have come up with the answer.

I feel that I have been writing too in-depth about the places we have visited......to much information and not enough about how I feel (thanks Hilary) about what we saw and what we have been doing. I also need to write more often (thanks Phil).

It also doesn't matter if I start writing from now and back track from time to time to places that we have been and what we did at that time (thanks Nanette).

Also, from my own experience of the blogs that I follow, I like the photo's that are posted best, so I will endeavour to strike a balance between words and photos.   Let me know how you think I am doing will you......I would welcome your feedback.

                                                                   ❤️   ❤️   ❤️

Rural Bothwell (11-12 June 2015)

Johns birthday was coming up and we wanted to spend it in Miena at the Great Lakes as he had mentioned a couple of times that he wanted to be there for it.  However,  the weather was not conducive  to driving the caravans up there with snow and icy roads.    So plan B …..we went to Bothwell, stayed overnight and drove up to Miena for lunch on his birthday.

Bothwell is a small rural village on the Clyde River (originally called Fat Doe River….Clyde sounds so much better) about an hour out of Hobart.  Nearby towns include Ouse and Hamilton and we drove  on a back road, in between properties and visited them.

The dirt roads are good in Tassie

Back to Bothwell….so pretty, although, being a hunting place, one view was not pretty….it was of about 12 Kangaroos which had been shot and gutted and were hanging up on a square wire fence thing.  Did take a photo but decided not to share it with you.

The nearby lakes are apparently excellent for trout fishing...didn't try that. And, Bothwell is also well known for Nant, the Whiskey Distillery.....didn't try that either...oh well, will have to go back. There is only so much you can do in two days, and one of them we drove to Miena for the day.

Bothwell from the lookout

St Michaels

The beautiful and historic buildings in Bothwell are a good example of Tasmania's colonial heritage.  It has more than 50 classified buildings..... it is like stepping back in time.


We camped at the back of the Information Centre, power and water for $20 per night.  Small but adequate.

My artistic photo of one of the stained glass windows. 

We were right next to the St Michael's Anglican Church which was consecrated in 1891.

It is built from local sandstone and has beautiful stained glass windows.

I didn't get to go inside but took a photo from the outside, capturing the light from the setting sun through the stained glass windows on the other side of the church from where I was standing.    It is a bit grainy as it was taken on my iPhone but you get the picture.




It was very cold overnight in Bothwell and the water pipe going from the tap outside to the van froze.  The Landcruiser was covered in frost, the ground was very frosty and we couldn't stand on the rubber mat outside of our door because it was frozen and would break.

Can you see the frost on the ground and on top of the hedge?  It looks pink, not sure why, may be the morning sun.

And here is our van in the parking lot of the information centre which is the building on the right with the two chimneys. Another old sandstone heritage listed building.

Castle Hotel

The Castle hotel is the only one left out of the four Georgian style hotels that were originally in Bothwell.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch there by the fire....enormous hamburgers for the three of us and Deb had soup. Someone that we met at Snug told us about the hamburgers so we had to see what the fuss was about.  They were delicious.

Bothwell had many bootmakers and one of the original shops still exists although it has been moved from its original position and is now in High Street.
















Couldn't resist this one....one of the many stone cottages in the streets of Bothwell

And lastly,  in the park opposite where we were stayed behind the information centre (which is also the golfing museum) is an unusual four faced sundial and one of twelve functional and accurate sundials in Tasmania.  The residents build it as a war memorial to locals that lost their lives in the first world war and features a sundial on all four of its faces.


Next....the birthday in Miena.

Beautiful New Norfolk and snow (4 to 10 June 2015)

We left Snug and drove a massive 60 klms (tongue in cheek) to New Norfolk on the Derwent River.   New Norfolk is a peaceful place in beautiful surroundings and there are a couple of good look out spots, Pulpit Rock and Peppermint Hill.

             Views from Peppermint Hill

Views from Pulpit Lookout

New Norfolk is also close to Mount Field National Park (more about that later) and there are also a number of historic houses but the one area that we found most intriguing and at the same time a little sad, is the Willow Court Historic site.

Willow Court, was part of the former Royal Derwent Hospital and was so named because Lady Franklin (an interesting woman..click here for more info on her) planted a willow in the courtyard.  It is the oldest mental hospital in Australia on its original site.

There are a number of buildings on the site which are being restored.  Olga, which was a Boys Hospital is currently an antique and all things interesting and old shop….its going to be refurbished as a 300 seat restaurant.   Not sure what they would do with a 300 seat restaurant in a little place like New Norfolk, but there you have it.   But then again, there is the Norske Scog Boyer paper mill which employs some 300+ people.  In the Antique shop we saw everything you could imagine from reflectors for old cars to church doors ($4000) to diving boots ($3000) which weighed a tonne.

Olga and some of the old vehicles that littered the site

The Nurses Home is now neglected and overgrown.  The plan is to refurbish it as 5 star accommodation.   Two other buildings,  Lachlan which has been converted into luxury retirement units and Lyprenny will will be converted into 1 bedroom units.

Nurses Home

 There is also the Patchwork Cafe in the grounds of Willow Court which looks like it could have been a church at some stage.  The walls are adorned with huge, colourful patchwork covers which are designed and made by the Southern Cross Quilters.

Patchwork Cafe

This is all very well, if you know about it!  But to drive down a road and see all these old, derelict and dilapidated buildings with their windows knocked out or boarded up, is very sad given that New Norfolk is such a picturesque town.

We drove to Mount Field which is about 70 klms from New Norfolk passing through the hops fields at Bushy Park.  We did the Tall Trees walk to Russell Falls and then drove up through the snow to Lake Dobson.  The boys…..and Debbie, had great fun throwing snowballs…..me, I tried (successfully, I might say) to stay out of their way.

Although we had been to Mount Field before, it was great to go there again, to enjoy walking amongst the tall trees and the ferns, seeing the clear running water and then the beautiful Russell Falls.  We had not been to Lake Dobson before though, and enjoyed our time there, in the sunshine and in the snow.

You can see a tree that fell a long time ago over the pathway.  A gap has been cut through....standing next to it give you a sense  on how tall the tree had been.  It is good to see that it has been left to create a home for animals and plants. 

Above and below....Russell Falls, very pretty. 

A spectacular view on the way up to Lake Dobson

Ahh....snow!!!!

There is a layer of ice on the lake with snow right up to the water

Didn't dodge that one.....hehe

Nick, Deb and John...just prior to a snow fight.