Sunday Drive

Today's adventure included a trip to Eaglehawk Neck about 100 km from our home, in the South East 'corner' of Tasmania. This 100 meter narrow isthmus of land leads to historic Port Arthur, the infamous prison settlement established about 1830. One of my many guidebooks indicates there was little risk of successful escape from Port Arthur prison by the inmates as the isthmus was guarded by a line of vicious guard dogs chained across the width of the isthmus. Escape by water was equally perilous as the surrounding waters were reported to be shark-infested.

We experienced no problems as we travelled in the comfort of our van to the sounds of 'Great Big Sea' (no pun intended).
Here's a few pictures of our day out:














Yeah, more beaches and the kids couldn't resist the water (what kid can?)

It was a really lovely day.

Epiphany

. . . I've just had one. I think the reason I'm not writing on the blog quite so frequently is this - I've settled in. The 'holiday' feeling has worn off a bit and I'm well into the routine of day-to-day life; laundry, cleaning, shopping, paying bills, job-hunting, kids who bicker/whine/demand/etc., a husband who works shift, school meetings (yes, I got myself elected to the 'PAC') and volunteering. All the usual stuff.
The 'newness' of the adventure might be fading a bit but I marvel daily at what we have here. There is so much to see and so many places to explore. Sometimes we lament the 'day-to-day' routines that prevent us from venturing away from the house for more than a few hours at a time. But there is always some amazing new park/beach/garden/landmark/community to discover within a 30 minute drive.
So yeah, the dream might be fading a bit but we're still livin' it!

The Flora and . . . Fauna???

I put too much pressure on myself to make these blog entries noteworthy, newsworthy and well, indicative of my attempts at 'literary genius'. (I started this entry on March 15!)

I'd never get a novel finished - not in this lifetime anyway.

So here's a quick post with some pictures of some of the local 'colours and critters'.















There's a parrot in one of those trees - look closely and you'll see it!

Now here's a look at some of the local fauna (er, mostly):
















The huntsman spider was in our kitchen when we woke up one morning. We didn't use the flyswatter on it, that was just for size perspective. We're more of a catch-and-release kind of family.

The kookaburra was at our campsite in the Bay of Fires and happily took the piece of sausage we offered him.

The mini angora goats and the peacock belong to our neighbour but they happily come to visit (the goats do stay on the other side of the fence mostly, but the peacocks like to come right up to our glass doors to 'visit')

The donkeys and ponies were in a field on Bruny Island when we visited there on Good Friday. The littlest pony (shown) was no more than 24 inches tall with his head up!

The blue-tongued lizard is enjoying some of the windfall from the peach tree outside our patio doors.

The sea star was found by Martin while snorkelling in Coles Bay on the Freycinet Peninsula. He's holding it on the end of his flipper (more size perspective).

The Black swan (the first of many we've seen since), was photographed by the kids also on the way down from Sydney.

Not sure if the last picture is a kangaroo or a wallaby (wallabies are smaller). We spotted this one (our first 'live' one) on the trip down from Sydney last October. It was quite far away but I think it was a 'roo.