On the 18th of November we wallowed in numerous goodbyes with the neighbours before ceremoniously shutting and locking the door for the last time, this time wallowing in tears. We left Gympie for the last time packed like sardines into the car prepared for the next adventure. We spent a back browning ten days to wander down to Melbourne, the highlights of the trip ...
Caleb announced yesterday (while floating on the Maroochy River at Cotton Tree)
'I'm feeling a bit homesick' and starts to gag a little. On closer questioning it turns out he has assumed home sickness comes with a degree of queasiness. We've applied a new definition and all is well.
He's picked up a nasty cold so we're pleased to soak his nasal passages in salt water whenever we have the opportunity. He has been sulky the last few days. It's no doubt the cold plus being unsettling with leaving all things familiar. We arranged a bargain (when he saw a Bionicle he doesn't have) that he go 24 hours without a grizzle and it will be his. At 8 hours of smiling and obliging behaviour he asked me if it was 24 hours yet. When I told him the hours remaining. He sighed, gritted his teeth, smiled and hissed through his teeth, 'Happy, happy, happy'.
I've discovered a new form of sickness, called 'air bed sickness'. This is due mostly to the imbibing of several beers on Trev's behalf and then a restless night where his every move buffets me from one end of the tent ship to the other.
But it doesn't last long. Tonight he develops an ear infection and he lies awake with it all night suffering till we get to a doctor the next day. He's had an unpleasant trip.
We arrived in Melbourne yesterday. 2500km all up. Spent the day discovering how many flies you can fit in your mouth in one opening, and how many allergens are flying through the air. Hasty applications of many questionable drugs in order to deal with it. Had a wild night (in Trev and my wild night ratings, which are admittedly quite tame) with his sister and brother. Haven't laughed so much in ages. Caleb had a ball with all his cousins. He's been hanging out for some under 8 action.
Off to Heathcote today to see Brian Hodge's strawbale house in an open home organised by Ausbale. It's great to see a strawbale home, as so far it's all been the 2-D variety.
Off on the ferry Tuesday night. Really looking forward to looking around Tassie. The house money finally arrived in our account, not without a very convincing theatrical display from Trev when he pretended to receive a call saying that it hadn't. My heart leapt into my throat, and when it was revealed that he'd only been kidding, my fist into his stomach.
Caleb has been swimming every moment he can, even in the Snowy River where we stayed a couple of days back in Orbost.
Also was immensely excited to drive past a wind farm or two, which were magnificent. We stopped right beside one turned off the car, wound down the windows and could just hear them. They were beautiful, sleek, sculptural things and I wonder what the hell the problem is with people grizzling about them when there are ugly pylons everywhere.
On Tasmanian Soil
Caleb soiled it pretty quickly actually,
Stepping out of the car, 'This is the first time I'll stand on Tasmania!'
, a little weave, a gag or two and he adds to the top soil with the mornings breakfast. We were berthed near the bow so everytime the ship mounted the latest big wave it came slamming back down and we had mini explosions followed by reverberations and flexing ship walls and similar internal human readjustments each time. It would have been ok if there was some rhythm to it, but no, any direction in any degree of sway and at every moment. Trev and I couldn't sleep, Caleb didn't want to and responded only to an application of sea sickness drugs, due to their ability to encourage the state of drowse.
It's lucky we were even on board and not holed up in some tacky Victorian jail cell after , reaching the wharf, we were asked if we had any declarable weapons and Trev jovially mentions his machete. The woman laughs, thinking it a joke, but when, on reiteration and with a more serious expression on his dial we were surrounded by twenty three heavily armed men and were read the riot act. Bit of an exaggeration, but it certainly gave Trev the heaves when we were told of all the implications. "Is it in a sleeve or holder?" he's asked. "No, its just sitting in the front seat" he quavers.
When we'd driven on board we had to quickly grab anything we will need overnight. Trev's job was to grab the toiletries. When we finally found our cabin it turns out he'd only grabbed hold of a box of AA batteries and his night light. It's a wonder he didn't raise terrorists suspicions.
Tasmania is beautiful, a lot of the houses are old and picturesque, the land is green, the temperature is warm. On the radio this morning they're bitching about how it was 16 overnight and the humidity made it hard to sleep. I thought it was hot too, but only till I realised the last person using the bed in our rented cabin had left the electric blanket on. 24 degrees today. Hope to go see a few places in Branxholm, Scottsdale and Lefroy.
We learn real-estatese, 'gently sloping' translates to 'so bloody steep you need to wear crampions', 'gently undulating' - 'vertical walled gullies' - 'tucked away', 'so inaccessible you need a GPS, and a four wheel drive with chains to get to'. But we did end up finding our little bit of paradise.
Yes, we said a town block, (we discovered half the cost of suburban land is tied up in sewerage and town water connections, and we didn't want a bar of either nor have to pay $25,000 for the privilege of not using them) and yes, we said north Tasmania, and we couldn't get much further south without swimming, but hey, it is BLOODY BEAUTIFUL down here. It's such a spoiling for pictorial choice, on one hand we have rolling green flower studded pastures with stone cottages and images of a proverbial Heidi's running down the slopes neatly framed with towering ranges of ...well, hill sides. I still haven't adopted the Aussie habit of making mountains out of molehills. On the opposite side, and still at close range we have the Huon river winding its way by the road, and cramped little picturesque bays and ranges of hills beyond. All breathtaking, though Caleb's highlight this week has been peeing into an empty bottle in the car, while we traversed a hilly pass. In fact he's taken to sleeping in the car during the day and staying up all night. Not so sure how much he's seen of Tasmania.
We also have a range of very excellent feeds, roadside apples, cherries, raspberries, tayberries and peaches. There is also easy access to Mussels, abalone, oysters, salmon and other fishy feeds, some of which you are quite capable of procuring yourself. Trev's found a magical jetty with a reputation for catching salt water fish from one side and fresh water from the other.
I knew Tassie would be lovely, but not this good. Surpassing expectations daily. Hopefully this will make up for the shortage of tentless nights, sick of which we are starting to get. Due to the various legalities we are aiming to legally own the land by the 22nd of Dec. But it may not happen. Have ordered ourselves a 6 by 3 metre shed to live in, but again, due to council legalities it will be after Christmas, perhaps by some weeks before we will be able to live in it. But then it will seem like a big step up from living in a tent.
Did I mention that the days are fantastic, 30 degrees the other day, and NO sweat was raised. However, come night (which doesn't come till after 9.00pm) it gets a bit nippy. Trev has donned his thermal undies, kindly supplied by ex-workmates. (and there we were thinking they were kidding). However, I have managed to overcome the air mattress sickness, so things are looking up.
Trev and I wake in a puddle of green plastic. The air mattress has developed a pin prick leak. We must look mildly amusing as we walk it to the beach and try and submerge it to see where the leak is coming from, and end up attracting a flotilla of one centimetre diameter crabs, and spend the next half hour plucking them off and tossing them back in. We discover the leak and over three or four days fail to fix it and wake two or three times a night and re-inflate it. Without success. We'd love to rent a place, but we can't get a lease shorter than six months, and we're looking at six weeks maximum. Christmas will be spent in a tent with a leaky air mattress.
We enrol Caleb at the local school. The classroom sizes are huge, the number of students to be taught in them, tiny. We're impressed. The principal asks our address and we look embarrassed and mutter under our breaths, 'hmm, a tent'. Seconds later we're being offered the teachers residence, which is currently vacant on a week by week basis and at half the cost of tent space in a caravan park. We've agreed even before we see the place. This is around the time that everything starts falling into place, strange co-incidences and wonderful locals abound. We need a trailer. We put up a sign on the local noticeboard, a day later a local rings up to say he has an old one he doesn't use, would we like it? 'How much?' we ask, 'Oh no', he says, 'you can just have it'. Trev uses the local pay phone to make calls, he comes back looking bemused, he'd put in an amount of money, made the calls and it had spat back more money than he'd put in. 'I really like this place', he smiles.
Caleb is hooked on fishing, mackerel, salmon, 'couta, flathead, an octopus or two, even a starfish. He comes home one night without his t-shirt, it seems a squid had squirted him with ink. He loves going exploring along the beaches, the rockpools, caves, hidden beaches. Trev takes along his screwdriver and pries off oysters and mussels, eat them raw, a meal Caleb and I dub 'rock snot'.
'I love Tasmania', Caleb tells me, 'it's so much nicer than Australia'.
Me, I wonder why, with the most beautiful scenery imaginable, great local food, wonderful people, two of the best breweries, a major chocolate factory, and such an amenable climate (sweat your heart out you Queenslanders), why it's not the capital.
Merry Christmas wherever you are!