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Published: March 13th 2009
The Height of Fashion
This is the very height of fashionDAY 125
We converged in the camp kitchen this morning; I was up only half an hour before Caroline and put the tea on. I just love my “quiet” time when I can have my cup of tea and write the blog.
Caroline came in with the breakfast stuff and we sat and discussed this job opportunity we have been offered. We all know how we both think about both sides of the coin so I won’t bore you any further.
Lee and Marilyn came in and we chatted for a while, we all decided to do the 8.5k board walk this morning, the one where Caroline went face diving!!
12.00 was our rendezvous, at our camp P4, so we set about getting sorted, having a shower so we didn’t freak the wildlife out and tidying the Skip up, (well the Patrol).
Twelve o’clock came and no Lee and Marilyn, they are camping on the same camp site, but in the un-powered sites so are in C section, which we can only assume C=Camping and P= Powered, I drove around and finally found them as they said they had been driving in circles looking for us.
Fashion
Before the walk with my Japanese fighting sandles on We all finally converged at the reception roundabout and headed off the rangers station.
Parking up we then jumped on the shuttle bus to Dove Lake where the board walk starts, Caroline signed us on, we grouped, rucksacks on and away we went.
I had now been told that we were walking the Dove lake circuit; I must have got caught up in “Missing Time” (For anyone who knows about Alien Adduction Theory), as I just didn’t remember the conversation. (Note from C: had Andy not been so busy talking to everyone else he may have been part of the conversation and included in the reason for the change of plan).
Off we yomped around the Dove lake circuit, the only thing missing was the sunshine, It was bright but not sunny. In fact it was a good climate for walking in, though very cloudy you still have to watch those UV rays out here.
We had just climbed the steep hill to a look out across Dove lake and saw these people looking into a bush (always a good sign) this guy and his wife had seen a Tiger Snake just basking on the warm
The Lake
Dove Lake (Again( rock, but as soon a human appeared it was off, it had of been only about 12 ft from us and we are so wanting to see a Tiger Snake. Snakes react to vibration rather than noise, so snakes will usually be aware of our presence and vanish before we even get there, so seeing them is not easy.
The walk which we have done before took Caroline and myself 3 hours start to finish, as we had talked to people most of the way around, as described previously in our blog, day 108 on 23rd February Blog name “Our Daily Bread”.
I walked on in front, as Lee, Marilyn and Caroline were all busy taking photographs, I wanted to get some Cardiovascular exercise, and at the top of steep hills could rest a while longer.
It was a great walk, as usual we just seemed to chat to loads of people, eat our sandwiches we had made and generally enjoy the walk.
One time I had walked ahead and started to chat to two ladies, who were walking with their husbands, it was one of the husbands who had spotted the tiger snake earlier. We
Start
Start of the Dove Lake Circuit got taking about exercise, as I was listening to a conversation between these two ladies, who have a friend who hates walking, I had poked my nose in and said something like you women are terrible, gossiping about someone and the conversation just developed.
The two ladies Poss (Dian) Tuckey and Maureen Dorrington were both putting their back in to the walk as they had both suffered heart attacks fairly recently, I had explained my experience with this subject, we all seemed to share the same experiences, however unpleasant or amazing they may have been.
These guys were all from Tamworth in New South Wales and were here on holiday, we had a bit of a laugh with them and they went on their way. Everyone we meet has a story to tell, some are very sad, but others are very happy stories, but I guess just like everyone else we have a story to tell, perhaps that’s why people suddenly take to the road for an adventure or at least do something radical to change their way of life.
We arrived at the Y junction just a 5.05, the decision we had to make was do
Walking team
Lee, Marylin and Caroline we go left and do another 3K’s to Ronny Creek? Or do we end the walk now jump on the shuttle, go back to Ronny Creek do some Wombat Watching then get back collect on the shuttle and save the other walk for another day?
The democratic decision was end the walk, the girls wanted to use the ladies whilst us fella’s had wee’d behind tree’s and bushes along the walk (always easy for a man eh!)
We signed off the walk, the girls made themselves comfortable and we jumped on the shuttle, getting off at Ronny Creek. We had promised Marilyn Wombats to photograph and hoped they were all be out grazing.
Wow!! They certainly were, you get used to them and can recognise ones you have seen before, and equally see ones you haven’t. We have been told about Wombats like bears can move at quite a pace when they feel the need, in fact they can run up to 40kph but have such short stumpy legs you wonder if this is just fanciful.
300 yards down the board walk, we had already seem about 4 Wombats grazing then we saw two take off
Andy
Andy on the bridge, as we were walking like it was a day at the races, they must have covered 100 metres in no time at all, it was quite funny to see, a jaw dropping moment, we were thrilled to actually see them run. One wombat ambled up to the edge of a narrow stream then jumped right over it!
A lady ranger was talking to some tourists as she walked past, I said, “if you were taking bets on the Wombat racing I would have had $10 bucks on the one at the front” she said “the one at the front was a female and the one chasing her, was a fella Wombat”, no doubt looking for some Wombat action, and the girls always play hard to get. It was brilliant, at least you don’t have to waste money on taking her to dinner, just to get a peck on the cheek.
We jumped back on the shuttle heading towards the rangers station satisfied again we had seen more Wombats, I promise when we get off Tasmania we will not inundate you with pictures or stories about Wombats, but then we did promise that with Kangaroo’s but we failed that miserably too.
Some
of the shuttle drivers are more informative than others, on this day ours, was excellent, he kept stopping along the way to point out wildlife, and yes you guessed it more Wombats. At one point he said Ladies and Gentlemen, there is a “Wombat on the edge”, meaning the edge of the path but it just tickled us.
We got back to camp at around 7.00, grabbed our dinner that had to be cooked and headed for the camp kitchen. While our curry was cooking we sat with Lee and Marilyn, they are excellent company and seem to share the same kind of humour as Caroline and Me.
Lee was reading a book of Brum that Chris Brownridge Jones had lent to me back on the Sunshine Coast, which I will return when we get back to Caloundra for our house sit in late June. Lee really enjoyed it as he has done quite extensive research on Birmingham; he finds the historical relationship between Birmingham and his family quite fascinating.
Marilyn had done us pancakes for pudding with “Cocky’s Joy” and cream. How could refuse such an offer?
Cocky’s Joy is slang for Golden Syrup and
was used in the depression instead of honey, that is to say that Cockys Joy is poor mans honey.
Extract taken from a forum on Best Recipies internet site:
“Farmers trying to make a living on small properties were colloquially called "cockatoo farmers" because they seemed to have more cockatoos than cows or sheep. They were also called "cow cockies" or just "cockies".
In harder times, golden syrup had three things going for it: it stored and kept well in a can, it was cheaper than sugar or jam, and it was multi-purpose for cooking/baking/sweetening.
"Golden Syrup" was/is called "cocky's joy".
We had an excellent evening and retired late again!
Animal Score to Date in the wild.
Wombat 38+1 baby
Tassie Devil 2
Eastern Quoll 2
Eastern Grey Kangaroo’s Lost Count
Wallabies Lost count.
Pademelons Lost Count
Echidna’s 5
Platypus 1
Possums Lost Count.
Fairy Penguins 6
Koala 1
Wedged Tailed Eagles 5
Eastern Brown Snake 1
Legless Lizard 1
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Jan & Ted
non-member comment
Childhood Memories
Hi guys, Yes, "cocky's joy" was a favourite spread for bread during the Depression and World War years because it was cheap and golden syrup does store almost forever but, the formulation was actually equal parts of butter and golden syrup mixed together into a smooth spread. As kids, my brother and I were introduced to it by our Dad as it was a favourite of his. Being from humble farming folk, money was never plentiful but, we always had this sweet treat to savour. Tastes even better on fresh damper, an Aussie homemade type of bread (more like a huge scone really!) and not the stuff they sell as damper in some bread shops. Washed down with steaming, hot billy tea (water boiled in a billycan over an open fire with a handful of tea thrown in once boiled). A real taste treat. You'll have to try it! :) Keep up the good work! Jan & Ted