Down South in Tasmania

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Slowly touring the Tasmanian island

We have pitched up at the only naturist facility on the island which consists of Michael and Yvonne's garden with the use of their pool and a lovely view over the water to Kingston near Hobart. And we switched the computer on to watch The Wire and tried the wifi on the off chance only to find they had it even though Michael did not know what we were talking about. His daughter did so we are connected.

We've coped with some warm weather for a while up to 28C but mostly it is like an English summer here. The terrain is smaller scale than the mainland with lots of sea views. The east coast was very empty compared to this part near Hobart and we found some lovely spots to stop in all to ourselves.

Lesley is sleeping well and so is Michael. The food is good cooked mostly by Lesley. We have been out once to a smart restaurant on the water at St Helens for a slap up meal to celebrate Ben's birthday last week.

Now we are going to be visiting a number of Servas hosts around Hobart for a few days. We met one yesterday on the Amnesty International stall on Salamanca Market just to introduce ourselves. We go to see him properly on Tuesday.

And then we shall be moving north slowly.

And Lesley adds:

Well we still have the kookaburras and a few parrots but the wombat has been replaced by nightly visits by a possum. Quite a shock as it was on top of the van for a long time.

When we first arrived in Tas we stayed with Servas hosts in the north who have dedicated their retirement to the development and upkeep of a 3 hectare garden full of native plants. It was both beautiful and fascinating.

We have also made good use of our National Trust cards (Thanks Thomas and Giles) to visit several 'historic' sites and properties. That is to say just about 200 years old if that and all convict related in some way. One was a homestead built by a free settler but with the use of convict labour which was used to build all the infrastructure and housing in the new settlement.

Little mention of aboriginal history except in the same breath as the bushranger/outlaw. There is an aboriginal museum in Devonport which we will visit when we get back there. Apparently it used to be the case that people hid any convict ancestry but now seek it out as a positive background. I wonder how long before aboriginal ancestry is similarly celebrated?

Thanks for all the messages of support. I am now well again and looking forward to the next weeks.

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Photos

Servas host's native garden
Our first Servas stop (but it was raining) a lovely garden and property

Our stop at Scotsdale
It's ducks that come for a feed here

One of our stops
Taking off from an East Coast stop on the beach