sailing2xs

Friday, 14 November 2014

14th November - Hobart birds - Bruny Island

Friday 14^th November

A fabulously beautiful Hobart day.

My favourite bird in the whole world…

Blue wren!

Another beautiful South Hobart street scene

And a whole lot of WEATHER – sleet, sunshine, violent wind, serene calm blue skies. All within minutes!

A peaceful moment

Pete and I are reunited after our three days a week of separation. He has been to Dodges Ferry to visit Rebecca, Ella, Holly, Tessa. And he has been to Bruny Island to catch up with old friends.

Kerry and Rina, who spent time with us on 2XS in the Solomons

And some more of his old school friends, also on Bruny for a night of FOOD, chat and fun.

He and Kerry drove to the top of the mountain (Mangana?) and it was, apparently, breathtakingly beautiful.

Tall bluegums, alpine plants, rainforest, all within a few kilometres.

If his phone allowed me to access it without whirling around in an annoying colourful spiral…I could put some up in Cyberspace and amaze the crowds!

Birthday today – Chris Wood! Much-loved brother-in-law and friend and mentor/advisor to 2XS.

Wednesday, 12 November 2014

13th November - classroom time in South Hobart

Thursday 13^th November

Going to the big blue slide in Fitzroy Gardens is always great fun.

More or less…

It depends if the static electricity builds up to a shocking level…

I am trying NOT to take too many photos of each and every house in Hobart. But I had to take this one…one of my favourite South Hobart places. It has always appealed to me and from the look of the car in the driveway it is appealing to somebody else, and is coming up in the world.

This morning I spent a few hours in Leo’s classroom. My primary mission was to show some photos of our 2XS trip; Leo’s teacher, who is very charismatic, and, according to Leo, the BEST teacher in the school, thought I might also like to administer a spelling test to the 8 year olds, while she took the 7 year olds into another area for their own standardised testing.

I enjoyed all of this very much…maybe I should have been a teacher after all.

The children particularly liked the South Pacific children, confidently swimming out to 2S and using it as a dancing and diving platform.

This possibly/probably won't work...

But maybe the biggest hit was…the mighty Komodo Dragon, with its poisonous saliva.

Tuesday, 11 November 2014

12th November - the whole world is beautiful

Wednesday 12^th November

Cameron Highlands tea plantation in the rain

I see from Facebook that our sailing friends are still cruising all over Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Some of them are doing land trips to the Cameron Highlands, or further afield into Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar. All so beautiful, so interesting.

But so is Tasmania…

The ducks in the foothills of Mt Wellington are very friendly and very keen to share in any scraps which might be intended for the domestic chooks. They are also VERY good parents. Last year I took a photo of the Duck Family crossing the road, very slowly and carefully. This year they seem to be keeping to the green green grass of home.

In the late afternoon we have been walking along the mountain paths. The children are very confident and very intrepid. Rose charges along the tracks, as she did along Cremorne Beach.