Visitor

We had visitor over the last two days. A beautiful Grey Goshawk. In Tasmania they are in fact white. The only pure white bird of prey in the world. On the Mainland they are white and grey but over here only the white strain exist. He stood out beautifully against the trees and you have to wonder (looking like such a blinding beacon of light) how they ever catch anything!
Anyway 'catch ' he did. Day one Peg's little yellow chick and day two the little black one. Very sad. After we lost the yellow one l carefully put Peg and her remaining chick in the covered 'safe' area l made for the ducklings last year. It's all netted over the top and boarded at the bottom so they can't get through the wire. But it must have squeezed out somehow and of course Peg was left behind, along came Goshawk and dinner was served! Everything else here is too big now so it's moved on leaving us with a very sad little one winged duck!! Beautiful but deadly. l don't begrudge them at all and its a privilege to see them so close.......l just wish they would dine elsewhere!

Clips and the Bunny!

Coincidentally as l type this there is a conversation happening on the radio regarding rabbits and ways to eradicate them out of gardens and rural areas. We don't have that problem here. We DO have rabbits but the babies very rarely get past the cute fluffy ball stage as they sadly end up in the bellies of the cat minus the two back legs which end up on the lawn!
We do have one bunny though! And this one is onto a good thing! Our lovely big horse doesn't mind sharing his breakfast at all! Initially the rabbit hopped out of the bucket when he put his head down and hopped back in when his head was up. Now it isn't worried and Clips just has to eat in the corner of the bowl as the rabbit munches away in the middle! l am sure there are a myriad of reasons why l shouldn't let a rabbit eat out of the same bowl but l think its wonderful and right now l can't think of one!!!

 Not good quality photo as they were taken in the early morning light.....

More Stuff!!

Days off can be expensive! My last one l ended up (by NO fault of my own!!!!!) at my favourite shop The Margate Train. Saw two things l had to buy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First was this lovely Moroccan style pot! HAD to have it...no questions asked....

Gorgeous! No idea what to do with it apart from having it sit amongst my growing clutter with all my candlesticks and other paraphenalia !

Then l  saw this table which l loved! Its quite odd in that it has a copper top! All filthy and tarnished....

But nothing that a bit of elbow grease couldn't fix!

l had no idea where to put it as we really don't have room for big stuff here. l finally decided on the toilet to replace the little corner stand in there. It fits beautifully in between the wall and the loo!BUT..........didn't go with the yellow walls!

So had to PAINT the walls with  a green l hurriedly made up out of other paints l had but its still too drab. Not the right green..

So now l have to paint the loo AGAIN! With ANOTHER green!!!!! Bloody Margate Train!!!

Hanging out for  a few mill of rain today. Here's hoping...

Some good photos

Here are some more photos taken of 'our bushfire' we had a few weeks ago. These were taken by someone who lives directly opposite us and Braeside Road on the other side of the Huon River.

Them helicopter crazies!!!

 Very dramatic!!!

Eye in the Sky!

We have had an old green bus camped in Franklin these past few months and with the bus comes a man called Pete! Pete and his wife Wendy live on the bus and have done so for many years. In his little trailer that tows behind this big green monster is an Ultralight and every day (weather permitting) Pete goes up way higher then l would EVER go and takes photos of houses! It was too good an opportunity to miss something like this as it was very cheap and we now have a CD of about 28 shots of our property (looking very dry!!) and the surrounding Valley, hills, River everything!!!
The man himself!

 Looking like a homestead in Central Queensland not lush Tasmania!!

Our patch of land!

 Shows how big the Walnut Tree is in the garden! Note big black horse up by the house!

Looking over our place and way down the Huon River. Ours is distinguishable by the slice of Crack Willow that hug the rivulet.

Thanks Pete!!!

Rain

Phew!  We got rain! Lots of it. Thunder,lightening and even bats in the bedroom! Dousing the fires about the State and watering our poor parched earth. Started off last night with a slow soak and developing into some good torrential rain this morning. AND some of the longest thunder rumbles l have ever heard! Woke up  to almost full tanks and sodden ground. Every pot and container brimming full.

And the poor old walnut tree so laden with water AND nuts it finally touched the ground in places!

So very very welcome...

Wooden boats!

You never know quite what you are going to come across in Franklin! A few days ago a Viking ship arrived complete with 6 Russians who have taken two years to sail from Russia to Tasmania in this tiny little boat!!!! Their aim was to make it in time for the Wooden Boat Festival which is held in Hobart each year. The plan is to sell the boat down here but if that doesn't happen they will simply turn around and sail for home! Would YOU sail around the world in this??? They all just slept under the deck down dark dank looking hatches. No shelter, no cabin on the top. If it rains they get wet, if its a gale they hang on! Brave or mad l have yet to determine!

 One of the Russian Crew. The cook apparently! He just smiled a lot!!!

A photo of a photo so not the best of quality  As they don't speak English they have lots of pictures pinned to boards on the jetty next to the ship. Saves asking lots of questions l suppose! This shows how small she is compared to this container vessel!

So.......................as if that wasn't exciting enough......................today up the river came 'Notorious'!! What an amazing stunning sight she is too! Nine years to build, she is a two year old exact replica of a 15th Century caravel.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notorious_(ship). What a treat to have both of these incredible vessels side by side in our tiny town!

 The two of them together at the jetty.

A treat indeed. And thank you Dad and Jen for the photos!

23!

Black Caviar blitzes it again! Not that any of us forgot her , but after her near miss win at Ascot  in the UK, her injuries and the long road back to fitness that followed surely this had some of us doubting she STILL had it in her? Wrong!
Seven months after her last winning race she romped home in breaking record time in a race renamed The Black Caviar Lightening Stakes in her honour. The only horse ever to have won this race three consecutive times.

An amazing mare indeed!

Bats and mohair!

Today l went to pull some timber out of a rack in the barn and got a bit of a fright when out came this little critter! A fright mainly because l thought he was in fact a massive spider!!! Once l realised it was a little bat l was most concerned l had injured him as l dragged the timber out but he seemed to be quite OK.

He happily waited as l ran back to the house to get my camera then after l took a couple of hurried shots he took off and flew around the barn a few times then settled again hopefully somewhere quieter!!!

Lilli in the meantime has discovered "the pink mohair throw" that is currently sitting at the end of the bed to ward off any early morning chill we might have in the mornings. Her usual day time bed has been abandoned in favour of this pink fluffy one that she thinks is quite befitting to her!

 A perfect place to watch the day go by outside!!

The hot dry weather continues and life is spent filling up water buckets and watering gardens! Clips loves a good soaking and sidles up to the fence every time he hears the river pump is on to get cool refreshing bath!

Barn reno cont..............

A few hours working on the barn again.Went from this.................

 

to this!

Now we can use the hose  without fear of breaking our ankles on the rocks bricks and rubbish that sat there!

Much smarter! Next job......... paint the whole barn!!!

Treeka was pretty impressed!

Is it a duck? Is it a hen?

All quiet on the fire front this morning (in our area anyway). Woke to a damp day with 2 ml of rain in the gauge. The sun came out and the wind picked up later in the day which is bad news for the big fires outside of Hobart. Last look they had 49 fire trucks attending.. That's a lot.....Lets hope for a cooler change tomorrow.

What's wrong with this picture???? Little one winged Peg was sitting on (what we thought were ) infertile duck eggs. Obviously at some stage a wayward hen must have laid a few eggs on the nest when Peg was off eating and having a stretch!

She is unbelievably proud and overly caring to the point of when l go to have a look she gathers hay from her nest and tries to cover them up!

Just the two of them. A little black one and a yellow one......Very sweet...for now...........!!! l just hope the other duck and the geese don't laugh at her when she proudly steps out with her two little chickens!!

Lilli just wants to eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeat them!!!!

 

Too close for comfort

Today was yet another awful high fire risk day in Tasmania. This time it came too close to home with Mum and Dad's road which is the next road along from us catching fire. Luckily they were reasonably safe with lots of wide open spaces to go to if need be. The house in the photo is less then two years old. Luckily saved but what a fright for the poor owners. This photo was taken from our road looking down onto Braeside Road.

The bottom of Braeside road looking up towards our place.

What Braeside Road looked like as l drove through Franklin to home. (see why l was nervous!?) Thanks Jen for this photograph. This view sent absolute chills through me.

 As l could see it from our place when l raced home from work

Braeside Road taken by my Dad yesterday

Thank god for these crazies. So brave! They scooped water out of dams that were surrounded by power lines and trees. The turnaround from dumping a load to getting back to the fire was less than 3 minutes. No doubt houses were saved because of them.

Refuelling in Franklin (Jen again for this photo)

We have an old right of way through our place up onto Chittys Road behind us. For neighbours that knew, it was their only way home. l felt like l needed a Stop Go sign as at one stage it seemed like a non stop stream of cars coming though! Our local publican even ferried a few home as it was 4wd access only. It was 11pm before we saw the last lot home.

Out onto the next property, Mick getting home to collect his dogs.. Comforting to know we have two road access out of here in these cases. 

Lets not have this happen again please!