18/01/12 (Forecast 22 - it was raining)

Jennies Driveway

Woke up to the sound of rain !! Went out to the verandah for a looksee, it was bucketing !! Aparently there was blustering winds, thunder and lightning through the night ?? I slept through it. I can't believe it !! Rugged up in wet gear and in 'thermals' I went to Huonville this morning to get some additional gear to finish off Kate & Adam's place. The driveway was a little slippery going down. Keeping the bike from sliding was interesting.



 Arrived back about 0945 and came off the bike twice going up Jennie's driveway. Almost busted a gut trying to get the bike upright both times !! (The concrete was slippery and there was no traction on the wet grass). Pulled a muscle in both shoulders and felt pretty cactus for a while. Went and saw Ruth & John and have left my bike there. Their drive is not anywhere as steep.. Bugger !!


Anyway, finally finished Kate & Adam's place about 1345. By then I was back into shorts and a light shirt as it was warm and sunny again :-) Off to the Cygnet area tomorrow and after that  I'll fix up some of Jennie's drive.

Looking East from Kate & Adam's House

Looking North to Ruth & John's property

Looking South from the driveway

From across the river on the way to Cygnet.
 Can just see the house, it's the one on the right

Apples, apples, apples

19/01/12 (Forecast 23 - woke up to clear skies)
A cold crisp morning with a promise of a warm sunny day :-) Took my wet gear just in case. The pants were in the back of my jacket with the back protector and the jacket in the front of my 'hot weather' jacket  to keep the wind off my chest.  I went through some serious apple growing orchards, huge areas of cherry orchards ($4/kilo) and then acres of strawberry fields (forever). All that before Cygnet !! I went down to the water front and was amazed at the amount of oysters clinging to everything and anything !! Everywhere !!

Oysters on the pylons, on the rocks - everywhere

Cygnet harbour

Just out of Cygnet heading to Kettering

God !! What roads !! Corner after beautiful corner !! I was only upright long enough to set up for the next corner. I went through some curves so tight that I was only travelling at 35k/h at times :-) The road to Kettering went through some beautiful forrest country with steep gullies and bloody big trees. Magic, just magic. I called in to the Kettering ferry terminal just 2 min too late to catch the ferry to Bruny Island.

Ferry Loading. I was too late !!

I decided not to hang around and left Kettering. I noticed a roadside fruit & veg place and stopped for a bit of a look and spied some sourdough fruit bread. It felt good and solid (like a good clay brick) and I imagined how good it would taste, so into my jacket it went. Off to Snug then Margate. As I was coming out the other side of Margate I spied this train with about 8 carriages. It had been turned into a small roadside stop and each carriage sold something different !! One sold various sorts of boiled lollies, another preserves solely from europe. Another was a refreshment carriage where you could get a coffee or cup of tea and another was a fish & chips place. Another was a bookshop !!  :-)

The train stop :-)

From there I headed back to Franklin via a tiny place called Sandfly. Between these two places were several beautiful farmlets of 10 - 80 hectares for sale. If only....... I thought for a brief moment, then remembering how cold it could get in winter !!! Brrrrrr. I thought the better of it.

I arrived back at Jennies place about 1530 and before I got stuck into mixing up the premix she had bought for me I cut a thick slice of the sourdough fruit bread. It had to be the best fruit bread I have eaten. Absolutely !! Damm it was good !! Just had to have another one !! I started filling in some of the worst patches in her drive.

I ran out of premix real quick. She could have bought twice as much and it would'nt have been enough. Still, it was an improvement..  After cleaning up the equipment it was time for a cup of tea and a thick slice of that fantastic sourdough fruit bread :-)