October-November

October is the rainiest month in Penang and there is little chance of doing much photography. To avoid the rains I had planned a trip to Australia making use of accumulated air miles on Singapore Airlines. I pondered a number of options on where to go and accepted an invitation to stay with Ron and Georgie McKie who had escaped from shaky Christchurch and are now living in Tasmania. Helen and I had not been to Tasmania despite several invitations form an ex-flatmate who lives near Hobart.

It was a four flight trip to get there; Penang to Singapore, Singapore to Sydney, Sydney to Melbourne and Melbourne to Devonport. The flights were without incidence and the longest was on the impressive A380, which was not at full capacity, to the Canadian-designed Bombardier Dash 8 that plies the Bass-straight run.

Devonport is the third biggest town/city in Tasmania. The tidy airport has four return flights a day across Bass Strait to Melbourne. Nearby Burnie has similar Strait-hopping flights to Adelaide. Devonport is also the terminal port for the ferry that plies Bass Straight each evening while a sister ship makes the opposing journey.

Ron and Georgie picked me up from the small Devonport airport and we were at their house about 12 minutes later. Their large house is on a hillside with trees at the back and side and a sloping paddock meeting a small creek in the front. The sun skuds across from right to left each day and angles into the main living quarters. The temperatures are pleasant but with a slight chill that makes it comfortable to breathe and to snuggle under the blankets at night. The property has a number of outbuildings that have been used for chook yards, horse barns and goat shelters. The grounds are extensive and the price was relatively cheap compered with the mainland or New Zealand prices. 

Birds twitter all day in the surrounding trees and the garden is busy with their activities. White-faced herons nest in the nearby tall trees, a starling brings worms to it’s brood under the eaves, raptors sit in the trees to survey the surroundings and finches and wrens hop around seeking insects. The whole property and indeed the whole state seems alive with the Superb Fairy-wrens that are one of the most iconic and well-studied Australian bird species. Like adults in Australian society they are monogamous and promiscuous. The breeding group consists of an alpha male and female and a number of helpers that may be offspring or members of the territory. Interestingly DNA studies have shown that over 67% of the chicks come from outside agencies. I think Ron and Georgie have made a great buy with a nice location, prime situation and proximity to shops and other required services. Pademelons and wallabies roam the property at night and possums try to find a cozy corner in some of the buildings. As responsible cat owners a large cat run was built around and adjacent to the house to give their feline an extensive and interactive play area but sequestering it from the small marsupials that roam at night in the area.

The prime objective with the trip was photography. A perch had been set-up and daily doses of grated Parmesan cheese supplemented with mealworms attracted the resident wrens into a photographic possibility. I spend several mornings sitting in front of perches waiting for the wrens to pose. The alpha male on our resident pair was found dead one morning and our hearts fell. Another member of the group replaced him within a day and the tribe did not miss a beat. I tracked several females and found a nest that had been constructed in a pile of garden rubbish in the middle of the vegetable plot. There were three eggs in the nest that was located about a foot above the ground.

Ron and Georgie along with the Devonport Photographic Club had arranged for a one-day workshop promoting Nature Photography. I spoke twice during the day and also partook in a question and answer session. There was a small article in the local paper about the event. Nature photography is not big in Tasmania but the workshop attracted around 60 people and raised over $900 for the local club. The next morning we had some of the speakers and club officials out to the house for the morning. I also gave a talk to the Devonport club on the following Wednesday evening.

We had a number of excursions into the adjacent countryside in the following days. We drove to Cradle Mountain and walked briefly around part of the lake and took some landscape shots. We stumbled across a Tasmanian Echidna, which is strikingly different from the mainland species. We also checked out a facility that raised Tasmanian Devils. The enclosures were well-constructed and the animals were very well tended. I think the same Wombat designer also conceived the Devil on his drawing board, possibly just before lunch break….both have large heads and seemingly incomplete or dislocated back legs that seem part of something else.

While at Cradle Mountain we also viewed a photographic exhibition that was in parts quite awesome. Given a striped shirt, a black mask and a fast get-away vehicle I would gladly have taken 10-12 of the displayed prints.

Prior to going to Cradle Mountain we had been out to Narawntapu National park that had a boardwalk amongst scrub and wild wombats and kangaroos. The mean person that had designed the hide clearly did not like people with large lenses as the observation/camera holes were about the size of a slot in a letterbox.

We were introduced to the Black River camping ground by Dennis Hulme who had observed a number of nesting situations including Striated Pardelote and Kookaburras, both species making use of cavities in trees to raise their young.  There was no sign of the Kookaburras but there were several Pardelotes busy with nesting duty. One nest was well located for photography and we spent two mornings photographing the traffic in and out of the cavity. The pair appeared not to be feeding chicks but their interaction with each other was fascinating. They greeted each other by flaring the wings and tails, much like I had seen with my local White-throated Kingfishers.

A few months ago Ron had photographed a Pink Robin in the Liffey Falls carpark. We set off on a mission to find this colourful little bird and set up a photographic ‘studio’ in a segment of the carpark. There was no sign of the Robins but the little Blue wrens were plentiful and we got our best photographs of them at this location. The Robins apparently migrate to a different location when nesting.

The Northern Tasmanian landscape impressed me: I was taken by the green grass, the backdrop of gum trees, the rolling hills and the  dress-circle of the rugged hills/mountains (or Tiers, as they are known locally). The local produce is bountiful ranging from apples and pears, to stone fruit and dairy produce. They even grow Opium poppies. 
On one road (Wilmot Rd) it appeared there was a case of one-upmanship regarding letterboxes. There was a whole range of mail receptors from Daleks to a beer-can angel.

On another day Ron and I drove to the Tamar Wetlands Park just outside of Launceston. The sky was leaden and a wind whipped up the water but we walked the extensive boardwalk looking for potential subjects. 

After a good Australian pie for lunch we went to inspect Cataract Gorge Park. In 15 minutes you can walk from central Launceston along the banks of the Tamar River into the Gorge. From here you follow a pathway, originally built in the 1890s, along the cliff face, looking down onto the South Esk River. The Kings Bridge over The Gorge was floated into place in 1867. The First Basin, on the southern side, has a cafe, swimming pool and an open area surrounded by bushland; it is Launceston’s beach. In contrast, the shady northern side, named the Cliff Grounds, is a Victorian garden where wilderness is created with ferns and exotic plants. There is a kiosk, restaurant and swimming pool, rolling lawns and a rotunda, a footbridge and chairlift across the river, peacocks in the trees, wallabies at dusk. Further upstream is the historic Duck Reach Power Station, now an Interpretation Centre. The Launceston City Council originally commissioned the Power Station in 1893, making it the largest hydro-electric scheme of its day. By 1895 it was lighting the city.

My time in Northern Tasmania went very quickly. As Helen delivered me to the airport I said I would also be using the trip to investigate a suitable location for our next living headquarters. I was under strict instructions not to buy any edifice but did spend a bit of time observing and interrogating. It was clear that most locals, invaders and visitors all have a high opinion of what they see. I was the same. I only saw a bit of Northern Tasmania from Stanley in the West to Launceston and down to Cradle Mountain. There are few negatives other than the job situation which gets more urgent for young families as industries desert the island. Included in the many plusses are the mild weather, the lack of crowds, the great produce and the cheaper house prices. I may well return.

Other (horse) news

Dani turned 21 in October and is having a good time in Northern Spain where she is teaching and learning in and out of school. This counts as her 3rd year of her degree and she returns to Cambridge for the 4th and final year. Jack is in Chile and has recovered well from his accident.

Nikki has completed the first year of her medicine course and awaits the exam results. She is currently doing some work in Okinawa, Japan where her boyfriend is currently doing post-graduate research.

Helen keeps herself busy and keeps the house running and does a great job with the Airbnb assignments. We have a Japanese family on board at the moment. Another project she currently has is organising a stall for IWA and getting the homemade products to stock it. Prior to Tasmania we both enjoyed a day at the races that was also organised by IWA. I might add that my pick of the day charged out of the stalls and was on his own past the post the first time and was first into the bird cage……the only problem was the starter had not pushed the start button.