Another not-quite-my-birthday adventure

Wednesday 16th Augutst 2026 Nina and I enjoy coffee in her sunroom, people watching on the fairly busy street on which she lives. I cook a rather good scrambled eggs (even if I do say so myself) for breakfast and we continue chatting.  I do a few chores for Nina as she's somewhat invalided after her surgery and very restricted in what she's able to do at the moment. I certainly don't want my visit to her to generate any extra work at all for her.  I leave in good time to allow for any traffic delays to travel to the Spirit of Tasmania terminal to board the old Spirit for presumably the last time.  As Murphy would dictate there are no delays or diversions apart from my missing a right-hand turn because I'm on the service side road rather than the road itself and I cannot turn right, so I end up going through the Westgate tunnel which I thought I would be able to avoid. Still the tunnel is better than the bridge. The check-in process is, of course, tedious. Th...

Tuesday 15th September A Koala posing nicely It rained during the night and I woke to a very drippy awning which I hoped would dry out a bit before it's time to pack it up.  I measured the distance to the amenities block and the kitchen and I've covered half a kilometre before I sit down to drink my first coffee.  The shower with its timer appears to need an intelligence test to operate. The large print instructions on the back of the shower cubicle door do not correspond with the instructions on the timer button mechanism which are in much smaller print and are actually the instructions that worked for me. However, it is an overly generous timer allowing 8 minutes. A minute was over before I actually got it to produce water. I was dried and getting dressed by the time the timer ran out. (I had turned the water off after 3-4 minutes.) The instructions on the back of the door tell one how to operate it for a second 8 minutes. That to me seems particularly excessive.  As I ...

Monday 14th September 2026 Toorongo Falls I'm packed up and leaving Walhalla by 9:30 a.m. after cleaning the corpses of about 50 squillion insects from my windscreen. The town is incredibly quiet, but it is a Monday morning. There is a lyre bird scratching away in what could be a garden bed close to the house and I commence a very scenic drive. I stopped briefly at Thompson to admire the railway where it crosses the river and note the traditional wooden supports on the approach to the riverbed, but the more modern concrete supports as it crosses the river.  The railway bridge at Thompson I stop in Rawson for supplies for dinner and their fresh food  offerings consist of tomatoes and bananas.  I do manage to buy a small tin of salmon, a container of instant rice and a tin of pears, carrots and corn. So I will not starve tonight even though it's not going to be a gourmet meal. I had thought to top up with petrol but the petrol place is closed. Soon after Rawson ...

Sunday 13th September 2026 The engine ready to pull us up the hill from Thompson My accommodation is in a steep valley and while there was a dew overnight I don't think there was a frost. The living room window and front veranda overlook a creek that runs alongside the road and there's a couple of trees about to flower, a fruit tree, possibly a wattle and lots of Cyanatha ferns. Fruite tree blossom with a busy bee As I walk down the main road to the railway station for my train trip the spring gardens are beautiful. Spring gardens beside the creek   Rhododendrons, camellias and fruit trees in blossom dominate, and magnolias and daffodils are also plentiful; the sun is now risen above the steep hills but it's still not warm. A daffodil to generate daffodil envy A rather lovely magnolia I walked past any number of interpretation signs of historical buildings and places and past some interesting geological features, but I will have time to e...