Finally I can start with my Tasmania stories. The first one won't be so long because I still have problems finding some spare time. Anyhow, we'll get there!
You can go to Tasmania by boat (Ferry) or by plane, we those the first as we need a lot of stuff to take with us and of course you need a car over there.
In the distance our lovely Melbourne!
The Spirit of Tasmania....
I like it ; going on boats....
Skyline of Melbourne....
Having fun......
For me this was a very special experience as 54 years ago we departed from this same port, leaving Australia to live in a very small country on the other side of the earth, called The Netherlands......
The Skyline was quite different then!
(not that I can remember)
Movie time;
Thousands of seagulls trying to get some fish....
Lovely room, it's quite some time sailing so it's better to have a cabin and have a bit of a sleep...
Beds are ready....
Tassie welcomed us with a lot of fog.....
at some stages we could hardly see anything.....
Luckily halfway the morning it went better because from the Ferry to Hobart is about 200 k's and we had to be at our house sit address approx. lunch time.....
The fog is nearly gone, I must say that sometimes the view was amazing because of the fog!
Our First House sitting on Tassie, opposite from Hobart;
My God, it's already the 4 th of March and I'm still in December with my story so I have to hurry a bit because we are now in Tassie (Tasmania) and I'm dying to share our adventures with you.
OK Lets start;
When we came from the Grampians we went into one of the Victorian Goldfields with my cousin. We had a great 5 days together,
we; the tough girls, digging our buts of and Fred did the cooking.
After these 5 days we had a house sitting again in our beloved Bendigo.....
In the meantime my uncle Ton from the Netherlands had arrived (in October already when we were still in the West) in Australia. He lived, together with us and our whole family in Australia in the fifties/sixties and was in his teenage years. Most of the family went back to Holland except for one uncle (Ben), he stayed in Australia for ever and was married in the meantime. Ton never had come back to Australia until now, so the two brothers now have spent quite some time together.
During our house sit in Bendigo we invited them to come to us for two nights, our house sit address happens to have an Airbnb studio. We did some site seeing in Bendigo, had a coffee and a nice lunch.
Bendigo, the city we still love and was our first choice to go and live if we had sell our house 9 years ago.....
They were very lucky as on the 13 th of December they were still with us and we had a champagne breakfast together because it was our anniversary.
We also had Christmas together, at Ben's place. Ton likes cooking so he spent most time in the kitchen.
The result was sublime!
So was the rest of the dinner....
Very exiting all the "social" media.....
Boxing Day we went to other family and spent some time there as well. We even went bush for a day which was very challenging but the end of the spot was worth going.
Hans and I even had a swim, I won't show you the pictures of that.....
I made a little movie from the way back because on the way up I was too scared to look outside properly. My God this was the worst road we ever driven and we had some experiences before as you know!
Anyhow, when we were back at the safe side I was happy!
Movie time;
A little stop to enjoy the view
In the meantime my Aunty from Queensland had arrived in Victoria to spent New Year's Eve with all of us so we had a whole bunch of Dutchies together who were dying for Oliebollen, a Dutch tradition which is eaten on New Year's Eve. And who do you think made them.....
They were great!
another dinner.....
And then.... its 2018!!
January
At the 9 th of January we had a house sitting again in Muckleford, near Castlemaine, and when we came there we were welcomed on a special way.....
Yes, there was a snake!! And we had to call the snake catcher....
Got 'im!
Did you know the snake has to be freed within 5 k's where it is caught?
We had a great spot there....
After that house sitting, which by the way was terrific, we brought are little house on wheels to its accommodation where it will stay when we go to Tassie.
(NOO, that's not our house on wheels!! Could have been though, living all those years in it already!)
Look at the stunning spot he will live for 7 weeks.
The cows will keep an eye on him as well as our dear friend Rob! Thanks Rob for letting our house stay with you.
Of course a lot things had to be done before it goes under shelter....
It has to get messy first before it's all organised....
And there it is, nicely safe and dry, see you soon little house....
