Planning day

After a few frustrating sessions trying to upload the pen sessions to Livescribe online. I sent an email to the support people and they suggested that I update my flash player and check for any firewalls that might be on my computer.

I uploaded the flash version 10 and tried again but no luck so I ventured into the Command centre and found the firewall icon and then made it possible for uploads and downloads on Livescribe.

then success, success I was able to upload Graeme's presentation and here is the link


Click on the link and turn up the speakers. Because I didn't write anything in my book it comes up just as an audio file.
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This is an embedded link it took some time to sort out the code but it works

Trial of Smartpen

I am currently trialling the smart pen. After much time wasting I eventually uploaded the file I recorded from the Expert Users group VC this morning and finally got the link to the file, so I thought I would test it out before Tuesday's sessions in the theatre

http://www.livescribe.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/LDApp.woa/wa/MLSOverviewPage?sid=FWKQczhj6xqW

Click on the link to see what it does. This link is from livescribe = send a link rather than the above one which is embedded code.

29-30th April 09

Last day in Tasmania and it was -3 overnight. The grass was really crunchy but at least the wind was not blowing. After breakfast we headed back to Launceston to take back the van and then we headed towards The Promised land just past Sheffield. There is a place called Tasmazia. There was 8 mazes built around the village of Lower Crackpot. It was an amazing little village and the mazes where really great. some of them took some time to crack. Most of the mazes were made from Privot hedges that were well over head height. One maze was a balancing maze that you had to walk on. another was a cage maze that was made of wood. The other 6 were hedge mazes.

When you got to the edge of one maze there was quite a large village of all sorts of houses, etc, all made of concrete and painted. Someone had a great sense of humour as they wrote and named these odd houses.

After a few hours running around the mazes etc, we had some pancakes at the restuarant and then we headed back towards Devonport. On the way back there was a town called Nowhere Else. So we drove through the town just to see it. There really wasn't anything to see.

We eventually got to Devonport and lined up for the ferry back to the mainland. The ferry left Devonport around 7:30. We boarded and found our cabin then went downstairs for dinner.

After dinner we went to see the movie Nights at Rothendale. It was a rather sad movie. After the movie we headed to bed so we could be ready for the drive back to Brisbane.

We woke up around 5:00am, had some breakfast and we were able to get back in our car. We drove off the ferry around 7:20am. We then headed out of Melbourne before the traffic built up in the city and kept driving until we got to Coonabarabran where we stopped for the night.

Alex is hoping to be back in Walloon at lunchtime so it seems that we should be able to get there at this rate.

28th April 09

woke up freezing this morning. The grass was crunchy and the fire hose was slowly leaking and the water formed a stalagmite. You can see some of it in the grass. At least the sun was shining but there was no heat in it at all. The temerature was -2 degrees.

After breakfast we decided to move the van out of the caravan park and then walk around the town of Ross to the women's prison. There was not a lot left of the actual prison except the walls and a few small ruins barely visible under the grass. The superintendant's house was still standing so we went in there for a little while to read about prison life.

we then walked back into town and looked at the other historical buildings, the pub, gaol, town hall and the church on the top of the hill. This is still being used today and looks quite impressive. There was also a Wool centre that showed quite a bit of the history of the industry in Ross. There are plenty of sheep, green pastures and rolling hills around Ross. It was an interesting display. We then moved back to the Ross bridge and I took some more photos of the carvings on the bridge.

We then headed down the street to the Post Office. still the original building with a horse mounting step still there out the front. Across the road is the bakery and tea house that sells the famous Tassie scallop pie so we had to try one. They are certainly delicious with around 5 or 6 large scallops in them with a small amount of curry.

We then headed back towards Launceston to Ellendale and Longford to see some of the historical buildings. We then drove to Westbury to get some more beautiful gelato ice-cream. Can't really think why we would need cold ice-cream as it has been really cold all day with an icy wind blowing but with the van pointing towards the sun it was warm enough to enjoy the beautiful ice-cream.

We the headed to a large steam engine museum. Alex is really interested in steam engines so I tagged along just for him. At least we were out of the wind for a while.

We stopped tonight at Hadspen and prepared ourselves for another really cold night. They are predicting -2-3 degrees again and heaps of frost on the roads in the morning.

tomorrow morning we will take the van back to the airport and then pick up the car and head over to Sheffield and surrounds as there was a couple of places we missed out on seeing. The trouble being that most places only open at 10:00am and we are often on the road before then.

We have to be in Devonport by around 5:00pm for boarding and sadly (but not missing the freezing weather) we will have to say goodbye to Tassie.

We survived the night in the winds and rain. It did eventually stop around 3: rugged up and headed into Hobart to have a tour of the Cascades brewery. We got to within 3 kilometres of the Tasman bridge and we were stuck in traffic. It seemed that there was an accide30am. Extremely cold when I woke up in the morning 3 degrees with a wind chill factor of 15. Went and all lanes were blocked. There is no alternative bridge close by so we hung in there. As we got closer to the bridge we were able to get some great photos of the snow on Mt Wellington. There was snow down as far as 700m. (about half-way to the top).

Finally got into Hobart and out to Cascades by 10:30am. We got out of the van and nearly froze. The wind and cold was coming down the mountain. We had to wait for about 10 mins in the cold before they opened up the visitor centre. Luckily we were able to grab a cup of coffee before the tour. The tour was really good, very informative but unfortunately it was a rostered day off for most of the workers so the brewery was not in operation but our guide did a great job explaining the brewing works, the malting, fermenting, maturation and bottleing areas. As we went around he asked lots of questions and if you got them correct you got bottle-cap. When we got back to the tasting area we realized that these were tokens to allow us to try more beers. Alex and I got an extra 3 tokens between us, so with the original six we were able to try 9 beers/ciders. After 31/2 glasses each we gave the rest away as we still had to drive. They were not just small tasting glasses they were 6oz glasses.

We then drove off to find a warm spot to park the van and have some lunch. We were originally going to do a double-decker bus tour around Hobart but instead we went back to Richmond to see the Model village of Hobart in the early days. It was quite good. We then headed up to Ross for the night. We have decided that because we had to stuff around a couple of days waiting for documents to arrive for signing for our investment property that we would not have enough time to do the East coast so we will come back in a couple of years time and do the East coast. Alex likes to see everything so we really spent a little too much time on the west and the south coast.

I was a little disappointed but that is the way it goes. So we head into Launceston tomorrow night. Drop the van off on Wednesday morning. Then we hope to drive past Sheffield because we missed an attraction that Alex wanted to see. We should be able to see that on our way to Devonport. We hop on the ferry to Melbourne Wednesday night. Luckily we have booked a cabin so that we can get some sleep as Alex wants to drive straight back to Brisbane and be in Brisbane by Friday lunchtime. So it will be a rush trip back once we get off the ferry.

The weather tonight is really freezing. The locals are predicting it to get to below 2 degrees overnight. Hopefully it will be fine during the day as it makes it a little bearable rather than the rain. Luckily the van has a diesel heater so we are using the heater tonight for brief periods to warm the van up.

Looking forward to some warmer weather in Queensland when we get back.

Sunday 26th April

We were warned that today would be freezing cold, gale force winds and rain. It certainly rained during the night but stopped after midnight. It was very cold in the morning but the sun was shining. We rugged up and caught the bus to the Salamanca markets. The sun remained and the markets were really enjoyable. We bought a few souvenirs, woolen socks, Tasmanian timbers and tried some banana and nutella crepes, similar to those that I had in France. Alex was quite impressed with the crepes. After the markets we decided to race up to Mt Wellington as it was still in full view. By the time we were half way up the clouds were starting to close in but we were really lucky and I got some great photos.

It was freezing up on the mountain. We were amazed at how steep the climb up the mountain was. Just as we were nearly finished taking photos it started to snow and the clouds started closing in so we headed back to the van for the decent down the mountain. Hobart was still in some sunshine but it was 2:30 and we were getting hungry so we headed off to Eastlands shopping centre to get some rolls for lunch. We then headed back past the large Anaconda store and browsed in there a while before heading back to the caravan park for a game of putt putt golf.

We got around to the 10th hole and the rain started to come down, we kept playing and nearly gave up at the 12th as the rain was getting heavy. Because we were already wet we decided to keep going. By the 14th the rain had eased but just as we were putting at the 19th hole it started to hail so we ran inside.

We then headed for the caravan to cook dinner. During dinner the wind has really started to blow hard and the rain is so heavy we can hardly hear the TV. Hopefully it will stop during the night sometime so we can sleep as the van rocking in the wind and rain on the roof can keep you awake most of the night.

25 April 09

Friday the 24th and the weather is starting to get really overcast, cold and wet. We drove from Cambridge to Port Arthur. We stopped off to see the tessellated rocks at Pirates bay. This rock formation has evolved as the sea water washes over the rocks, faults form in straight lines and the salt erodes the faults ending up looking like cobblestones.

We then stopped off at Eaglehawk neck and looked at a few of the guards quarters and the dog line that protected the convict settlement of Port Arthur. The dogs were kept half fed, and staked just far enough apart not to attack the other dogs but close enough that no man could get through the gap without being savaged.

We then arrived at Port Arthur in the rain so we donned raincoats and headed in. The rain came and went throughout the day, It was towards the last hour that we got pretty wet. We left the centre at 5:30 and headed off to the caravan park to book in and then we headed back to Port Arthur for the ghost tour and dinner at the restaurant. It rained for the first 15 mins on the ghost tour but stopped for most of the rest of the tour. I was one of the lantern bearers on the tour but unfortunately didn’t see any ghosts.

Saturday 25th. We headed back towards Hobart, stopping on the way to see the coalfields that were mined by the convicts. There was a small barracks and prison on the site but mostly in ruins. You could get down to some of the solitary cells used in the prison here.

Then we went to Dogers Ferry to see a friend of Alex’s. Danny and Helen. They are currently building a straw bale house on top of the hill. Great views of the harbour and looking towards Hobart and Mt Wellington.

We then went to Richmond for a look at the bridge, the church and the gaol. It was raining for some of the time. It was getting colder by the minute.

Today Mt Wellington was covered in cloud. I think I have only seen it once all the way to the top. Tomorrow they are predicting snow on top the mountain, windy, gale force winds and rain. Great day for the markets at Salamander cove. The markets are usually on Saturdays but because it was Anzac day the markets are being held on Sunday.

23 April 2009

Yesterday we went for a drive around Bruny Island, walked up to the lookout on the neck of Bruny, then we went on an Eco cruise around the cape of Bruny. We went through some spectacular rock formations and then down into the Southern ocean and saw some Australian fur seals. It was a beautiful sunny day but it was still very cold.

Today we went around the peninsular, back up to Huonville then down to Southport, At Geeveston we went into the Hartz mountains and then onto the Tahune air walk. This is on the Huon river not far from the junction of the Picton river and the Huon.

After a climb up to the top of the airwalk you then walked on a steel framework around the tops of the trees. At the end is a large cantilever viewing area. Alex couldn’t stomach the cantilever section but did really well on the rest of the air walk.

We then went along the river to see some Huon pine trees. After leaving Geeveston we headed up to Huonville again. Stopped off at Franklin to see the only wooden boat building school. Students do a two year Diploma course and in that time they build a huon pine boat.

We then drove into Hobart and then out towards Richmond for our stop for tonight. The pictures today are of the rocks etc at Bruny island cruise and the airwalk cantilever.

Finally back online tonight but it is so slow, not sure whether I can post anything on my blog, but will try.

We were in Strahan for a couple of days. We went on the wilderness Train trip that was fantastic. We caught the coach up to Queenstown early in the morning then traveled up the mountain in a steam strain. Because of the steepness the train uses the rack and pinion system to climb the steep upclimb. It is like a clockwork system. We stopped along the way for morning tea then when we got to the top we had lunch while we waited for the train engines to swap over. One train arrived from Strahan using the diesel engine and our train had the steam engine from Queenstown. At Double-Barrel Station they changed the engine around and we went down to Strahan using the diesel engine. We arrived back at Strahan around 3:30. The train was originally built to bring the copper, tin, silver, lead and zinc that was mined at Queenstown. It was a beautiful day and very enjoyable.

We then drove over the mountain to Queenstown and spent the night there. The next day we looked around Queenstown for a while and then drove through the Franklin-Gordon Wilderness forests to Lake St Clair. We stopped at Nelson falls for a 2.4 km walk. They were beautiful and well worth the effort. We then stopped at Donaghty’s lookout. It was around 4.2km round trip. Quite a bit of climbing but gorgeous views.

We stopped at the Franklin River and went for a walk along the bank for a while then over to Surprise river. A round trip of 1.5Km. We then drove to Lake St Clair and went for a walk to Platypus bay a 4.5km round trip. Beautiful weather and beautiful scenery. Feet were pretty sore by late last night. Last call before we headed to our caravan park was the Wall at Derwent Bridge. The is a beautiful carver of huon pine that is carving this very large wall depicting the story of hydro electric power in Tassie. He is a beautiful carver. It is a pity that you are not allowed to take photos of his carvings. You can buy a book at a grand price of $40.00 so we passed on that. We then drove to New Norfolk and found a caravan park on the banks of the Derwent River. Quite cold but still not raining.

Today we headed into Hobart, called in to the Post Office to collect some mail that was supposed to be sent there but hadn’t arrived so we went to the Cadbury factory for some chocolate supplies. Then we went down to the docks area to look at the ships, fishing boats and tall ships. We then drove to Bruny Island to the caravan park and tomorrow we head on the ecological cruise around Bruny Island the pictures look good so hopefully I can get some good ones.

Today we went on the Arther River cruise after a quite night at Peppermint Park at Arther Creek. We had camped at the Parks and Wildlife reserve. It had a toilet but no power so I was unable to charge my phone, my camera and couldn't use my computer. Still I did some study with some of the readings I had printed off before we left.

The cruise was really great. The Arthur river is one of the last wild rivers that has not been logged along the reachers of the river. In most areas the river is over 35 metres deep. There are sea eagles along the western reaches of the river and wedgetail eagles along the inland reaches of the river. At one stage we witnessed a territorial fight between the eagles as the Wedgetails were trying to encroach on the sea eagles territory.
We travelled around 14 - 16 kilometres up the river before we stopped and went for a short walk in the forest ad had a bbq lunch cooked by the staff on the boat. We were deep in the cool climate rainforest with some trees over 800 years old. It was really interesting.

After to trip we drove up to Wynyard. Tomorrow we will head down to Strahan and then onto Queenstown.

We woke up at 5:30 with the van rocking like crazy in the wind. There was thunder, lightning and gale force winds outside so we had a quick shower and decided to hit the road and head inland. We were camping right on the water’s edge at Devonport.

As we were traveling to Railton we heard that there had been very strong winds, blowing down houses, trees and powerlines all over the north west of Tassie. Just as well we headed inland so we escaped the worst of it.

We got to Railton and it was raining quite heavily so we parked in the public carpark and had breakfast. By the time we finished breaky the rain had stopped so I could take some pictures of the topiary. The whole town is creating all different types of topiary in their front yards. We then drove to Sheffield in between the showers and sunshine. This town has just about every spare wall painted in murals. There is also currently running the International Mural competition with around 20 international painters completing their mural to be awarded Mural of the year. Great paintings were being produced.

We then drove through Gog state forest on the outskirts of the Cradle Mountains to Moles Creek.

We then went to Tendarra Tassie Devil park where we came face to face with heaps of Tassie devil's. They are quite friendly as you can see from the pictures. We viewed the animals in between the blistering cold showers then warmish sunshine.

We then went to Chudliegh to check out about 40 different varieties of honey. Wasn’t keen on the Wasabi, chilli and raspberry honey. Some flavours were pretty unreal.

We then headed to Elizabeth Town and Ashgrove Cheese factory. It was here that we came across many cows painted very brightly. Apparently different groups entered in the Cow Art competition. I particularly liked the Moo cow and the Cows with guns. There were around 30 plus cows all painted differently.

We then went to the Anvers Chocolate factory and taste tested quite a few different types of chocolates and truffles.

After honey, cheese and chocolates we headed to Burnie and we were hoping to find a caravan park that is not located right on the beach in the wind as the wind is still blowing quite hard. Luckily we found one that is down in a valley between the beach and the mountains and we are out of the wind but the temperature is quite cool. Around 10 degrees at the moment.

Tuesday 14th April

Today we pick up the campervan and head off, anticlockwise around Tassie. Yesterday we went to Exeter then Glenwarren to check out the mazes. They have a hedge maze, and a couple of other really good physical puzzles with tyres, planks, arrows etc. Alex thought they would be good for scouts at the Jamboree. We also went up to the Swiss village, Grimwald. It is very high up in the mountains on the west bank of the Tamar.

I have finished the Orienteering Carnival with two thirds and two fourths so overall I got forth. I just didn’t get in fast enough on the two days at third to get a good accumulated time for third but still I was pleased with my running. My navigation was pretty clean just not running as fast as the others. The weather has been really fine and great temperatures, around 20 degrees on all four days.

Today is fine and sunny though we are expecting some rain on Wednesday and Thursday. So we will see. A bit cool in the mornings.

Here are a couple of photos. One is Alicia from the LRM support team with her friend Jodi on the suspension bridge at Cataract Gorge. The other pic is a view of the suspension bridge from the chairlift.

After 2 days running I am currently in third position which is a little surprising, hopefully I can maintain my position. Today I had a steep decline down one hill and stepped on a stone that moved underneath me. I then managed to fall on my side hitting my thigh (above the knee) with one rock and then hit my elbow really hard on another rock. The elbow is grazed and black and blue by the time I got back to the finish. (about 1.5km away) the leg is fairly sore but no cuts just black with bruising.
Probably be still tomorrow, managed a shower without too much pain when I got back to our accommodation. Today after the racing we went to Conara and took a photo of the train station for Jo at scrapbooking classes.
We then stopped at Perth for a few photos then headed off to Cataract Gorge. Despite Alex’s fear of heights he decided to join me on the chair lift over the Gorge. It was really good. Alex wasn’t too keen but survived the trip although he was hanging of to the pole for grim death.

We then went for a walk up the gorge, then returned, got the chairlift back. Alex thought it was a little better. We then walked over the suspension bridge. It was really swinging around but Alex managed to get over to the other side and then back. Alicia and Jodie were coming over after us so they took a photo or two. Jodie really hates heights as much as Alex but Alicia and I are fine.

One more day of Orienteering and then we collect the campervan and head off. I haven’t uploaded any photos today as it is costing a fair bit on my pre-paid broadband device.

Will do some more editing on the photos before I upload so they are much smaller.

We rang the kids to see if they were having a great Easter. Kristen is in a 3 day training session and Sandy is over at Grants for the weekend.

Got to Melbourne after a long trip through Mt Beauty, Hotham, Bairnsdale, Boolara then Dandenong.
We called in to see Auntie Margaret and saw first hand the devastation of the Boolara fires.
We then went to stay with Angus and Jenny at Narrawarren for the night. Wednesday morning we drove along the new Eastlink Freeway to Blackburn. Dad was not home so we went up to the local coffee shop to see if he was up there. I left a message on his phone and next minute he arrived, Dad was just in the supermarket getting some breakfast things. We had a coffee then went home to Dad’s for the afternoon. We then went up to David and Annie’s place for dinner. Dad brought Muriel for dinner. David showed us his pictures of the Northern Territory and his movie of Abbie. We had a great dinner and then we went home to do the final pack of the car ready for the early morning start on Thursday.

We woke up around 5:30 to get to Web dock by 7:00, there was hardly any traffic so we were pretty early, around 6:30.
We eventually boarded the Spirit of Tasmania and found a good spot inside one of the lounges. We then spent the next 12 hours on the boat. I did a fair bit of time studying, reading some of the many readings that I need to get through.

We arrived at our unit in Launceston at 10:30pm. It was a very tiring wait to get through quarantine at the ferry port in Davenport.

A quick dinner then off to bed,. Good Friday we woke up around 7:30, then found a little grocery store that sold everything, so we got some aluminum foil for the hot cross buns.

Once breaky was over we went for a drive up the east side of the Tamar to George Town and Low Head. We also called in at lagoon bay, Bell bay – the big Rio Tinto wharf and factory. On the way home we called in to get some Tassie apples and then picked our own strawberries at a little farm on the side of the road. Finally got back to our unit and Alex cooked dinner.

Day 1-2 Tassie Trip

Uploaded my assignment Thursday night, then started to pack. I got most of my packing down by the time Alex came home from work. It was around 10:30pm. I went through my list to check what still had to go into the car in the morning ad headed off to bed.

Woke usual time and took the dog for her last walk for a month. Meanwhile Alex started packing. We finally got the car packed by 11:30am. Alex seemed to take forever. The longer we stayed there more stuff went into the car.

It was raining most of the way down. Got to the Gold Coast and Alex remembered that in fact he had forgotten to pack the maps that he had obtained from RACQ so a quick phone call to Sandy to look up the nearest RACQ store on the coast. We found one in Nerang St and just before we pulled in Alex saw the Queensland Transport Department. He remembered that he hadn’t paid the rego and it was due this month. So we would be driving around in an unregistered car. So he got the forms and we were able to drive through the pay window and pay. Then in next door to RACQ to get maps etc.

Finally we got on the road, took the Tugan bypass and headed south. It didn’t stop raining and in some places it was really heavy we could hardly see the road.

Finally arrived at Coffs and found Jamie’s house. Luckily they were not flooded out. If we had arrived Wednesday morning we would not have been able to get down their street as their street was under 2 feet of water. House was fine. We had a great dinner and lots of catch up. Finally got to bed around 10:30 for us. It was still daylight saving down there until midnight tonight.

We woke around 6:00pm our time and Jamie cooked us a great breakfast after we sat in the garden drinking coffee for about an hour. Their garden is lovely, the fish pond is great and Trish has nearly finished the mosaic mural in the outdoor entertainment area.

We then headed into coffs for a look around and finally headed south to Sydney about 12:30. It rained most of the way and there was lots of roadworks so travel was pretty slow. We decided to stop just south of Sydney on the Hume Highway Bass Hill. Alex wants to look at Cataract Park where the Jamboree is going to be in Sydney January next year. We got to the motel around 8:20pm our time, cooked some steak on our BBQ and now getting ready for bed. Alex has gone to the bottle shop for a bottle of port as he fancies one. He had a couple at Jamie’s. So I thought I would update my blog. We should get to Albury tomorrow night to see Alex’s half-sister.

Hope the rain stops sometime as it is not great sight-seeing weather.