iSonto #68

 Way back in late April we went on a wonderful autumn ramble to the Salmon Ponds! Here are the pictures. We had a rare take away lunch of pies from "The Cheeky Little Place" in New Norfolk which has lovely quality food.

A huge highlight of our visit to the Salmon Ponds was the appearance of a platypus who delighted in swimming up and down by the side of one of the ponds. Incredible! My best ever platypus sighting and we stood and looked at him/her for a long time.

This was the day before negotiations finished on Dave's job offer at the University of Stellenbosch. This was a challenging time for us with lots of decisions to make, so it was a great time to take a few hours off and get some perspective.

 Dave emded up getting an appropriate offer so we are now off to Stellenbosch in South Africa next week, only nine weeks after accepting the offer! Its been a super quick move to organise. This will be my last iSonto from our little house in Southern Tasmania. Our removals occur this week and then we fly out the following week. Interspersed with the following photos are thanksgivings I've jotted down over the past month and more. We have heaps to praise God for as we've already overcome so many hurdles, including visas, air flights, removals date, the sale of our car, and home maintenace.

Pausing longer to look at insects due to my fascinated company!

Lying in sun on our bed

Autumn sunny house bliss

Mercy curled up listening to Curious George on headphones

Perfect way to remember our Kingston home

Weeding sunny garden beds

Raised garden beds

Ability to read

Picking fresh lettuce

Panadol!

Nate compliance with school work today

60 percent of our family have South African citizenship therefore no immigration issues for them!

Dave vacuums for me

Walking the beach at sunrise

A beach driving distance of where we are moving

Relaxing "date" evening with Dave and no interruptions

Mercy and Nate making their own friends

Able to read a long story without sore throat

Old silicon removed from bath tub

Time to do this

Driving amongst autumn colour in sandy bay

Shopping in quiet on my own

Children behaved while I got moving quotes plus helped someone catch our chickens

Happy new home for chickens

Nate adjusting well to gym

Good physio session despite being in lots of pain beforehand

Watching sunrise

Have medical certificates

Money for Canberra flight

iPod to listen to Anne of the island

Gym sooooo much easier than last year!

Mercy playing confidently a whole gym distance away

Moments to calm down

Waves crashing on shore

Positive party for Nate

Managed to shop, prepare cake, wrap pass the parcel, make pin tail on dog game, tidy house 

Dave helped prepare food

Cherished last cousin party before we go

Mercy said children aren't trouble they are a joy they give cuddles and they play, when told robbers didn't want children as they thought they would be trouble!

Greek salad to see me through paper work

Warm restaurant to work in

Slept all night 9/05

Home made muesli

Friends and family  to celebrate with and who carefully select gifts

Nate delighted with remote control car

Broom to clean floor!

Dave cooked beautiful curry dinner 

New perfectly working lock on front door

Warm car to drive in

Early morning cuddles in front of heat pump. 

Mercy recounting our faith stories: You cried out to God for a husband and children and he gave them, I will pray for children when I am a lady

Mild day for party

Hot bath

Children played happily outside for hours!

Sunshine on washing

Nate learning addition from iPod game

Made lunch peacefully

Did washing peacefully

Played balloon ball with both m and e

Seeing war memorial from taxi at least!

Packed my own delicious lunch

Cloakrooms for back pack

Being on parliament roof and seeing Canberra layout

Privilege of exploring old and new Parliament House 

Looking at books, shops and exhibits in my own time!

Wandering to my own pace!

Found Perfect picture books for children as we move

Stack of certified documents and finance documents for visa applications equals incredible privilege

Able to share nibbles for after church

Dave made hommus

Children played well with others after church

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Echidna encounter

At the end of September I was blessed to able to visit Platypus House with my friends Felicity and Dave. The platypus were difficult to photograph. However, at the same place there were some echidnas that were happy to sit still for us while they ate . . .



It was fun to watch their long tongues lap up their food!

We were able to touch the echidnas. I had never done this before.


Since my sitemeter tells me that many of my visitors come from the USA, I thought you would enjoy a glimpse of these Australian animals.

Baby echidnas and platypus are called "puggles". They hope to breed both at Platypus House.

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Clarendon

Last weekend I had the joy of visiting one of Tasmania's many old houses. This is one of the most beautiful I have seen. It is about 30 mins south of Launceston. It was built in the 1830s, and is said to resemble some Louisiana mansions.

I enjoyed touring the house, but what I most enjoyed was wandering the lovely grounds in the spring weather. The birds were singing, the sun was warm, and best of all I could wear open shoes for the first time in months and feel the wet grass on my bare feet.






I enjoyed walking beside the river that borders the property. I love the new bright green leaves on the trees.

On the drive back, the views distracted me! I had to stop and try to capture them. However, the pictures below don't seem to capture the beauty of what it was like to be there!




I felt so full of joy on this spring day. I loved the drive, as well as my visit to Clarendon. I enjoyed listening to my hymn CD and relishing the beauty of nature. All seemed well with my world, at least for a few hours! It is a blessing when the beauty of God's world reminds us of His goodness, provision, and faithfulness. Truly, he gives in abundance.

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Mount Wellington

Last weekend I visited Mount Wellington. This beautiful mountiain is a spectacular backdrop for the city of Hobart. I have not been up the mountain for years. I loved the views, especially since we were there on a clear day.









Here I am with some snow, which you can't really see! I wanted to see snow before winter was over. This snow was scarce, clinging between rocks, but I did get my wish! It was still August when I got to hold snow in my hands.

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Tahune Airwalk

Way back in my holiday from work (or vacation if you are an American), I visited the Tahune Airwalk with some friends. You can check out the web site here. As usual, it has taken me over a month to post pictures - seven weeks, to be exact! Here they are . . .



Sam, Dave, and Genevieve beside the Huon River.



Genevieve and I overlooking the place where the Huon and Picton Rivers meet.


Beside a very big tree. We went late in the afternoon, and it was getting dark by the time we left.

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Cataract Gorge

In Launceston, one of my favourite places to visit is Cataract Gorge. These pictures were taken way back in May, but as usual I did not have time to upload them until now! The Gorge boasts the longest single span chair lift in the world. The first two pictures were taken while I was on the chair lift.




When I go to the Gorge, I usually walk around the basin, including over the bridge pictured here. It is only a short drive from where I live, and a wonderful place to walk.

The Gorge is home to many peacocks.

Early in May the colours were spectacular. I am a great lover of autumn, so I was thrilled that God enabled me to visit the Gorge for the first time just when the leaves seemed at their best!

I visited at just the right time, because on my second visit the leaves were all gone!

My third visit to the Gorge was with Mum and Dad. They look very cute here, don't you think?

I will soon loose count of my visits to the Gorge, I am sure, because I keep going there for my walks. I am blessed to live close to such beauty.

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Early morning thoughts

I'm back from Launceston and enjoying life in the south. For those of you who know nothing about Tasmanian geography, here is a map. I work in Launceston three days a week. I enjoy my work, but almost everything else that is important to me seems to center in Hobart. My parent's home is twenty minutes south of Hobart, and Hobart is a two and half hour bus ride from Launceston. I am now home for two weeks. I'm excited that I've now completed two terms of work, and have two terms ahead. Perhaps I'll actually get through the year :). I'm also very excited about enjoying my friends, church, hobbies, and the landscapes here in the south. I woke up at 4am with a tummy ache, and I feel so excited (and sore) that I can't get back to sleep. I have been excited for days! I have invited nine people over for lunch soon, which should be a lot of fun!

My friend Mike has 52 comments in response to his speculations on What women want. This feat was almost enough to make me want to write my own version. Something like "10 things men want in a woman". However, I came to the amusing and disconcerting realisation that I really don't know what men want :). This is not overly worrying to me, since I figure it is best to just be myself and leave the rest to providence. This is not because I don't want to get married. Especially when I'm lonely in Launceston, I think that marriage sounds like a great idea! However, I figure that if a man is to spend the rest of his life with me he should know what I'm really like :). Thus, I'm not interested in finding out what men want and then trying to be "it". I want Mr. wants to spend the rest of his life with Sherrin (whoever and where ever he may be) to like me, and not some image I am trying to project. In the meantime, it is tremendously funny to be a single. The number of amusing conversations I've had in recent times is enourmous. Here are a couple of examples:

One day a few months ago, a child at school asked me whether or not I was married.

“No”, I replied.

“Do you want to get married” was the predictable next question.

“I hope to get married some day”, I said.

“But aren’t you too old”, another child said.

“No silly, she’s not too old, my grandma got married” yet another child pitched in.

You will be glad to hear that at this point I did not laugh. Neither did I cry. I did breath a sigh of thankfulness that I am not a super-sensitive single person! These little ones have no idea of how old people are. Everyone big is ancient. I asked them to guess my age a while ago, and they thought 40 or 50 sounded accurate. I have told them I am 24, but it does not seem to sink in. The other day a little one asked me if I was 44.

Another funny experience happened during babysitting. the 10-year-old boy asked me if I had a boyfriend and how old I was. Upon hearing “no” and “24”, he pointed out to his 8-year-old sister “See, Miss Ward is waiting for the right one.” Isn't it good that I can provide such useful object lessons?

Also this morning I checked back to this post to see if anyone else had commented on the wonderful poem. I discovered that John Dekker has bought me the book of poetry the poem comes from. How nice is that? Here is a bit of the poem to entice you to read it:

This faith, although I lack it, is my own,
Inherent to the marrow of the bone.
To this even the unbelieving mind
Submits its unbelief to be defined.

Check it out on John's blog.

Oh, and John had some interesting observations (or should I say confessions) in the comments sectioni of cknat's post on what men want. Cknat has a green blog exactly like mine.

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Evandale

I was blessed to be able to visit one of Tasmania's historic towns, Evandale, on April 1. Tasmania has many quaint historical towns that are fun to explore, and I often think that I must do more sight-seeing in my own state. For some reason, travelling overseas and enjoying it heaps made me determined to make the most of what my own state and country offers. I am now more eager to take opportunities to visit historic places, museums, parks, or Art Galleries. I only had about half an hour in Evandale, but it is amazing what I saw in that time :).

I thought of Deb when I saw these cute buildings with lavender growing in front. I remembered that Deb enjoyed the picture of a cottage with lavender in front of it that I posted in "Enjoying the North".


































I loved the old churches, one on each side of the road and both "St Andrews". The Uniting church used to be Prebyterian. They must have loved the preacher they had from the 1830s - 1870s, because the prominent monument out the front is dedicated to him. I would like to know more about him! I am encouraged when I see the old churches that dot the landscape. They show that in the midst of the hardship of settling a new land, our forebears made church a priority. This is a heritage I can be thankful for. The other church pictured is Anglican (called Episcopal in the USA).










































It was also fun to see the leaves turning.

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Enjoying the North

I have only spent one weekend in Launceston so far, but I made the most of it! I went to two churches, had a great time catching up with friends who live in Launceston, and went sight seeing!

I enjoyed Trevallyn Dam at sunset . . .




I went to City Park on a hot summer day, to look at the Japanese monkeys, beautiful trees and flowers, and monuments. This monument is for those who died in the Boer War. It has "For Throne and Empire" on one side, sentiments that seem nonexistent in 2006!


I visited the museum to see an exhibit of 19th century paintings of Australian homes. While there, I also enjoyed seeing other early Australian paintings. It was encouraging to see portraits of protestant preachers, a Baptist and a Methodist, who were noted for their evangelical zeal.



I saved the best for last! This was so good, I had to post lots of pictures about it! On Monday I visited Woolmers Estate, where the first buildings were built in 1819. Following that, six generations of Thomas Archers inhabited the home. The last Thomas Archer was a bachelor, and when he died he left it to the Archer Historical Foundation.




Inside much of the house we were not allowed to take photos, due to the many valuable paintings contained there. It is basically the same as it was in the 1840s, as the front rooms were used only for entertaining. Later generations did not use the rooms, but kept them as they had been. They are wonderful! The family had their own crest, and a motto in French which is translated as "The end crowns the work". In this family's case, the first Thomas Archer seemed to do nearly all the work (with the help of scores of servants) while subsequent generations enjoyed the proceeds and lived a life of sailing, golfing, and general loafing!



The grounds were amazing. The stables are above. Below are some of the cottages, and a barn.



The grounds of Woolmers are also the location of the National Rose Garden. To stand and overlook the roses, mountains, and buildings on a sunny autumn day is a wonderful experience.



I enjoyed this place more than any other I have visited since I went to Williamsburg in Virginia. Anyone who has heard me rave about Williamsburg will know what a compliment that is!

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