Miscellany

Check out this awesome photo that Jodie took of some kind of insect. We really don't know what it is, but the angle of the photo, and the legs resting on the glass makes for a great effect.

Some quick miscellany from our first six months at Schouten House:

• Our latest check in: 2300 [they let us know in advance, so it was just more computer time]
  
• Our earliest check in: 1100 [please note, we prefer between 1400 - 2100]
• Our earliest breakfast: 0630 [very keen cyclists]
• We've had more than one lot of guests MISS breakfast altogether...
• Our longest run, fully booked: 18 days
• Our longest run without a day off: I think it's currently running at 21 days
• Most full cooked breakfasts cooked in a morning: 11 [Jodie holds this record]
• Fastest cooked breakfast service: not sure... I'm just trying to come up with something so I can get a record in the kitchen...
  

Well, that will do for now... if anyone else would like to ask about other metrics, please let me know... If Jodie gives in to my obessive compulsive disorder, I'm sure there are lots of other things we could start recording...

Australasian Ganets

On 15th February, after I thought they might not come back, Jodie and I were treated to a feeding display, by a bird that's almost knocked the Albatross from the top spot on my favourite birds list. The Australasian Ganet is a fantastic fisher that dive bombs the ocean for fish, as seen below!

Approaching...

Entering the water...

and splash!

and then off to get the next one...


... to the next school of fish!

Tasmanian Devil Park

20070209 Devil Park

When France and Catriona were visiting, we took a trip down to Port Arthur, and on the way home, stopped off at the Tasmanian Devil Park. We arrived in time to catch the tail end of the 'Kings of the Air - Birds of Prey' display, and unfortunately missed the Wedgetail and larger predators. It was still riveting.

All of the animals at the park have been rescued and rehabilitated although many cannot be returned to the wild. The exception is the devils, which are bred in the park and are to date healthy and disease free - an important population that just might help save the Tasmanian Devil for the future.

We were fortunate to see three generations of Tasmanian Devils and have to say they spend a great deal of time enjoying the sun. We were surprised to learn that the life span of a devil is no more than 6 years, but impressed with the massive strength of their jaws.

Make sure you check out the web album for all the photos.

Scorpion

Today, I got a little surprise in my cleaning caddy... a scorpion, as pictured above, no bigger than a one dollar coin. It's adding to the long list of reasons why it's good to wear gloves while cleaning.

George Henry is facinated with insects, and finds them fascinating game, so we need to keep these kinds of critters outside our house. Both for their safety, and George's.

Jodie let the scorpion go in the garden, and it looked as though a snail was going to be a friendly bunk-mate.

Family Visit: Friendly Beaches and Cape Tourville

20070121_Freycinet

As part of our jaunt up the coast, we stopped in at Friendly Beaches and Cape Tourville, for some spectacular views. More importantly, as pictured, spectacular surf. I'm very excited to see some surf in these parts, as Schouten Beach is a little too placid [despite my best efforts at body surfing the available waves this morning].

Check out the web album for some photos of the views, Nonie, Arvid and the surf. Jodie was very pleased to see a couple of pods of dolphins having a very exciting time, either playing or hunting some energetic prey. Jodie's Christmas present [binoculars] came in handy for the whole family... while an even bigger zoom lens and a monopod is on my shopping list.

Booked Solid...

They're coming right for us!

Since Christmas, Jodie and I have been very, very busy. We had 18 straight days being fully booked, which has now come to an end. We've even had the last three days off, which has been a nice breather before things hopefully pick up again in February.

We have still managed to fit in some swimming in Great Oyster Bay, which has been nice when the weather has been hot.

We have some wonderful neighbours that have helped us through our busy patch. When we have been stuck for ideas, or just too exhausted to make the effort to cook, they have magically shown up on our doorstep with freshly caught, filleted flathead! They have also rung us with Dolphin alerts, so that we can get down to the beach and see them. Unfortunately for Jodie, these photos were taken by me, as I'd finished cooking, and was able to run down to the beach to have a look.

Birds

Jodie and I have been out on Schouten Beach, or around the corner at Waterloo Point with a camera a fair bit recently. We both have a keen interest in photography, and in the bird life that Tasmania has to offer. I was very keen to get some photos of the dive-bombing Australasian Gannet feeding, but alas, they have disappeared.

According to Dave Watts 'Field Guide to Tasmanian Birds'... we think the first and last [top and bottom of these photos] are the Great-Winged Petrel [it's a surprisingly large bird when it passes overhead].

The one below, we think is a common Silver Gull... but we do have a variety of gulls around here.







We also enjoy watching the Masked Lapwing plod around our garden and they still surprise us when they call at night.

Wineglass Bay and Seafood

Last Sunday, we were planning to have a lazy day - but inspiration hit, and we headed out to Wineglass bay. As well as being spectacular [people travel half way around the world to see it...], we are both making an effort to get around to all the sights, so we can make enthusiastic recommendations to guests.


Unfortunately for Jodie, I had my GPS with me, so the trip up to the look out for Wineglass bay in the Hazards had to be quick, which it was. The photos don't do the view justice, so you should all come and check it out. I know just where to stay!

Below is a little Wallaby, that stubbornly stayed asleep until all the other tourists left, and then quickly made friends with Jodie [although I think it was after my apple!].


On the way back to Swansea, we stopped at the Freycinet Marine Farm for some fresh Oysters and Mussels. Jodie was our oyster tasting expert, and got to try before she bought. Jodie was so overcome with the taste, that she ordered a dozen. One dozen. Realising that none of these were intended for me - I made sure the order was for two dozen. With safety in mind, we got them on the half shell. Now that Jodie has found her metal chain-link glove, we'll be getting them whole and shucking them ourselves for sure.


We also picked up 1.5 kilos of Mussels, which had 'been taken from the water at about one o'clock'. Even after the Mussels were cleaned [what a thankless task] and the open one thrown out, they still weighed in at 1.5kg. I even counted them - 63 mussels in all. They were big suckers - much bigger than the little ones I had in France.


We cooked them simply in white wine and cream, with some onions, garlic and chili. With the oysters as the entree, it was quite a feast. I rate the dish at least equal to the Mussels I had in France, and am looking forward to much, much, much more seafood while we are enjoying the East Coast of Tasmania.

Introducing... The Boys

On Sunday evening, we finally picked up the boys, Irving Norman [pictured above] and George Henry [pictured below] from their luxury feline resort. They have been pampered and kept in the style to which they've grown accustomed for a long couple of months, while Jodie made the move to Tasmania, and we moved into Schouten House. If you would like to check out where they stayed, head over to the Catnip Cattery website. It is simply the best cattery anywhere near Hobart, and Narelle was magnificent... not just for the boys, but for Jodie, and the flow on effects for having all three of them relaxed and happy was just superb for me!

The boys were very brave on the car ride back up to Swansea, mostly in the dark, and were immediately at home in the brewery. The have a whole room to themselves [well, except for all the boxes!] in the new house, which has a donated arm chair - and should get decked out with their kitty caves, a new scratchy and plenty of toys.

Hopefully tomorrow, George might not be soooo excited to be home, that he even lets us have a little sleep in...

Devils. Tasmanian Devils. On the way home in the dark, we managed not to hit half a dozen possums, one rotund paddymelon, and two devils. I don't know if it was the shaddow from the lights of the car, but they look freaking huge - like dogs. Dogs. Except for moving like monkeys with no neck, and shoulders like brick out*-houses. I'm glad they are carrion eaters, because when they look back at you, it's like they are saying - you're next. Now... this all happened rather quickly, and my eyes were mostly on the road... I'll try and get a photo of one next time.

*Thesaurus again

Orford

Last weekend, Jodie and I had the pleasure of a trip up to Orford, and stayed at Sanda House. Jodie had a gift voucher for the four star Bed and Breakfast from the careconnect.sa [the programme formally known as the 'Oacis Programme'] as part of her farewell present from the project. We'd both like to thank everyone who contributed - we had a fantastic time!

One of the highlights was Scorchers, the local pizza place! They serve a fantastic range platters, and pizzas with fantastic local Tasmanian produce. The seafood pizza was awesome, and the chili jam worked wonders with the chicken [Huon valley] mushroom. We also had Tasmanian organic ice cream for desert!

Breakfast was also great, with freshly baked bread, and homemade conserves and jams from fruit grown in the orchard on the property.

Another of the highlights was a walk along a wonderful beach with Jodie, and finally discovering a small bird that can walk instead of just hopping all over the place. If I only knew what it was, it would be a good candidate to replace the Albatros as my favourite bird.

Peppermint Bay

20060826_PeppermintBay

Aug 25, 2006 - 38 Photos

Jodie and I went on a cruise to Peppermint Bay today, and it was very nice to get out of the house after being couped up for most of the week.

I have uploaded some photos to my google picassa web album, since there were many more shots than I could fit in a post. The web album can been seen here.

I have also posted a couple of photos from my trip to the RU Brown Society Piobreachd competition in May, 2006, here.

I think this is probably an opportune time to list the products that I use from Google! Long story short... Google rocks! I recommend their products.

Gmail - the best web based mail around, with free pop mail support.
Blogger - helps produce what you are reading now.
Google Picassa - The best program to organise my photos [integrated with blogger [and picassa web]].
Picassa Web - Allows me to share photo albums on the web, with a single click in picassa
Google Calendar - accepts invitations from Outlook [and vice versa], so is easy to sync, and you can share events with other important people.
Google Reader - for all my web subscriptions [William has the only blog with subscription that works [besides me, of course]]
Google Maps - road map or sattelite ... it has it all!!!!! There are some people who are using the api very creatively too! More about that later...
Google Desktop - lets me search my Outlook email and rest of computer like no other program.
www.google.com.au - the best search engine on the web [almost forgot that one [but googling is in the dictionary now]]
Google Writely - online word processing... is pretty cool, and has collaboration potential.
Google Spreadsheets - had a little tinker - probably prefer Open Office calc or Excel at the moment.