Lake Rosebery

We stopped at a bridge over part of Lake Rosebery. The reflections of the mountains and clouds were very clear. We could see several mountains including Mt Romulus, High Tor and Mt Murchison.

We take a short trip to the West Coast

Mt. Roland

On the way to the West coast we stopped off at the ETC cafe at Elizabeth Town where we had our morning coffee. The coffee was excellent. This is a great place to stop for a drink or a meal on the way to the N.W Coast as well as the West Coast

We decided to take the road through Sheffield that also leads to beautiful Cradle Mountain. It was a lovely day so Mt Roland near Sheffield was looking quite splendid. We stopped to take a few snaps of the mountain.

Happy birthday, Raphael!

Raf with Evie at his birthday picnic in City Park today.

Raf displayed evidence of his very creative talents at an early age.

Here is Raf momentarily pausing as he explores the old train in City Park, Launceston.

Raf and me (looking very 70s) with his favourite birthday present - a Corn Popper!!

Today is Raf's happy birthday. He is our third child who was born in January, 1971 just a few weeks before we went to Papua New Guinea for the second time. Consequently, Raf spent most of his first three years living in the beautiful coastal town of Madang. I am posting a few early photos of Raf from our collection.

Tahirih and Nic visit

This afternoon, our daughter Tahirih called in with Nic for a last visit before they return to Horsham in Victoria tomorrow.

Happy New Year - 2008

I thought that I'd scan some of my old postcards that convey New Year greetings. I particularly like to collect old greeting cards that feature two hands reaching out or interlocking - I refer to them as 'hands-across-the-sea' cards, as they convey sentiments relating to distance and being separated by land and sea.

I hope that you like these cards and the messages that they convey.

Feast of Honour

We celebrated the Baha'i Feast of Honour with friends at the home of Paul and Anna Gerard. We were delighted to have two visitors from the Netherlands join us ... Rebecca and Shamim Razavi. Rebecca and Shamim along with their young son Elliott, are visiting Rebecca's family who live in Launceston. It was a very happy Feast!

Cactus flower

Our friend Anna Gerard gave us a gift of a cactus plant this time last year. We are delighted to find that it has already produced some beautiful red flowers this summer.

We meet friends in the city

Morgan and her baby.

George Oosterloo

As we were in the city catching up on shopping and various tasks today, we were chatting with our friend Morgan and her new little baby when another friend George Oosterloo, who now lives in Brisbane, caught our attention as he was sitting at the same outdoor cafe. It was a very nice surprise to see George and to have a chat with him.

Our favourite Chocolates

Today I visited our favourite chocolate shop in Launceston - to purchase some more of their delicious merchandise. I particularly like their dark chocolates with chilli.

The Golden Compass

We went to see the movie 'The Golden Compass'. I enjoyed the movie very much. The action, the acting - especially Nicole Kidman was excellent. The special effects were quite spectacular. I particularly liked the interpretation of the bears. The film did not quite cover the contents of the first book of the trilogy - so we will have to wait (how long?) to see the further development and interpretation of the story.

Christmas greetings.

One of my hobbies is collecting interesting old post cards. One of my recent acquisitions is this Christmas card dated 1901.

Corra Lynn

A century old image from my post card collection.

Another old post card view of the North Esk at Corra Lynn taken a century ago.

As we approached Launceston, we crossed the North Esk River at Corra Lynn which has been a significant tourist site depicted on post cards over many years. As we have had some welcome rain over the past few days, the water flow in the river was quite fast.

Upper Blessington

After we descended from Roses Tier, we travelled through the beautiful valley of Upper Blessington on our way to Launceston.

Roses Tier Road

On our return journey from Beaumaris, we travelled on the Mathinna Road which took us over Roses Tier to Launceston. On the way, we stopped to photograph flowers and ferns by the roadside.

Happy Anniversary to Janne and Christopher

Janne and Christopher

The amazing fish.

Today we travelled to Beaumaris on the East Coast to spend time with Noel's brother, Christopher and his wife, Janne. The 23rd of December is their wedding anniversary and this year is their 35th (Coral). They kindly invited us to their dinner party which was held with a group of friends in their 'A frame' house that has a beautiful location at Beaumaris overlooking the sea. A feature of the delicious dinner was a huge fish that Christopher had caught.

Persecuting the Dead

Obi-Wan

Dorian Broomhall, a grandson who lives in Hobart, has joined with two friends to form a group called 'Obi-Wan'.
They recently recorded a 4 track CD titled "How to Hang a Left ..."

A few days before Christmas, they came to Launceston and did several busking sessions in our local strip mall in the city centre. They received a very positive reception and they were interviewed on one of the local community FM Radio statios - City Park Radio 103.7 FM.

Obi-Wan is:

Dylan Pargiter-Green - guitar and vocals
Dorian Broomhall - Trumpet, Melodica, Percussion and vocals
Cam Sibly - Flute, Percussion and vocals

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days

Happy birthday, Hespa!

Today is happy 8th birthday for our grand daughter, Hespa.