A visit to Notley Fern Gorge

Noel and I joined with some friends for another 'Seeking Layli Devotional'. We met at the car park of Notley Fern Gorge which is about 30 minutes drive from our home in Trevallyn.

We enjoyed a walk n the beautiful reserve. We spent almost 2 hours walking and observing the beautiful environment. We each took a great number of photos. As well as the mosses, ferns and lichens, there was a great variety of fungi to be seen if one looked very closely at the logs and stones.

The pristine forest of the reserve is similar to that which faced the early settlers of the West Tamar. About a century ago the Notley forest provided timber for boatbuilding at Rosevears (on the Tamar River) and hiding places for bushrangers.

The area was privately owned for over a hundred years and the gorge was only visited by locals who knew about it. In the 1930s, the hospitality of the Hitchcocks allowed a road to be made through their property to the gorge so that everybody could enjoy its natural beauty.

On 23 November 1940, the area was pronounced a reserve and renamed from Foresters Hill (after the Forester kangaroo) to Notley Fern Gorge, after the place of origin in the United Kingdom of one of the local families. The neighbouring farmers, the Hitchcocks and Hunts, were paid caretakers until the Parks and Wildlife Service took over this responsibility in October 1992.

Of historical interest is a large, burnt-out tree, "Bradys Tree", which is reputed to have sheltered bushranger Matthew Brady and his gang when they were running from the law in the 1820s. Flintlock muskets found nearby were supposedly theirs.

1 giant leap *GOd*unity*p2

1 giant leap GOd*unity*p1

A visit to the Launceston Gorge with Edie

This morning I went on an adventure with grand daughter Edie to explore some of the beautiful areas of the Gorge,which is only 5 minutes drive from our home. We had an exciting time on the swinging bridge as well as exploring some of the many paths and walkways. We also saw some peacocks and some ducks. Edie also had fun exploring some of the playground equipment.

Dans in het Centraal Station, Antwerpen op maandag 23 maart 2009

Ngai Tahu 32

Martha

Re earthing

TaikOz

Blessing of the Earth

This was an awe inspiring concert by TaikOz, a Sydney based ensemble dedicated to the art of Wadaiko.
Originating in Japan, Wadaiko is the practice of Taiko - the traditional Japanese drums.
Wadaiko incorporates a complete world of drumming,song and dance that harks back to ancient Buddhist and Shinto rituals as well as being a reflection of contemporary musical life irrespective of one's nationality.

Hatch

Stuart Devenie gave an excellent performance in his recreation of a public lecture that was originally presented repeatedly throughout 1919 by Joseph Hatch.

Joseph Hatch orchestrated the slaughter of more than three million penguins on Macquarie Island to harvest their rich oil. He was hounded by the New Zealand Government, the London Times, the Seamen's Union and even H.G. Wells.

In his lectures, he worked hard to clear his name and justify his actions armed with a gift for persuasive speech and a magic lantern slide show.

I was impressed by the toy penguin that was part of the performance.

Far Flung Flicks

This was an excellent program of home grown films celebrating Tasmanian stories and Tasmanian storytellers.

The main feature Portrait of a Distant Land was a powerful and compelling story about Tasmanian Aboriginal photographer Ricky Maynard.

A visit to the Art gallery at Inveresk

We visited the Queen Victoria Art Gallery this morning to view the 10 Days on the Island exhibition: Spatial Origami and to see the current Artrage show.





We enjoyed the excellent work on show as part of Artrage . However, we were disappointed that the installation that featured in the 10 days on the Island program was not exhibited. Instead, there was a small piece on show near the entrance of the building.

The new entry element for the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery at Inveresk, created by Chris Bosse in collaboration with Christina Waterson, John Vella and students of the University of Tasmania's School of Architecture and Design.

We were delighted to meet up with our friend, Patricia Adams who is studying printmaking at the Polytech. As it was her lunch break, she kindly showed us her current work and gave us a tour of the printmaking studio space.

Florence

We traveled to Campbell Town to see this excellent production that was performed by Louise Moyes from Newfoundland, Canada. Louise is well known for the one-woman shows she creates, working with the rhythms of voice, language and accent as a musical score. This piece was performed in English and French using music, video and dance. She recreated the life of the lively and funny storyteller, musician and dancer Florence Leprieur, as documented at age 94. It was a celebration of Florence's creative spirit!

Floating

This terrific production from Anglesey, Wales was performed by Hugh Hughes and Sioned Rowlands. It was a comic and beautiful tale of the island that floated away ... across the Atlantic, to the Arctic and beyond

Ethel

Ethel from Manhattan, USA was the first '10 days on the Island' event that Noel and I attended.
They performed some of Ethel's greatest hits at the iconic Albert Hall here in Launceston.
I thought that they were brilliant and came home with 2 of their CDs.

Ethel is Cornelius Dufallo (violin), Ralph Ferris (viola), Dorothy Lawson (cello0 and Mary Rowell (violin)

Vale Dan Seals

Dan Seals who emerged as a country music star after performing as one half England Dan & John Ford Coley, died this evening from complications of lymphoma.

Seals, 61, was born in West Texas but moved to Dallas as a teenager. He and John Ford Coley became the toast of 1976 when their single, I'd really Love to See You Tonight and their Album, Nights are Forever, became gold records selling more than 500,000 copies. The duo also recorded an album titled Dowdy Ferry Road that was named after a thoroughfare in their neighbourhood of Pleasant Grove.

Dan's brother Jim was part of the multi-platinum-selling duo, Seals and Crofts.

As a solo artist, dan Seals recorded 16 studio albums with more than 20 singles in the country charts. They included Everything that Glitters(is not Gold), Bop and Meet me in Montana (with Marie Osmond.

Dan Seals was a Baha'i. His manager since 1979, Tony Gottlieb has said that if we want to honour Dan we should oppose bigotry, intolerance and prejudice.

Reference: Michael Granberry, The Dallas Morning News

Seeking Layli at Waterhouse Conservation Area

Today we met with a group of friends for a Seeking Layli Devotional. The Waterhouse Conservation Area was the site selected for today. It is a very beautiful area. We spent time exploring a small part of the rocky shoreline and we were captivated by the rich diversity of the rock pool populations as well as the rock formations.

The Waterhouse Conservation Area in Tasmania's north-east contains many wetland communities, including three major permanent deep-water lagoons - Blackmans Lagoon and Big Waterhouse and Little Waterhouse lakes.

Little Waterhouse Lake is listed under the Ramsar Convention as an internationally significant wetland. It is a very productive lake, supporting a high diversity of species, including species of particular conservation significance such as the rare Wolfia australis, the smallest flowering plant in the world.

Extensive, relict dune systems formed during the Ice Age can be seen in the north of the reserve extending from Croppies Points through to Tomahawk Beach.

The Waterhouse Conservation Area encompasses a diverse range of vegetation communities, including one of the largest areas of heathland on the north-east coast, a vegetation community which has been greatly reduced in extent since European settlement.

These diverse habitats support a rich fauna. Nine threatened species of bird and at least three, and possibly four, of Tasmania’s six species of threatened mammals are found in the reserve, as is a rare freshwater fish - the dwarf galaxias - and the vulnerable green and golden frog. Blackmans Lagoon and its feeder creeks constitute probably the single most important site in the State for the green and golden frog.