We were snug with our super diesel heater but I wonder how others are coping without the luxuries we are enjoying. There was another family in last week with a large tent which folded out from a small box trailer. There seemed to be three adults, three young children and a baby! Maybe they snuggled together to keep warm.
Tasmania is a wonderful place to be in Spring, Summer and Autumn, but arrangements have to be made to cope with the winter.
Marilyn and I had a couple of days out with our geocaching. We set off to find one local one and, when we parked our car, a voice called out from across the road. It was a fellow who works at Grammar and recognized Marilyn. He told us he had been noting the odd people who turned up looking for the cache ((one in the dark!) and was happy to tell us where it was. In fact, he was a couple of metres out.
When I checked in with the website to record our find, I noticed that several people had commented that ‘a muggle from over the road’ spoke to them. One even noted a ‘muggle Alsatian’ had watched their every move. Geocachers have hijacked the term ‘muggle’ from Harry Potter to denote anyone who is not in the know.
We had a few to collect around the Launceston Cemetery but got stuck on one called ‘Columbarium’. Wikipedia tells us this is a container for ashes but, even though we have found the spot, we can’t locate the cache. Previous searchers have said that it is an unusual one and it still eludes us.
The photograph is of a nice group of mushrooms in the cemetery.
Uncle Archie moved into the Links on Tuesday last and I flew up on Wednesday to help him settle in. He seems happy enough but I was surprised to find that he and mum are in the same area. When Sandy and I turned up on Thursday, we found that mum had gone looking for him and was sitting talking to him, I hope it doesn’t become a problem as he can be very demanding.
I spent all of Friday cleaning out his unit at Diment Towers. He had so much stuff that I had to be ruthless with what I discarded. I moved what he may need to the Links and packed four boxes with mementoes, photographs, etc. which we will store. A couple of pieces of furniture will be delivered to him on Tuesday and I will ring the Salvation Army to take the rest later in the week. Sandy came with me on Saturday morning to finish off the job before I flew back to Tasmania at lunchtime.
I haven’t mentioned before that the reason we are hanging around Tassie, and not sunning ourselves in North Queensland, is that I have to have a course of radiation treatment for early-stage prostate cancer. I’ve already had some hormone injections and the radiation starts on Tuesday. This will be the first of 35 sessions, so we are stuck here for at least seven weeks, with a daily trip to the hospital to highlight our days. What you can’t change, you have to put up with, so we’re just going along with what is necessary.
As soon as the treatment is finished, we are off. First to the Philippines for about a month, then to Nepal. We had planned a long cruise to Europe next year but, because our intended caravan adventure has been curtailed by this treatment, we will now spend all of 2011 ‘on the road’ and defer our cruising until 2012. The Volendam sails from Sydney in April 2012 and arrives in Vancouver 23 days later. That sounds particularly interesting as it would get us to Canada two months before the Centennial Calgary Stampede - giving us time for a cruise to Alaska, a look around Western Canada and maybe a trip across the border to Seattle.
Ah, what it is to dream!
I need to report that I have finally read The Book Thief and recommend it to all of you. I didn’t find it easy to access - the style is interesting (and sometimes irritating) but it is worth persevering for the last 20 or so pages which are remarkable.
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