Friday, February,14th ....

We're camped in a great spot in the free-camping area in Deloraine. It's been very hot and dry over the past few weeks so the grass is straw-coloured and the ground is dusty, but we've found a very pleasant and sheltered area under a wattle tree and adjoining a native garden. I've attached a couple of photographs I took this evening when we were having an al fresco meal. You can see our little stove on the left (Marilyn has ducked out of sight to avoid her photograph being shown to the world) and, on the right is the cat's tent.

Yes, we are travelling with CB, the cat that came as a bonus when Jamie bought the house at Dilston. It's a very relaxed cat and seems to be quite blasé about travelling. She sits in her cat box in the car when we're on the road and eats and sleeps in the tent when we're on-site. She wanders around each new place we stop with no sign that she's stressed.

I had a little moan the other day about the downhill slide in the Tasmanian economy. Just this evening, there was a story on the 7.30 Report about one of the few growth industries in the state: it's the production of computer games. I was aware that there was a bit going on in this field. When we were at Launceston Grammar School, there was a company renting one of the unused classrooms and we heard that the biggest part of their work was writing education software and packages. It was a great day when they won a tender to produce work for Oxford University.

And now we hear that other little groups are writing world-class computer games, simulations and animation. One gob-smacking comment came from a government economist who said it is already 'bigger than forestry' in the economy. Yet, neither of the major parties vying for election in March, has even mentioned it.