Saturday, November 27

I've been out, for one reason or another, every day this week so I was looking forward to a day at home.  There were two jobs pending: mowing my 18 sq m of lawn and sending out a reminder to Probus members about a visit to a fuchsia farm.  With careful management, I could look busy all day.

Marilyn, though, had other ideas. It was a beautiful day, she said, and she wanted to go out for a drive and have lunch somewhere.

"Where do you want to go? I asked, co-operatively.

"Somewhere different," she replied.

I pulled up the local map on the computer and found an establishment about 20 minutes away called Dr Harry's Clucky Chook Cafe.  The Dr Harry mentioned is Harry Cooper who was a celebrity TV vet many years ago.  He's moved on to Queensland now but his ex-wife is still trying to cash in on his name.

The idea didn't appeal to Marilyn who said she wanted 'somewhere nice, like a winery.'

Jamie and Nera have gone to Hobart and we're babysitting Archie so we need somewhere nice which will welcome dogs so we set off to check out the vineyards on the Tamar River and found ourselves driving past the Rosevears Hotel.  This classic old Australian pub must have one of the best situations I've ever seen.  Built 100 years ago on the banks of the Tamar, it overlooks a narrow part of the river and over the water to the beautiful suburb of Windermere.

There are a couple tables on the front verandah of the pub so we pull up and check in.  It could not have been better.  The proprietors were delighted to see Archie, the food was fantastic and Marilyn was able to sample some of the sparkling made virtually next door.

"We won't have dessert here," she suggested. "We'll call into the strawberry farm at Hillwood on the way home.; so we did.  I hadn't been here for years and it has grown exponentially since then.  The hillsides all around are covered with polytunnels and I know this growth is replicated all around the area.  I could name 6 or 8 other berry growers who are experiencing the same growth.  The demand for berries must be enormous.

The agronomist for this particular establishment is one of Marilyn's ex-students.  I know that most of the soft fruit in Tasmania is picked by Pacific Islanders here on short-term visas but Andrea says that her core staff is made up of refugees from Nepal and Bhutan whom the government, in its wisdom, has settled in this area.  Andrea says they are fantastic workers.  In the peak season, she uses Pacific Islanders whom she houses in a guest house in Mowbray where they are fed and looked after.  She doesn't use back-packers nor reluctant locals because they can't be relied upon.

All in all, a great day and the lawn will have to wait until tomorrow.