Thanks to jennybluewren for sharing these videos on YouTube for us all to see…

Thanks to jennybluewren for sharing this video on YouTube for us all to see…

During the summer holidays (and at other times throughout the year), Port Arthur has many hands on activities happening around the place.

This year they had the following hands on activities happening (and many more) when we visited on Australia Day…

• A series of three Historical Plays – The Man Who Threw a Stone, The Shingle Strike and A Boy’s Life 
• Carved in Stone: the stonemasons who built Port Arthur
  
• Port Arthur Beneath Your Feet 
• Unearthed! Archaeology at Port Arthur 
• Gardens of Exile 
• Discover Port Arthur’s Furry and Feathered Fiends 
• A 30 minute harbour cruise aboard the MV Marana

We enjoyed the Harbour Cruise, one of the historical plays and the beneath your feet archaeology at Port Arthur as well as roaming around the grounds looking at all the historical buildings and reading all the information provided.

We would have loved to have been able to see all three of the plays. The children especially, as they very much enjoyed ‘The Shingle Strike‘ and asked to see more of the plays. With so much to see and do at Port Arthur we did not get time to do everything even though we arrived at 10.30 and and never left until well after 7pm. It is amazing, but no matter how many times we go there we are always able to find something new and interesting to see and do, just like this time when we learnt about the young convict Leonard Hand

We have promised though – to return next time DJ is staying with us, so that we can experience more of Port Arthur and what it has to offer and hopefully see some more plays, join in some more activities and also go on the Ghost Tour, which the children also asked about so so so many times, throughout the day.

Thankfully we purchased a ‘Ticket of Leave‘ so can return as many times as we like over the next 2 years without paying again!

Today we took Babcia to Oatlands to Visit the Callington Mill. It is a Georgian tower mill which was built in 1837 and is situated at Oatlands in Tasmania. We had a wonderful day and were able to actually enter the mill and experience the inside wonder of it all. Unfortunately visitors are unable to take camera’s into the inside of the mill, so we can not show you the workings of it all. However we would highly recommend the guided tour to anyone with even the slightest interest in the mill itself or the history of the local area. Well worth the time and effort to share in this little slice of history at work.

We hope you enjoy the pictures we have to share with you!

Well today we went into town to the Tasmanian Botanical Gardens to be a part of and enjoy their Spring Festival. Having just celebrated the Spring Equinox a few days ago, we took the opportunity to enjoy the fine weather and share in celebration of this wonderful time of year. The Botanical Gardens were in full bloom with tulips everywhere and wonderful flowers.

We wandered around the gardens for many hours and enjoyed the whole experience. The girls had a ride on ‘The Gallopers” which is a carousel ride which has been in operation for over 100 years. They sat together on a horse called “Mick”.

The children enjoyed time in the Animal enclosure

We watched “Punch and Judy”

Nik Enjoyed a Jump on the Jumping Castle

Both girls enjoyed time on the Climbing Wall

Phinee Made it all the way to the top!!!!

A fun day was had by all!

Last night Tata kept commenting on how cold it was. We had managed to go a few days without any heating on in the house, but around 7pm yesterday we could feel a real drop in the temperature – and this is when Tata mentioned how cold he felt. So for the first time in days we put the heating on, to try and warm the house. We also decided that we would leave it on overnight (even though it can cost us a bomb) as it was far to cold to turn it off and the extra money we would save was not worth the chance in any of us getting sick.

Anyway, this morning we realised just how cold it had become overnight as we awoke to snow all around us. When we got up and looked out from our veranda, towards the river and mountains, we could see snow on all the mountain tops, especially Mount Dromedary. Unfortunately from where we live we face the wrong direction to see Mt Wellington, but the children and I did go for a drive today around 2pm and checked out the snow on top and took some pictures. I will try to add them here a little later.

Currently it is 6 degrees Celsius here in Hobart, with an expected low of 2 overnight, with more rain and cold expected tomorrow. So no doubt the snow will be thicker on top of the mountains tomorrow when we get up again..

Definitely not like spring time here!

Well I must say that as we approached the beginning of September, we really felt that we had managed to escape the cold of winter here in Tassie. The weather had been so mild and the lack of rain quite good.

However the more we venture away from what is technically ‘Winter’ and move on over into ‘Spring’ the more we seem to experience colder, wetter weather and snow on the mountain!

Today there  is Snow on the mountain! but we are all set with jobs related to our move, so have no time to enjoy the snow today.

However, A few weeks ago, we did venture up to the top of MT Wellington, as the snow was covering it quite well. The girls had been bugging us all winter to visit so that they could play in the snow – as they remembered how much fun it had been the year before. However with our milder winter this year, we really thought our opportunities to ‘freeze’ atop the snow capped Mountain, where all but a dream.

That was until Spring arrived and the snow started to fall.

Here are some pictures of the girls enjoying the snow  and of their wonderful snow man as we headed into spring!