The Shingle Strike by David Young tells the story of Irish poet Francis Macnamara’s endeavour to overcome the bullying tactics of an unscrupulous overseer. The convicts’ only hope of resistance and justice is to strike, but can Macnamara persuade his gang to join him?

What a wonderful experience this was. We thought we had missed all the plays that were on throughout the day as we had focused on ensuring that we managed to actually attend the Port Arthur Beneath your Feet – Archaeology session. Which was our main aim of going to Port Arthur. However after enjoying the Harbour Cruise, we decided to have a look at the Commandants House and the buildings surrounding it. However as we approached this the actors in the play were calling out ‘Last play of the day!’ so we decided to go and see what it was all about.

What a wonderful surprise it was. Everyone, even the children enjoyed the play!

Here are some pictures taken during it…

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 took Tata to the Museum. It is the first time that he has actually had the pleasure of visiting it since we moved here as usually he is working while we are out learning in and around the community. The girls were excited to show him all the different parts of the museum. Afterward we visited Mures and had some chips for lunch – very scrumptious!

Well today we enjoyed a day out at Ross. This is where our Annual State wide Picnic is held. There was lots to see and do and a fabulous amount of people enjoyed the day from all around the state, which was great.

The girls enjoyed egg and spoon races, the childrens corner, full of colouring in and play dough as well as face painting, two legged races and so much more.

Watching a powerpoint presentation

Today we enjoined an outing to Molesworth where we enjoyed learning about Pond Life with other Home Educating families. This was one of the activities I had arranged late last year for us all to enjoy in 2010. The girls enjoyed it immensely. The best part however was when they got to actually go to a pond and investigate the water to see how many of the creatures they learnt about were lurking around.

Collecting the Specimens

Collecting the Specimens

Examining the Pond Life

Identification Chart

Drawing the specimens

Well today is a great day! we have always followed the football team in the AFL called Richmond, Tigers and we have always enjoyed going to the football to watch them play – rain, hail or shine, win or loose! However since moving to Tasmania, we have not had the opportunity to see the Tigers in action – live, as we just have not been back to Melbourne in footy season to go and see a game.

So we were delighted when Richmond was announced as coming to Launceston in Tasmania to play Hawthorn for the NAB cup. We rushed to purchase tickets the minute they went on sale in December and got great premium reserved seats! So today was the day. Football Fever landed in our house. Unfortunately I was so sick that the ticket I had purchased for me could not be used, for I was to stay home in bed, while SZG took the girls to the Footy. To say i was devbistated is an understatement, but then how I feel is so bad right now that I know I made the right and only decision to stay home.

The girls and their day had a great time. They got all dressed up in footy gear and enjoyed the game of footy, even though their team lost by a long shot… Now that’s dedication for you.

Ready for the Football!

Football Fever has Arrived!

Today we took a trip to Richmond to visit at the Richmond Maze – Which is actually two mazes in total! The weather was quite warm and the children where all excited. The trip around the first maze proved to be a bit puzzling to us, after quite a while of walking around and finding dead ends, we were guided to the centre of the maze by another group of our friends.

The second maze we found to be much easier to navigate. It had no dead ends, so if you went the wrong way you could be walking around it for hours. This seemed to be the issue for the other group of friends who visited the maze with us. Our Friends, after finding the middle of the second maze, seemed to get lost on their way out and after about 30 minutes walking around in circles they rang  our mobile to ask for help! We assisted them with providing them a map as we could not get close enough to them to help them actually find their way out..

Thankfully another family were also enjoying the maze and assisted in navigating the way back to the front of the maze for themselves and our friends and everything turned out fine!

A lot of fun and also frustration was had, and the only thing I can say is make sure you carry a drink bottle when attempting the mazes, because if you get lost it can be a long time between drinks! – oh and grab a map before you venture in!

A Postcard of the Richmond Mazes

Well we spent a day at the Botanical Gardens today. The children enjoy looking at all the brightly coloured plants and flowers and taking note of what is new for the different seasons every time we visit.

Here are some of the stunning plants and flowers we seen today!

Well today we went down to Verona Sands to visit with some friends of ours. They have a Shack down there and invited us for the day to share in their youngest daughters birthday celebrations.

Even though the weather was a little on the windy and chilly side, we enjoyed the day away immensely. The girls loved being able to ride the bikes up and down the road with minimal adult supervision. We took two walks along the beach. The first one was before lunch and involved us walking along the sand and enjoying the sound of the crashing waves up onto the beach.

We had a BBQ for lunch, which was nice. I tried Sweet Chilli Chicken Sausages for the first time. They are definitely different and can pack some punch, but over all were nice to eat.

Our Second walk was after lunch mid afternoon and involved us taking a walk along the beach again towards some rocks, were the children took the time to go ‘crab’ hunting. They had brought along buckets and the idea was to see who could collect the most ‘crabs’ for the day. It was funny watching the children find them and often not want to pick them up, but in the end both groups had a great collection of ‘crabs’ which they lovingly looked after for a while.

A great day was had by all and we look forward to going back down to Verona Sands one day again soon in a little warmer weather!

Here are some pictures of our day out!