Coochiemudlo Island (the home of carnivorous MOSQUITO)

After a lovely Christmas in Mullum, we all loaded up and headed off to stay at Coochiemudlo Island.
We caught a ferry, that took only 10 minutes to get us from the mainland to the Island.



We stayed at the most amazingly cute little cottages, they were called Quirky Cottages, (quirky by name and quirky by nature) each cottage had a theme, for example there was a cow themed cottage, a boat themed cottage and ours, was "Lamina Amour" (Read Lamina backwards... yep animal)

The Island being surrounded by lots of water seemed to be a mass breeding ground of massive amounts of mozzies! As soon as it was dusk we were inundated with them, it was insane. Luckily the back patio of our cottage was (almost) completely screened by flywire so we were able to be outdoors.

It was pretty hot while we were there so we spent a day at the beach, which happened to be very protected, shallow and tidal. The tree was great for sitting under in the water til the tide went right out leaving me stranded like a whale (not saying I resemble anything like a whale and nor should anyone else!)

The gang made their own waves



and if you too would like to see more of the cottages where we stayed and navigate the worlds most annoying website, try this site http://www.quirkycottages.com/ you might have to copy and paste into your browser

(seriously, it is annoying - you have been warned)

More Mullumbimby

Summer up at Robyn and Pauls place...

Nothing like a dip in the creek

Robyn's beautiful mosaic. It is in the concrete in the entryway to the front door.

Some of the boys playing Pong.... like Ping Pong, but more painful.

much more painful.
there is bruising.

(and if anyone spots Hazza's Crocs - please us know)

MULLUMBIMBY CHRISTMAS

The table is set,

The outfits are sorted


The tree is up,


and the happy snaps are taken


Now what??

The Trip from Tassie to Mullumbimby (via Sydney)

It was a quick trip from Tassie, through Victoria and up to Northern NSW..

We stopped only a couple of times, we found a great free camping spot next to a small waterway - it was starting to get warmer for us, so it was nice to be near the water.



Dave bought me some beautiful Roses in Albury-Wodonga (lucky me)

Another stop on the road brought us to Gundagai (you know how it goes, "there's a track, winding back to an old fashioned shack on the road to.....GUN DA GAIIIII")

On the road on the way out of there we found the famous "dog on the tuckerbox" (The statue was inspired by a bullock driver's poem, Bullocky Bill, which celebrates the life of a mythical driver's dog that loyally guarded the man's tuckerbox (lunch box) until death.)
And near Golbourn is the BIG MERINO... and yes he was big... inside was a bit of a museum about the wool industry.

Next stop Sydney, where we spent a couple of days catching up with Mick, Mel and Isaac who were visiting Sydney for Micks Christmas work party.. we even got to babysit Isaac.

Isaac delighted in introducing us to the enjoyment that can be derived from STAIRS!!! up and down and up and down and so on...

From then on it was a hustle to make it to Mullumbimby in time for Christmas...

en-route... the misnomer of the BIG banana..

underwhelming, I think we had bigger bugs 'go splat' on our windscreen.

Tassie Critters

This sweet little wallaby obviously can't read the "Don't feed the animals" sign. He was very insistingly cute and had a thing for apples...


Lavendar Farm at Bridestowe - hideously expensive - for what you got. Which was a walk around the fields, cafe and shop..... Not sure I'd recommend it for value for money - or the food.
The birds were cool tho...

I nearly sat on this poor old lady.. she was nesting in the garden right under the concrete wall I was sitting on. She was completely unfazed by us taking her photo - busy doing other things I guess.


Funky Cows at some Cheese Farm - found on our last day on the way to the Ferry - we also found a yummy scrummy Raspberry Farm. Oh the memories... mmmmmmmm

These pretty boys were in Cataract Gorge Launceston - a must do if you ever get there!

Port Arthur

It's hard to imagine the terrible history of this most beautiful part of Tassie.

We took two days to explore all the buildings and grounds.


DAVE JOHNSON LET ME OUT RIGHT THIS MINUTE!!!

Bruny Island = Tassie

With the amount of times it's travelled over water - our Caravan is very nearly a houseboat!

We took the van for another little boat trip, this time to Brunie Island...on the Hobart...

We free camped a few nights on the island and explored by day.

(I just love this photo Dave took)

This awesome spot is where we went to see the penguins come in for the night, right on dusk a whole massive onslaught of birds arrived and headed to their nests... some tourists wondered if they were the penguins we were all waiting for.

When they did finally arrive- they were very cute and very quick and very very hard to spot!!!

Have to mention that there was a yummy strawberry farm - YUMMMM - perfect for someone who might, or might not, be dieting. *ahem*

HOBART

Hobart has the best botanical garden that we have seen (yet) I hope to see all the botanic gardens of every Capital city! I think the amount of rain they recieve may have something to do with how beautiful it is.

I didn't get any photo's of Salamanca Markets - but they are fabulous! The port area of Hobart is very pretty with the old buildings, lovely shops to wander, cafes serving yum coffee and rain. Nearly all the time. In November/December.

DID YOU KNOW??????


HOBART HAS A CADBURY CHOCOLATE FACTORY.... It is 'oh so' Yummmmmmmmmmy!!
and you will be very glad to know we resisted...


Well I did start my diet the very next day - so consequently I never got to enjoy any of the goodies in the bag!!