TASMANIA

What a lot of fun, six weeks of workshops and travel in Tasmania. We had two workshops in Hobart and one traveling from Launceston to Smithton then on to Strahan and finally back to Hobart. We were spoilt with fabulous food, great accommodation, wonderful company and a coach to take us to the numerous painting locations.

We had some great painting locations and also did a lot of sketches.

While in Hobart we traveled down to the village of Franklin – Famous for it’s wooden boats

Beautifully built from Huon Pine

Life on the river

Late afternoon light was amazing.

The old boathouse where wooden boats are built and repaired.

Parked carefully in a shed, this old Suzuki still has a lot of life in it yet.

I cant resist photographing houses painted this crazy green

Strahan Evening

Strahan early in the morning

Hells Gate lighthouse

There are some fantastic old wooden boat sheds, apple sheds and huts south of Hobart – some in better condition than others.

After the workshop Dianne and I drove down to Cockle Creek, the southern tip of Tasmania. Great camping spots, beautiful beaches and inlets.

We were lucky to see this Spotted Quoll out foraging

Great birdlife too.

Tasmania is a great place to travel. It is small and easy to get around, it has a huge variety of attractions. We travelled from the cold dramatic Western Tiers and Highland Lakes down to the sunny comfort of the coast in a couple of hours. The forests of the extreme south are unspoilt and beautiful. Tasmania’s history is dramatic and well preserved, and the state has some of the best food, wine and beer in Australia.

Well worth a visit.

BACK FROM TASMANIA

Our last week in Tasmania was spent along the north coast. We camped on the beach a few kilometres east of Stanley. What an amazing sight early in the morning as the sun came up.

stanly

We met Gus in Bothwell. He is from Bend in Oregon where we have conducted a couple of workshops with Art in The Mountains.

Gus came to Australia, got himself a 1956 Landrover and is in the process of taking it to all the extremities of the country. Cape Byron, Mt Kosciusko and the Southern tip of Tasmania have been ticked off the list so far. When he leaves Tassie, he’s off to Cape York via Shark Bay, WA. Good luck Gus!guss

This outdoor kitchen seems to have escaped all the workplace health and safety restrictions. They did save a lot of space by installing it the electricity metre box.

kitchen

Oatlands cricket nets

nets

Sunrise Reeds

reeds

 

Tasmanian Lawnmower

mower

 

 

Camped by the river in Rossross

No matter how hard we looked, we couldn’t find a Thylacine, but we did stumble across these little critters in our search.

wombatsheep

goats

budgie

horses wet horses

 

Shooting things is popular in some areas of Tasmania – maybe thats why we had such trouble finding a thylacine.

hunter

 

Back across Bass Straight, we spent a few days in Melbourne before heading home via the Hay Plains, One Tree Hotel and Bourke.

one tree

 

The weather turned foul north of One Tree. Pulling off the road quickly bogged us down to the axle. A shovel, frantic digging and a lot of encouragement and advice from the passenger window, soon saw us on our way

bog

The further east we travelled the more saturated the country became. From Brewarrina home all unsealed roads were closed so it was a quick trip back along the bitumen.

floods

TASMANIA

Two weeks in Tasmania and not a sign of rain! The workshop was great and all the foul weather plans were unnecessary – talk about lucky. After we all said goodbye in Launceston, Dianne and I found our truck in the car park of Launceston Airport and headed south to explore some more of Tasmania.port arthur

Port Arthur from the cold waters of the bay.

oatlands mill

Oatlands Mill

island of the dead

Island of the Dead – Port Arthur

hells gates

Hells Gate Lighthouse on a rare sunny day.

gulls

Six obedient seagulls – Bruny Island

graves

Long forgotten graves

mountains

Fog towards Cradle Mountain

winter wood

Winter wood – New Norfolk

graves ross

Convict graves – Ross

georgetown lighthouse

Low Head lighthouse

foam

Ripples on the Gordon River

dummy

Shop Dummy – Ross

cradle mt

Painting at Dove Lake – Cradle Mountain

bootmaker otlands

Architectural Minimalness -Oatlands

bicheno

Bichneo fishing boats

zeehan

Architectural Practicalness – Zeehan

tamar banks

Banks of the Tamar

sale

Cheap Beer

rr

Port Arthur get away car

ross church

Archictectural Impressiveness – Ross

rosbury

Architectural Awesomeness – Rosebury