Thursday – our last day – we slept in until we heard Austin astir upstairs then after a leisurely breakfast we packed the car for the last time, said goodbye to Keren, Isabella and Austin, before setting out for a trip up Mt. Wellington. We dropped Ron off in the city and then continued on up the mountain. We reached the top of the mountain only to find that it was quite cold and windy and that we were above the clouds. That is there were clouds below us blocking out much of the view of the city. However the clouds were moving fairly quickly and we thought we were about to get some good views when they started to come back from the opposite direction. Still we did enjoy the drive and the sights.
Next we decided to pay a quick visit to the Botanical Gardens, but after a bit of procrastination we got back into the car and headed for the airport. Dad dropped Mum at the drop off zone with the luggage and then returned the car to Hertz.
We then checked in through the computer check in and tried to take our bags to the luggage drop zone only to be told to get back and wait in line. Evidently they were not manning the luggage drop counter. The check in line moved very slowly as almost everyone appeared to have a problem although we went straight through.
We decided to go through to the lounge and have a coffee etc., as we had quite a while to wait. Dad went straight through the scanners but Mum set off the beeper. She took off her shoes and tried again - still no go – went through all her coat pockets still no joy. Then they said you don’t have any chocolates do you – yes Mum had the remains of a bar of chocolate in her pants pocket - this caused quite a bit of ribbing from the security staff.
We had a relaxing wait in the lounge and the flight home was good except that there were no video screens and we were flying well above thick cloud. They warned us It might be a little lumpy near Brisbane but it really was quite a smooth trip although the plane did take a big detour west to avoid much of the turbulence over NSW.
Peter picked us up at the Airport right on time and we were finally back in familiar territory.
A very big thanks to all our children and their partners for this wonderful gesture and we hope that you all get to experience the same one day.
God Bless you all
Love Mum & Dad.
We were up early (Brian had the alarm set for 5.30 most mornings) and so we were on the road heading for Queenstown by just after 6am. As we drove into Queenstown we were struck by how untidy and unwelcoming the approaches to the town were. Entering the main area Mum decided she needed a pit stop so spotting a little park we went there but no sign of the required facilities – what we did find was one of the best memorials we have seen anywhere – not only was there a shed with a mining machine but there was a larger than life size monument of a miners family and all the miners work gear but also a layout of 11 boulders in a water feature and each boulder had a brass moulding on two sides depicting the history of Queenstown from the aboriginal days up until completion of the memorial in 1983.
After Mum accosted a couple of council workers and a visit to the not so grand toilet block we did a tour of the town including a visit to the lookout which involved a reasonably steep path but the climb was worth the effort. Once again the flowers up the hill were quite spectacular and the view of the scalded hills all around was excellent. Unfortunately the locals are concerned that the scalded hills, which were the main tourist attraction to Queenstown, are starting to revegetate. There are some beautiful old buildings in the town lovingly restored.
Another of the town attractions is the gravel Football field.
Back on the road again we headed for Lake St. Clair which is situated in the National Park south of Cradle Mountain but a considerable distance south. Lake St Clair is the deepest fresh water lake in Australia – 167 metres deep. There is a large National Park centre here but we made a quick visit to the centre – walked down to the lake edge – it was quite cold and windy – then hit the road for Hobart.
Mum mentioned that there was a large carving along the road that she wanted to see but we had no idea as to what it was called. Dad noticed a sign that said “The Wall”, he asked Mum if they should go in but decided not to. A bad mistake as this was the carving. It is evidently a work in progress but is about half to two thirds complete – it is some 5 metres tall and will be 100 metres long when complete – all carved in Huon Pine. There are other carvings of animals etc. It is being hailed as The Eight Wonder of Tasmania and depicts the history of Tasmania. It is near Derwent Bridge so don’t miss it like Mum and Dad. I think it is called “The Wall in the Wilderness” or simply “The Wall”.
We pulled up for a picnic lunch where of course Dad had to feed the birds so we soon had birds fighting over the bread etc. Mum didn’t manage to capture the birds in the picture.
Moving on we arrived at New Norfolk where once again we were in need of Tourist facilities. We found a nice little park where the amenities block was adorned with a series of Murals depicting the Production of Hops in the district. We didn’t have time to visit Gen and Jon Denton again as we had told Dads cousin Allan Bull and his wife Rhondda that we would visit them that afternoon and they lived some 20 kilometres south of Hobart.
We negotiated Hobart without difficulty but the driver had some difficulty in following orders as we exited the City – as a result we took considerably longer that it should have to reach our destination. It wasn’t that we were lost – we just didn’t know where we were.
Allan and Rhonda seemed pleased to get their first visitors since their arrival as they had only been in Tasmania 2 weeks. They have purchased a lovely two storey brick home on ten acres of fairly steep open forest. The home has a lovely garden and I think it is a good thing the driveway is bitumen because is as steep as Jo and Peter Mullers driveway. After a tour of the gardens etc. they took us for a drive south as far as Dover, showing us several places that they had inspected when searching for a house. Allan builds Guitars whilst Rhondda normally works for Centrelink but is on leave of absence for the moment.
We had dinner with the Bulls and then headed back to Keren and Ron’s where we sat up and talked until quite late.
Tuesday morning we were able to have a bit of a sleep in as the boat trip didn’t leave until 8.30
am. Unfortunately the day didn’t dawn bright and sunny so we packed our raincoats and headed for the boat. The cruise first took us out of the harbour through the heads (known as Hells Gate) into the Southern Ocean. As we were travelling out to the heads we noticed a line parallel to our direction of travel – at first Dad thought it was a dolphin swimming along – but then the Captain explained that it was the “Training Wall”. Evidently it was built in 1900 a straight line of rocks starting some 4 metres below the floor of the harbour with a width of 10 metres and finishing just below high watermark with a top width of 4 metres. It is about 3 km long and was constructed to deepen the harbour by channelling the water running out to sea through a narrow channel thus carting away any silt or debris. It worked very well and would have been a wonderful engineering feat in its day – very early 1900’s. The work was not done by convict labour as many surmise. We were told that the job cost more than the total economy of Tasmania that year. Outside the heads, a breakwater, about a kilometre long was also constructed. This helped to make the trip into the harbour a little less hazardous as quite a few ships were wrecked prior to its construction.
After turning around and motoring back into the Harbour the next point of interest was the Fish Farms. These consist of round circular mesh ponds with high mesh sides which prevent birds, swans etc from stealing the fish, not to stop the fish jumping out! The fish are fed by spraying the food pellets into the pens by means of a water cannon. We continued on up the harbour and for much of the time we were able to ride out on the front deck, but occasionally we we’re chased inside by rain squalls. Continuing on, we entered into the Gordon River. It is truly a magnificent river wide and deep but the water is almost the colour of weak tea as it is stained with tannin from the button grass plains.
About 15 kilometres up the Gordon River we pulled into the World Heritage Walk jetty and everyone disembarked and took a tour around the boardwalk. The walk winds through a temperate rainforest with moss growing on almost everything, bushes flowering profusely and past the remains of a Huon Pine which is reputed to be several thousand years, old still alive with shoots emerging from parts of the tree’s stump.
Back on board and we headed downstream as far as Sarah Island. Sarah Island was the home of the infamous Macquarie Harbour Penal Settlement. We did a guided tour of the ruins, it was quite interesting. The Island which was completely cleared, now has trees of quite considerable girth along with shrubs, Fern Trees, Grasses etc. We landed back at the harbour and then went for a stroll around the shops and town before having a reasonably early night.
Monday morning and we were on our way South but first we had to go back to Wynyard before we hit the road to Strahan. Most of the way we wound through miles of forestry plantations – much of it clear felled – previously it was planted to pine trees but replanting seems to be almost entirely Eucalypts. Most of the clear felled areas have a strip left along the road frontage so that travellers cannot see the extent of clearing, however, here and there we got a glimpse of trucks and loaders.
After leaving the forestry country we came to the small township of Tullah – the home of the Wee Georgie Wood Railway Train collection. The Wee Georgie ran on wooden rails with a guage of only 2 feet (600mm). There is a small track system set up and the train is bought out twice monthly for joy rides. The train originally ran in conjunction with the nearby mine which is now closed.
Next stop was Zeehan - an old mining town with some lovely historic buildings. It would appear that a lot of effort is now being put into preserving the towns history. It has a quite famous museum in the old School of Mines and Metallurgy building. Mining must also be on a resurgence as there appeared to be quite a few mining companies with staff in the town. Mum and I took time out to have a Cappuccino and something to eat. It was a nice little café and the service was excellent.
Next stop Strahan!
We arrived in Strahan and pulled into Cosy Cabins only to see a sign saying the place was closed up. We eventually found a gentleman who explained that we were at the backpackers area and that the cabins were further around near the foreshore. After booking in we went for a drive around – at this stage Mum was talking to Mary on the phone when she spotted a pure black rabbit. Actually there was a mother and a kitten – both pure black. We tried to get a photo but they raced into the Lantana Bushes where we couldn’t see them. Anyway we continued on out to the Train terminus and lo and behold there was a pure white rabbit sitting in the car park. Mary of course was convinced that we were pulling her leg. We tried for a photo but it is a little hard to see the rabbit.
After confirming our cruise booking for the next morning we went for a stroll around the shops, bought some takeaways for tea and then tried to find a good spot to take photos of the sun setting over the sea. We eventually found a little bridge over a gully which looked the right way so Dad fed the ducks whilst we waited for sunset at about 8.45p.m. Actually the sunset is over Macquarie Harbour, which, of course, goes out to sea.
On Sunday morning we made our way to Stanley in the far North West. We followed the coast road wherever possible. We continue to be amazed at the flowers – gardens along the roads are just a mass of flowers and in many cases the roadsides are also lined with flowers.
We travelled on through Burnie where we stopped for a pit stop and a quick look at the wharf area where they appeared to be unloading a large pile of woodchips. One particular town where the flowers were particularly beautiful was along the coast road coming into Seabrook. As we headed west the weather started to deteriorate with cloud developing and the winds increasing. By the time we got to Stanley and pulled up at a lookout we were looking for our jumpers and holding on to the lookout rails so that we didn’t blow away. We looked across to “The Nut” and we could see a very steep winding up the side of the mountain – considering the state of Mums knees and the strength of the winds we were beginning to reconsider our thoughts about climbing The Nut, but we decided to go and have a closer look. Arriving at the bottom of the mountain we made a few enquiries about the state of the track – we were told that the chairlift was still operating and it wasn’t rocking too much so things were OK. We packed ourselves a bit of a kit, raincoats, water, chocolate etc. and set off up the track which turned out to be poured concrete not steps so mum decided to give it a go. It was fairly steep and slow going – some young ones zoomed past but we didn’t go far before we passed one of them laying flat on his back trying to recover. We made it to the summit and then circumnavigated the Mountaintop – the views were quite spectacular. Getting back down was another challenge for mum as going down was much harder on her knees than going up, so she walked backwards a good deal of the way. We booked into our cabin and then had a rest before going out for a look around and buy some fish and chips for tea. Then it was time for the Platypus and Penguin Tours. There were only four of us on the Platypus Tour. The tour guide took us out through several properties to a couple of property dams. He warned us that it would be difficult to see platypi that night because of the wind causing ripples on the water. However, as we approached the dam he exclaimed, “There’s one that has just come up over the dam wall – too late he’s gone down again. About this time we started to think we were getting our legs pulled but following instructions we followed along and sure enough a bl----dy platypus surfaced briefly then disappeared. We had several more sightings but they were fairly skittish. We returned to Stanley, picked up another passenger and proceeded to the Penguin Rookery at the base of “The Nut”. By this time it was dark and the Penguins were just starting to come in from the sea. They are delightful creatures, but they looked so clumsy with those little webbed feet. Still, they climbed over the rocks and up steep banks to get to their nests. Many of the nests were actually made by the locals who have built some 160 of them in an effort to re-establish the colony that had been reduced to only 8 breeding pairs. Local schools are involved – great effort!
It was fairly early to bed this night as Mother wasn’t feeling very lively, but we did enjoy a lovely meal of lamb chops that we had purchased that morning.
Saturday dawned bright and sunny as we said goodbye to Cradle Mountain and headed back towards Devonport. Our first major stop was the town of Sheffield – renowned for its Murals.
We did a quick tour of the town before pulling into a chemist shop to buy some Panadol Gel (recommended by D.I.L. Mel) to try to get some relief for Mum’s knees. Then after massaging the knees, we took a further look at the town murals. They are magnificent and one gets the impression of really looking at the scene as it is happening.
Whilst she was taking the photos, a little girl in a red top, came up to her and requested that Mum take her photo. She did, and then her Dad came with a young boy who introduced himself and then turning to the man said, This is “John”. The man responded “Dad, thank you!” Friendly town! Leaving Sheffield we headed into Devonport and then out to Don where we had arranged to meet Mum’s cousin Belinda Benson and her husband Chris along with their 3 children. Belinda is the youngest daughter of Grandma Cooks’ sister Betty. Chris’ family used to have a property at Kilcummin and the family used to go to mass at Coovin the kids went to school with Mark and Bruce Cook. It was really great to catch up with Belinda and Chris and they were great hosts. They had asked Ian and Gloria Benson and also Chris’s brother, Mark to join us all for Morning tea. Belinda had a spread suitable for royalty – no way in the world we could make a dent in it. After chatting for an hour or so Chris took us on a tour of their farms, packing shed etc. The farm on which Chris and Belinda live, runs right to the edge of a cliff with the ocean pounding on the rocks below. They are presently installing a Lateral Move Irrigator, which will water vegetables, right to the edge of the cliff. The whole family are involved in the business Forest Hill Farms, which grows and packs Organic Vegetables, including Broccoli (1,300,000 head), Onions, Potatoes, Carrots, Garlic, and several other crops. (9 different crops in all) They also run sheep and cattle – all organic. Besides the Benson Family – Mum, Dad, 3 boys and 2 girls and their spouses,- they employed another 42 people last year and expect to employ up to 80 this year. They are presently extending their packing shed. The extension is 40m x 28m plus the link to the existing shed. The packaging is all computerised. They now own 6 or 7 farms all with irrigation.
We left Bensons and booked into our Cosy Cabin which was near the waterfront in East Devonport. After a short rest we headed off to Latrobe in search of the Axeman’s Hall of Fame, which Steve and Katrina Cook had asked us to go visit. It was originally run by David Foster, who is a World Champion Axeman, many times over. Unfortunately David has not been well and only comes in occasionally. However, we left our names as well as Steve’s & Katrina’s and the attendant assured us that she would get it to him. We watched several videos of various woodchop events and wandered around the display. There was also a display on Platypus and Trout in the same building.
Leaving Latrobe we went for a drive out around the Sassafras district, saw some magnificent crops of irrigated Petrel Wheat, as well as other crops. We were utterly amazed at the steepness of some of the paddocks being watered by Centre Pivots. We then joined the Bensons at a Church that their group lease. It is a Uniting Church. A priest is flown across from Melbourne to celebrate a Latin Mass for them. The priests come across every fortnight and celebrate a weekday mass on the Saturday night and then a Sunday Mass next morning. The Bensons and their little group hire the church each fortnight. After mass we went into Devonport and had a drive around, couldn’t find a shop anywhere to sell us a cooked chicken even though the major department stores were open until 9.00 pm and it wasn’t yet 8.00. We eventually found an all night takeaway shop on the road back to our cabin.
Friday we were up early despite protests from one member of the party who thought we were on holidays. We grabbed some supplies from the IGA adjoining the Cabin area and then headed off to Cradle Mountain. We had a reasonably steady drive across through Deloraine and Mole Creek. One of the things that struck us most was the hedges of Hawthorne (I think) – many of which were up to twenty odd feet high - along both sides of the road. Almost all of them were covered in white blossoms. We drove up to a cave known as King Solomon’s Mine only to find that the first tour didn’t start for an hour and a half but that there was another cave about 10 minutes back where the tours started in half an hour. These were the Marapooka caves so we hightailed it back there and did that tour before then going back to the tour at King Solomon’s Mine.
Both of these sets of caves were quite spectacular – the Marapooka caves being known as wet caves and are a lot further below ground level. An added interest here was the spectacular show of Glow worms in one area. These caves are much more active than the King Soloman’s Caves The latter have much more colour as the seepage contains much more discolouration than that of the Marapooka system. There are many quite spectacular formations in both cave systems.
After leaving the caves we wound our way towards Cradle Mountain National Park – and I mean wound as the road across to Cethana and Moina is very winding and quite steep in places- but still an enjoyable drive. It does pass through a lot of forestry country with some large areas having been logged out and replanted only to be clear felled again.
Finally we arrived at Cradle Mountain Resort area where we booked into our cabin, unpacked our bags and had lunch. We were welcomed to our quarters by one of the locals who just happened to love bread. We drove down to the National Park headquarters and checking that it was OK to take our own vehicle as far as Dove Lake. Then it was on to the lake and on with the walking shoes for the 6.6 km walk around the lake. All went well for the first couple of kilometres and we were really enjoying our stroll when Mum caught her foot on a step and caused her knee to lock up, resulting in great pain. Undeterred we battled on and I promised Mother I would massage her knees “if” we made it back to the start within 2½ hours. Onwards ever onwards - but worse was to come after another kilometre or so mum caught her other foot and beggared her other knee – from then on it was pretty slow going – especially when we came to steps, and steps there were aplenty. The views were quite spectacular but I don’t think mum really appreciated them as almost every yard was excruciatingly painful. I thought I might have to leave Mum behind and go get a helicopter or perhaps a boat, however, with me pushing uphill and providing a shoulder to lean on downhill we finally made it back to the car. Alas for Mother it was outside the 2½ hour time limit for the knee massage. Oh, alright, I’m not that mean.
We had a brief drive around Richmond before heading North towards Launceston via Campania and Colebrook before joining the Midland Highway at Jericho. It was a lovely drive, fairly winding, but we were amazed at how dry most of the countryside was. We detoured off the highway into an old historic town called Oatlands. There were many old buildings including an old flourmill, which used to have large wooden sails like those on Dutch windmills. Now it only has a windmill like fan doing the driving. We decided to fuel up and nearly died when we saw the price of fuel - $1.48 per litre. However, as they are the only service station in the town, I guess they can set their own price. We had lunch in Oatlands in a little park overlooking a water habitat and then continued on to Hadspen where we were booked into the Cosy Cabins for the night.
After finding our way into and out of Hadspen we eventually located our digs, unloaded our gear and headed into Launceston. We went straight north to Beauty Point where we booked in to see the Seahorse exhibition. This was really a very interesting part of our trip – after watching a video about sea creatures, we did a tour through an aquarium area with all different species of Sea Horses, and Sea Dragons before going through the breeding room where the seahorses ranged in age from those born that morning to a tank of 2 year olds containing over 14,000 live specimens. Leaving Beauty Point, we travelled back to Beaconsfield, the small gold mining town where two miners were trapped underground for 2 weeks back in 2006.
Unfortunately the Museum was closed by the time we arrived but we could hear the mine working behind the museum. There were a number of static displays outside the museum and in the little park opposite.
After leaving Beaconsfield we headed back into Launceston, where we were to meet Keith and Liz Liddington, parents of Keren Franks. We met at a fish and chip cafe on the Marina wharf at Launceston and after a lovely feed of fish and chips Keith and Liz escorted us out to Cataract Gorge. By this time it was nearly 9.00 pm but there was plenty of light and there were scores of young people still swimming in the Gorge Pool. We went for a stroll over the swinging bridge. and around through gardens, along several paths and back across the river by way of a low crossing. The flowers around the Gorge were magnificent – especially the rhododendrons – by this time it was almost dark but people were still arriving to go swimming. We invited Keith and Liz back to our cabin at Hadspen where we finally cracked open the bottle of wine which was waiting for us in the motel at Port Arthur. We entertained until 11.00 or so when our guests departed and we hit the hay.
Wednesday morning and the chance for a sleep-in as breakfast at the motel didn’t start until 7.30 – it was a very lovely breakfast, thank you all, as it was part of the accommodation package. Afterwards we strolled through the gate from the motel into the Port Arthur site ready for our introductory tour – this was probably the least impressive part of the whole Port Arthur experience and probably the one part to give a miss if you are looking to cut something out. We then had a great morning exploring on our own until it was time to go on the Harbour cruise. The cruise provided a very interesting commentary about the settlement and how it worked and about the Isle of the Dead where all those who passed away, both convicts and free people, were buried.
The Gardens around the site are quite magnificent and have been restored to much as they were in the days of old. We were very impressed by the virtual freedom of the site – we could walk anywhere without signs saying don’t do this or that and once you are on the site pretty well everything is free, including the videos, looking up your convict ancestors on the computer system etc. By the way there were many Cooks(10+) on the convict list, 3 Bryants, 1 Webb and unbelievably - no Navins.
At lunch time we had the magnificent lunch hamper which the Motel had prepared – one basket each but there is no way in the world we could eat all of the food they provided. One highlight of the hampers was the apples – probably the most delicious apples we have ever tasted . We tried to buy apples in Tassie but they were awful - cold storage fruit - which we refused to buy. After a short siesta, it was back out to the site and by this time dad was having trouble convincing mother that the hills and paths really weren’t really that steep.
One thing we did notice was that there was no mention of the massacre that occurred there in April 1996. The only reminder being a memorial garden which consists of the lower walls of the café where most of the shootings occurred, a heavily planted garden, a memorial pond and a couple of brass plaques on a cross and a stone. There is no mention of the culprit so I guess they are all trying to forget Martin Bryant.
We spent some more time back at the interpretation centre where we watched some of the videos about the site and visited some of the interactive displays, it was then back to the motel where we had a lovely meal. The motel dining room looks out over the Port Arthur site and as it is still light until 9.00 pm it is a good spot to enjoy great food.
From Cadburys we headed north, crossed the Derwent at Granton and followed it along the east side of the river, stopping to shop for some supplies at Lindisfarme. We then headed south towards Port Arthur. Lunch was an interesting experience as we pulled up at a little place called Dunalley where there is a monument to Abel Tasman only to find that we didn’t have knives, plates or any other type of implement with which to cut our lunch. We ended up using a set of tweezers to cut up cheese and tomatoes for our sandwiches, but they still tasted fine.
After a visit to the monument it was back on the road as there was much to see before Port Arthur. First was the Tassellated Pavement –a very interesting flat rock formation which looks as if somebody had laid down paving stones. Some of the formations are called pans and have a raised edge and lower centre whilst others have a raised, rounded centre and are known as loaves. Next was Eaglehawk Neck a very narrow section of land between Norfolk Bay and the Tasman Sea which played a vital role as a checkpoint to stop absconding convicts in the days of the Port Arthur Penal Colony.
Our next stop was the Tasman Arch – a very impressive bridge of land spanning the ocean below but which one walks across on one’s way to visit other scenic sites in the area
The Devil’s Kitchen displayed the sea churning in at the bottom of a huge gorge . There were several lookouts with views to the south of the spectacular cliffs along the coastline.
On our way back to the highway and on our way to another area called “The Blowhole” we went through a small village called Doo Town. A most interesting place as every house we saw has a name incorporating the word Doo. Some examples being “Doo F#@k All” “Dr. Doo Little” “This Will Doo” and so on. Well worth a stop.
The Blow Hole is only a few hundred metres from Doo Town and was fairly tame when we were there as the tide was well out so that only the occasional wave would “blow” through the tunnel. If you look closely you will notice the small ray of light at the other end of the tunnel.
Next stop was the Tasmanian Devil Park. Mother was very reluctant to stop when it was already 3.30pm, entry was $25.00 per head and the Devil feeding wasn’t until 5.00. But we did stop and it only cost us $38.00 as they must have thought we looked like pensioners. The stop was well worth while as they also had a bird show where they not only exhibited some birds but had birds trained to do tricks such as taking coins from peoples hands and putting them in the trainers pocket. They also had lots of other animals in cages and running around the place. The Devil Feeding was very interesting with the food being disguised in various ways so that the Devils have to forage around to find the food and then to extract it from the container.
Finally we arrived at Port Arthur and a quick call to the administration area confirms that we were booked on the Ghost Tour at 9.30 pm that night, so we hightailed it to our accommodation, The Comfort Inn, where we had a quick snack and then a short nap before it is time to front up for the tour. The Ghost Tour is a lantern lit exploration of the settlement at night where they do their best to convince people as to the existence of Ghosts.
Dad being an unbeliever was assigned by the tour guide to be “Tail end Charlie” and bring up the rear of the group and make sure we didn’t lose anyone. It was quite a fun evening with visits to some of the old church ruins, renovated homes, which supposedly contain ghosts and where some of the group heard noises and noticed the curtains moving. We even went down into the dungeon under the doctor’s house, where the post mortems were carried out, and we visited the solitary confinement cells where the most notorious prisoners were domiciled. The tour finally finished about 11.45pm and so it was almost midnight by the time we got back to the motel.
d by the most gorgeous garden as well as by Gwen and John who made us very welcome. We had a most enjoyable afternoon with Gwen and John whom we haven’t seen for over 40 years. They are retired and besides their garden they have a few sheep that they have shorn so that Gwen can spin the wool to use for knitting. She showed us a lovely Jumper that she had finished recently. It was then back to Ron and Keren’s. Although it was 8.30pm it was still very daylight outside.
