Nothing of interest to report.
Tuesday 4th May 10
We phoned Sue in an attempt to wish her a happy birthday but once again unsuccessful, so we assume and hope that Garon and Sue are curled up in a pleasant retreat and have shut the world out for a while. Why not, if you can?
We, on the other hand had to endure a rainy day
Wednesday 5th May 10
We successfully tracked down the elusive sculpture that which was not at the roadside but at the entrance to the local rubbish tip to highlight the joys of recycling, and also found some more near the community centre and then toured other areas of the town, especially the higher points to enjoy the views over the town and valley. With blocks of land at only $85000 with the views it provides it is becoming tempting.
We then called into the visitor centre and checked out the ‘Yarn’ and museum. 
The ‘Yarn’ has its own auditorium with four silk based tapestries on display with a 12 minute commentary explaining that 200 women in their respective small groups were given specific areas of each tapestry to complete, however like.The final product of 3 years work that depicts the town and surrounding areas of Deloraine show farming, rainforest, wildlife, waterfalls and is absolutely amazing, with a three dimensional finish. Each individual point of interest mentioned during the commentary was simultaneously highlighted with a spotlight and the specific stitch type, knots or material were explained plus what that area represented.
In the evening we tried some night photography of the local Catholic Church which is lit up at night, both from across the river from the caravan park, and alongside it.Thursday 6th May 10 and Friday 7th May 10
Nothing of interest to report
Saturday 8th May 10
The Agfest farming festival was on at Carrick about 30km from Deloraine to it became necessary for us to check it out in case we needed a tractor or a Shetland pony. Whilst it was obviously a success for the organisers and farming community it had little to offer those of us that aren’t into farming. The way the organisers and police get the traffic in and out of the vast parking areas was really good and for us non-farmers, probably the highlight of the day, although the sheep dog trials were really good. It was the first time it didn’t rain during the show for a long time apparently, and it is usual to wear gum boots, but this year you could get away with anything, although high heels wouldn’t be too good, and wouldn’t look the best with the necessary heavy duty coat needed to keep out the cold breeze.
Sunday 9th May 10
We drove to Westbury to see what it had to offer and found a really delightful, tree lined village green complete with war memorial, kids playground and a seat with matching wooden stocks.
Real handy for the kids that misbehave.
Two of the trees just happened to be chestnut trees so we spent some time collecting chestnuts just like in our childhood days, and also like those times, quickly learnt to squeeze them out off their outer shell with our shoes to save our fingers from the spikes. The afternoon turned slightly rainy day so we packed up the chairs, tables, etc in readiness for moving on but left the annex up until tomorrow morning.
Monday 10th May 10
As hoped for, the rain had cleared so we were able to finish packing up in dry weather but went shopping for a few necessities before hitching up and leaving Deloraine. This mean leaving later than the usual required departure time of most parks but Deloraine is pleasantly casual, and we weren’t moving far so we didn’t need to hurry.
We left at about 10.45 and headed for Longford which put us in reasonable reach of Launceston without being in the city and also there were no pet friendly parks there. Longford had been recommended by many of our fellow travellers that we have met in other parks. Once again we are by a river, although not right on the river bank on this occasion, and still have the railway running around us, but not quite so close. Unfortunately there is no path along the river for walks with Foxy, so these have to be into town with a lap around the village green (another English style village but without the chestnut trees).
We had an evening of very strong wind until about 2.00am which kept us awake with the noise of the annex staining and stressing but fortunately survived unscathed again, but left us tired the next day.
Tuesday 11th May 10
This turned out to be a very pleasant with only a gentle, but cold breeze. We drove into Launceston, which like Burnie has every square inch covered by a parking meter. We did the usual trip to the visitor centre and a bit of retail therapy which included lunch before heading home. Whilst approaching Longford it became clear that this area is very flat which would allow for the strong winds with not hills to shelter the town. There is only a light breeze this evening but very cold as it is predicted to be a 2 degree temperature tonight.
Wednesday 12th May 10
We survived the cold night and took advantage of the remote controlled electric heater at 6.00am to warm the van up prior to getting out of bed. It appeared to be a perfect cloudless day so we decided to go on a long trek to Derwent Bridge to see ‘The Wall in the Wilderness’ that we missed when we went to Lake St Claire from Strahan. The plan was to travel up onto the central plateau via Poatina to Miena and then take the dirt road through to the A10 to Derwent Bridge. On the way back via Miena we intended to turn left instead of repeating the whole journey and follow the Great Lake back to Golden valley and on to Deloraine, then home. By the time we had started out there was a build up of cloud over the hills that form the plateau but we carried on regardless. The journey up to the resort village of Poatina was a steep twisty haul up to the turn of into the village where you are greeted with an impressive water feature made mainly from rocks, wood and rubbish.
Monday 10th May 10
As hoped for, the rain had cleared so we were able to finish packing up in dry weather but went shopping for a few necessities before hitching up and leaving Deloraine. This mean leaving later than the usual required departure time of most parks but Deloraine is pleasantly casual, and we weren’t moving far so we didn’t need to hurry.
We left at about 10.45 and headed for Longford which put us in reasonable reach of Launceston without being in the city and also there were no pet friendly parks there. Longford had been recommended by many of our fellow travellers that we have met in other parks. Once again we are by a river, although not right on the river bank on this occasion, and still have the railway running around us, but not quite so close. Unfortunately there is no path along the river for walks with Foxy, so these have to be into town with a lap around the village green (another English style village but without the chestnut trees).
We had an evening of very strong wind until about 2.00am which kept us awake with the noise of the annex staining and stressing but fortunately survived unscathed again, but left us tired the next day.
Tuesday 11th May 10
This turned out to be a very pleasant with only a gentle, but cold breeze. We drove into Launceston, which like Burnie has every square inch covered by a parking meter. We did the usual trip to the visitor centre and a bit of retail therapy which included lunch before heading home. Whilst approaching Longford it became clear that this area is very flat which would allow for the strong winds with not hills to shelter the town. There is only a light breeze this evening but very cold as it is predicted to be a 2 degree temperature tonight.
Wednesday 12th May 10
We survived the cold night and took advantage of the remote controlled electric heater at 6.00am to warm the van up prior to getting out of bed. It appeared to be a perfect cloudless day so we decided to go on a long trek to Derwent Bridge to see ‘The Wall in the Wilderness’ that we missed when we went to Lake St Claire from Strahan. The plan was to travel up onto the central plateau via Poatina to Miena and then take the dirt road through to the A10 to Derwent Bridge. On the way back via Miena we intended to turn left instead of repeating the whole journey and follow the Great Lake back to Golden valley and on to Deloraine, then home. By the time we had started out there was a build up of cloud over the hills that form the plateau but we carried on regardless. The journey up to the resort village of Poatina was a steep twisty haul up to the turn of into the village where you are greeted with an impressive water feature made mainly from rocks, wood and rubbish.
There is a purpose built lookout to both take in the view across the valley and provide an aerial view of the water feature, which is a better piece of artistic work than most. It was now drizzling and very cold in the wind at this altitude. We pressed on upward and onward as the road became steeper and more twisty onto the plateau where the road levelled out a bit, and with increasing rain.
We were still travelling upwards but very gradually, and came to patches of snow that had settled in the night and then noticed the rain was now light snow falling.At Miena we hit the dirt road that was now slightly muddy, and despite the maps saying it is 35km long, turned out to be 25km long when it joined the A10 bitumen again.
On the dirt road we gradually dropped altitude so the snow was now drizzle again, however, the trees along the roadside had a good coating of snow on them creating Christmas card appearance, and on arrival at the ‘Wall in the Wilderness’, the impressive building had a snow covered roof.
The wood sculptures are formed on 10cm thick laminated sheets of Huon Pine (laminated edgewise, not flat sheets like plywod), 3 metres high and 1 metre wide and the figures are then sculptured so that they are 4cm thickness. The surplus material is chiselled away to leave a 3 dimensional picture, similar to the surface of a coin, with absolutely amazing detail such as hair, muscle tone, creases in clothing and unfolded maps, leather straps on horse harnesses, etc. Every individual piece is finished appropriately to represent cloth, leather, etc and even veins in straining arms. There are two back-to-back rows of ten of the wooden sheets, but apparently the building will be extended to double this, in the future. Unfortunately photography is not allowed inside so we bought their book but it doesn’t compare to the real thing.
On the outside is an example of his detailed work with an eagle that appears to made of metal but we didn't touch it to find out. Either wood or metal the detail speaks for itself. It is the best display of genuine art that we have seen are pleased to have travelled 150km each way to see it.The drizzle was melting the snow but not so much so that we saw a small snowman built on the white line in the middle of the road that was still surviving. We turned left when we came off the dirt road at Miena and followed the Great Lake, which is a man made lake with several dams, and due to its altitude is a good source of supply for hydro-electric power supply. The road along the lake side is also dirt with stretches of bitumen where there are small fishing communities or holiday homes.
We eventually started the steep downhill twisting road with some great views, although grey and wet, over the Meander Valley. We descended into Golden Valley and then used the Navman to take us more directly to Longford rather than via Deloraine, which took us via Liffey and several other small nondescript villages using dirt roads, which at this lower altitude had not seen rain all day.Thursday 13th May 10
This was another perfect cool day so drove in to Launceston in the afternoon to visit the Gorge with its cable car rides and suspension bridge which also gives access to walking along the side of the cliff face to the road bridge (20 minutes each way) or into the gorge the other way (25 minutes each way).
The Gorge Reserve has well laid out gardens, swimming pool, picnic area with a walkway to the other side of the gorge which has lovely parkland and a walk to the road bridge in on direction or to the suspension bridge in the other. The walk over the suspension bridge joins up with the walk into the gorge or back to the gardens. Both sides have a café, but the one in the parkland area has peacocks and a multitude of sparrows competing for your food.
Dogs are banned of course, so Fox spent the afternoon in the car park as it was not a hot day, whilst we took the cable car ride with the world’s longest span length of 300 metres across the gorge to parkland side and then walked along the cliff face walk to the road bridge. 
At one point we sat and watched a school group abseiling down the cliff face on the other side of the gorge, which at this point was part of the river were the day cruises ca reach. The part we had already walked was to shallow and rocky for boats and consisted of a series of small rapids.
The river area is lit up at night with coloured lighting so we will be returning for a night time look. We had a cup of coffee and cakes when we got back to the parkland and fought off the wildlife and then took the cable car ride back across the gorge. We then took a walk out onto the suspension bridge and part way along the walk into the gorge.
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