Anzac Day, April 25th, is a day that is very dear to the heart of all Australians, a day when we remember those that have fallen in times of war, in service to their country, its people, and freedom for mankind.

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corp.

ANZAC means much more than that though; it embodies what it meant to be a Digger, a Battler. ANZAC is the true essence of being Australian.

The ANZAC spirit; bold and ferocious in battle but - unwilling to bow to military discipline. To be an ANZAC is to hold steadfast in battle, to die with a smile, and yet never to succumb to authority.

To be an Australian is to do your best for your family and country against all odds with not a small amount of disdain and irreverence for the authorities.

Each year on ANZAC day in every town in Australia, a service is held at dawn to commemorate the fallen, and those who fought for our fine country, and the freedom we take for granted. This year on April 25, I made my way to the Lindisfarne War memorial to honour the men and women of the Australian armed services. It was a moving ceremony and I hope you enjoy the photos I took on my early morning.
 

Below is something I found which describes the spirit of ANZAC more eloquently than I can.

The Spirit of ANZAC was suggested by official war historian C.E.W. Bean to have 'stood, and still stands, for reckless valour in a good cause, for enterprise, resourcefulness, fidelity, comradeship and endurance that will never own defeat.' The Spirit was epitomised in the deeds of Simpson with his donkey at Gallipoli - comradeship, courage and sacrifice: others before self. It also encompasses the laughter, the pride and the love of life that is in every Australian. To really understand this Spirit, one must delve back into our country's past.

Australia is a huge land. In the early days, settlements were scarce and far apart yet pioneers built our society's foundations in these fragmented tiny communities. The sun and the open land, the independence and the freedom of living under these conditions was a flame in the blood of our pioneers, a flame that burns whenever men are free, wherever there is a spirit which is willing to help those in need. If there were rumours of trouble, immediately someone would saddle a horse and ride off to see if they could help. Though on a comparatively smaller scale, our New Zealand neighbours in this antipodean part of the British Empire also emerged with a very similar culture.

Conflicts were not unknown to this part of the world. The Eureka Stockade troubles of 1854 in Victoria, the shearers' strike of 1890 in Queensland and the subsequent eastern seaboard maritime strikes were but a few home grown examples. New Zealand's Maori wars in the early 1860s saw volunteers from the separate colonies of Australia assisting their Kiwi mates to establish independence in another developing country. Again in 1885 the colonies displayed passionate outrage and a willingness to avenge the brutal death of Britain's General Gordon at Khartoum, despite only a New South Wales contingent being accepted for service. And when the Boer War erupted in South Africa, volunteer units from the colonies competed for a place beside the Mother Country's warriors.

Thus, although the disparate colonies of our great land did not federate till 1901, Australians and New Zealanders had been united since the beginnings of their countries and this unity, this love of life had formed the basis of the Spirit of ANZAC. 'The Mother Country's in a spot of bother again,' was a typical observation when the Great War began in 1914. 'Might as well help her get this sorted out,' was the accustomed response to someone in need. For a century the antipodean survivors had been helping overcome Nature's curses and supporting each other's causes. Now they were equally ready again to assist Britain, this time to overcome German militarism. This was the Spirit which imbued the volunteers as they dashed off with seemingly gay abandon to the First World War and what was to become the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

These bold, laughing soldiers were a new, unknown factor of a very old Empire. 'They seemed to be of one race, for all of them had something the same bearing, and something the same look of humorous, swift decision' described Poet Laureate John Masefield. But if the British thought they 'took a bit of getting used to', the enemy never got used to them. These 'colonials' fought as they lived - bravely, openly, independently, and without fear. They proved that their young countries could produce men equal to any in the world, perhaps the greatest fighting force this world has known - the ANZACs.

On 25 April 1915 a new world was born. A new side of man's character was revealed. The Spirit of ANZAC was kindled. It flared with a previously unknown, almost superhuman strength. There was a determination, a zest, a drive which swept up from the beaches on Gallipoli Peninsula as the ANZACs thrust forward with their torch of freedom. As they fell, they threw those following the torch so their quest would maintain its momentum. That Torch of Freedom has continually been thrown from falling hands, has kindled in the catchers' souls a zeal and desire for both our individual liberty and our countries' liberty. That desire has been handed down with the memory and burns as brightly as the flame which first kindled it.

But the Spirit of ANZAC is not confined to the battlefield. It lives in the schools, on the sports fields, in fact all over these great countries of Australia and New Zealand. The sun invades our bodies and makes us 'mad'; mad for freedom - freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom to live and think as you will. The Spirit of ANZAC is not something we can see but a powerful driving sensation that can only be felt. It is a feeling that burns in the heart of every Australian and New Zealand countryman. A warm, tender, fiery, even melancholy ideal that nurtures intense patriotism in the innermost soul of everybody. Many foundation ANZACs died, but their glorious challenge to catch the thrown torch shouts loud and strong to all. Their goal was freedom for the land they loved.

The Spirit of ANZAC is invincible. It is the flame that burns forevermore in the heart of every true Australian and New Zealander. Today we stand safe and free, clothed with all the privileges and rights of citizens in these great free countries. And all these things - liberty, security, opportunity, the privileges of citizenship - we owe to those men who fought, endured, suffered, and died for us and for their country. Their deeds and their sacrifices gave us the invincible, the intangible, the Spirit of ANZAC.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Burke is the honorary secretary of the ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee of Queensland. He was inspired to write this article after reading a collection of essays written in 1961 by the students of St Margaret’s Anglican Girls’ School, Ascot, Brisbane following their attendance at the school's annual ANZAC Day service which included an address on 'ANZAC and its significance, emphasising the "spirit" of ANZAC.' The article is an amalgam of ideas from several essays and the author's own thoughts.
 

They shall not grow old,
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them.

For the Fallen, by Laurence Binyon

Lest we forget.

Please have a look at this blog by TravBuddy genetravelling to find out about the history of ANZACS in Gallipoli and the ‘Birth of ANZAC’. It is a beautifully moving story that brought me to tears. Thank you, Geno.

http://www.travbuddy.com/travel-blogs/31274/Birth-of-Anzac-Gallipoli-4

After our gastronomic visit to Kate’s Berry Farm, we were off to the Port Arthur Historic Site all the way down on the Tasman Peninsula. I don’t know how much you know of the history of Port Arthur, it is an old penal colony, which is the reason it has a Historic Site status, however on the morning of Sunday 28 April 1996, a Hobart man went on a shooting spree resulting in Australia’s worst massacre with 35 people murdered and many more injured. Our visit was just after the two-year anniversary of this tragic event and the sadness of that day still hung in the air. Since our visit there has been a permanent memorial erected on the site.

We had a room booked at the Port Arthur Motor Inn, the only accommodation available on the site. All other hotels are off site. We were staying the night here because we were booked on a Ghost Tour. Ooooooo, ghosts. We met our tour guide just as the sun was setting behind the hills near the site, he was holding a lantern, which would illuminate our tour through the old buildings rumoured to be haunted by ghost of long, passed convict and free settlers (no longer) living in Port Arthur. This was an interesting way to see the site and it was quite a bit of fun. It was pretty freaky and there were certain areas that I didn’t feel comfortable entering, like the basement of the Doctors house, even thinking of it now a sends a chill down my spine. We all survived the tour and unfortunately/fortunately, we didn’t encounter any ghosts, well none that went bang in the night anyway.  

We got back to our hotel and shook off the eerie feeling hanging over us, grabbed a bite to eat in the hotel restaurant and had a couple of stiff drinks.

Driving down the road from Bicheno heading towards Port Arthur we passed some of the most stunning scenery Tasmania has to offer. Only we didn’t know it before we came to Tassie, therefore did not allow enough time to visit the area. We did allow for a short hike though so did get to see some of the scenery. So a word of advice from me, spend some time looking around the Coles Bay/Freycinet Peninsula area, it really is stunning, to see it properly you need to allow for a couple of days to do the Freycinet Peninsula Circuit.

Not too far south of the town of Swansea, we came across a sign for Kate’s Berry Farm. It was after lunch and the sign said ‘ice-cream’ and we were in the mood. Wow, what a discovery! This little berry farm didn’t look like too much from the street but the produce sold here is absolutely delicious.  We had our ice-cream outside while enjoying the beautiful view and playing with Kate’s little dogs, then went back inside and bought some of the most scrumptious jam I have ever tried and a bottle of Strawberry Wine, all made by Kate using all her own berries. Our visit was the wrong time of year for the fresh berries, but that didn’t really matter.

I found it very difficult to sleep so close to this ‘ghostly site’, it isn’t that I was particularly spooked by the ghost stories of last night, it is more the feel of this place. You feel like unseen forces are pushing you down, this is very hard to explain... anyway, after breakfast we headed back down the hill to Port Arthur, this time we were going to have a look at the place during daylight hours. 

Port Arthur is a very pretty place. The ruins are picturesque and the scenery is stunning, we went on a half hour cruise and tour of the Isle of the Dead Cemetery, this is a small island in the harbour of Port Arthur where  around 1000 convicts and free people burials took place over a 44 year period from 1833. We also had a good look around the Historic site and inside all the buildings. You can go into the chapel where the convicts attended mass. The convict would be led into the chapel one by one and placed into a cubicle where a door separating them from the next cubicle would be closed behind them, they would then have to stand during the service until they were led out again one by one back to their cells. It is appalling to think of the lives these men led so far away from their home and country, all for punishment in most cases for the smallest of crimes. 

When leaving Port Arthur a feeling of relief washed over me, I didn’t realise I felt like I had been holding my breath the whole time I was in the site. It is what I tried to describe to you earlier. Port Arthur is an ominous place but well worth a visit. 

Just up the road from Port Arthur, we pulled into the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park. This great little park is the world’s leading wildlife centre for the conservation of the Tasmanian Devil. Here you can observe the aggressive little devils feed, watch a free flight presentation of falcons, feed kangaroo and wander the grounds amongst wallabies. As you enter, there is a terrific presentation on the now extinct Tasmanian Tiger, also known as the Thylacine. There isn’t a great deal known about this mysterious animal, but what is known, you can learn here. This is also the place injured wild animals are brought, and again you can see some of these animals as some are too injured to be released back into the wild.

This week I have a visitor staying with me from interstate. These are some of the photos taken while Margaret has been here. I will add more photos later as well as write a proper blog. I wanted to post these to keep another dear friend happy. You know who you are. :) Enjoy...

I have added a few more photos; I still need to write more of the blog. (30 April 2008)

Hello all,

Would you like to hear about my day?

Yes?  - Then you’re in luck. :)

I woke up late this morning after staying up waaaay too late - again, and lay in bed reading for an hour or so, before hopping out of bed, going to ... What, too much detail?... ok then, I’ll do some editing...

What I really wanted to tell you is that I discovered I have a blue tongue lizard living in my back yard. Yes, a native Australian living in my very own back yard. I went out into my sunroom this morning and opened the back door, and there it was, scurrying across my patio away from me. I ran inside to grab my camera and when I got back it had crawled under one of my chairs, so I had to get down on my belly to take its photo, but it was very obliging and didn’t run away from me while I took a bunch of photos of it. It was not so obliging as to poke its tongue out when I asked though, (maybe it thought it would be rude to poke its tongue out at me) so I set my camera to multi shot, and clicked away 83 times and still only got two with partial tongue. This is starting to sound a bit blue in another way... anyway, I digress. So I wanted to show you my new pet blue tongue, I haven’t come up with a name yet; I have already had one blue tongue named 'Bluey' - I know, I’m original. My other blue tongue had been run over by a car out the front of our house when I was a teenager and my father rescued it. We kept it until it died - on my birthday I might add - it was never quite right after having its head squashed by a car; I don’t suppose I would be either.

A little lesson on Blue Tongue Lizards (pilfered from the internet)

Blue-tongued lizards are reptiles. There are 6 different kinds of blue-tongued lizards in Australia. Here are 4 of them.

Eastern Blue-tongue - (Like the one in my backyard) It can grow as long as your ruler.

Pygmy Blue-tongue - It's only about 10cm long.

Blotched Blue-tongue - Like most Blue-tongues it has a pointy tail.

Bob-tailed Blue tongue - It has a short stumpy tail. It's also called the Shingleback, the Sleepy Lizard, the Boggi, and the Stumpy-tailed lizard (someone else is just as original as I am).

They are called Blue-tongued Lizards because they have fat blue tongues. Like most lizards, blue-tongues can smell through their nostrils and their tongue.

They eat snails, slugs, flowers and fruit. They don't chew their food. They hold and crush it.

They have dry scaly skin.

Blue-tongues are slow and gentle.

They won't bite unless they are attacked or when they are frightened if picked up.

The bite might hurt but it is not poisonous. It's best to leave them alone. They won't hurt you.

Baby blue-tongues come out from a hole under the mother's tail.

From the moment they are born, they have to find their own food.

If they are really lucky they can live for 30 years.

Dangers to Blue-tongued lizards include:

Cars - Blue-tongues often lie on the warm road surface and don't move out of the way of cars.

Snail baits - If blue-tongues eat snails and slugs poisoned by snail baits they will die.

Lawn mowers - Blue-tongues often hide in long grass and don't run away when lawn mowers come near them.

Cats and dogs - can kill or injure young blue tongues and big dogs can kill adult lizards.

Eagles, poisonous snakes and large goannas sometimes eat blue-tongues.

So now you know all you ever wanted to know about Blue Tongue Lizards, and possibly a bit more.

After my blue tongue encounter, I went into my garden to hang some washing on the line, I still had my camera handy, so I took a few more photos. A little while ago, those of you who follow my blogs will know I took a stroll around the botanical gardens and shot some photos in the Fuchsia House there, well they were lovely Fuchsias, but flowers are never quite as lovely as they are when they are growing in your own garden. Therefore, here are more photos of flowers for you all to enjoy (and you will enjoy them).

Today has had a bit of a flower theme; I have viewed some wonderful flower photos taken by some of you (one especially for me - thank you Bev). When I walked to the super market, I passed the garden centre where they have bulbs for sale and when I was leaving the super market, I bought myself a lovely bunch of yellow Tulips.  

I took some photos of flowers, trees and other things on my walk to the shops and back home again.  

This morning, I also threw on my blue jeans with orange flower detail, so it has been one flowery day for me.

I hope you enjoy looking through the photos of my day just as much as I enjoyed living it. :)

When I first moved to Tassie and had yet to have my furniture delivered (so no washing machine), I use to come to Machine Cafe for breakfast every Sunday morning and bring my laundry along with me. It may seem like a strange thing to do, but this in no ordinary cafe; at this cafe, you can enjoy your breakfast while putting your clothes through the wash. With nice big clean washing machines and dryers, and yummy food on the menu, doing the laundry is no longer a chore. This morning I came for breakfast (even though I have no need to bring the laundry here anymore). I chose an old favourite in the Eggs Benedict (AUD13.50) with a cappuccino ($3.20 regular $3.50 large). I can also highly recommend the hotcakes ($13.00) – banana and ricotta with butterscotch sauce and double cream. Yummy! The hot chocolate ($3.20 regular $3.50 large) is made with the finest Dutch cocoa, so I just had to have one of those too. They have a great choice on the menu, but I always end up going for the same thing. You can help yourself to a bottle of water and glasses from just inside the front door. The staff are always fun, I think most are UNI students. Today it was absolute madness. As soon as a table emptied, it was cleared, wiped down and a new lot of patrons seated and served. I just kept ordering coffee because I didn’t want to leave. (I was writing to a friend and didn’t want my train of thought interrupted). The girl sitting at the table next to me on my left ordered the hotcakes, and they looked and smelt delicious. I had already finished my breakfast but boy, my eyes and nose could nearly have talked me into having a serve. You have the choice of sitting inside or out; during the cooler months, there is a cover for the outdoor area and heaters to keep you toasty warm, but I still recommended you rug up. I nearly always end up sitting inside, however I like to sit by the window so I can watch the happening in the square out the window; kids playing, people coming and going, the fountain bubbling and life going on. There is a giant chess set next to the cafe and there is always someone having a game. I have always had a bit of a joke with one of the waiters that he looks like the lead singer of Aussie band Eskimo Joe. He doesn’t see it himself, but everyone I point it out to agree with me. So girls, you get a little perve too. He’s a bit young for me, but lovely to look at. :) Whenever I see him, the song ‘Black Fingernails, Red Wine’ does a loop through my head. Even on an extra busy Sunday morning, nobody had to wait an unreasonable amount of time for their meal, I saw the odd mix up with coffee/drink orders, but the staff was extremely efficient and friendly, even with the pressure they were obviously under. Once you have finished your breakfast/brunch/lunch, you can leave your laundry and have a browse through the galleries and shops of Salamanca Place. I stopped on my way out to watch a blacksmith at work in one of the nearby arcades.

This past week, here in Australia we have had some wild weather. The worst hit Hobart the other night. I finished work late and had to drive through some of the mad wind to get home. There were trees on the road, branches flying across the road in front of my car and all sorts of other debris that seemed to be aiming for my car. I made it home safely, but when I arrived there, the power in my area was out and I had to find my way in the dark. I lit all of my candles and sat with my music playing on my computer, trying to drown out the sound of the howling winds outside. The winds peaked at 170km per hour at four am. Approximately the time a friend lost the roof on her apartment block, and another friend had a tree uprooted from her backyard to land on her clothesline, luckily for her, she had wanted to remove both of those things from her yard for some time.

The day after the storm, the Royal Botanical Gardens closed its gates due to the terrible damage it received during the storm. I decided to go and have a sticky beak at the gardens the next day, to see how bad the damage was with my own eyes. There is good news and bad, the gardens lost three of the biggest trees, including the oldest tree in the gardens. The good news is, the reports on the radio said the gardens had been decimated, so of course, I expected the worst, but the gardens still looked good, just a little messy. The gardeners had already done a wonderful job of tidying up the majority of the mess, and it is still a beautiful garden, with many beautiful trees.

I spent a few hours browsing through the gardens, the conservatory, the subantarctic plant house, watching the ducks, sitting on the benches and pondering life. It was already late when I arrived at the gardens and by the time I left the sun was sinking behind the mountain, leaving a stunning sky in its wake.

Enjoy :)

A friend, Lauren and I decided to go on a harbour cruise to get out on the water and get some fresh air. Captain Fell’s boat is a Historic wooden boat, which takes you slowly around the Harbour and along the banks of the Derwent River; it cruises under the Tasman Bridge to Lindisfarne Bay (near my home) on the Eastern shore, and back down past the Casino and Sandy Bay. It was Easter Saturday and there were sailing boats galore on the Harbour, making it a very pleasant tour. A cup of coffee and a piece of pre-packaged fruitcake was the afternoon tea provided in the ticket price of $20 and was nothing to write home about. The hour and a half cruise also takes you past historic Battery Point, the old battery at Kangaroo Bluff and the whole time Mount Wellington stands majestically in the background of the city skyline.

Well as luck would have it, I needed to go into own today and ended up at Salamanca where Irish Murphy’s was going off, with people in green wearing funny hats or with shamrocks tattooed on their cheeks. It must be St Patricks Day.

I was here the other night taking photos in the middle of the night when there was not a soul around, it is a much happier place in the middle of the day when there are people spilling onto the road having a merry old time.

There was a cruise ship in today as well, so my first port of call was the docks where the cruise ship was docked across the water from another visiting ship (I also took a photo of this other ship the other night).

It’s funny the things you learn when you pick up a book. I have been visiting Hobart since the early ‘90’s, and living in this fine little state since May 2005, but I never knew St David’s Park was once the colony’s first cemetery, or that the old headstones have been mounted on numerous memorial walls and are now part of a gorgeous area in the garden. Once I discovered this little bit of information, I was eager to head in there with my camera at the ready. It took a walk around the entire park to find the corner where the memorial walls are. I have included a photo I found on the internet of the cemetery in 1910, you can see how much the trees have grown around one of the memorials of which I took a photo.

After leaving the park, I headed back towards Salamanca (about 50 meters away) and took a few more photos of the gorgeous old buildings that have been standing since the cemetery was in use. I went back to the wharf where I took some photos of a bird (if anyone is familiar with what type of bird it is I would love to know) who just sat there while I clicked away, he allowed me to get right up close to him and he didn’t ruffle a feather. Some clouds had moved across the sky by now and the sun glowed in a magnificent orange colour, I took a few photos of the clouds and the sky before going back to the park to watch a man cracking a whip.

Arthur Circus is a little street in Battery Point; it is a little circle of historic houses dating from the first European settlement. It is a quick walk from Salamanca Place up Runnymede Street into the whimsical Arthur Circus, built between 1847 and 1852. The land was once part of the first residential property in Battery Point. Governor Arthur acquired it and divided it into sixteen plots sold, it is alleged, for forty pounds each at public auction in March 1847. There are fifteen single-storey brick Georgian cottages set around a village green. The swings in the village green conjure pictures of children at play in earlier times. In the far side of the green is Hampden road and a right turn leads to several excellent antique shops, restaurants (including my favourite - Ristorante Da Angelo – see my previous review) and the Van Diemen’s Land Folk Museum – now known as Narryna Heritage Museum.

Once again, on my way home I took a couple of photos from the car. I will have to stop that; I will have an accident one of these days. :)

I hope you enjoy the photos. :)

After my ride along the beach a few weeks ago, I was keen to go riding again. This time we stayed on the farm because one of the other girls from work came along too and was a bit nervous around the horses. We rode around an arena for a little while until Jacinta was comfortable, then took the horses out onto the farm for a bit of a ride. I rode the horse Lauren rode last time, I had wanted to ride Jack last time; I fell in love with him as soon as I met him, but Lauren wanted to ride him because of his name, he has the same name as her dog.
 

Jack was great, he would stop still each time I wanted to take a photo and then when I had taken the photo, I would hit the button to close my camera and he would start walking again.
 

After our ride, we enjoyed a wonderful late lunch out in the courtyard, where we sat until the sun started to sink behind the horizon. I left then and headed back home. On my way, I stopped at a popular fishing spot to take a few more photos, this time of the dusk sky over the water. It was another perfect ending to another perfect Tassie day.  I hope you enjoy. :)

A few years ago while shopping with a friend; we came upon a collection of Kaleidoscopes. My friend and I spent ages peering through the holes at the ends of the kaleidoscopes into the colourful world within. My friend nudged me in the ribs and said, "I bet you could write a poem about kaleidoscopes." Never one to pass up a challenge, I went home and wrote a quick poem, which I then sent to my friend as a gift. This Christmas another dear friend gave me a kaleidoscope as a Christmas gift and I set my camera up to take a few photos of the "pretty patterns".

I hope you enjoy. :)

Kaleidoscope with your colours so bright,

You are best viewed when held up to the light.

Around and around and around again,

Your pretty patterns do they never end.

The beads inside falling all about,

You’re the loveliest thing there’s no doubt.

Who would have thought, I nearly passed you by,

But I stopped and took a look with one eye.

And a whole new world was opened up to me,

All I had to do was take a look and see.

It's been a while since I have added some random photos.

The other day on my way to work, I saw a very short but very bright rainbow. As I pulled into the car park at work I realised it was a double rainbow but I missed the opportunity to get a shot of the double, I did however get a couple of shots of the main part of the rainbow as I was driving over the bridge to work. Then on my way home going over the same bridge in the opposite direction, there was another rainbow, not just another rainbow, but also another double rainbow! This time I did manage to get a quick shot off. The double part of it is quite faint but still visible. I love rainbows of any kind and I have a friend who finds double rainbows to have special meaning, so I consider myself doubly blessed.

This same day as I was driving into my street the clouds above my home had a magical glow to one side of them and the shape looked like a puff of smoke that might have come out of a Genie bottle, so I made three wishes. :)

A few days before the double, double rainbow day, I took some photos of another rainbow on my way to work, no double this time, just pretty sky.

Tonight I had dinner at a good friend’s home and from their place, I could see over to the city of Hobart where a cruise ship was docked. The ship took up the whole wharf area and was as tall as the Wrest Point Casino tower and nearly as tall as the Tasman Bridge, while we were eating dinner the ship pulled out and sailed off to, I am informed, Milford Sound, New Zealand.

One of the girls I work with has a wombat as a pet; I'm not sure how I feel about an Australian icon being kept as a pet. Anyway, she brought it to work one day and I took a photo of it. I think it would prefer to be out in the wild playing with the other 'wild' animals.

UPDATE ON THE WOMBAT:  I asked the girl at work how she came to have a pet wombat, as I didn't think you could legally keep them as pets. She told me she found the wombat when it was a baby on the side of the road crawling out of its mothers pouch. The mother had been hit by a car (unfortunately a regular occurrence here in Tasmania - when you come to visit you will be shocked by the amount of wildlife dead on the side of the road) and killed. After contacting the local wildlife rescue people she was able to care for the animal herself as she has a large property and was willing and able to do so. Because it was a baby and unable to fend for itself the wombat needed a 'foster mother' and that is what my work colleague became. The wombat, if after 18 months in 'foster care', can fend for itself, it will be released back into the wild, if not then my colleague will apply to be its permanent carer or the animal will be placed in other care.

I have added some other photos taken over the last few weeks as I saw something that took my fancy.

The last photo is, appropriately, for a sweet friend of mine.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have been working late shift this week. One night when I finished work (2am) the river was very calm and it was a beautiful clear night, I was not tired so I went into town to take some photos.

My first stop was at the docks. There is a building, which by day is a very ordinary building, but by night, has a brilliant blue light around the edge of the roof that makes the reflections in the water very pretty.

Then I came across another building, which looked beautiful at night and I was in awe of the stunning reflections in the water.

Next, I made my way into Salamanca. Those of you who are regulars to my blogs will know I frequent Salamanca Markets and may have seen some photos of Salamanca Place with the markets in full swing, but it is a very different place in the middle of the night.

On to the Casino, where I took a couple of photos but when I downloaded them onto my computer, I realised they didn’t turn out. There are little coloured squiggly lines throughout the photos. The squiggly lines actually make the photos look quite nice, so I have added two of the best (?). :)

On my way home, I drove back by the docks, saw a visiting boat/ship with all its lights on, and thought it might make a good shot, so I stopped again and found a few other scenes worthy of a click from my camera.

My final stop on my nighttime excursion was an area by the river with views over to the Tasman Bridge, of which I have taken nighttime photos of previously. I still took a couple more as I was looking at it from a different angle this time, but while in this area I drove past a park where the light was glowing eerily through the trees. Unfortunately, my camera does not have the ability to have been able to capture what I was seeing, but I have added one of the photos I took anyway, it may give you an idea of what I was looking at.

I had fun driving around town in the middle of the night, stopping every now a then to take some photos. If you find yourself awake in the wee small hours, I can highly recommend going out and discovering your town and seeing it from a different point of view. I hope you enjoy looking at the photos just as much as I enjoyed taking them. :)

Today was a beautiful day and I didn't have to work until very late so I had time during the day to go exploring. I went for a little drive and ended up at Bellerive Beach. After my lovely day at the beach on Sunday, I thought it might be nice to soak up a few more rays, take a few photos and enjoy what could be the last of our beautiful warm weather.

It's funny though, I didn't really take any photos of the beach, I took photos of the rocks, sailing boats on the water, seaweed, steps, little waves and a washed up 'Longbeach' cigarette pack.

These are not exactly travel photos (if you ever come to Tassie though, you can see these scenes), I hope you like them nevertheless.