A summer in Tasmania

[drron]

At the bottom of the mountain we turned off B51 towards Bracknell and Westbury.
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The poppies are ready to harvest.
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And a fine example of an old shearing shed.
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Then back on the Bass Highway to Latrobe.

 

[drron]

On Monday my last walk through the orchid reserve.Didn't spot any orchids but a fair bit of damage from the wild weather on the weekend.
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There are several groves of native cherries.Basically the season for these has finished but one was getting a second crop.
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[drron]

Monday night and back to Bellys.I elected to go back to childhood and have the lamb's fry and bacon.Mrsdrron went with the mussels
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Tuesday and back to the Eli.Mrsdrron felt like a pizza and I had a parmy.
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Of course when you have a parmy here it comes with a pint.
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Wednesday and to Prem's seafood.Mrsdrron had the jumbo prawns and I the 1Kg of mussels.
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[drron]

Monday night we went for a drive.The night before there had been an aurora seen over most of Tasmania including here in Latrobe.This is from the Aurora Australis Tasmania Facebook group.
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Close to here.
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But we did get to see ducks and swans.
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But also swallows drinking-very hard to get pics -and also A platypus.
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We came back a couple of hours later but no bananas.

 

[drron]

Then we went to a recommended aurora viewing area just down the road from the United servo at Sassafras with the middling sized potato.
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Again no sightings but the last of the sunset over Mt.Roland.
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[drron]

And now a little encouragement for die hard St.Kilda fans to visit Latrobe.I was priveliged to look after this gentleman during my time in Latrobe 10 years ago.
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[drron]

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[drron]

On Friday night we tried out 15 Tables at East Devonport. reasonable reports from locals.It was OK but not outstanding.We were not very hungry so only a main course each and a bottle of wine.Mrsdrron went for the seared scallops with lemon and herb risotto.despite their appearance the scallops were not overcooked.
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I had a waygu porterhouse medium rare.Not a large cut but cooked as ordered.
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[drron]

After lunch on Saturday we went for a drive.First to one of mrsdrron's favourite Tassie stores - Shiploads.I got some more colouful socks.
Driving from there down B19 towards the Don River there was a line of flowering gums.Now JohnM likes to claim them as belonging to WA but in the east they are often grafted and do so much better than in WA.The enjoy the PERfect,FanTAStic TASmanian weather so much more than that in imPERfect PERth.
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The bees love them.
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[drron]

We continued on B19 past the Don River Railway.An old church converted to a house.
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We then turned into Lillicoe road with some more farmland views.
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Carrots in the foreground.
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[drron]

Next came cabbages.Lots of them.
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And the next crop.
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And a vine crop.
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[JohnM]

After lunch on Saturday we went for a drive.First to one of mrsdrron's favourite Tassie stores - Shiploads.I got some more colouful socks.
Driving from there down B19 towards the Don River there was a line of flowering gums.Now JohnM likes to claim them as belonging to WA but in the east they are often grafted and do so much better than in WA.The enjoy the PERfect,FanTAStic TASmanian weather so much more than that in imPERfect PERth.
View attachment 241598.View attachment 241599.

View attachment 241600.View attachment 241601.

The bees love them.
View attachment 241602.View attachment 241603.

View attachment 241604....

Pfft...

You need to go to the home of Corymbia ficifolia...

Grafting not required.



Just sayin'

 

[VPS]

Pfft...

You need to go to the home of Corymbia ficifolia...

Grafting not required.

View attachment 241622View attachment 241623View attachment 241624

Just sayin'

I can't get used to the name change - are they still considered gums?

 

[JohnM]

I can't get used to the name change - are they still considered gums?

If you can't get used to the name change after all these years (since 1995), then they are sure to still be called gums.

But seriously, it is still commonly called red-flowering gum.

In fact, Corymbia spp. probably have more right to be called gums than Eucalyptus spp., given that they exude so much of the stuff compared with Eucs. After all, they are commonly called 'bloodwoods'.

These provide good explanations: https://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/science/projects/systematics/systematics-of-corymbia; Corymbia - Wikipedia.

 

[VPS]

If you can't get used to the name change after all these years (since 1995), then they are sure to still be called gums.

But seriously, it is still commonly called red-flowering gum.

In fact, Corymbia spp. probably have more right to be called gums than Eucalyptus spp., given that they exude so much of the stuff compared with Eucs. After all, they are commonly called 'bloodwoods'.

These provide good explanations: https://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/science/projects/systematics/systematics-of-corymbia; Corymbia - Wikipedia.

Oh well - back when I was a girl they were still Eucalyptus ficifolia and that was a damned long time ago

 

[JohnM]

Oh well - back when I was a girl they were still Eucalyptus ficifolia and that was a damned long time ago

Maybe just as well you're not a systematist. They are an argumentative lot, so you'd get no peace.

 

[drron]

Boy the bait was way better than I thought.

But back to the pictures.The last down Lillicoe rd.Onions now.
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Now where this next picture is taken there is a fuschia place if that is your thing.
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Back on the Bass highway west but at the next left take the road to Forth alongside the Forth river.Another bloodwood
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[drron]

On this road a large commercial veggie operation.
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Extensive fields both sides of the river.
Then into Forth and a disused church looks sad.
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We then drove into Ulverstone for mrsdrron to do some more shopping for me.Then to the Beach Cafe for an ice cream.It was very popular on this fine day.

Driving out of Ulverstone there is a great display of bloodwoods on the ramp on to the Bass highway east.They even have a spot for you to park there.
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Though some other trees as well.
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[drron]

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It should look spectacular in a couple of weeks time.

 

[drron]

Our last night in Tassie and it was Valentines day.Naturally we had booked at Bellys.
Mrsdrron had the honey and soy glazed quail followed by the small serving of pan fried scallops.both excellent.
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I tried out their seafood chowder and a night's special.A Mediterranean seafood stew.Both were very good.washed down with a bottle of Joseph Chromy SB.
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At the end of the night the owner came and said goodbye to us offering us a glass of port but we were going to be rising early so declined.Some of the other staff also came and said goodbye.So an excellent way to say good bye to Tassie.