The final Work contract.In Tasmania of course.

[VPS]

Just north of Swansea you cross this river.
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I still remember the first time we crossed this river in 1977.Our son was with us aged 2.5 years. He was at that stage of life when he was very inquisitive. Every time you asked him a question he answered why. So crossing this river I said here's a river. Of course he answered Why so I was able to say you are right. Totally confused him.
Where I had to stop to take that picture was a walnut orchard.
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We then went by the Lake Leake road back to Oatlands.We stopped at this roadhouse half way.
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Run by an older couple who were very talkative. It was going to be a planned community though it doesn't look like that was successful.
It is decorated slightly differently to most roadhouses.

Kalangadoo Store

kalangadoostore.com.au

A quick nature stop in Oatlands which was a centre of the timber industry.
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I wonder if they came from Kalangadoo - not many people would have even heard of the name

 

[drron]

I hadn't heard of the SA town until now.First went through the Tasmanian version in the 80's.

 

[VPS]

I hadn't heard of the SA town until now.First went through the Tasmanian version in the 80's.

It isn't very well known unless you're from that area. Always fun trying to hear people pronounce that - others that get them a Naracoorte, Poolaijelo and Kybybolite (and they rarely spell them correctly)

 

[seanq84]

I hadn't heard of the SA town until now.First went through the Tasmanian version in the 80's.

Interestingly enough there is a Lake Leake not far from Kalangadoo in SA.

 

[drron]

Very interesting. So I decided to do a search. Lake Leake here in Tasmania was named after the Leake family who had a property,Rosedale, near Campbell Town. The original settler of the family was John Leake. Two of his sons later settled in SA so it would appear that the SA Lake Leake may well be named after a Tasmanian.

Photograph of John Leake (1781-1865), Rosedale, Campbell Town, Van Diemen's Land. - ePrints

eprints.utas.edu.au

 

[drron]

The day before mrsdrron arrived I did a little local exploration. First to one of the local orchid habitats in the middle of Serbia near the Casino. Unfortunately no late species found.
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Then a big part of Launceston Industrial history - woolen mills. This the Patons mill. Now it is owned by a church.
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[drron]

This was a very large place. Obviously a great hit to the local economy when the mills started closing.
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And the view to my work office.
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Some good work being done.
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And across the road a local activist's den.
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[VPS]

Interestingly enough there is a Lake Leake not far from Kalangadoo in SA.

I was trying to work out where it was but just found it on the map - I had heard of it but couldn't remember how it was spelt

 

[drron]

Our meals in the week before Christmas. First Hallam's seafood which is held up as a fine seafood restaurant. An unusual very pink local pinot gris.
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The menu.
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Mrsdrron had the seared scallops which was very good.
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And I had the special -sashimi market fish with salmon caviar. Superb.
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The mains though were a let down. Mrsdrron had the spanner crab risotto with caviar. Visually unattractive,not much crab so disappointing.
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I had the market fish - blue-eye Trevalla. I have had this fish quite frequently here. This dish was quite bland so not one of the best I have had.
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We decided against dessert.

 

[drron]

On the Wednesday before Christmas the Harvest Market put on a twilight Christmas Market. It was to open at 1830. I walked in at 1825 to this.
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I was having problems with the local wildlife. As I am staying in this place for 4 months I decided to grow some veggies. however the wallabies love their green. Basically killed all the lettuce, made a mess of the spinach and love to non selectively prune the tomatoes.
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They leave their calling cards.
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The only thing they haven't eaten is the chillis.

 

[drron]

The Thursday before Christmas we went back to Rupert and Hound at the Seaport.They were back to their usual standard but very busy. We started sharing a dozen oysters Kilpatrick.The angle makes them look huge.
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Mrsdrron went back to her usual crumbed scallops which were good.
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I had a steak which was good too.
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[RooFlyer]

Very interesting. So I decided to do a search. Lake Leake here in Tasmania was named after the Leake family who had a property,Rosedale, near Campbell Town. The original settler of the family was John Leake. Two of his sons later settled in SA so it would appear that the SA Lake Leake may well be named after a Tasmanian.

Photograph of John Leake (1781-1865), Rosedale, Campbell Town, Van Diemen's Land. - ePrints

eprints.utas.edu.au

The Leake family left a good legacy: Collections - Leake Collection - Open Access Repository

Edit - oops, I see you got into ePrints for the pic of John Leake

 

[drron]

Christmas eve and our son and his family arrived.We went to Metz cafe. A wide ranging menu including Pizza which all of our familt except i ate. I had the pulled pork with loaded sweet potato wedges. Wicked but nice but not a beautiful dish. first the menu.
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And the pizzas.
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[drron]

So Christmas day came around.We spend it with our son and family every second year. The plan for 2021 was initially all of us going to Perth on the Indian Pacific arriving on Christmas Day. Christmas Dinner was booked for the Ritz Carlton where we were to stay on a Virtuoso rate.

The choices in Launceston were not numerous with most restaurants closing. The easiest choice for us was Chinese -Me Wah which we do like a lot. There was no special menu it was the everyday menu. However their menu is excellent. The dumplings are wonderful, the peking duck entree excellent. We also had Char sui and spring rolls for entrees. Mains included scallops in ginger and shallot sauce,Cantonese beef,truffled mushrooms,stir fried greens and fried eggplant which was really good.

The service is excellent.Stanley the restaurant manager makes every diner feel special.He does know us now but was impressed that we all dressed in red.
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A family tradition that we all have the same shirt for Christmas meals.
Towards the end of the meal.
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A very enjoyable day.

 

[drron]

Boxing Day and all the family went on a Tamar cruise.
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The day's office.
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Low tide.
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The boats on the opposite bank.
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[drron]

And off we go.
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My office.
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[drron]

We continue down the river to the port area.

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That hulk is a dredge which dredged the Tamar for 50 years. The result? Absolutely no difference to the silt problem. Yet people are urging that dredging restarts.
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That is the dry dock. It's major job is the maintenance of the tug fleet. both Tasmanian and interstate.

 

[drron]

An old Hong Kong ferry which came to Tasmania after the Tasman bridge disaster. then briefly used as a ferry betwenn Beauty Point and Georgetown on the Tamar. Now a retirement home for sea gulls
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The Flinders Island barge.
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[bPeteb]

The day before mrsdrron arrived I did a little local exploration. First to one of the local orchid habitats in the middle of Serbia near the Casino. Unfortunately no late species found.
View attachment 268686.

Then a big part of Launceston Industrial history - woolen mills. This the Patons mill. Now it is owned by a church.
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big 4 where we stayed last time just up the road

 

[bPeteb]

A little further on and the light was much better.
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we pulled over here for a couple of shots on the day we arrived last Merch