Legends in Wood

Just out of Scottsdale, there is a little nondescript village called Legerwood. Other than a very large factory, this is a very small town. you can drive through it in about 2 minutes.

Save for one thing that might just stop you in your tracks.

In 1918, the town planted some trees in the park to commemorate the soldiers from the area who had died in World War 1. In 2001, the local council decided that the trees had served their useful life and were becoming a public nuisance, so they needed to be cut down. the locals put their heads together and came up with a plan.

They proposed to have the trees cut by Eddie Freeman, a local chainsaw artist, into carvings that would also honour the fallen men. Eddie read each mans history and carved the trees in remembrance of each mans contribution to the war and the local area. The local townspeople raised the money to pay for the work. the carvings were unveiled on ANZAC Day 2006.

The result is simply stunning. We were left speechless and in tears as we read through the plaques and wandered around this remarkable place.

	Click on the photos to see the full size image

Return to Myrtle Park

The first time we checked into Myrtle Park at Targa, we decided to spend a week here whenever the campsite would be able to fit us in. It is such a beautiful and peaceful spot, with awesome facilities. One of the amazing things is the size of the trees around the campsite.

Just behind the campsite is the creek, where every night and morning, the platypus and trout can be observed.

If you are lucky, you might even spot an amateur fisherman or two around the place.

The camp caretakers are Sal and Steve. They are wonderful people who did everything in their power to make our stay enjoyable. They even managed to find Daniel some work in the local area, so we could stay a little longer than originally planned.

Daniel was having a discussion with Steve, when suddenly Steve disappeared and returned with a trout and offered it to us for dinner. At first Daniel refused, but the kids thought it would be great, and Karen thought we could cook it in the fire (she looks for any excuse to start a fire when she is cold), and so it was agreed. Fish for dinner!

Excellent! Beautifully cooked! Amazing Taste!

Thanks Steve!

This is the delivery vehicle that Steve uses for delivering firewood and picking up the rubbish. Incorporating the latest technology in Tasmanian Air Conditioning systems, the vehicle is a real gem. All he has to do is stay on the left hand side, and the job’s easy.

 

 

Camp care-takers Sal and Steve with the Askey-Doran bunch

 

When we arrived at Myrtle Park, we had mail waiting for us. School books! yay! We finally have some school work to do. The kids feel this was a mixed blessing. But imagine only doing English and Handwriting practice for 3 months. The kids were actually excited to see Social Studies, Maths and Science arrive. 

So they have to put up with doing school work in this idyllic environment. Interestingly enough, we opened the Social Studies books, and they started with early Australian settlement. In the past 3 months we have visited Old Hobart Town, Port Arthur, Ross, Cambelltown and other historic sites all over Tasmania. Then we opened Josie’s science book and found a chapter on Limestone caves. Last week we visited Marakoopa Cave system near Mole Creek. The children are beginning to understand that they have been getting a live education without studying from books.

They are still trying to convince us to continue with this live educational system, and forget all about the book, but that is not going to happen.

We did manage a few day trips during the week. The first was a farewell in Devonport for Mum and Dad who left on the boat to head back to the mainland, and drive up to Brisbane to spend Easter with my sister, Naomi. We also managed a shopping trip to Launceston, and to Legana to go to church on Sunday.

While Mum and Dad were in Tasmania, they introduced us to their good friends Brian and Rhonda, also from Townsville. When they came to Myrtle park that same week, it was fantastic to see them again, and share some meals, games (like tennis), and even some tall stories with them. Perhaps we will see more of these wonderful people as we continue our travels.

 

Karen does not like being cold.

When there is a reasonably long walk to the toilets, and you have to complete this walk first thing in the morning, the last thing you need is frost on the ground. This indicates that it is a bit too cold, and it is time we were in a warmer climate.

Very beautiful, very cold.

(for us poor Queenslanders)

 

Myrtle Park is one our favourite Tasmanian camping sites. It has been a highlight on our trip, and we hope someday to return and enjoy it all again.

Cradle Mountain

No trip to Tasmania could be complete without a trip to Cradle Mountain. This is considered to be one of Tasmania’s highlights and one of the most accessible natural wonders in Australia.

Access is definitely easy, park in the carpark near the information centre, then catch the shuttle bus to the Dove Lake circuit. Then simply walk the 8 kilometre walking track around the lake, and catch the bus back again……what could be easier!

oh… did I mention the 8km walk?

is everybody ready to go?	Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain	Not a sign we encounter much in Queensland
	Karen playing up for the camera, as usual	Nice!
Walking along…..	Beautiful scenery, trees……aahhh the scerenity	This is as close as we got to the mountain
The walking track is very well made…mostly!	The boat house makes for some very beautiful photos	It started to rain at the end of our walk.
The enchanted forest walk at the ranger station	very enchanting	and very beautiful
One of the waterfall’s near the ranger station	The other waterfall near the ranger station.	When we got back to the car park, we finally saw our first wild wombat……as opposed to all the road kill we have seen.

The walk was difficult due to the fact that Leisl was feeling under the weather. She managed to soldier on and managed to complete the walk admirably. Any time anyone complained about how far it was, or how long we had left, we just had to mention that Leisl was doing it all whilst sick, and the complaints stopped.

At the end we were very happy to get back on the shuttle bus and let someone else drive. We got off at the ranger station, and did another 1km walk around the enchanted forest, but the splendour of Dove Lake made this feel like a poor cousin.

From Leven Canyon in the morning, Cradle mountain in the afternoon, and on to Aunty Peggy’s house in Wynyard tonight…..a perfect day.

Sunshine Coast visitors

Good friends of ours, Nigel and Melinda Rattenbury came to Hobart to visit with Nigels’ dad. We convinced them to drive almost all the way across the entire state, and meet us at Mole Creek. Together we went to view Marakoopa Caves.

It is always fantastic meeting up with our friends and there was much merriment and silliness. This was mainly Nigels’ fault, as you can clearly see!

The tour of the Marakoopa cave system takes about an hour, and has many highlights.

The temperature in the caves is always 9 deg. The hand railings are actually too cold to use.

 

A Rare photo of Daniel and a stunned rabbit.

 

 

 

 

The were shetland cattle in the paddock near the campsite, that looked very cool.

 

After the tour, we went to the Mole creek caravan park to stay the night, and the Rattenburys’ joined us for dinner. There was a beaut little creek running next to the campsite, and we were able to watch the trout jumping at sunset. We thought there might be some platypus, but didn’t see any.

We enjoyed a campfire dinner, and Nigel regaled us with the story of how he broke his arm recently. I am looking forward to hearing the conclusion to this story, as I received a text message later from Nigel saying it had been healed miraculously.

Our family always enjoys a visit with friends. If you have an opportunity to meet with us somewhere, let us know, and we will see if we can make it happen.