A Christmas to Remember!

Aidan & Heather arrive in Hobart

Several years ago, Penny and I promised my mum that as soon as we retired we would join her in Tasmania for an extended visit. That long-promised visit began December 4. A few weeks before our departure for Tasmania, Aidan and Heather announced that they would like to join us in celebrating Christmas with Nannie. We were all delighted at their news, and on December 22 we greeted them at Hobart airport. In a whirlwind week after they departed Vancouver they managed to cram in multiple visits with Aussie family members in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Nannie was of course thrilled that they had travelled all this way to spend their Christmas holiday with her. The last time they had seen each other was summer 2011 for Josh and Laura's wedding.

Josh & Laura arrive in Hobart

On the day Aidan and Heather arrived in Tasmania, Josh and Laura Skyped us from Borneo offering to treat us to the crayfish for our Tasmanian Christmas Dinner. They'd considered trying to join us for a family Christmas in Tasmania but the cost of flights from Borneo to Tasmania were prohibitive. At breakfast time on Christmas Eve, Mum's friend Rina arrived at the patio door. "Joan did you know there's a large box at your front door?" asked Rina. Nannie walked around to her front door and opened the box. Crammed inside was the best possible Christmas gift. Josh and Laura had flown all night from Borneo and arranged with Rina to meet them in Hobart with a refrigerator-sized box. Thus began our first Christmas together since 2008!

Christmas Morning Breakfast

Gumtree BBQ

When settling in for a 3 month summer holiday away from home, there are a few essentials that it's hard to do without. As reported previously, within a couple of days of our arrival we found a great little car on Gumtree.com. The day after we bought it we replaced the tires, again via Gumtree.com. The other essential for our summer stay was a BBQ. The obvious place to find a deal - Gumtree.com!

The first one I found was free, and less than 2k away. The vendor warned me that the home was only accessible via a long and winding path with multiple steps, so I may need help with the recovery operation. I knew our Gumtree Honda Civic hatchback with its almost new Gumtree tires wouldn't accommodate a fully assembled Gumtree BBQ so I took a few tools, planning to disassemble if necessary.

At first glance the poor old BBQ was a sorry sight. I doubt it had ever been cleaned in its life, however it appeared to have sat idle for a year or two, so the heavy layer of old fat, BBQ sauce and rust had dehydrated into a a thick, unrecognizable, odourless crust. For years I've rescued abandoned BBQ's at the curbside (until father's day a few years ago when Josh and Aidan surprised me with a gleaming stainless steel beauty). The weakest link is always the gas burners, which in Canada are usually made of sheet metal.

On lifting the hood I discovered that this old Aussie BBQ sported 4 cast iron burners and the gas tank was at least half full! Deciding there was nothing a couple of hours of sweat equity couldn't fix, I grabbed my tools and set to work on the disassembly. Luckily there was an old dolly parked beside the house, and a recycle bin full of abandoned text books close by. I emptied the bin of books, filled it with the heavy cast iron grills and burners and made my way up the steep and winding pathway pulling the first load. It took 4 trips to get all the components loaded into the Honda.

I spent the afternoon scraping and scrubbing with a chisel, wire brush, stiff bristle brush and plenty of soapy boiling water. Mum sat with me to 'supervise' and we chatted while I worked, remembering my dad's penchant for recovering and renovating other people's junk. My first bicycle, our cement mixer, industrial work bench vice, crow bars and numerous other items were all rescued from the scrap metal heap at the foundry he managed. Working in the shade of the house away from the 35 degree heat, by late afternoon our latest Gumtree find was squeaky clean, reassembled and mounted in its new spot.

Sunday Drive

Similar to the company 'ute' of early 1950's

One of my favourite Tasmanian childhood memories was the 'Sunday drive'. Mum would load a picnic basket with sandwiches and drinks, dad would top up the petrol tank (at about 20 cents per gallon!) and we'd trundle off in the company 'ute'. We had a few favourite destinations, including a little town called Snug. We've just revived the tradition. Last Sunday we drove to historic Richmond and yesterday we drove to Snug, via Huonville, Wattle Grove and Cygnet.

In 1972, just 4 months before we met, Penny picked apples on an orchard near Wattle Grove in the Huon Valley. On yesterday's drive we spotted a sign pointing in that direction and veered off in search of the orchard and some of Pen's memories of her first visit to Tasmania 4 decades ago. Most fruit pickers in those days lived in tiny 'picker's huts' on the orchard. On Pen's orchard, several pickers shared a small house. She remembers the orchardist being a very kind older gentleman and her fellow pickers being a friendly bunch of fellow gypsies. On weekends they would hitch hike the gravel road 7 k to the nearest town, Cygnet. Usually they'd be picked up by a local, but occasionally they walked the entire route. We didn't find the orchard this trip, but when Aidan and Heather arrive we'll try again!

View from the Wattle Grove-Cygnet Road (2013)

Mum wanted to show us the Huonville waterfront park. There we found the Boat House Café on a barge moored to the river bank. It was early afternoon and our tummies were rumbling. A peak in the baskets of our fellow patrons revealed the local favourite - fish and chips - so we placed our orders and settled in at a table perched over the water. The place was hopping but the delicious sea food, when it arrived, was well worth the wait. To top it off, our cappuccino was the best yet! One thing we've noticed about the Aussies since our earliest visits together in the 1980's is the quality of the coffee. When we first brought Josh out to visit Nanny at age 2 months, a cup of restaurant coffee usually consisted of Nescafé. These days the Aussies insist on excellent coffee and the result is that even tiny road and riverside vendors make nothing but the best espresso!

Sunday Lunch Huonville - 15/12/13

Sunday Lunch Richmond - 8/12/13 

The back packing gene runs in the family!

Josh & Laura 28/12/13

Aidan & Heather 13/12/13

Pete & Pen 29/11/13

The YVR international departures ramp has been a popular gathering spot for the Brand family these past few weeks. On December 13, Aidan and Heather set off on their Aussie Christmas adventure, bound for Tasmania via Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Penny and I look forward to welcoming them in Hobart on December 22. Meanwhile Josh and Laura are thoroughly enjoying Malaysia, especially the food. It seems the back packing gene is firmly established across the clan!

Tasmania

Tasmania

So where exactly is Tasmania - and what's it like? Click on this link: Map of Tasmania to leave the blog and explore Tasmania via Google Maps. Interested in learning more about our 3 month island hideaway? Take a peek at the Wikipedia entry here. Interested in learning more about Vancouver Island? Take a peek here.

Comparisons with Vancouver Island:
Tas. Area: 68,401 km²             V.I. Area 32,134 km²
Tas Lat: 42.00° S, 147.00° E   V.I. Lat: 49.50° N, 125.50° W

Tas Pop: Approx. 500,000       V.I. Pop: Approx. 750,000

Shoes - A Back Packer's Challenge

Size 11 - Price $12

When trying to carry everything you'll need for several months on the road in one backpack, one of the biggest challenges is the choice of footwear. In everyday life we've become accustomed to using different shoes for different pursuits - hiking shoes, running shoes, dressy shoes, sandals etc. It would be easy to half fill a backpack with several pairs of shoes to suit the different activities we expect to encounter over the course of 5 months. Obviously we need to compromise, so I chose a comfortable pair of all purpose Ecco shoes which I broke in before we left Canada. Now that we've settled into a daily walk routine around hilly Sandy Bay, I decided to get a pair of running shoes. Because I'll abandon them in Tasmania when we head for South East Asia, I wasn't about to pay Nike prices for 'temporary' running shoes. K Mart  had just the ticket - Nike knockoffs for $12! Contemplating the supply chain, I was left to wonder who made what from my new runners, and to consider the kind of profits the big name companies must be making if it's possible to produce knock offs for $12 a pair!

Pen looking over the Derwent River on our morning constitutional. (Note - it ain't exactly summer here yet!)

100 Pedder Street

On Saturday afternoon we stumbled on a funky little cafe in Newtown, just north of Hobart. At 90 mum is still blessed with an excellent memory and navigation skills, and while sipping her cappuccino she reasoned that we must be pretty close to our first Tasmanian home. Mum and Dad had met and married in Horsham, Victoria in December 1945 and I was born there in 1947. We moved to Tasmania just before my 2nd birthday in June 1949.

100 Pedder Street - Home from 1949 to 1951

After our coffee, mum guided us just a few hundred meters to 100 Pedder Street, where we clambered out of the Honda for a photo op. Curious about the sudden arrival of tourists, the current owner of the home came out to ask us what we were doing. When we explained that this had been our first home in Tasmania 65 years ago, she immediately invited us inside. We were taken on a guided tour of the entire home, spotless inside and out. Mum noted that while the kitchen had been completely modernized, many of the main architectural features remained just as she remembered them. We snapped pictures while mum reminisced.


Part of our family folk lore has it that because we moved into our new home just two weeks before my second birthday, Mum had told me we couldn't have a birthday party because we were yet to make any friends. Apparently I toddled off down the street, rounded up a bunch of local kids and dragged them back to my new home, announcing to mum that now we could have a party because I had found some friends. The kids sheepishly told mum "It's OK Mrs Brand, you don't have to put on a party." But we did, and that rag tag little group formed our first social circle in Tasmania.

1970

While reorganizing some storage at home last month, I stumbled on a long-forgotten log documenting in great detail my year-long trip around Australia with my friend Frank Baker in 1970. Frank and I met while working at a tin mine in North West Tasmania. When we discovered our shared dream of exploring the vast Aussie Outback, we pooled our resources, bought a van, fitted it out with 'roo bar, long range fuel tanks etc and set out on the first leg of what would become my life long passion for travel and adventure.

Aussie Outback Trip - 1970

1970's Style "Travel Blog"

A quick skim of the contents revealed some interesting comparisons with modern day travel. There's a camping fee receipt for .70 cents, covering the cost of 2 men and a van for one night. Today that bill would be over $30. I logged every expense in a table at the back of the legal size three ring binder.  The average price to refuel our rig was about $3. Josh and Laura were also thrilled to see the log. Throughout 2011 they retraced much of the route Frank and I covered, plus the entire west coast as well. They noted that some of our fuel bills to fill our tanks were the same price they paid for 1 litre of diesel! We're all looking forward to reading the log in detail when we return to Canada, revisiting the Aussie Outback through the eyes of the 23 year old Peter Brand.

Kitchen Garden

Before...

When Josh and Laura lived with Nanny in 2010-11, they built a sturdy raised bed and grew some wonderful produce. Josh's student job at Slegg Lumber in Sidney taught him that at the back of every lumber yard there's usually stacks of 'seconds' no longer suitable for retail sale. On seeing the price of large-dimension lumber at the yard in Hobart, Josh asked if they had some 'seconds' and was directed to the perfect material at a bargain price. He and Laura established their garden at the end of Nanny's driveway and it provided them with wonderful veggies year-round.

Since they left, Nanny has nurtured a few potatoes, beets and strawberries but much of the bed lay fallow when we arrived, so it was an early priority to get it back into production. Thinking of our rich home-made compost pile at home, I chuckled as we forked over cash for bags of commercially produced material here. Who knew I'd one day pay $8.50 for a bag of dirt! It looks, feels and smells so good though. I'm sure it will be worth every penny once it imparts its nutrients to our crop.

… After

It only took an hour to turn the entire bed over, remove the weeds, dig in the compost material and have the plot ready for planting. Another hour of planting and watering and Josh and Laura's garden bed is back in production. Peas, beans, lettuce, squash, and a variety of herbs. So satisfying!

Our attempts at veggie gardening in North Saanich always met with mixed results. For a few years we'd go to the trouble of prepping the soil, planting and nurturing for a few weeks, then abandon home and garden for at least a month of sailing up the coast, returning to a garden gone wild.

A couple of summers when we stayed at home, we planted potatoes, carrots and corn. Our twisted, stunted carrots alerted us to the fact that there is something in North Saanich soil that doesn't agree with carrots. We attempted to defy the odds with potatoes, but the dreaded golden nematode quickly discovered our plot and our second crop of pathetic spuds was our last. As for our corn, 16 seeds grew into tall lush plants that produced healthy husky husks. However the night before our planned harvest, racoons discovered the crop and wiped it out while we slept just meters away! Previous struggles to compete with native species in our forest garden had seen the same family of racoons systematically slaughter 3 successive flocks of chickens. In recent years we've largely given up on chickens and veggies. Here's hoping our Tassie garden will re-inspire us :-)

Tasmania's rich and diverse soils are best demonstrated at the supermarket potato bin.

                         

Time Is Money!

The old saying takes on a whole new meaning now that we're 'pensioners' on a 'fixed income'! (Note that I use the terms in quotation marks, still wrestling with the fact that I am, indeed, a pensioner on a fixed income!) One thing we have oodles of in our new found retirement freedom, is time. On Saturday morning I put some of it to good use.

The one dodgy aspect of our new car was the condition of the tires. While the mechanic who checked it over assured me they'd last 3 months, Pen and I figured we'd best upgrade. That usually involves a phone call to Herb at Sidney Tire, a two hour wait and a bill for $800+. I found an ad for used tires on Gumtree.com and fired off a text message. The response was immediate and positive. They had four tires of our size with 85% tread. $35 each, installed! I texted back immediately "See you in 35 minutes". Google Maps on the iPhone guided me on a pleasant drive up the Derwent Valley through my old stamping grounds to a huge warehouse surrounded by wrecked cars, neatly stacked awaiting the crusher.

No hoist? No problem!

I was greeted by 3 friendly young guys who spoke to me with quaint Aussie accents and to each other in a language I'd never heard - one of four spoken in Afghanistan. They'd already picked out 3 pairs of excellent looking tires for me to choose from. I selected the best four and they set to work immediately. I calmly masked my surprise as the lead guy skillfully manoeuvred a fork lift under my new pride and joy and hoisted the tiny Honda off its feet.

While two guys took care of the tires, I mentioned to the boss that I also needed a jack, tire wrench and the rod that holds the hood up. He picked up a tire wrench lying on the floor at our feet, tried it on our wheel nut and handed it to me. Then he disappeared into the yard and returned in a minute with just the right jack and rod - 10 bucks for the lot! Within an hour of my text message I had a suit of excellent tires plus a tire repair kit and the missing car part - all for $150! As I handed over the cash the lead guy said "You know that at a regular tire shop the bill would be $180 per tire?" "Yup." said I. "You guys rock. Thanks a lot, eh!"

Thanks a lot Gumtree.com! :-)

A Busy Week!

We're finally settled with mum in Sandy Bay, Tasmania. Our flights to Australia took twice as long as usual because China Southern Airlines dog-legs through Guang Zhou in S.E. China. We calculated that from the time we got out of bed in Vancouver to the time we crawled into bed at my brother's home north of Sydney, we'd been on the go for 48 hours! Worth it though, as we saved a couple of thousand dollars compared to the Air Canada fare to fly Vancouver-Sydney-Bangkok-Vancouver.

Pen and Grandnephew Finn

No complaints about China Southern. The Airbus 800 for the 9 hour flight from Guang Zhou to Sydney was brand new and the service was excellent. We travelled by train from Sydney Airport to Richmond north of Sydney, arriving just in time for the combined birthday party of my brother and his two grandsons Finn (3) and Lief (1).  We spent the night with John and family at their lovely home on a horse farm in the Blue Mountains. A fews weeks ago the area was on bushfire evacuation alert but a subsequent rainy spell had everything looking green and lush. Next day John drove us on a scenic loop through the Blue Mountains back to Sydney. We stopped at the Three Sisters lookout, lunched in a lovely mountain village and arrived at our dear friends Kevin and Janet late afternoon December 2 for a two-night stay.

With the iconic Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains

Kevin is one of Australia's most prominent Indigenous language activists - a passion we've shared for over a decade. Our get-togethers always involve lively discussions about our favourite topic. Kevin and Janet are exceptionally kind and thoughtful hosts and their home was a delightful sanctuary after the marathon trans-Pacific flights. We spent some of our time together planning their visit with us in Tasmania in January.

The Sydney airport is just a 12 minute express train ride from Kevin and Janet's home so we bid them farewell after breakfast on December 4 and in no time we were relaxing in the departure lounge for the final leg of our long haul. Recent rains in "Tassie" had the island jewel dressed in her best emerald green for our final approach. Mum and brother Bob met us at the airport and by 2.30 PM we were sitting down to some of Tasmania's finest wine and cheese on Mum's patio overlooking the Derwent River. The travel adrenaline quickly drained out of us and we finally felt 'retired'!


We decided to get a runabout car for our 3 month stay. Scanning the ads on Gumtree.com, the Australian equivalent to Craig's List, we found a little '96 Honda Civic hatchback that suited our needs. After 24 hours of bartering via text message we bought it yesterday. We expect to be able to recover our modest investment when we leave and come out ahead compared to renting. Today we'll take our first trip - to the nursery - and by tonight we hope to have our veggie garden in. Life is good!! :-)

Off We Go!

 On November 27 we left our home and pets in the care of our friend Pauline and took the ferry to Vancouver for an early holiday feast with family and friends.

On the 28th we saw Josh and Laura off on the next leg of their journey and spent the rest of the day with final preparations and packing. In addition to our 2 small backpacks, we stocked a suitcase with summer clothes, work clothes etc. that we'll use during our 3 months in Tasmania. Once we head to South East Asia in February, we'll abandon much of that and reduce our luggage to a bare minimum of bulk and weight.

Finally the long-anticipated departure day arrived - Nov. 29. It sure felt good to swing on our backpacks and take to the open road once again. Because of our plan to return to Canada via South East Asia next spring, we opted to fly with China Southern Airlines. The route takes us via Guang Zhou in South East China, then a connection to Sydney and finally Hobart on December 4.