Is it just me, or is there an odour of apples?

Here in Burnie, the first person I asked that to looked confused... 'what odour is that? Maybe it's the supermarket next door, they might have apples.' Well, I still aren't any closer to knowing for sure, but there is a very large mountain of woodchips on the waterfront, so it's my guess it's coming from there. Funny though how you become oblivious to changed in your immediate environment.

The wild-life around here didn't get that big for no reason.



This guy was out of school today suffering from asthma, his mum just took him to the doctor.

And this is Josh who was telling me he just bought a house 6 months ago here in Burnie despite his friends thinking it wasn't such a good idea. He has some great theories about sustainability and using the classic quarter acre block to grow your own produce and what kind of implications that would have if many people took that on board. In fact, Josh had a lot of great theories, it was refreshing to meet a real free thinker.


Burnie's new Multistory carpark.

Had a few conversations from a distance today - maybe people don't like to get too close in smaller towns (something to do with proximity?)

Not all the locals kept their distance though.

This is actually a fine drawing from Hobart - the artist being Kara who stuck around for quite a while on Saturday - well it finally made it to the walls.
And lastly there was Sunny. Sunny is from Sydney, here in Burnie for a conference on handmade paper. She also mentioned in passing that she was on her way to the National Scrabble championchips in Perth, well it so happened that I had a Scrabble set in my house, so Julie (who is travelling with me at the moment, making a film) challenged her to a match.
Thank god I didn't get involved because competition was pretty fierce and there were words and abbreviations flying in all sorts of crazy directions. I felt like I was in the company of giants - ok, partly because I was so close to the ground.






Finished the day with a cup of tea and a bit of a lie-down. Can't complain.

Sunday on Salamanca

Sunday on Salamanca - I thought it was going to rain, but true to form Hobart pulled out a stunner (or at least in my 3 days in Hobart that has been the deal).


Two kids with an eye for foliage? Look again, they're the architects and artists of tomorrow - here is some of their work.

And meanwhile I was handed this at the end of the day by a slightly older artist. I went yesterday to the Museum and Patricia Paccinini's creatures gave me a similar feeling of familiar chill.




The leaf collection.

So these gals were part of a group of about 6 who were doing some kind of written report so I had to be on my best behaviour. It always makes me nervous when people start writing things down when you talk. I remember when I first spoke to some university students (I think it was a group of designers or directors) and they pulled out notepads to write what I'd said down, my first reaction was to start speaking backwards or start dancing instead. Well, luckily I've moved on a bit since then and there was not really the space to tapdance anyway.


This is officially the largest lollipop known to humankind. Littleknown fact is that the colours in the lollipop comes from the heads of thousands of children, all mushed up into a syrup and melted together with a railway wagon of sugar. That's the bit everyone knows already, the secret bit is that those things only ever get bigger, every lick at that sucker just makes it bigger. I'm coll with that, the girl with the lollipop is cool with that and so is her little sister, but that woman behind her is just waking up to the idea.


Family times - these guys were all smiles.


This is the guy who brought his dog, his girlfriend, his panpipes and even some of his artwork to visit. The pipes are hand crafted and and made of bamboo and a local wood!


This is the view of the hills over Hobart, the box-like houses are maybe the only thing that look like New Zealand (except the stone buildings). The landscape though is like something from another planet. Another day closes, I'm off to Burnie - no idea what to expect!

Salamanca in the neighborhood

Phew what a day! I mean, what a day... I don't think I've been anywhere where so many people have actually wanted to know - I mean wanted to really know what I was up to - honestly I really felt like people here really wanted to connect.

They said Salamanca Place was prettty busy on a Saturday morning but I didn't really get that they meant - really busy! The sun came out and the heat in the little house rose. It was a memorable day though, and continues on the theme of life really isn't what you expect it to be.

Ha, I hate to get all psuedo-Buddist on ya, but I read the other day a quote from Jung, 'Destiny is something you discover on the road you take to somewhere else' - actually he put it far better than that.

This is Mike and Rosie, they spend half their time in Nova Scotia and the other 6 months in Tasmania. I always grew up believing that wherever you live you should feel like you really want to be living there and today I met quite a few people who really live here because they want to be living here.

And this is my first Scrabble game in a while, we figured that if you can pronounce a word then it's probably legitimate. It brought up some curly ones but my friend here was almost as lateral as I was.


And then there was Kate-Rose - this gal is a spelling machine. We stuck to Queenbury rules but luckily Kate's mum called her away when she was winning 63 to 36.


Here's a few classic pics for the hell of it.




Three gals with a tast for sunshine.


Sorry I can't remember this woman's name (below) simply because her story was so interesting I forgot everything else. She has been setting up an Orphanage in Muzaffarpur, Bihar in India. It's called The Mona Lisa Project - named after a young girl she first met a few years ago and decided to help her out. Well the project gained momentum and ended up turning into a two storey house, and every few months she comes into town to try and find a little more support for the project.

I was really touched by this story, I suppose because of the simplicity of one person doing what she thought was a good thing to do, not thinking about the consequences so much as just putting one foot in front of the other. Small things gather momentum I suppose. Anyway, this is her, I hope she gets her support and thanks for the chat. Next time I will write your name down too.

A couple of notes from the mailbox.

And while I'm at it, here's a couple of gals working on a theatre development project as part of the festival, they brought me fudge which in Australian language is a bit like arriving with a pallet of tinnies - yep I have a weakness for sweet things. Anyway, we talked a bit about shows we'd seen and appreciated their honesty and intrigue. I'll look forward to see what they've been working on.

There's blue gold in those hills - Glenorchy

So this is Tassy! People tell you a place is like this or so and so but it's never what you expect and Tasmania is like no-where I've been before despite it's resemblance to New Zealand and Australia. This place - as they say in the guide books is like no other.

Glenorchy is about 7km out of Hobart, near a lake, under a mountain. It's got a mall which is very similar to a lot of malls (you see it's the commerce-made bits that are always less original) and a bunch of friendly locals.

This is a note from the first person who dropped by (sorry I can't remember her name) but she very kindly invited me to her house warming as well. Unfortunately I couldn't make it due to a prior engagement with the Governor of Tasmania overlooking the river.


This is Kerryn, he's a geologist who - I have to be honest here - has completely changed my idea of what a geologist is. He's a big kayak fan which is both a palindrome and a good reason to live in Tasmania. His house is rented and apparently a big run-down shambles but has great carpets and wallpaper. Now that's gotta be as good a reason for living somewhere as any.


This is Maria - she insisted on getting me something to eat, I insisted back and we had a kind of insist-off between us.


Clearly I have name memory issues because I cannot remember these people's names either but they are from Cygnet and had some revealing info on the demographic of that town. I feel like I've been well equiped with insider knowledge for the future.


This is Nigel with his daughter - a very articulate and thoughtful guy. The red thing in the foreground is my melodica.

Tomorrow I'm going to Salamanca Square and as usual I have absolutely no idea what to expect.

There's a great read in the Lonely Planet about Tasmania (I read it on the plane over from Auckland) that speaks about the dream of owning a quarter acre block and the fact that Tasmanians even more than their mainland cousins know what it is to have your own patch of grass you can call your own. What is that? Independance? Stubbon-ness? Or maybe just knowing a good thing when you're onto it. Anyway, if today was anything to go by I reckon I will learn a fair bit about how people actually tick around these parts.

Here are some images from Nigel and Audrey who sent them in to me.