Not the usual Christmas Day!

Christmas Day the weather was hot, hotter than predicted so the A/C went on, beautiful inside with the ducted system which we replaced when we came home from the long holiday in early November.

Started to cook Christmas Dinner husband decided to visit eldest sons house a few klm away in another Suburb to see if the water had turned on outside to water some baby plants.
Eldest son, his wife and their little ones are on the East Coast of Tasmania on a holiday for several weeks and will come home for a day or two here and there to check things out.

I received a phone call from Husband whilst at sons - the house it flooded! A fitting underneath the bathroom sink had given way due to rust and being old, so husband was walking in water up to his ankles in parts, downstairs was also flooded with water up to just below his knees.  The water was turned off, he came home we had Christmas dinner, son and his wife came home about 2pm after being phoned earlier, thus we 4four did the best we could wading in water pulling ruined furniture and clothes, books, toys etc. all off the flood into an area outside.
Son and wife returned to the East Coast to continue their holiday but will come home again this week to take rubbish to the tip with our help.

About 4pm on Christmas Day, husband and I returned home to shower and prepared several salads and meat to take to the youngest sons house so we could all have Christmas Tea together - the evening turned out well.

This morning my husband removed the Carpet Roses out in the front garden, there were 3 which have/had been there for many years - always good to have a change.

The below photo is of the redone 1st front garden with the soaker hose in place to water.

Merry Christmas

Have a beautiful day, safe travels for those out and about.

The coming Christmas Weather!

Merry Christmas to all.

Tasmania, Australia can have odd weather in the summertime due to it's location.  There can be 4 seasons in the one day.  Many people have the idea that our summers are cold, well far from it most years.
The Christmas forecast is in the photo below with Christmas Day temperature predicted to be 30 degC, (86 F)with some cities being 40 degC (104 F).  So for those who live in the Northern Hemisphere just think of us down here cooking Christmas Dinner or heading for the shade to have a barbecue or a big shady old tree on Christmas Day, whilst most of you 'might' have snow outside!

Tasmania is 68,332 square kilometres (26,383 square miles) in area. The distance from north to south is about 364 kilometres (226 miles), and from east to west about 306 kilometres (190 miles). It is about the same size as Ireland, Switzerland or the state of West Virginia in the USA.

Cherries!

A change from the holiday posts this post about Cherries here in Tasmania, Australia.

Always my late mother bought cherries for Christmas thus it was and is cherry season.  When mum passed on I didn't concern myself with cherries at Christmas time, my dad did it wasn't always convenient for me to get cherries from "The Cherry Shed" near where dad lived, but did once in awhile when he was alive.
It's just a large tin shed that has a cafe attached where the cherries are sold from December to the end of the season.
The last few years having really fancied cherries my husband and I called often in the season to buy cherries - this year the owners of the farm have lost 2/3rd of their crop due to the weather in spring, plus there are no cherries at the moment.

Today we bought some cherries at a fruit shop just down the hill from home - 24.99AUD a kilogram.
They got their cherries from Melbourne, Victoria.  The cows got into the local crop and ate them all :)

The cherries and below outside the Cherry Shed.

Couldn't resist!

Whilst in Cairns we headed to a dam and on the way I took this photo plus several more on the way which will come later.

 filter 'Porcelain' above and normal photo below.

The photo below was taken in the caravan park one time after it rained, just love that leaf.

Finally!

Arrived in Cairns, Queensland in the Tropics after all those klms from home in Tasmania for a 4 week stay on July 8, 2016.
The weather was warm as one would expect in winter however it rained many days even though it was supposed to be the dry season.  The sun we didn't see a great deal of either but we had a good time.
On our way from Cardwell to Cairns we had hills, cane and banana plantations rather different from home.  We passed the highest mountain in Queensland but unfortunately couldn't get a photo of it.

This caravan park was extremely busy, always someone going or coming.  We booked for 4 weeks some distance down the road.
The photos below are of our posse for 4 weeks.

Our caravan

A small area of the park, we looked down this road.

One of the tropical plants growing in the caravan park.

Tropical plants around our site which made it rather private.

The maps above from Cardwell to Cairns, below the distance approx. from Devonport where we caught the Spirit of Tasmania to sail across the sea to Melbourne, then from there to Cairns.

Something different!

These photos are of Cardwell.  Have used a filter called 'Porcelain' for something different.
To me the filter gives a dreamy look.

Unknown 'things'

Different 'things' in Cardwell, Q'land what we saw this winter.

The big crab at Cardwell, Q'land.

Don't know what these represent, there was no sign to say.

These are 'what' I don't know, they over look the sea and part of Hinchinbrook Island.

The Telegraph and Post Office building was built in 1870.  It operated as a Post Office until 1982 and the building is a Heritage Centre these days.

After the last cyclone in the far north.

Cardwell, in Queensland is a small tropical coastal town in the Far North.  We had 2 nights at one of the caravan parks.  Much had changed since our last visit, there had been a cyclone through the area in February 2011.  The walking paths along the beach front have been redone, some shops have been replaced by new ones making it all look inviting.

View towards Hinchinbrook Island.

Streetscape which is also the highway.

After the cyclone in 2011, the same highway as above.

Photo borrowed from the internet.

The jetty which one can walk out on, can fish from and hop into your little boat and take yourself across to the island.

Borrowed photo from the internet above, is of the Marina at Port Hinchinbrook Marina at Cardwell after the cyclone.

Ice cream!

We came across an Ice Cream shop called the 'Frosty Mango' on the way to Cardwell in the tropics this winter.  No we didn't indulge too early in the morning.

Coming around the corner and wow you see this on a slight hill.  It certainly catches ones eye.

A little further on there was a lookout, so up we drove to see the view of Hinchinbrook Island.  See map below.

Pity about the electricity wires.

Some tropical plants near the caravan at Cardwell, Queensland.

The drive that day from Ayr to Cardwell.

To the beach!

Not too far from Ayr are two beaches that we visited.  Lynch's Beach and Alva Beach.

Many people that live there have a tractor to take their boats out to the sea and collect them.  First time we have seen this type of thing.  No photos of the tractors unfortunately.

Cute.

Near one of the beaches.