St. Mary's Anglican Church, Hagley, Tasmania

Called into the Anglican church named St. Mary's Church at Hagley on the way home on Thursday.  The lane to the church is very narrow as you can see in the last photo. The church's beginnings was in 1856 and opened in 1862.

The Lighthouse, Devonport

The Lighthouse near the mouth of the Mersey River in Devonport, Tasmania helps guide The Spirit of Tasmania and a few freight ships into the river to berth.  The lighthouse is built on a stone base and is made of bricks, was built in 1889.

Yesterday we drove north west up to Devonport just 100km from home, my parents are buried in the lawn cemetery there and we visited putting flowers on their graves.

The area the photos were taken yesterday is known as 'The Hat'.

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A Shark Killed a Man in Broome, WA

Tragic news from Broome in Western Australia (WA) where a shark attacked and killed a man off Cable Beach where the man was body surfing.  His body was recovered. This happened a few days ago.  The last time a shark killed a man was back in 1993.  The beach has been closed for the time being.

 My photos of Cable Beach when we were there 5 years ago.  It's a small town with this beautiful beach where people come to watch the sunsets, have picnics on the sand mainly for their evening meal.  The town is isolated as there are no large towns or cities near it.

I have included a map. Broome is about 6,000km from home here in Launceston, Tasmania.  There of course is a shorter route by vehicle but for a part of it is just a track.

Ruins at Port Arthur, Tasmania

Various photos of Port Arthur the convict premises in the 1800.

 Below is what is left of the ovens in the kitchen.

Below is where the food deliveries were made.

Port Arthur, Tasmania

Port Arthur is interesting in that it held the Convict Prison from 1833 to 1853.  The prison and buildings hold much history as it was a community.  I have posted a few photos in 2015 of Port Arthur none of which you see in this post.

When I passed my Nursing exam back then it was when you became a 'Sister' and wore a white veil which is no longer used.

 

My parents had given me a car for passing my exams so a friend whom I had nursed with set off on a holiday around Tasmania for a few weeks.  I was 19 at the time. When we returned I married my husband a few months later.

We slept in the car..lol, had saucepans, frypan, cultery, plates, kettle, towels and tea towels and some food such as veggies and meat.  In those days there were no coffee shops, eating places as there is today.  We went to corner shops and bought food to cook. Always had toilets and showers too.

Where ever we stayed there was always a fireplace, and water to cook our meals.  We went right around Tasmania and it's here in front of the jail below that we slept for 2 nights.  The grass was not mowed, the ruins very ruined, roads were not blocked off, entrance was free, one was free to roam all over the place, so different these days.

A map below shows you where Port Arthur is.  Way down south.

 

Forth River at Turners Beach.

The Forth River flowing into Bass Strait.  Just around the corner is a small village called Turners Beach, there is a caravan park there. We used to stay a lot at the caravan park not in busy times and towards the end of our lease and when we no longer had the Garden Centre, if Staff needed us at the weekend we were not far away, that's before we retired!  In those days we had another caravan which served us well.

 

Even though I was a Registered Nurse for several years and nursing I made a career change and joined my husband in his work that being a Nurseryman and Horticulturist. We had a Garden Centre and Nursey, sold Giftware and all manner of things. The people that owned the building and business my husband had managed it for many years, the day it opened in fact then together we leased that business for several years. We worked long hours 7 days a week and rarely took holidays. 

I loved it, similar to nursing in one way.

Now that garden centre and nursery is closed after many people leased it and then the building sold.

From memory our business was one of the first to have a 'homepage' on the internet :) Wonderful memories.

The Forth Bridge below

 

Turners Beach sunset.  Always can count on a reasonable sunset from this beach which I might add is rather pebbly.  Horses and riders sometimes ride along the beach, there are stairs from the caravan park to the beach.

Forth, Tasmania

Forth is a small village about 110 km from home (Launceston).  It's a rural town with the Forth River running into Bass Strait.

These photos were taken in 2015 from a hill over looking the Forth River, town, Highway and some farming land - crops.

The Forth River in the foreground of the first photo.

A house on a hill on the way to Forth - great view of Bass Straight.

The marker shows Forth in Tasmania.

The Village Green

Some flowers and trees at The Village Green in Westbury from our day trip last week visiting family and friends.

 

 

The Gorge, Launceston

Saturday afternoon youngest son who lives at home here with us took 2 of his 3 children for a walk up the Gorge which is about 15 minutes from home and about 10 minutes from the city of Launceston.

He went up the zig zag track there being two tracks on each side of the Gorge.  Photos are from his phone as I asked him to take some.

The cottage is inside the gate and was once used by a caretaker.  There was a small fee many years ago to enter the Gorge from this way which was the only way, once.

 Taken from the zig zag track looking over to the much easier side of the Gorge to walk.

The suspenion Bridge over the 'Basin' a swimming place and of course there are peacocks within the grounds.

Hawthorn

On our way to Westbury here in Tasmania the other day the Hawthorn was out and looking pretty.

We took  a road that we don't drive on often so the photos are of the countryside in the mid north west of the Island.

Cows grazing, white Hawthorn and pink growing in the paddocks and along part of the side of the road. Some places or areas have Hawthorn Hedges but not in this area.

Hedges were almost unknown in 1810 but from 1820 onwards the settlers were planting hedges as fences.