Afternoon Tea at Ross

We visited a small restaurant the other day in Ross, Tasmania.  There is no supermarket of any type or kind in the small rural town.  The Cafe is popular, it sells scallop pies, sandwiches, light meals, biscuits, vanilla slices, jelly slices and so on.  Also, there is a delicatessen.  It's about 1 hour drive from home here, in Launceston, Tasmania. Ross was settled in 1812.

I thought I had posted this post, but it seems not.

The Fireplace

This fireplace is located in a house in Ross, Tasmania and at the front or adjoining is a cafe and shop.  I thought I'd done a post on inside the shop but can't find it, will do it later.

Anyway the owner of the house and cafe showed us this old fireplace in his office, asked me could I share it online as someone somewhere might help solve or come up with ideas of what these motives mean.  It's thought one of the convicts who carved the designs on the Ross Bridge [ here ] may have been done by one of them or the same person/s.  The bridge was completed in 1836.

Does anyone know what these symbols mean?  Or have a suggestion.

Mountains and Shrubs

There are two mountains we can see from inside and outside of our house when looking to the east. The first photo is of Ben Lomond which is 1527 meters (5157 feet) at its highest peak. There is not much snow on Ben Lomond in our winter which is now, occasionally there is a decent amount.  There is a snow making machine up there as well and it's used when a decent snowfall has fallen because some people do like to ski.  

This first three photo were taken through the window, zoomed well in of course as it's about 1 hours' drive from home to begin the journey up the mountain. The first one is early in the morning, well it is for me, then the second photo shows the snow a bit later on in the morning. A link to part of the road up the mountain and the village [ here ]

Another day and more snow on Ben Lomond, taken from inside my home on the same day as the first photo.

The next two photos are of Mt. Barrow 1413 meters (4636 feet) and about 22 km from home. The first photo was taken from a different location and the second was taken from home later towards evening. Mt. Barrow doesn't have snow on it every year, but you know it's cold when the snow comes.  It will probably be all gone when we wake up the next morning.

These two photos are of a Dwarf Nandina Domestica which are growing in the front garden as a hedge and were planted last year.  The kangaroos had a good time eating some of them last year, this year they haven't attempted to at this point in time.  These plants are beautiful in winter as they have a vibrant red foliage, sometimes it takes a few years for them to develop their colour.

I was surprised to see the Dwarf Lavender also known as Spanish Lavender and a few other names, in flower.  The plant below is a grass and escapes my mind to be named.  There are 3 of these in the front garden bed.

The Heuchera below is a nice plant and only recently has become available for commercial use to grow in the gardens.  The Heuchera comes in a few colours and we have 3 of them, they are a Native of North America. 

The first Camellia in bloom this year.  There are just three at this stage. We have a hedge of different ones growing up the west side of the house, they are sheltered.

Oak Tree in the Park.

 Autumn tree in City Park, Launceston, Tasmania.  It's an Oak tree and all the trees in the park have been planted and some are native to Australia.

Play area and water fountain.  I used to bring my children here to play years ago and not much has changed just renovations. 

The City Park has several entrances which are locked at sunset, open sunrise I believe, this is one entrance.

A Drive on Sunday

Beautiful winters day last Sunday with the temperature being 15 deg C.  We went for a drive to Legana a growing suburb 12 km from Launceston.  There were several orchards in the area but of course some of the land was sold.   There are still apple and cherry orchids plus other fruit trees.  I took photos of the older area including an apple orchid. There is Tavern, Supermarket, Post Office, and a few other shops there so you don't have to come into the city to buy food.

The dotted area is Legana.  

City Park, Rotunda

 City Park, Launceston, Tasmania. 

It's always lovely to stroll in our City Park and that's what I did the other day whilst my husband stayed in the car.  

The Rotunda in the park was built in 1908 and is dedicated to Chester Edwards, the Launceston City Band conductor.  It was built with funds raised in part through local donations.  The rotunda has a band play there mostly in the summer time on a Sunday. (Not a pop band).

Sunset

On the way to the Casino for dinner (previous post) this is what we saw as we drove there.

Then photos of inside mostly part of the gambling area.

The downstairs entrance and if look to the left (not shown) is a cafe area a wall then the gambling area, the main one.

We took the lift which is outside this gambling area (a smaller one.) The lift is along and around the corner.