This week Tom's new life begins

What a lovely Sunday we had.. Balmy Tassie weather 21 degrees..
We began the day with a walk (Tom rode his bike) to the sailing club and beyond to the public boat ramp. Such a beautiful peaceful walk...and Tom just flew on his bike..heading off and circling back every now and then...he is thriving on the independence.

Back home for a leisurely breakfast followed by a stroll around the Cygnet Market held fortnightly next door in the Town Hall. This week there were also stalls in Carmel Hall across the road as it was a special celebrate spring market. The street comes alive with people shopping/ socialising and enjoying the busker...who sat on our garden bench (currently out the front of our shop until we move it up the hill)

Inside our flat it is quite removed from the bustle next door.
After lunch and unpacking a few more boxes, we headed out in to the day.
Tom was keen to have a bike ride with John so they set off in search of the Golf Club..with me following on foot (John thinks he may invest in a bike!! Tom doesn't walk anymore!!) We had a lovely afternoon doing a circuit ride/walk around the back of town...good views back across Port Cygnet and Town. 

 

Decided to go a bit further up where we'd been so had a drive up the hills behind us...interesting to see some very isolated homes way up in the bush..real pioneering stuff.
Back home and Tom and I baked a batch of anzac biscuits for school lunches...then a peacful night in readiness for first school day in Tassie.

Monday dawned with heavy mist shrouding the valley..lovely so watch it gently lift as we had breakfast.
Tom was a little nervous (and so was mum) about first day... Glad when 8.40 rolled around and we walked over to the office. Went to Tom's classroom..only to find all the children were in sports uniform..after brief introductions with Mrs Osborne (Tom's teacher) we decided to race back home and change into sports gear...Once done , Tom was a happy fellow.

John and I had a fairly slow business day...but it gave us time to unpack a bit more.
No builders or cleaners today and I must admit that I began to feel a bit depressed at the dishevelled environment..so John and I decided to get stuck in to cleaning and tidying the back living room so we could settle in more... So glad we did..it feels much more homey.

Tom took off on his bike after school to go and get an icecream for afternoon tea...then asked if he could go to the library across the road...at about 4.30 John and I wandered over to find him reading a superman cartoon book at the table...happy as...
Off to Burton's Reserve at 5 to have first night at Cub Scouts...
Tom had a great night and is keen to continue..he goes for 4 weeks then will be invested and wear uniform after that.

Tuesday was very busy morning of orders for us.
Tom went off to school very happily..again in Sports gear as there was to be an AFL clinic that day.
He said he wasn't much good at kicking the ball but had fun.
Last week while in the newsagent, Tom noticed some wallets that had different AFL football colors. We talked about which one we'd choose (not knowing much about AFL). For a number of reasons we decided on Collingwood...we like magpies(their emblem) and I figure black and white are easy colours to find if Tom has to dress in his team colours..(There is a wear your Footy team colours day at school on Friday next week!!)
John has decided to go for Geelong as their emblem is.....a cat!!

The rest of our week passed quickly..orders keep us pretty busy every day and in between times we are trying to unpack and set up. John made good headway with setting up the store room. He moved out the boxes from that room and has put up shelving and is now able to begin the task of unpacking alot of the boxes into that space. Its a big job and all takes time but we'll get there...
The flat is still unfinished as the builders have been focusing on external work..it will all happen eventually and we are quite comfortable.


I enjoy walking each morning..the weather is varied..sunny/cloudy/rainy/windy...often all in a matter of half and hour!! I love it. These are some photos of what I see...

One afternoon we decided to head out for a walk together after work. We strolled down (well Tom rode his bike) to Burton Reserve then walked the eastern side of Port Cygnet . We were lucky enough to see two wonders that day...a perfect rainbow and later as we sat by the water...two beautiful black swans in flight.. Really special. We feel so happy to be here.



Tomorrow (Sunday) we plan to venture down to Recherche Bay..in the remote south and do a walk across to the west coast. Really looking forward to that ..



The boys are here

 The boys arrived in their 'Gypsy Caravan' alias John's old Subaru(Packed to the rafters) on Sunday11th..
I had regular updates from Tom via mobile phone as they made their way from Sydney to Holbrook to Melbourne to Devonport to Hobart and finally to Cygnet...quite a journey.

I enjoyed preparing for their arrival...baking my first Chocolate Cake in my new oven...

We settled in by enjoying a relaxed lunch of local produce...fresh breads, ham, cheeses etc and local Apple juice.
Then after unpacking the car, we decided to head up the hill to our land at Wattle Grove to collect kindling and have a walk. A beautiful light across the paddocks that time of the afternoon.



Tom and his Tassie Devil friend "Pink Ears"

Monday morning we were up early. I drove Phillip to the airport leaving at 6.30am to be back for work by 9am. Our 2nd load of boxes was due to arrive that morning too, so John and Tom stayed home to direct the unloading. Thomas was very tired and unwell most of the day...so slept alot of the day away...a good thing really.

Amidst the great unload, we continued business as usual with lots of orders coming through. Good that business is rolling along...but a quiet day would be nice...feel like its hard to catch my breath .

Tuesday was a busy day with orders, builders and electricians on site...
Tom was feeling more himself and had a lovely time playing with Bosun (the builder's dog)

We headed in to Huonville after work day was over..hoping to have a meal at the internet cafe..but they were about to close..so ended up heading back to Cygnet bottom pub for dinner(there are 3 pubs in town..referred to as top, middle and bottom)..nice friendly atmosphere and food is ok. Met up with a couple of locals ..Bruce from the B&B and the woman who delivered our drums of ethanol...They obviously exchanged stories as they waited for their takeaway meals as Bruce commented as he went past our table that he knew where to come if he ever needed ethanol...Ah..small town life..
A rainy squally night..good to be 2 minute walk from home.

Bottom Pub

Wednesday dawned a lovely day...except for computer issues!! Couldn't get the printer to work. Had been ok yesterday before the electricians came!! I quickly reached the limit of my troubleshooting capacities so phoned our remote support team who dialled in and still no success. So the next idea was to ring our Architect to see if he knew anyone local who was good. Gave me a number to try but I had no luck getting through. The next idea after that was to go next door to the Town Hall where there is an internet office. Found Roy, a retired felllow who comes in to town on Wednesdays to help 'man' the office. Roy said he'd come over and take a look. Well 2 hours later, after trying all sorts of things, he got to the bottom of the problem and the printer was up and running again...what a marvel...I love living in this town. He is such an interesting bloke and he taught me a thing or two about the computer as well.

Tom had a great day. He discovered that he could hop on is bike and do laps around the back dirt lane and around to the front of the shop. We set him the task of riding up to the post office with parcels to post. He thoroughly enjoyed the independence of taking this on...and we had alot of orders to keep him busy.
We bought Tom's uniform and bag for St James and went to the Newsagent where the owners Martin and Genevieve helped gather together books etc Tom will need for term 3...quite exciting..
John spent a bit of time setting up Tom's room with shelves..will be quite cosy

Thursday, Tom and I took a break and went for a lovely bike ride to Burton's reserve then down to the Sailing club and back. The weather was quite changeable but it didn't bother us at all. So fun to be able to take off and enjoy a lovely time together in this beautiful place.

Miniature sailing boats race at the Sailing Club

 

Ryan (architect) came over in the afternoon to see how things are going.
Progress is slow..there are so many things that need finishing throughout the building and the external work to be done is extensive. Ryan assures us that when Dave the boss is back from hols in Vanuatu with his family...he will crack the whip and get things finished.. I think it will be some time before we have this place to ourselves.. (its a bit wearing..but we are quite cosy and mostly in shop area during the day anyway)
We had a very enjoyable discussion with Ryan about our house plans...a whole new adventure there..
More talks to come but I think we are getting closer to an agreed design..

Friday was a wild windy day in town..
Builders were trying to put up the pressed metal under awning out front but gave up as ladders were blowing over and metal flying in the gusts. Tom had great fun riding about again..gaining more confidence. I took him to the library across the road  and he stayed for a while to look at books then made his own way back...He loves this freedom.
John , Tom and I took a morning tea break at the Red Velvet Lounge enjoying fresh baked muffin/ cheesecake/ choc chip cookie and cuppa's...what a life change..hard to realise this is actually our life now.
Back to work and unpacking a few boxes between orders.

Last orders in to the post then we took a drive to Gordon (about 30 mins southeast of here) to visit Ned Trewartha...a local wooden boat builder who is going to make us a Huon pine table for the shop. He wanted us to see the timber before going further. Amazingly huge slabs of the most magnificent Huon pine that has been salvaged from logged areas on the West Coast (These trees are no longer legally felled). Ned is such and interested and talented bloke...very willing to share his stories and show us some of his work...so beautiful. we feel really privileged that he is prepared to make this table. (Interestingly he has quite an association with Lord Howe Island..having made the furniture for the accommodation where we stayed when we went there) We stayed for a cuppa and Ned's wife Kim had made a lovely pate, ginger biscuits and Nori rolls for us to enjoy...wonderful country hospitality.
Tom enjoyed playing with their do Dougie!!



John and Ned ..Huon slabs for our table



One of Ned's handcrafted boats



Tom and Dougie



Finished off the day with dinner at Peppermint Bay Bistro on the way back home..A lovely dark drive over country mountain roads them home to our cosy flat... a good day.

Saturday and a slow start...no builders..yay.

Unpacked a few boxes, breakie then we headed in to Hobart.

Bought a sofabed that I had sussed out last visit here. Went and looked at curtains and made arrangements for a measure and quote to be done next Thurs.

Then Tom's treat..off to Salamanca Markets to trawl the stalls... lovely mild day and lots of music and activity as usual. Very enjoyable.

Back home to an afternoon snooze..then we broke up the reast of the kindling that we collected from our land last Sunday and made a good stack inside. Unpacked a few more boxes..looking for pencil case for school and name labels...found them after much searching...but haven't unearthed the iron yet..Tom's shirts could do with an iron...will keep looking tomorrow...

Tom rode and I walked up to IGA to get food to cook for dinner...then home to prepare the meal and enjoy a peaceful night...just lovely!!

The fog begins to clear

Into the second week here I begin to feel as though I can think straight again.
After such a protracted and exhausting period of preparing for this move and then the emotional parting from Sydney and adenaline rush of the journey south.. I really felt so tired and muddled last week. Having to pick up the business here first thing Monday morning kept me focused but was quite challenging.

This week, being onsite in the flat..(albeit incomplete with Mark the Builder and Vivian the cleaner here everyday at 7am) I feel much more relaxed.

Phillip is lovely company and we enjoy walks or drives each day before and after work.

Phillip's favourite possie

The really amazing thing is that even though we have made such an incredible move, the continuity of our work holds everything together. It is such a comfort to be speaking to my regular mail order customer friends over the phone and filling orders as usual.
Its like stepping through a looking glass into another life virtually overnight.. I feel so lucky that we have achieved such a life changing move..yet we are not having to start up a business from scratch.
I had my first walk in customer today. A local who had see an Antroposophical doctor in Sydney and had a script to fill.. There are a number of customers of ours that live in Tassie..I suspect we may see them when the shop doors open in a few months.

View out front window looking across to St James (School behind church)

Our week has turned out to be a very busy one with orders (big and small) coming in every day.
Phillip has been diligently stoking up the fire in the shop throughout the day and getting the flat fire going at night. Really amazing the difference in temperature in the shop...its very cold and is not heating up quickly.I imagine once we have books etc in it will warm up a bit more. The flat in comparison, is beautifully warm due to the high north windows catching the light and sun and the double glazing and insulation.

View out North facing windows

One big step forward this week was the installation of the washing machine...Crazy to think that such a thing could give me such satisfaction and cause to celebrate...I felt like I was now home!!

Had a bit of excitement during the week with an ambulance pulling up out front to tend to someone at the Lotus eaters..thought of Jess of course.



On the days Lotus Eaters is open, we have enjoyed ordering luscious lunches which the lovely women delivered to us cutlery included....beautiful curries, dahls, tarts and soups..all served with their trademark baguette..so amazingly yummy. On Tues and Wed , Phillip had lunch at the Red Velvet while I manned the shop.. (enjoying my homemade soup and a YoYo Bakery pie)
It has been quite a cold week after the mild weather we had last weekend. There is snow on the mountain (Mt Wellington in Hobart) and I noticed snow caps on Hartz mountain on one of our drives.. you feel it in the breeze.

We have walked down to the Port, up the hill of cemetery to view the town centre..walked some back streets discovering the medical centre and health centre, a bike park(mounds of dirt in a paddock), the local oval etc.
During the week we drove over Nicholl's Rivulet Rd to Ye olde Oyster Bay store then to Kettering to view the marina and see where the Bruny Island Ferry leaves. Then on to Woodbridge to see Ryan's (our architect) place and over the hill again via Woodbridge Hill Rd....the most spectacular views on this road looking across the Hartz Mountain Range.

Another afternoon we drove from Cygnet around the foreshore of the Huon past Lymington, Petchy's Bay and Glazier's Bay then back home again...a lovely circuit.

I have been missing Hannah's lovely camera (and Hannah too of course!!)..so on Thursday we went in to Hobart and I bought one.. very happy with it...just so many beautiful sights to capture.
We enjoyed a bit of a walk around town..sorting out some computer issues ( Thanks to Phillip my no. 2 techie) then had a lovely meal at Smolt..a seafood restuarant at Salamanca Place...very enjoyable. The drive home gets more familiar every time I do it...even at night. Getting to know the road and its landmarks.

Friday..at last John and Tom are on their way down...yay..enjoyed updates from them as they journeyed to Holbrook for the night

Our day ended up well with a couple of large orders almost completed...but awaiting some stock that we hope will arrive in the 2nd load from Sydney on Monday. (Unfortunately delivery was held up as the driver injured himself and replacement drivers are currently on the mainland...) Really a great feeling to deliver the orders to the Post Office then call it a day. These are the sights I see on my walk up the street.

Had a simple toast and cheese meal before heading next door to Town Hall supper room for a film screening night..Cygnet Cinema.. A beautiful French film "Winged Migration" about the migration journeys of numerous species of birds..astoundingly stunning photography.
Such an enjoyable night. Not a big turnout though. (It was cold and rainy) We took our blankets.
Just Phillip and I, and the two women from Cygnet Arts Council (Anna and Louisa) and their partners plus Anna's young son.
They are trying to get the Cinema event going again..one Friday/month.
Its gold coin donation and they provided tea and coffee plus homecooked cake for intermission.
Next month they hope to have a French animation film "The Illusionist"...and are open to suggestions for further nights...they want to have a varied range of films (I suggested I had lots of "Fred and Ginger" movies..but they didn't seem to want to go there..can't think why..maybe they're not 'arty' enough)
Saturday...had a lovely slow start compared to our 6am's..wandering up the street about 7.30am for milk then just unpacking some boxes and generally pottering. Enjoyed getting more updates from the boys..breakfast at The green Zebra, within sight of Melbourne, getting ready to board the Spirit and more!! So exciting.
Phillip and I headed over to Franklin leaving Mark the builder working on the flat/shop. (one of his jobs today is completing a self imposed top secret project...inlaying the Dead Cat logo into a tabletop in store room as a surprise for John...such a fun thing to do...Mark is such a nice bloke)

We had hoped to look at the Wooden Boat Museum but it was closed ..so we strolled along the river enjoying the sights ( in the bracing weather)...and oh look...a cafe!!! We had a lovely lunch at Petty sessions Cafe with a window table look out to the river. Beautiful food...I enjoyed a wallaby burger with beetroot relish and salad..Phillip had a crumbed fish on couscous pearls..looked pretty good too.
(am I talking about food alot??? Hmm must be the cold climate makes food more enticing)

 

Drove around to Port Huon the look across the Huon to our land up on the hill. Bit hard to work out its position but I think I could see our boundary line of trees. Continued on to look at Geeveston then headed back home.. (Mark still hard at work .. the tabletop looks great)

I strolled up the street to do a bit of grocery shopping...hope to bake a cake for John and Tom's homecoming tomorrow..
Pottered about some more then Phillip and I enjoyed dinner at the Red Velvet..I'll spare you the details but just say...YUM!!

Here are some more photos taken out the back and one of Phillip enjoying homemade soup for dinner one night

 

Looking forward to the next phase beginning when the boys arrive tomorrow