Pepperberry bonanza

Today a friend popped over and picked a huge bucket load of Tasmanian native pepperberries. I had already picked what I wanted. I dried them spread out on baking trays on top of a cupboard and they're now in jars ready to use in place of regular black peppercorns for added flavour, colour and heat. It turns out that this year's batch are quite spicy!

On a visit to Kingston-based Essential Oils of Tasmania last year, I learned that pepperberry bushes only flower and produce fruit every three years or so, which would explain why we had very few last year and the year before that. This year has seen a bumper crop. Perhaps I'd better pick some more...

Possums don't like pears

For the first time, our little orchard has borne fruit. We have two small, espaliered pear trees (one Williams pear, one Josephine), both laden with fruit. They are definitely  not the perfect supermarket variety, more the lumpy and bumpy organic variety, and I am so looking forward to trying them! I have picked a few but they are still very hard and need to ripen. No apples, but happily, our little trees were not attacked by possums this year. Two of my apple trees died last winter and I had to pull them out, the others are all stunted after two years of having all their leaves eaten by possums. The pears were spared. It seems possums don't like pear tree leaves.

Sunrise walks

The days are getting shorter at both ends. The sun now rises after 6am, making it the perfect time to go for a walk or run to kick start the day. It's still cool, but light. Need to make the most of it before I'm back to walking in the dark, all too soon.

Drink Tasmania(n)

For a girlfriend's birthday, a small group of us 'locals' from Hobart and surrounds joined the Drink Tasmania 'signature tour' last Saturday, together with visitors from Melbourne, USA-via-Sydney and Canada-via-Brisbane. Starting with a 9am coffee and a taste of Lost Pippin wild ferment cider at Brooke Street Pier, our super-friendly and relaxed guide Dolly drove south to Home Hill Winery in Ranelagh where we sampled some of their lovely wines, then Pagan Cider where we tried several delicious ciders including a strawberry and a quince.

We had lunch and a Willie Smiths cider tasting at The Apple Shed in Grove, before heading back into Hobart for a whisky tasting and history lesson at Lark Distillery. From there we headed out to Cambridge to see how Lark's whisky is made. I have been on other distillery tours, and none explained the process as well as our host did at Lark. Finally, I really understand how it it made... and the difference between 'whisky' and 'whiskey'! On the way back into Hobart we popped into a shed in an industrial estate, a.k.a. one of Tasmania's newest breweries, Last Rites, to sample some of their wares.

We had such a lovely day. It reminded me that tourism experiences are not just for tourists. Get out there and see what our beautiful island has to offer.

Cathedral Rock revisited

Owww my quads! I'm in Sydney for work this week and I can walk up stairs just fine (with only a little grunting) but going down stairs - owww! The pain is worth it. For a start, it reminds me just how unfit I really am. It also reminds me of the beautiful view from Cathedral Rock on Saturday morning. I don't mind climbing hills, but on the way down I had an attack of "shaky leg" and knew I'd be in a bit of pain afterwards. It has been almost five years since I last went up Cathedral Rock. I highly recommend this walk. It is very pretty all the way, with a big "wow" when you reach the top.

Baby snake

Awwww, cute. All baby animals are cute. Yes, even this tiny whip snake (white-lipped snake) spotted heading away from our garage over the weekend. Pretty little thing.

Old pulp mill site at Port Huon

Just before you reach Geeveston, heading south on the Huon Highway, there is a left turn down a road that for the first few years that we lived here, was blocked by a barbed wire gate. We wondered what was down there. Then a short 1960s era promotional (propaganda?) film shown one night before the monthly Classic Movie in the Franklin Palais explained it all... the site used to be a pulp mill run by Australian Paper Manufacturers (APM) and a deep water port used to ship wood pulp to Sydney. Built in 1962, at its peak the mill employed 170 people, but it was never a financial success and it finally closed for good in 1991. See this paper by Huon Valley local John Young for more information.

Recently, we noticed that the gate has been open, and on a Saturday pilgrimage to Geeveston for sushi from Masaaki a couple of weeks ago, we drove in for a look. There is stuff piled around everywhere. By 'stuff', I mean huge chains, cement anchors, fishing nets and ropes, vats, pipes, platforms... just random aquaculture and other industrial bits and pieces. But the quantity of it just lying around is quite amazing. Plus a large abandoned building. The site is currently used by local firm Mitchell Plastic Welding.

Also on the site are remains of the Kermandie Experimental Pulp and Paper Mill that operated from 1927-30. Last year, the Geeveston Archives and History Society opened the site to the public. There is a very informative sign explaining what used to be there and tours can be arranged.