March 14, 2016. Beach day in Tasmania

LOCATION:  House-sitting in Latrobe, Tanzania, Australia

WEATHER:  Very nice. Highs in 70s

On this morning's walk, we took a different route and got a bit lost.  Oh well, more exercise for the dogs and for us.

The grapes have now completed their conversion to raisins.  There were 6 full trays of them.  

Or  

We made BLTs and took a picnic to the beach.  It is only about 5 miles from here.  The dogs love zipping around.  Mitzi likes fetching sticks in the shallow surf, unless there are big waves.

After the beach comes the bath time ritual.   The dogs are surprisingly complacent while getting bathed.  The whole process takes quite a while, followed by dog linen washing.  Then, hoovering (vacuuming) carpets to make sure there aren't any pesky fleas about.

DINNER:  Chicken on the barbie.  Unfortunately, the coals just wouldn't get hot so I finished up the cooking inside.

Sides were rice, and cucumbers marinated in yogurt.

March 13, 2016. Devonport Harvest Festival

LOCATION:  House-sitting in Latrobe, Tasmania, Australia

WEATHER:  Very nice. Highs in 70s

During our dog walk this morning, we stopped on the trail to chat with a lady walking her dog.  When she learned that we are from the USA, she started talking about the big anxiety that Australians have about Trump. George then launched into an explanation of blue states and red states and the electoral college process.  Between his southern accent and his rambling, her eyes soon glazed over.

Today is the food, wine and beer festival in nearby Devonport, the port city where the ferry from the mainland disembarks.  The festival was bustling with people sampling food and drink from the many booths.  We joined others under a shade tree to listen to a great rock band, surprisingly the Australian Navy Band.  

We tasted some craft beers, including a Tasmanian Devil one.

We bought a nice Tasmanian wine, and found a food truck that looked interesting.  We had a plate of 3 small pies:  1) Camembert and chicken pie, 2) curried scallop pie (a Tasmanian specialty), and 3) a wallaby and stout pie...

Speaking of wallaby.....A group of really cute young women sat down next to us.  One of them showed off her pet wallaby that she had hidden in her backpack.

George was very interested in the wallaby, or maybe the intrigue was more with the wallaby's master?......

Back home, we gave the dogs their evening tea, then I popped down our alley about 100 yards to the grocery for a few items for dinner.  How convenient!

DINNER:  We had shelled some runner beans, and I used the shelled beans to make chili....a good way to use up tomatoes and the leftover wallaby mince.  Side was a Greek salad with tomatoes, green onions, baby lettuce, cucumbers, and green onions from the garden, with chunks of Tasmanian feta.  I made a light dressing from lemons from the backyard lemon tree. I could get used to this!

 

March 12, 2016. Steam Festival in Tasmania

LOCATION:  House-sitting in Latrobe, Tasmania, Australia

WEATHER:  Nice. Highs in 70s

We have lots of daily tasks:  AM and PM dog feeding, dog walk, parrot feeding and cage cleaning, AM and PM chicken feeding, plant watering, veg picking,  chicken food making, and egg gathering.  We seem to also have projects like grape dehydration and tomato processing.  In between our tasks, we provide cuddles to the dogs.  They can never get enough.  But, we always have free time, too, so we figure out an outing each day.

Today was Steam Festival in Sheffield, a little town about 15 miles away.  The homeowner has kindly loaned us his car while they are gone.  We drove through the countryside on a narrow, winding road.  Sheffield was booming with activity for a long festival weekend.  There were about 100 campers parked in a big field.  We paid our entrance fee (the reduced pensioners' price!), and joined the fun.  There were lots of craft stalls, children's games, food trucks, and old car displays.  The highlight of the festival was the different steam engines.

An old thresher....

And a steam engine train taking people around.

It reminded me of a county fair or town festival in Minnesota or Iowa.  The end of the day culminated with a parade, led by bagpipers....

It was a very pleasant afternoon.  We drove home on a different route, to see different countryside.

Back home, we walked about a block to Latrobe's other pub.  Gambling is popular here in bars, and locals were betting on a horse race on TV.

DINNER:  Gazpacho.  Good way to use tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden.

March 11, 2016. Exploring Latrobe

LOCATION:  House-sitting in Latrobe, Tasmania, Australia

WEATHER:  very nice. Highs in 70s

On our way home from the morning dog walk, we stopped at the village butcher shop to buy some meat for dinner.

 

If we ever quit traveling and settle down in one place, we think we would like a town about this size.  With about 3000 residents, the vibrant downtown (one long Main Street) seems to have everything:  grocery store, this great butcher shop, beauty shops (I counted 6!), bank, post office, hardware, liquor store (called bottle shops here), thrift store, antique shops, coffee houses, lawn bowling green,  art shop, bookstore, portrait studio, and of course.....2 pubs, both located in hotels built in the 1800s

We took an evening stroll again in the evening through the town...

Pictures near the tourist car park, with a Tasmanian devil......

And a supposedly extinct dangerous tiger..... 

We had a drink in the pub, with locals celebrating TGIF.  Then home for dinner and tea time for the dogs.

DINNER:  George cooked a pork chop on the barbie.  For sides, we had steamed runner beans, and sautéed cabbage with caraway seeds.  

March 10, 2016. Quintessential Australia...wallabies and a platypus

LOCATION:  House-sitting in Latrobe, Tasmania, Australia

WEATHER:  Cool, partly cloudy. Highs in 60s

We are swimming in vegetables, not that I'm complaining.  I made a delicious cauliflower soup for lunch.  The owner is a retired chef, so there are a lot of kitchen gizmos around.  I used the immersion blender for the creamy soup.

In the afternoon, we followed a sign saying " platypus viewing--4 kilometers".  We walked on a road through farmland.  Lots of cows.  The sights and smells reminded us of the Midwest in September, which is logical since March is the equivalent of September in the Southern Hemisphere.  

After almost giving up, we finally saw a platypus swimming in the river.

The platypus is really strange.  It really is neither a true mammal, reptile or bird.  It has a bill that looks like a duck's, a tail similar to a beaver's, and a hard trunk shell like an alligator's.  It is technically an egg-laying mammal.  We heard that the early settlers thought it was a joke by the natives.....that they had somehow pieced together parts of different animals into one.  The bill, especially, looks just like it was glued on at the last minute.

Our grapes/raisins continue drying in the dehydrator giving off a lovely aroma.  

George made a salsa with some of the abundant tomatoes.  

DINNER:  An international phenomenon......tacos made with wallaby burger!  This is the 'before" picture, like a baby kangaroo....

And this us the "after" photo.....

 

It actually tastes like beef hamburger, but is leaner.  Muy bueno, mate!

March 9, 2016. Grape harvesting in Tasmania

LOCATION:  House-sitting in Latrobe,Tasmania, Australia

WEATHER:  Partly cloudy. Highs in 70s

After our morning dog-walking and feeding routine, we decided to pick the homeowners' grapes.  They have had a bumper crop, and it is almost the end of the season (fall here in the Southern Hemisphere).   The grapes grow on top of a lattice near the back porch.  The birds peck at the grapes causing them to fall on the ground.  Then they start fermenting, and so it smells like a winery in the back.  Not complaining!  

 I cleaned and stemmed the grapes, and put them on trays for drying in their fruit dehydrator.

We will have lots of raisins, called sultanas here.

We are a bit worried about the bird.  He misses his owners.  He started chewing on his feathers, which we think is a bad sign.

We have so many vegetables growing, so are trying to eat a lot of them up.  For lunch, I did a tomato, onion and zucchini mix.  Kind of like ratatouille.  

I did laundry and the sun kindly came out to dry the clothes on the clothesline.

DINNER:  Asian stir-fried rice.  It was mostly veg (onion, ginger, garlic, carrot, cabbage, runner beans,  broccoli) and some minced pork.

March 8, 2016. Gardening in Tasmania

LOCATION:  Housesit assignment in LaTrobe, Tasmania, Australia in northern part of island

WEATHER:  Partly cloudy. Highs around 70

We are getting into a routine.....each morning, we take the dogs for a walk and George feeds the always-famished chickens.  Then, we do chores depending on the day.  Today is garden day.  The homeowner, Althea, has beautiful roses in the front yard.

.  I watered flowers in her "fairy" garden, too.  

Then, we picked about 50 tomatoes.  

I froze some for the homeowners, and made a huge amount of tomato sauce, using more goodies from the garden.....tomatoes, basil, green onion, onion, parsley, garlic and oregano.

In the afternoon, we drove about 5 miles to Devonport, the port city of about 25,000 people.  We found the supermarket and wine shop.  We picked up info about an upcoming harvest  festival.

The dogs are lonesome for the homeowners.  One in particular mopes about.

DINNER:  Eggplant Parmesan with some of the tomato sauce I made earlier in the day.