On A Lighter Note. The Beautiful Lake Pedder

Sticky will be returning here for some fishing... Quite Beautiful!

Florentine Hippies

The Upper Florentine Hippy camp. The longest standing protest camp in Australia (I was told). These guys are trying to prevent logging in the National Forest and have built their camp right over the logging road. Police have tried to dismantle the camp several times, but have now given up. These guys climb up into the Mountain Ash (up to 100m!) and do sit-ins.

The entrance is built over the logging road.
It is pretty grotty. We met a really sweet mother of four kids (all under 5) who was barefoot and totally out of it. Doesn't say too much for the situation.

Attention Pauli!

Is this the famous Billy Cart that your brother built and made you try out down the steep road? He seems to think it might be. We found it in the information centre at Strathgordon on the way to the Gordon Dam...

Gordon Dam. An Engineering Feat

The intake to the turbines for the Gordon Dam. The water drops 183 metres down this hole to the turbines. Massive.

A little picture to show you how it works...
And this is it. Simply huge.
We walked down all these steps.
To stand on the dam wall (damn!) ... it was soooo cold!
I am sooo scared! Such a long drop down.
But better than in the olden days, when they had to take that flying fox to get across to the other side!
The Gordon River (or what is left of it).
A long drop.
A very big staircase. Not going down there.

Mount Field National Park

We are on our way to Mt Field National Park. Here we are crossing the Derwent River

Driving through beautiful countryside with hops growing in the background. We are keen on Cascade Light so very happy to see these babies grow.
But when we arrive at Mt Field National Park, and take a walk to Russell Falls, we are silenced by its beauty.
The view from the top of the falls is just as amazing
And... A trout is seen here at the top of the falls. So, Sticky went fishing in the evening at the campground and immediately caught a few fish. What more could you want?

We Play Golf at the Oldest Golf Course in Australia

Amazing "Ratho" golf course is also a working farm. The greens are set out as per the original links courses... fenced off to prevent the sheep and cattle wrecking the green but allowing the rabbits access so that they can keep the grass down. It was an enlightening experience! What is good to know is that I beat Sticky. Hands down.

Mind you, this is a pretty good swing.
Love the tee boxes designated by sheep shearing clippers!
A hand carved wooden statue at the entrance to the course.
Looks just a bit suspicious from behind.

Bothwell Township

Historic Bothwell. Beautiful town with a rather large focus on golf. It was here that the first links golf course was created in the Southern Hemisphere. The Bothwell stores below is now the location of Ross Baker who restores old golf clubs and is a wealth of knowledge about the game and its origins. Sticky spent a wonderful time gleaning information from Ross. He also bought a hictory putter. The head of the putter comes from Scotland.

There are also three different active churches and one that is now a private residence.
We stopped for a delicious coffee and cake. The vannie and Nigel the Nissan had to wait outside.
The cafe was very quaint.
The cemetery is also of historical interest, not only because of the gravestones, but also because there are a number of botanical rarities here. I couldn't see them. But I'm sure they were there.
We are not sure whether Sticky's ancestor is mentioned here. It is a bit of a worry as George Cann "had no great skill at playing" golf. However, there must be a link here because of the obsessive nature of the golf game.
Bothwell Green.
The very beautiful Anglican Church.
An imposing building
And a number of delightful cottages.





Me n the horse admired this one. That is, after the horse tried to bite me.