Christmas in Northwest Tasmania

| TravellinPenguin

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We decided to escape from the hustle and bustle of crazy gridlocked traffic in Hobart for the northwest coast of Tasmania. We will be here a few days over the holiday season. The best part of it is we found a pet friendly accommodation and our dear dogs are with us. The sad part is our three cats have been sent to ‘camp’ as we tell them. (cattery)

 

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The little “pee” pen for the dogs. Don’t worry they aren’t in it long. They live inside with us.

Christmas may have fun moments but the stress of the level of activity is never far from home. Why is it we go for months without lunches, parties or dinners with friends then at Christmas everything has to happen at once. On top of running around making sure your cards are sent and gifts are lined up you have to eat non stop. It isn’t that I don’t like Christmas. I just don’t have the energy I used to have and trying to get it is exhausting.

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Now we will relax.  Our little accommodation comes with a cute little bungalow, an ocean view, a very tiny back yard and you won’t believe this…a freight train that goes through the yard four times every 24 hours. The ad for the place forgot to mention the freight train. The bungalow is very modern. Lovely as can be. But it

comes with this train. The whole cottagevibrates as it goes by.  The first tremor we experienced was about 10:15 at night. We heard it cut through the darkness. The next one was at 5:00 am. Yes….AM!!!_N3A8343-2

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View from the bedroom.

Another one went through going the opposite direction about 10:30 am. Then the last one heard was this afternoon. I heard the whistle and ran out and got some photographs. Maybe there won’t be so many over the weekend and on Christmas Day.

 

We keep the dogs leashed so they don’t get onto the track or on the busy road out front which also wasn’t mentioned in the ad. Though that does show up on the map. Beach access is a couple of kms down the road. We can see the water but it is protected wetlands so we can’t get to it.

Just before we drove up here I finally finished the book of short memoirs by Western Australian author Tim Winton. I only listened to it while in the car. It took awhile to finish it. People don’t drive long distances in Tasmania.  I lifted a description of this book from Good Reads:

 

In The Boy Behind the Curtain Winton reflects on the accidents, traumatic and serendipitous, that have influenced his view of life and fuelled his distinctive artistic vision. On the unexpected links between car crashes and religious faith, between surfing and writing, and how going to the wrong movie at the age of eight opened him up to a life of the imagination. And in essays on class, fundamentalism, asylum seekers, guns and the natural world he reveals not only the incidents and concerns that have made him the much-loved writer he is, but some of what unites the life and the work.

I love Tim Winton because he describes Western Australia  as no other person does. He grew up there during the 1970’s and his stories can be harrowing. They can also be funny. I enjoyed this book quite a bit. We think the same way about social issues and the environment and in this day and age of right winged fanatics it is soothing to the soul to hear an intelligent person discuss what much of the rest of the world thinks. He agrees with me and that is always a bonus.

_N3A8310I have scattered a few photos amongst this post so I hope you enjoy them. Enjoy your Christmas weekend and I hope you find a bit of peace and quiet within it when you can sit back and breathe a quiet sigh of relief.

(Note: I might add I just began reading Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. I have heard so much about it I thought I’d have a look at it. More on that later.)_N3A8324

Odie ponders a beach he has never seen before.

12 thoughts on “Christmas in Northwest Tasmania”

  1. Even with the trains your Christmas hide-away looks really idyllic – and the idea of escaping from the Christmas hurley-burley sounds so enticing. By the way, I’m curious – what is Ulverston like? My husband is from near Ulverston, in Cumbria, in the north-west of England. We know it quite well. Back in the late 18thC/early 19thC it was a port, with a canal linking the town with the sea, and there is an ‘inland lighthouse’ on hill, built as a memorial to an explorer admiral. It’s a nice, rather old-fashioned little town, set in spectacular countryside, wirg the most incredible coastline. I wonder if there is a connection between the two towns?

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    1. Ulverstone here is a small city or large town situated on Bass Strait. Bass Strait is the churning, treacherous waterway that separates Tasmania from mainland Australia. About 400 kms wide. I would not be surprised if it is related to the UK Ulverstone. Seems everything here is descended from British towns as the history reflects. There is more info on google than I know about this part of the world. All the best for Christmas and 2018.

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  2. is there anywhere in T that isn’t spectacularly beautiful? wonderful pictures and it sounds like a relaxing place despite the trains. I don’t know Tim Winton but he sounds like an admirable writer… Mrs. M and i are like Lisa and her partner; pretty introverted and i really like her suggestions about charity at Xmas… we’ll have to give that some thought… hope you all have a nice holiday season… Merry Xmas!

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  4. LOL I was going to ask for the address of this pet friendly cosy bungalow…. until you mentioned the freight train!
    I find that the secret of Christmas is to do just what you want to do. Since I’m an incorrigible introvert and so is The Spouse, we don’t want to do much!
    PS And the best way to get out of the present-shopping frenzy is to tell almost everyone that you’re pooling what you usually spend on them with what you usually spend on everyone else and you’re using it to buy some beaut thing through Oxfam. All those $5 and $10 mini-gifts add up and so I’ve been able to buy water treatment systems for eleven schools in Cambodia so far and all my friends are fine with that.

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  5. I LOVE this post Pam. You made me laugh so much with the freight train going through the yard. I suppose it could be worse and be 3am! Otherwise the place does look idyllic. Can you be more specific about which part of the northwest you are? The bungalow looks gorgeous, and how nice that you can bring the dogs with you.

    Have a lovely time and read lots!

    We’ve had our Taswegians with us for a few days, but they left this am for Melbourne where they will Christmas with my brother’s partner’s family. I showed them your Hobart streets post. They liked and recognised your pics of course.

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