Author: TravellinPenguin

On Friday I decided to progress my Alphabet Photo challenge. I have upgraded my camera gear and have now gone to Canon mirrorless which I am loving. It doesn’t weigh as much for one thing and many more features. For the challenge I am up to the letter D. Looked on the map and saw Chauncy Vale is part of the Delta Den Conservation area. I will put a little blurb below that describes it.

The Chauncy Family

Chauncy Vale Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the oldest private reserves in the State. It’s the former home of Nan Chauncy, a multiple award winning Tasmanian writer. Her books were translated into several different languages and adored by many around the world. Nan’s writing captured a vivid picture of the Tasmanian landscape, it’s people and wildlife. She wrote to share her love of Tasmania- Her island shaped like a heart. She also portrayed issues surrounding early colonial life, isolation, identity, migration, enduring hardship, domestic violence and the aboriginals of Tasmania.

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The whole sanctuary is a valuable heritage and natural environment study site. Chauncy Vale, including Day Dawn and the associated outbuildings, are registered on the Tasmanian Heritage Register and in the Southern Midlands Planning Scheme 2018 – site of historic significance’. It has a long and well-recorded history of European use, with some sites on the property particularly recognised for their cultural heritage value, including Browns Caves, the Chauncy family house, Day Dawn, and garden and their surrounding areas. These sites are also an integral part of the Chauncy family legacy. The area is also thought to have been used extensively by Aboriginals and as a refuge by early bushrangers. It forms part of a complex environment with a rich diversity of ecosystems, varying from dry sclerophyll vegetation on sandstone to wet forest on dolerite. Nan’s husband Anton was a German refugee who migrated to Australia before World 2.

It is about a 50 minute drive from my home. As I headed out I stopped at a bakery known to be good and bought a pastie. I had a couple of bananas and a cold drink as well as water for my packed lunch.

I don’t often eat pastries so a pastie is a treat.

I parked the car and only saw one other car. There is no phone reception and it is quite isolated but the caretakers home is on the property.

I began the walk back to the caves. The sign said 45 minutes so not too far. The path is relatively flat but the earth was dry and quite warm and sunny. Snake weather so I spent most of my time taking a few steps, stopping to view the view the scenery, the checking the path ahead.

As I walked I almost stepped on a blue tongued lizard. It startled me as it blended in so well with the track. I also heard a crash through the bush and raised my camera to shoot a large forester kangaroo but he was too fast and lots of bush in the way. My attention went back to the lizard. I like these guys. Completely harmless and their tongue is indigo blue coloured which is so unusual and interesting. He wasn’t going to move so I squatted down beside him and said, “Say Cheese!”

I continued up an incline and did not run into anymore wildlife. I did stop to listen to the many bird species there but it was the wrong time of day for photos as they were high in the canopy.

I finally arrived at the first cave. It is small with the larger ones above it. I did not continue up the rocky steps as they were covered in bush and stones and slippery. With no one around and no phone reception my sensible self kicked in. There was a makeshift bench I sat on and enjoyed my lunch. Then another shorter path took me back to the car park. I didn’t see a single bushranger but my imagination had them there, hiding their loot on the myriad of caves further up.

I really enjoyed the beautiful spring day out and now I need to find somewhere to go beginning with E that I have not photographed before.

I read this book after visiting the Nan Chauncy house and property there earlier this year for the first time on a tour. The house is interesting. An old bush shack, very cozy in a humble but beautiful setting. The book was fun but very dated and some language that is not not PC.

I hope you enjoyed our Tasmanian day trip. Until next time 🌻🐾🐾🐾

A key to unknown chambers within the castle of one’s own self. (Franz Kafka)

I hope this find everyone well. I’m keeping busy but will try and focus on a couple of things both bookish and not.

Still exercising a lot with walks but weather slowed me down a bit in the past week. Will keep at it with gym and walks tomorrow.

I have been walking to the library on my gym days at times as it is on the way. I checked out the book The Boy, the mole, the fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy.

The sales blurb reads: “book for all ages, a book for all time.
Adapted into the BAFTA and Oscar winning short animated film.

Enter the world of Charlie’s four unlikely friends, discover their story and their most important life lessons.

The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse have been shared millions of times online. They’ve also been recreated by children in schools and hung on hospital walls. They sometimes even appear on lamp posts and on cafe and bookshop windows. Here, you will find them together in this book of Charlie’s most-loved drawings, adventuring into the Wild and exploring the thoughts and feelings that unite us all.

‘A wonderful work of art and a wonderful window into the human heart’ Richard Curtis”

Many of you will be familiar with it as it has been quite popular. It has beautiful inked lettering and sketches.

I finally finished my car book, This much is true by Miriam Margoyles. I was beginning to think it would never end.

I am well into Frankenstein for Adam’s book group and really enjoying it. Much different than what I was expecting. I haven’t read many books written in the 18th century and I am enjoying Mary Shelly’s writing. It is hard to believe she wrote it at age 19.

The other book I’m reading for book group is a Tasmanian book by Anette Higgs. On a bright hillside in Paradise. Paradise is a fictional small town in northeastern Tasmanian. The author wrote the story based on the tales her grandmother told her of when the Brethren came to town in the 19th century. It features a family and each chapter is a different telling from the perspective of each family member. I went to the launch of this book several months ago and picked it up. Mr P took it on his trip to Canada and enjoyed it. Now it’s my turn. The characters are well drawn and the imagery is very strong of the Tasmanian bush. I am enjoying it.

Outside of bookish news- tomorrow begins National Bird Week and the great Australian bird count. They ask people to download an app, register and spend 20 minutes in a favourite place each day and record each bird you see. I have participated in the past as a member of Birdlife Australia, a conservation organisation that lobbies for environmental changes to protect birds. They also feature stories and photography in their magazine about birds. I have always loved birds and feel a real connection to the ones who live in our yard, especially the old male wattle bird, our tamish, escapee, neighbourhood cockatoo who comes for seeds and sometimes taps on the window if we don’t pay attention to him and the magpies who sing their beautiful song. We used to get little flame robins bit not seen one now for several years and the superb blue wren population is down too but Indo see them around from time to time.

This coming week it looks to be quiet. The weather should warm ip by Tuesday and the rain and wind will rest a bit. We had shocking winds yesterday with hard rain. My last art class at Fullers is Tuesday evening. Drawing class. Has been fun but I am not a natural and fine it quite embarrassing at times. It is good to learn things to remember how it is for those who struggle in schools. I;m much better with technology which I find easy but ask me to draw, tone and shade a composition. I’m better with a camera. It is all about practise and more practise.

That wraps up the time since my last post. I’ve enjoyed reading your blogs bit just not a lot of time or energy to always comment. Hope your week goes well.

If you live outside of Australia you can hear the magpie’s call

here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYEYc8Ge3nw

….You can open again and again. ( Garrison Keillor)

Having fun this weekend . Yesterday was sunny and warm then the winds shifted over the southern ocean and the rain poured down today. Very windy too. It is spring and we turned our clocks ahead an hour today so the day feels short.

I read an interesting book this past week. It is not one I would have picked but read about it somewhere and I got it from the library.

It is The Big Tree by Brian Selznick. A quick read at 528 pages. You say, “Quick?!” Yes as most pages are large graphics, other pages are limited to a single paragraph or a single sentence. I read it in about 3 short sittings.

The blurb on the book states:

Hello, stars. I thought I heard you calling me.” A mysterious voice has been speaking to Louise in her dreams. She and her brother Merwin are Sycamore seeds, who hope to one day set down roots and become big trees. But when a fire forces them to leave their mama tree prematurely, they find themselves catapulted into the unknown, far from home. Alone and unprepared, they must use their wits and imagination to navigate a dangerous world―filled with dinosaurs, meteors, and volcanoes!―and the fear of never finding a safe place to grow up. As the mysterious voice gets louder, Louise comes to realise their mission in life may be much bigger than either of them ever could have imagined! Brimming with humour, wonder, mystery, and a profound sense of hope, Big Tree is a trailblazing adventure, illustrated with nearly 300-pages of breathtaking pictures. It is Selznick’s most imaginative and far-reaching work to date and a singular reading experience for the whole family!

It starts at the Cretaceous period and travels to current times. I loved the seeds, Merwin and Louise. The tension built as they travelled together through time and space.

I got really attached to them as their characters were so developed. I worried about them. They got trapped in a big footprint, eaten by a fish, became separated and that was only a few of their mishaps. They were looking for a place that had light, good soil and water so they could grow. They were helped along the way by other creatures.

It started originally when Steven Spielberg and Brian Selznick got together. They were going to make a film. Brian Selznick did the movie Hugo with Martin Scorsese. Then Covid hit and everything stopped so instead he made it into this big book.

It talks about the different categories of characters. I liked the Ambassadors who were the fungi that interconnected with all the trees in the forests. It is a very micro look at the interconnectedness of nature.

What else happened this week.

I spent all of last week really focusing on walks, health and getting my stamina back. I have been so breathless lately but all the exercise is getting rid of that. It has been my main priority; then at night I crash into a lounge chair and read, work on my journals, play a few mind games on the iPad and go to bed. It has been very pleasant.

I’ll share the books I found on my random walk. I finished the Edna O’Brien one I found two weeks ago. It began with a woman who has just been convicted of murdering her young lover, her son’s best friend after a love affair goes south. She is waiting to hear her penalty. It is then told in flashbacks from the beginning of the relationship to current time. It is a very tedious monologue. Lots of tangents I became bored with. I did not care for any of the characters. The story rambled and seemed all over the place. I know people love her writing but I dare say this was not one of her best.

I did another op shop walk and found these. I will decide which one to read but first need to get started on my book club reads for November. Remember the read for the Random Walk Books means the book must be preferably a classic or at least literary fiction.

Until next week….