18 May Tasmania Blog: Week 2-Brighton and Oatlands
Tara in Tasmania
Week 2 Brighton and Oatlands
Week 2 of the exchange started with a road trip up the East Coast with Brady, the state President of Rural Youth and Siril. We visited Shelly’s Point, Binaling Bay and Bay of Fires. Despite what the weather looks like it was quite chilly, but the beaches and views were amazing. After the tour we started the drive to Brighton where Siril and I would be staying for the next few days with the Thompson family.
On Wednesday we headed to work with Emma, she is a member of the Brighton Rural Youth Club. Emma works at a local riding school in Tea Tree called Jeu de Cheval – Hobart Horseplay. They have approximately 60 horses and ponies and have daily lessons and trail rides. It was interesting to see how the yard worked compared to ones I had seen at home. The horses lived in large outdoor pens on the farm and were fed hay and pea straw twice daily as well as hard feed in the evening. I helped muck out, feed and tack up horses for the clients.
After work Emma took us on a tour of her family’s farm, they farm 2000 acres and have around 5000 sheep. She showed us the new dam they built to hold irrigation water; this water is connected directly to the ‘pivots’ which are the large irrigation systems found in most fields (or paddocks) in Tasmania. During the drive we spotted a kangaroo, the first one I had seen in Tasmania, it was very exciting! In the evening, we tried a range of Aussie snacks including vegemite, fairy bread, lamingtons, Anzac biscuits and shapes. I don’t think I will be choosing to put vegemite on my toast anytime soon…
On Thursday we visited Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary and hospital. We saw lots of birds, wombats, Kangaroos and even Tasmania Devils! Another thing ticked off the bucket list. We got the chance to go into the Kangaroo enclosure and feed them, they were very friendly, and it was incredible to see so many of them up close. After the sanctuary we went into Hobart, the capital of Tasmania. We stopped by a shopping centre to get some more jumpers, I really underestimated how cold it would be out here! I had another encounter with a spider as it tried to get into the car as we were getting out, in my eyes it was massive but apparently it was only a baby.
More jumpers acquired we went and visited the Royal Botanical gardens; we caught up with Andy there as he was staying nearby. The garden had lots of different areas including a Native plant collection, Japanese garden, Subantarctic plant house and large Lilly Pond. We then ventured into town to get some ice cream; banana flavour my new favourite. In the evening, we had dinner then sat down to watch some Australian Football, which is very different to football at home. The best way to describe it would be rugby without any tackling, played on an oval pitch and you kick the ball into the goals rather than score tries.
On Friday we opted for a slower start to the day then headed back to Emma’s work to go for a ride. I was a bit worried as I hadn’t been out horse riding for well over a year, but it was great fun and I managed to not fall off, thank you Darcy! Brady then picked us up in the afternoon as we were heading to Oatlands for the weekend. In the evening, we headed out to the Kentish Pub for dinner and karaoke with Brady and Fern, it was a very fun evening.
On Saturday we had an early start for a tour of Oatlands, it has a lot of older houses and buildings including an old livestock market and outdoor pool. We then went and visited the Callington Mill, an old flour mill turned new Whisky Distillery and restaurant.
After our tour we jumped in the ‘Ute’ and drove out to see the Great Lake, it is a 114 km2 natural lake and man-made reservoir. We then did a bit of off-road driving to a pebble beach before stopping for lunch at a local pub, the portion sizes here are huge and the food is delicious. Brady and I also tried a ‘Choc Milk’ stout, it did not taste like chocolate milk at all. In the evening, we were very excited to see the Southern Lights, it was a once in a lifetime and we were very lucky to be here to witness it.
On Sunday we decided to challenge ourselves and climb up Mount Wellington, the sun had also decided to come out after a few days of rain. Fern and Brady weren’t keen to walk with us so drafted in Oatlands club member, Will, to be our guide. We walked up the ‘zig zag’ track, despite Will saying he didn’t like walking, he sped up leaving us all for dust! It was a great walk and we saw some spectacular views and scenery. Unfortunately, at the top the clouds came over so no view from there! We then trundled back down for some fish and chips and ice cream at the Wharf in Hobart before heading back for the evening.
It has been another brilliant week on exchange in Tasmania. The highlights of the week were meeting the Kangaroos and seeing Tasmania Devils at Bonorong. Horse riding at Hobart Horseplay, the Southern lights and climbing up Mount Wellington with everyone. Thank you to the Thompson Family, Fern, Brady and Carly for being fantastic hosts, you are all welcome to Scotland anytime! Next week, I head back to Brighton then onto Tasman and Sorell.