Today was our first full day in Hobart. We left our accommodation and drove to the Cadbury Factory but decided that we didn’t want to pay the $7.50 entrance fee just to enter the shop (we didn’t have time to stick around and do the tour). After that we drove to Mount Wellington, which was shrouded in cloud. We drove to the summit and spent a few minutes up in the clouds – very cold and wet… we didn’t see much, either  

Our next stop was the Cascade Brewery and I spent a while walking around the gardens. Some of the flowers they had were quite beautiful – the honey bees here are huge and much fatter than the ones at home. I want to plant some of the plants in my garden at home… the colours were stunning.

After the Brewery, we drove to Hobart and into the commercial district for lunch at Constitution Dock. I don’t eat fish, so I ate plain potato wedges with sour cream. We separated after that; Dad went to take photos, my sister went shopping on her own and mum and I went together.

Tonight we went out to dinner at the Casino. We went to a buffet restaurant. It was nice – very small but the food was lovely and the service was quite good too. Now we are back watching the football – go Port Adelaide!

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Today my family and I went on a boat cruise from Strahan to the Gordon River and return. We drove down to the docks and left the car, before boarding the boat about 8:30am. The water was very still and calm… perfect for photos.

After leaving the dock, we cruised toward Hell’s Gate and out to the ocean. On the way, I went out onto the deck of the boat – it was very cold out there and I quickly went back in to put my denim jacket and some gloves on. The next photo is one of the lighthouses just before Hell’s Gate.

We sailed out past the breakwater to the sea (the water was smooth enough for the boat to bob, but not so much I felt seasick or anything), we then turned and went back toward Sarah Island, where we disembarked for an island to take a tour. I originally wasn’t keen on doing the tour but I ended up enjoying it.

After Sarah Island, we turned toward the Gordon River. Lunch was served on the way there – it was a buffet and I ate mainly salad, with some cheese and a bread roll. Following lunch, we stopped for a heritage walk through the temperate rainforest beside the river. The walk was quite interesting – there was a fallen Huon Pine that is older than Christianity… I believe the guide said it around was well over 2000 years old.

Back in Strahan we disembarked at the sawmill and had a look around there. I was looking for some stand out, interesting shots and I loved the macro shot that this rope provided. The photo of the boat is the one we took today, the Eagle. The last photo in the next set is a large Huon Pine log that is 800-900 years old and was felled in the Dennison River in the early 1960’s.

After we had finished in Strahan, we drove to Ocean Beach for a walk along the sand, It was lovely there, with ocean spray and mist covering the beach – very magical. When I peered through the spray, I saw a lighthouse. It was close to sunset… what an end to a beautiful day.

Tomorrow we drive to Cradle Mountain.

I am spending the Easter weekend cleaning, importing music to iTunes and eating chocolate. I went outside yesterday and took some photos in the garden – the first is one of our Chinese Lantern plants, the second is my mum’s water pump and the last is my herb garden, which is situated in an old bathtub. I used my new tripod to take the photos and I am very happy with the results so far. I have also done a little bit of writing although most of my time has been spent reading through to catch up to where I am in the editing process.

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We’ve just finished the assessment period for term 1 and are in the midst of report writing. Hopefully I will be online more after that! My birthday on Friday was great. On Saturday, Mum and I went out and took some photos at the wetlands at Salisbury and then of the horses up in the hills that I visit. Saturday night I went out for dinner with my family, my sister’s boyfriend and my friend K. On Sunday, I relaxed. I did a little bit of shopping and processed some of my photos.

I have opened up a shop at Cafepress.com to sell my photos and some of my graphic designs on clothing, homewares and the like – the link is on the right hand side. I am planning on uploading more images soon.

I still haven’t made much time from writing although my head has felt in a fog since the weekend – too much staying up late, I think. We have two and a bit weeks until the holidays and I am looking forward to the break… I just have to get through marking and reports first :p

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WordPress still isn’t liking me – I just wrote another post and it chewed it up again. Maybe it’s just me.

I went out this morning and tried to start my car but the battery was dead. I knew that it was coming – the clock has been playing up for weeks and the windows have been sluggish when trying to put them up and down – and our two week heatwave wouldn’t have helped. The battery was six years old, however, so hopefully the new one lasts that long!

It’s already week 3 at school and the time is passing quickly – I just know that it will be holidays again before I know it. I was panicking about an English unit that I had lost – after searching both at school and at home, I managed to find another copy in one of my English folders, although it is out of order and a bit scrambled. My other courses are coming along well, for which I am thankful for.

Early last week I came down with a sore throat. I thought it was the prolonged exposure to air conditioning at first and then I thought perhaps I had done something to my vocal cords as I have very loud and vocal classes this year. After a painful weekend and two days back at school, I went to the doctor and found out that it was tonsillitis. I am almost finished my antibiotics and am feeling better. Later this week I also have a dentist appointment to have a wisdom tooth extracted, as well as two fillings done. I am taking the following day off to rest as last time I had swelling and some minor pain – the last thing I will want to be dealing with is teenagers!

I am going to finish off with some of my newest pictures. The non-photos were created in Photoshop Elements 7, using gradients and effects.

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Happy New Year! It seems hard to believe that we are already 5 days into 2009. I know January is going to fly by, especially since I am back at work on January 22. I have been taking the first few days of the year very easily. Our cooler than normal December has morphed into what feels like a normal January. It is quite warm today, especially out in the sun.

I have finally finished reuploading all of my Flickr photos. Now I just have to sort them properly into Sets and Collections.I have quite a few new photos too – I have spent the past week playing with my camera. There are some nice shots of flowers from my garden, some pictures of horses (the herd at Nyroca I often take photos of, as well as some new horses near Kersbrook) and some photos I took while I was at the beach on Saturday afternoon. I have also decided to attempt to take a photo for each day this year. I am going to chronicle this at my Just Add Ink Photoblog. I will also put a button on the sidebar.

On Thursday and Friday I spent quite a bit of time in my new garden. I now have two flower gardens, a wheelbarrow that I have planted with flowers and I will soon have a herb garden in an old bath that we are recycling. I also have a mini herb pot with mint, chocolate mint, basil and coriander. I am slowly putting peastraw down on the garden beds and tonight will have to water because the plants are looking thirsty.

I have also spent some time working on SR while waiting for my photos to upload. I am supposed to be working on Chapters Seven and Eight but while I was going back over Chapter One, I realised that I had a few major problems with the plotline early in the novel. I was going to use an entirely new beginning to Chapter One that I had already written as an alternate beginning but I think I’ve come up with a solution now (and besides, I love the current version). I have also attempted to ‘even out’ my chapters, as I had some that were 13 pages alongside others of 30 pages. I’m still working on that, as I am planning to add one or two new scenes earlier on.

~Jewel

Over the last two days I have been driving through the Adelaide Hills looking for some good photo opportunities. There is a spot about twenty minutes from my house where horses often graze. More often that not they aren’t there when I want them to be (ie, when the weather is the nicest) but I was very lucky yesterday, especially when some of them came down to the fence to greet me and pose for photos. Today’s attempt at taking horse photos was not as good because the main group were out of sight but I did get some nice flower shots instead.