Easter In Tasmania

Well, Easter has come and gone and I'm just getting around to talking about it. I'm still very busy at work; kids are still liking school (Ellary's spelling up a storm); Nikki's still good-naturedly enduring the lack of usual support systems, not the least of which is me working all the time.

Although it seemed like the weekend festivals had come to an end, shortly after Easter, there was a Thomas the Tank Engine festival at a nearby railroad yard museum with a life size Thomas, train rides, etc and a good time was had by all.

On Easter (I had a day off!), after an exciting Easter egg hunt in our modest yard, we all went to a nearby National Park with spectacular beaches. It was a beautiful sunny day, slightly windy, and about 20C (70F). We all had a relaxing day lounging in the sun and watching the waves, with very few other people. Ellary and Nikki ran along the beach for awhile, following horses hoove prints. Risa prefers to do a variety of yoga moves right in the waves, thus being soaked by the end of any beach outing. Evening was a treat as all the wallabies came out - they were as thick as flies. There were two shy wombats, also. Up until then, most of the wallabies we'd seen were in the zoo or dead at the side of the road and wombats are very elusive, so we all loved it.

About our Easter egg hunt. We went with the traditional American custom of coloring eggs, (my mom in Boise sent some color tablets with some Easter treat.) They really only have brown eggs here so it's not the custom to color eggs. I saw a Better Homes and Gardens, Australian version, that encouraged people to paint the eggs white with acrylic paint the then decorate them. Our eggs turned out okay, the girls had fun coloring them. So, as I was figuring out they didn't color Easter eggs I wondered if they even had Easter egg hunts and if so what do they hide?

Easter is really big down here. They just use chocolate eggs wrapped in foil. They come in all colors and sizes, mostly chicken egg size to ostrich size. One Dad I know makes it a custom to buy a dozen huge chocolate bunnies during Easter, the Cadbury Elegan Rabbit, and works on them himself, not including what the Easter Bunny brings. They eat more of those Cadbury eggs (you know the ones that are chocolate on the outside and some kind of runny sugary stuff that looks like a raw egg on the insisde) than any where else in the world. Needless to say, we fit right in. We took no chocolate with us to the beach as the girls had already eaten in one morning what they would normally get in 2 weeks.

The weather here has been gorgeous all through April - the driest April on record - but it's now turned to Fall and there's been some rain with a little cooler temperatures, but still frequently sunny afternoons with highs in the 60's F. As it's now officially "Autumn," the kids have switched to their new, warmer winter uniforms (see picture above). The feijoas in the backyard are ripe and falling off the bush. We are trying to figure out what to do with this fruit also called pineapple guava. They are a bit tart with a perfumey smell, similar size to a kiwi but harder and a good source of vitamin C.

Ellary and I(Nikki) have been closely following Dancing with the Stars, Australia's version. The female host and one of the judges were in Strictly Ballroom, which makes me want to watch that movie again. Ellary loves the dancing and suspense but has no desire to try out for the show. She probably loves staying up late and watching TV on a school night more than anything.

This Sunday we're leaving for three days to explore the Freycinet Peninsula and see Wineglass Bay in the South Eastern part of Tasmania. The pictures we've seen of the area are spectacular.

More later.

Love,

BNER