It is almost summer here so this week’s photos will be mostly reruns.
Compared to the weather some of my blogging friends experience in winter ours are pretty mild. Although mountainous areas get snow in winter low-level snow is rare enough that we get a bit excited about it. If we get some it usually isn’t a lot and doesn’t last long. Here are a couple of pictures from snowy days in 2015 and 2017. In 2015 we had some very heavy falls that came below 300 metres which meant that bus services to Hobart were restricted for a day or so. I was traveling to see David in the hospital during this time and the second photo was taken on one of those trips.
Untouched snow. This is about as heavy as it usually gets in Geeveston although higher altitudes will get more. Near Geeveston 2017
Taken from the bus window June 2015
What we mostly get in winter though is rain, frost, and fog. The damp and the greyness of almost everything is what makes it seem colder than it probably is.
We get a bit of fog here, especially in winter time.frosty morning 2015Bus Stop in the rain.
It rained almost continuously when we went to Strahan for a weekend. During a stop on our Gordon River cruise, our guide soldiered on regardless telling us about the flora and fauna and while Bruce and I took as many photos as we could.
Our guide braves the rain.Bruce taking photos on our Gordon River cruise.A cold rainy day 20 May 2012.
You know what’s irksome? The rain is irksome. Normally I don’t mind it. When we moved here we knew we were moving to a damp part of Tasmania. It hasn’t worried me that much in the past. There have been several wet winters where the front garden was waterlogged and the driveway so muddy that even going to the letterbox was an adventure. There have been winters when the house was so damp that the front door stuck shut and we had to prise it open with a screwdriver. I was more careful after one memorable time when I gave it a good yank to open it and a pane of glass shattered, that was irksome too. There have been many occasions when it was impossible to get washing dry and the same sheets hung on the line for days because there was nowhere to hang them indoors.
Rainbow in a dark sky.
We coped with all of that. We bought a dryer, We fixed the damp problem and I wore Wellington boots anytime I went outside. I don’t often complain about the climate because after all the main reason for moving to Tasmania was to get away from the increasingly hot, dry summers in South Australia.
However, I have never experienced a wet spell that went on unceasingly until November. Am I annoyed? Yes, I jolly well am. Some mornings, like today, I wake up and see blue sky out the bedroom window but by breakfast time the rain is back, not just a drizzle but a downpour. I can’t take Cindy outside to play ball with her and even if it isn’t raining she gets covered in mud. Jason and Brodie my garden guys are constantly behind with their mowing. I bet they are irked as well. I can’t walk into town to buy a few groceries for fear of getting soaked on the way. It’s a half hour walk in each direction. It’s irksome to have to take the bus to Huonville and, because of the timetable, spend three hours on an errand I could have done in a bit over an hour on foot. Bus timetables in the country can be irksome at times. I cope by having groceries delivered and keeping a well stocked freezer but I can’t spontaneously decided to make something if I don’t have the ingredients.
Bus Stop in the rain.
We have a Test Match starting on Saturday, the only kind of international cricket that finishes early enough for me to get home on the bus. South Africa haven’t played cricket in Hobart for several years and now there is a distinct possibility it could be rained out. That would be really irksome and I bet the players would agree with that too. It’s only a three match series.
A sign you don’t want to see.
The most irksome thing of all is how difficult it is to get out and take photos for this blog. It is one of the things I really enjoy doing and although I have a lot of photos in my archives I don’t want to be reusing photos all the time. I don’t mind taking photos in a drizzle but what we have been getting is not drizzle and you need some sun somewhere to get a rainbow.
The rainbow could be seen across the road from my house.
Bus Stop in the rain.
A sign you don’t want to see.
Rainbow in a dark sky.
Once again Snapshot Sunday has been foiled by more rain preventing me from getting out to take any new photos. Here are a few rain related pics from earlier in the year.
Cee set us quite an interesting challenge this week to pick our subject from one of the elements of the photo she posted. We’ve been having all sorts of weather mayhem this week so I didn’t think it would be too hard to find some rain or reflections. However, I was keen to see if I could find something industrial to photograph too. As I’m still doing my hospital visiting routine I took Hubby’s little Canon Powershot A550 which is small and fits in my handbag. My Nikon Coolpix fits in my handbag too but it is big and bulky. I am still not too familiar with this camera so I keep it on Auto. Here is Cee’s Photo.
I knew it was going to be tricky but I decided to take some photos out of the window of the bus. I’ve done it before and I thought it would at least produce some reflections.
I am quite pleased with this first photo of Port Huon Wharf. We’d stopped to pick up a passenger so I had a minute to organise myself. Port Huon Wharf is used by Huon Aquaculture as a base for their fish farming operations. The large ship you can see is called the Ronja Huon and it is a well ship. The company recently bought it for bathing and transporting fish. I guess the rainbow could count as a reflection too.
Ronja Huon at Port Huon Wharf
Nearby I snapped a picture of another local building Mitchell Plastic Welding. They make things like irrigation pipes and supply a lot of stuff to the aquaculture industry I think.
Mitchell Plastic Welding, Castle Forbes Bay.
The weather went downhill after that and on the way home from Hobart I took a couple more pictures. Here is one looking out the front of the bus.
A rainy trip home on the bus.
I jumped out of the bus at Huonville to do some errands there before catching a later one home and snapped this one at the bus stop. So I had found industrial, vehicles, rain, windows and reflections. I even managed to sneak some red, green and grey into these photos. Job done!
It was a very chilly, wintry afternoon. I don’t think those solar panels on top of the bus shelter would have been helping much. I was very glad to get home and put the heater on.
When I think of these words I immediately think of the famous scene in the movie of the same name where Gene Kelly dances in pouring rain. It’s a catchy song but I have to say that on the few occasions I’ve been caught in a rainstorm and soaked to the skin I did not feel in the least like singing and dancing. Squelching along with sodden shoes and wet clothes sticking to you is no fun, especially if you know you have an hour long bus ride home to endure before you can get out of them.I can remember two or three occasions when it has happened to me and most of them seem to involve rained out sporting events.
However, I do enjoy listening to the rain when I’m snug and cosy at home. It feels good to be in a warm room listening to the rain thundering on the galvanised iron roof . “It’s really coming down out there.” my husband and I say to each other. “I’m glad we’re not out in it.” Of course there is more than just being grateful for our good fortune in having a roof over our heads. After a hot dry summer it is wonderful to see how everything turns green again after a good rain.
Many people think that it rains all the time in Tasmania and parts of it are quite wet at times, but Hobart itself is the second driest capital city in Australia. Adelaide, where we used to live, is the driest.
Lakeside Topiary group, July 2008
There were drought conditions here for some years in the mid 2000’s and the midlands and east coast of Tasmania really suffered. Farmers had to put stock down because there was no feed. Lake Dulverton at Oatlands dried up completely. I was told that years ago they used to have sailing and even speed boat racing on Lake Dulverton, I walked around the lake and saw the remains of moorings and there was the sailing club but the lake itself reminded me of the cover of the Midnight Oil album “Red Sails In The Sunset” which showed Sydney Harbour with no water.
It would have made a great dirt bike track at that time.
What Water?
Finally, there came a wet winter, it rained and rained. Gradually the lake filled and finally in spring of 2009 it was full for the first time in many years. I remember visiting the lake around this time and seeing people rowing and fishing on the lake. That did make me feel like singing.
So even though I curse it when I get caught in it or when my husband spatters the washing with mud with his car I really do love the rain because it brings new life.
Topiary Group December 2009Fisherman December 2009
