Richmond

I love bridges and Richmond has the oldest bridge in Australia so of course that was one place that I wanted to go to, in particular.

I didn't realise that it was still in use. Only a kilometre or so out of town. The sky was blue and people/families were out and about.

Back into town for lunch which was a handcrafted ice cream, yum, no rum and raisin in sight but I had whiskey cream with choc hazelnut and Warren had licorice all-sorts and cookies and cream. No time to take a photo.

We also visited this place. It is a model village of Hobart as it was, it was constructed as one sixteenth size. There were some odd things to look for, such as a woman killing a snake and a boy falling out of a tree, four in all but we didn't find them, apparently we needed a kid to help as they were more at their eye level.

Hobart harbour as it was. I had been to this place years ago and it has been interesting to work out how long age it was that I was there with a girl friend. We came to a work sports weekend and stayed a couple of extra days. To the best of my ability, I have narrowed it down to 1992, time flies.

Richmond being only a thirty to forty minute drive from Hobart seems to be the place to go on a Sunday "to get out of the rat race." Lots of crafty or antique little shops, places to get a bite to eat or buy some sweet treats.

Some great buildings, this is a church in the main street probably built in the 1800's still standing the test of time and in use.

Day trip to Macau

Almost a twelve hour day with lots involved but it didn't seem rushed. Twenty five of us altogether, about eight of us had Super Pass which meant we had to pay extra. When we booked there were no economy tickets left so it was pay an extra $hk100 each or not go. The only difference was on the turbo jet going over to Macau, we got to sit up the top, had a meal free Wi-Fi and got off first. Wow, never been first class on anything before.

We had to take our passports and pass through Immigration and Customs, we were met the other side by a young women Sonia who accompanied us for the rest of the day.

We toured around and went a Museum, St Paul’s church and a small temple, we had an hour there before going on the A ma temple, as it is Qing Ming Jie today (Tomb sweeping day) many were honouring their passed family members. Macau doesn’t have any resources but they do make small cookies and we tried a few different ones near the temple before going to a buffet lunch. Lunch was okay but I have had much better, lot of meat and very little vegetables. I was okay though as my favourite dish qezi (egg plant) was there so I had that over rice. Yum! I do grow it at home and cook it but I cant seem to get it quite as good as it is cooked in China.

Macau tower was next and about half of the group choose to go up for an extra $HK120 each. Warren told me that the floor was glass and he knows how freaky I get walking on glass even when it only ground level. He has done it before so we opted out and visited the shops instead, ToysRus.

Last port of call was one of the 44 casinos. OMGoodness, 688 tables! We watched a roulette table for awhile. An older guy was there and I asked him if he was winning by using the numbers up. He shook his head and pointed to something on his screen, it was in Chinese and I immediately said "canbudong" meaning I can see but I cant read. Although Cantonese is the language here, we are hearing a lot of Mandarin spoken.  One lady at a shop told me that Mainland Chinese can go to HK, 1000 people per day but there is no limit to Macau as tourism is their only source of income. Because of the casinos only people only pay 10% for taxes. I watched the next spin and this guy bet 1500 HK dollars!!!!on one spin. I have not been in a casino for several years and this was all computerized.

Croupiers were on the black jack tables but that was all. As we walked past two women there was a lot of smiles and high fives, one showed me that she had just won $HK1000, I wondered how much she had bet to get that.

Interesting buildings

A few weeks ago when we went to Dayboro, I was surprised by the buildings in the main street, some of them looked quite old and different.

A church in the main street, I didn't think to see what church it was, I was struck by the fact it was in the main street!

Probably a house once but now it is a real estate business. Love the veranda

Now an information office and they hold poetry readings once a month on the front porch on Sunday mornings.

and finally this one where we had coffee and a pie, got to love country towns. There is one more but it was too difficult to get a photo of because off the trees. It was a small cottage and now is used as a craft shop, selling the locals craft and food stuffs. The front room is the reception area and the others rooms have the different crafts, one is all knitting, another one has sewing, woodwork is out the front as one enters and cooking, pickles and jams etc in the old kitchen. I always pay a visit there when we go, love t buy some local produce and also get idea re crafts.

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Cyclone Ita

I was going to write on a different subject today but the cyclone is very close and is a big one, category 5.We were watching Ellen while having lunch and Channel nine went to an ad break in the middle of an interview of Ellen's. Bad form, I thought or just bad editing but they broke for a cyclone warning update. The Premier of Queensland had a warning and instructions for people who lived in the area. Cooktown to Cairns.

He spoke for several minutes on what they could expect and the things that they should be doing and have in preparation,. by his side was a woman doing signing, this seems to be quite usual these days. One of the things that he mentioned was taking personal papers with them if they needed to evacuate, he went on to say that sometimes these things get overlooked if people need to move elsewhere within a short time frame.

The cyclone is due to hit the coastline at around 10 pm tonight so now was the time to prepare and move before the winds and rain became stronger.

We were in Townsville a few years ago when a cyclone was coming and while there were updates, people were not ready for it as they can be now. I went to work as usual the day before, Government job, and was told to go home and prep the house and yard for the disaster that was about to hit. I remember driving back home, it was only about eight kilometres away, the branches were being blown on to the roads and the cyclone was still a day away. It turned eerie in the afternoon, no birds, the sky was very dark and at times no winds then it would blow again. That cyclone hit in the early hours of the following at Ayr about fifty kms further down the coast. A wooden church was picked by the winds and moved about 200 metres away, there was only minor damage done to it, but quite a bit of damage elsewhere and a few people were injured.

I hope that everyone stays safe and there is no or only minor injuries this time, we can only hope that it may blow itself out or at least be downgraded..