Heading north.....

 The time has come to head back north towards home. As you can see from the photos, we are still being blessed by beautiful weather, albeit a little chilly if you are in the wind and out of the sun. The little rain that fell overnight had disappeared by the time we were up and about. A morning tea stop off at Ross nearly resulted in a few more passengers on the bus.... of the winged variety. Feeding morning tea to a flock of seagulls had them scavenging all the way along the path to the bus. Our next stop was an early lunch at Cataract Gorge in Launceston, and a chance to stretch our legs...and our lungs with a walk up to a lookout.

Lunch at Cataract Gorge. Bradley nearly lost the handball...

Rocking the suspension bridge with Hayley, Anna and Merridy

At least these 4 didn't get lost like Yuot, Isaac and Jackie

"Why are you punishing us by making us walk up this hill?"...Mrs Anderson: "It's a reward for all 28 of you participating in the talent show!"..."grrrrrr"

Our best Cataract Gorge group photo yet

The original photo spot...obviously not as good.

Another 'first' for this trip was a visit to The Bush Maze at Glengarry. Not only was the maze a challenge, but there were numerous puzzling activities and games for everyone to attempt, made all the more difficult because of fatigue fog'!

Not as easy as it looks...Kids having a blast solving puzzles at Glengarry Bush Maze. She opened especially for us.

Jye vs Michaela...Photo distracted Michaela apparently..?..

Anthony bamboozling Hamish at chess

Satisfied and relaxed after a fantastic 6 days on the Island

What happens when you use a girls brush on a male head...

Steak, Parmi, Schnitty. Dinner at the Argosy

Hamish trying to set a record for most appearances in a blog post (with Mitchell)....actually we are just wanting to make the point that he has been wearing the same hoodie ALL week!

We made it back to the boat

Anna, Emily, Joe, Josh, Brad

What a blessing......

 What a blessing today has been..... Firstly, the weather has continued to hold out for us, meaning that we didn't have to be out on the Southern Ocean in the 'southerly' that was forecast! We did however get to experience the amazing swells and breakers over the impressive coastline.... thank goodness for Kwells!

Ready for an adventure

Rockin' and Rollin' or were we just 'Workin' the Waves?

'Reddy' for action

Ahhh the calm before the storm

Part of God's amazing handiwork in such a unique part of Australia

Learning about the history of the families manning the lighthouse.... in the background is the landing from where people and supplies were winched up the cliffs on a trolley at a 42 deg angle! 

Spot the seals

Doing our bit for the environment....remnants of a National Parks chopper 'dropping' supplies (just not in the right spot!)

Captain Xeros

An expensive sleep.....

.....or perhaps it was all just too much! Maybe it was that 'bonk' on the head from the DVD screen hanging from the roof?

We had seen Port Arthur from the water as we headed out to the ocean, so now it was time to see it up and close. We just managed to get there in time for the informative tour, which just managed to finish before the predicted ‘front’ came through.... another blessing!

Our fantastic guide telling us about the convicts and Port Arthur

The Separate Church. no talking or interacting

Hamish and Ratidzo preaching the word

Mrs Anderson on her beautiful bush walk

And then to cap the day off, after dinner we were all blessed with enjoying each others talents... 100% participation rate.... go Year 9 2018!! So many highlights.....

Mitch debuted with Isaac playing "4 Chords"

A riveting battle between two strong men

Merryn brought Cath and Kim alive!

Jackie finally nailed his yoyo trick...took all trip.

Ratidzo did some live art for Talent Night. Exceptional!

Bradley moved from Rock n roll guitar to classical when he came to Australia. Sublime.

Indy reading Poetry from Psalm 139

The boys couldn't resist singing "Country Roads" for talent night 

Jack played an original compostion

Michaela and Erin brought story telling to life at the Talent Night 

Pearl trying to guess who Tim had drawn for Talent Night

 .... and that’s not all. I don’t think anyone will forget Mr Xeros’s rendition of The Switch! Anna’s original composition of ‘What can I do for you?’ was a powerful follow up to the testimony she gave at Poatina, and Mr Gilmour’s Tassie 2018 song nailed it!! So much talent and so willing (maybe?) to share it....

Everyone having a blast. All 28 people performed. A record!

Southern times

Our first full day in the southern part of Tassie was spent in and around Hobart town, learning about and appreciating some of it's interesting history. Walking past Constitution Dock on the way to the Salamanca Markets gave us the chance to get up close to the icebreaker Aurora Australis....we must really be in southern Australia! And the back drop to the markets....the beautiful and unique English inspired architecture that is all around us in Tassie.

Yuot, Jackie and David decked out in their new reflective aviators....buying more lollies!

'Show and tell'.... comparing 'finds' at the markets

Satisfied marketeers?

Thankfully we had made an early start to the day, so we managed to get out of Salamanca place just as the crowds were all closing in. We escaped to the sanctuary of wildlife at Bonorong, and got up close with native animals instead. Encounters with wombats, koalas, kangaroos and ring-tailed possums were appreciated... but not with the devils! Robyn-the-ranger had to contend with an abnoxious Tassie devil who was determined to let her know that it wanted more food! I got the impression that she may have preferred to be on our side of the fence....

Enjoying the company

Not so sure about those devils....

Emily, Merryn and Erin enjoying the 'softness'

Indi and her new friend

Who's feeding who?

All this feeding made us hungry so we ventured on down to the Richmond Bakery for lunch, and then on to explore Old Hobart town. We were able to appreciate in a miniature scale, the layout and aesthetics of Hobart in it's early days, complete with an investigative activity.

Joe.... now where is that?

For those that had money left after the markets, the Richmond shops provided another opportunity to buy gifts and momentos. I'm pretty sure Emily is well stocked now, ready to share with her family when she gets home! Not so sure about Isaac? I think perhaps he must have run out of money.... or maybe he is just a smooth talker?

Apparently Mila makes great woodfired pizzas, so Isaac requested a selfie with her. She obliged with not only a photo, but a free large pizza.... much to the enjoyment of his friends.

Walking through (over) history - Richmond Bridge....the oldest bridge in Australia

St Johns Catholic church

Home in time to enjoy all the activities that the camp centre has to offer.

Group time after dinner - sharing stories, encouragements and prayers