Friday, February 25, 2011

Old Tasmania, a Pirate's Bay and Naked Aggression

So far in my posts on Tassie I have featured a day of our trip for each post. Tonight I break with that because Day 6 was so packed with events and places it is going to take at least three if not four posts to cover adequately.

Uncle Harry would be proud!

First a warning! Latter parts of this post feature a vicious thug behaving not only aggressively but making open threats of violence. It’s not for the faint hearted!

Our day started fairly early in Hobart where we spent the night. We were heading south to the Tasman Peninsula for the day.

Our first stop Richmond. Like much of Tassie Richmond features quaint Gerorgian era buildings.Deb and Lu parked themselves in this Café and had breakfast while I wandered up and down the main street.This building was once a pub, but is now apparently a private residence.Richmond is certainly not my favourite place, it is close to Hobart and has a really ‘tourist trap’ feel. Most of the buildings although original seem to have shops dispensing ‘hand crafts’ of dubious quality for large amounts of money.Don’t get me wrong if you go that way Richmond is well worth a look but it certainly wasn’t my favourite place in the Apple Isle.

Richmond’s main claim to fame is this convict-built bridge.Which because it was built in is the oldest bridge anywhere in Oz.

The 1836 Catholic church was beautiful in the morning light.Like many other churchyards in Tassie it also had burials.I thought the most interesting (historically speaking) was the grave of Bartholomew Reardon. As you can see from the plaque he was born in 1791 on Norfolk Island. This was only 3 years after British Settlement in Oz. Which I guess makes Bart one of the first Aussies of European decent.

Our next stop was at Pirate’s Bay. Yes it is really called Pirate’s Bay.
It was here we were shown a display of naked aggression.

Here is the culprit.
No not Deb whose feet are in the right side of the piccie.

The little blue fellow.

This tiny Superb Blue Wren discovered another male in his patch.

This usually very shy creature went on the warpath.

He shot past Deb barrelling straight at his foe and over my toes.

He shot past me I got down to his level and took these couple of shots of him checking that his foe had high-tailed.Then he turned and fixed his beady eye on me.Scary isn’t he?

9 comments:

Alison Pearce Stevens said...

Sounds lovely! Tasmania (and mainland Australia, and New Zealand) are all on my list of places to visit.

Nice action shots of the thug! :)

Sarah Ahiers said...

great pictures! As usual.
Any news on the job front?

Kathleen Jones said...

The bridge is beautiful! And the bird. Good luck with the interview Al - you deserve to get the job!

Jai Joshi said...

What a gorgeous bird!

You've some really interesting pics here, particularly of the convict built bridge and the church graveyard. Fascinating stuff.

Jai

Old Kitty said...

Yay for the Superb Blue Wren!! NO-ONE messes with him!!!! Yay!!!!!
:-)

Oooh when was that bridge built by convicts?

Richmond look very pretty though - the houses look very nice but I I'm drawn to the very dramatic skies - I could see the white clouds just rolling across the blue!!! Wonderful!!!

I love that history of poor Mr Reardon!! He beat the erm.... Smut Disease only to have his barn burnt down by scoundrels!!!! Poor man!!!

Thanks for these great shots!!!! Take care
x

Rebecca A Emrich said...

this was anawesome post, but you're always writing awsomeposts, so there you go... BTW when would you like to guest blog again?

Al said...

Hi Alison,
Tassie is gorgeous. I though if I didn’t play proper homage he’d ‘sort me out.’

Hi Sarah,
Thank you.
I have an interview coming up on Tuesday.

Hi Kathleen,
I agree I the lovely warm sandstone make the bridge a picture.
Thank you!

Hi Jai,
Superb Blues are beautiful.
Pleased you enjoyed my post.

Hi Jennifer,
If it comes to attitude he had it by the barrowful!
1826.
Tassie certainly has some beautiful skies.
I agree poor Mr Reardon.

Hi Rebecca,
Pleased you enjoyed my post and thank you.
Soon would probably be the answer. I will have to think about what to post.

Anonymous said...

Hi
Just surfing the net and found your name and information about your book.
What really caught my eye was the photograph of my ancestors grave at Richmond Church yard. (Bartholomew Reardon).
Yes he was a very early resident in Australia with a huge family history. Im currently doing a family history and i have found out so much about him.
Wish there was a way we could make contact.

Truly Tasmanian said...

Old Bart Reardon is my 8x Great Grandfather and the old scoundrel gets a lot of millage at Port Arthur Historic Site where I work as a guide. Thank you for sharing a piece of his story on your blog!