Thursday, December 11

Tarkine - a special part of Tassie!

The Tarkine is an area of temperate forest in far north-west Tasmania. It is that largest area of wilderness of its kind left in Australia.

There have been discussions about roads being built through this unique piece of Tasmanian beauty, and I don't know the full story. However, some good friends and family of mine have been on several trips into the Tarkine area, and are quite sure that a road through it would spoil its unnecessarily. They have apparently turned my house into a campaign headquarters with a busy hive of activity taking place to get an action plan into place! There has been an article in the Mercury today, letters to the editor, maps made (thanks Tim), and a commercial produced for TV and YouTube. Many people have donated (and will no doubt continue to) time, energy, skills and money to get this campaign into action in a very short time!



I wish I was there to throw in my weight, but in the mean time, I'm sending hard working vibes to everyone at home! Lets do something smart - save the Tarkine!

When I get home and see Mum's no doubt spectacular and very recent photos of the Tarkine I'll try to add some.

Tuesday, December 2

Engaged in the Whitsundays!

I am no longer in the Whitsundays, however, Tim and I are engaged!

We had a wonderful couple of days there - relaxing, swimming, eating icecream and so on. We did a couple of tours/organised trips which were heaps of fun. We went 95km out to Knuckle Reef, which is part of the Great Barrier Reef. There is a permanent pontoon there with waterslide, snorkelling gear, glass bottom and semi-submersible boats. We got a good look at some pretty fish, coral and I even spotted a squid swimming around not far below me.

The other trip we did was on a maxi yacht (80ft): Maxi Ragamuffin, a Sydney to Hobart three-time winner! We sailed to Whitehaven beach on Whitsunday Island for a picnic (along with the rest of the paying guests on board).

When we arrived, Tim and I went for a little stroll before lunch. Right at one end of the beach, and all of a sudden, Tim was on one knee before me and I think I just about said 'yes' before he finished asking! Of course, the question he asked, was whether I would marry him!

So then it was lunch, a play in the water in oh so glamorous stinger suits and the sail back on the boat which were all a bit floaty! Back on board they gave us one of those 1 serve bottles of champagne 'on the house(boat)' to celebrate!



The ring was designed by the lovely and clever Timmy! The blue stones are Tanzanite, and the green one is Tsavorite - both found only in Africa, the Tanzanite, naturally is from Tanzania. This of course, is very fitting and well chosen considering my family history of Africa and Tanzania in particular!Hurrah!