A Melodious Sonnet - Page 27 of 58 - Notes from a word-chaser

Tasmania 2019, pt. 4: The Nut

March 8, 2019 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

8 Mar

Before I ever set foot on Tasmania, the girl I was traveling with told me I needed to see the Nut. And before you think that it’s some place where there are a bunch of almond or cashew or walnut trees, no…there are trees, but it’s a mountain along the northeastern edge of Tasmania that is a wildlife reserve. Apparently one of the best times to go there, wildlife- and beauty- and amount of people-wise, is at dawn. So, one evening just a couple days before I was supposed to leave, we arranged to meet up at 5 am the next morning and drive the 30 minutes or so to the Nut.

(Need to catch up on the previous posts? Here are the links: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.)

The Nut—the lights at the base are the little town of Stanley

I think we ended up leaving about 5:10 or 5:15, which was pretty good, since at least one person who ended up coming wasn’t even awake until 5! We had a beautiful, peaceful drive out there.

About two-thirds of the way up. I loved seeing the ocean coming in on both sides of the peninsula!

It really felt like we were climbing a mountain with this one! There were three (very) steep upgrades to get to the top (I believe we were climbing on the slightly more sloped face you can see in the first picture). I didn’t take it as slow as I should have, and well—let’s just say that I don’t recommend climbing a steep mountain at five in the morning without having had breakfast yet!

We are waiting for the dawning….

We waited at the first lookout for a while to see the sunrise. Eventually, when it became apparent that it wouldn’t be very spectacular, we moved on to the bushier part of the reserve, where we saw a bit more animal life.

There ended up being a layer of cloud just above the horizon, so this is about all we saw of dawn. It was a beautiful morning, anyway!

Mutton bird burrows—I saw several fields like this. (This is of particular significance to our family, since we love the book Castaway by Bill O’Brien.)

Likely my favorite picture from the Nut.

One of the first wild wallabies I saw, although I had already eaten some. I saw quite a few more before the trip was over!

Sun’s up!

The Nut from the west.

In all, though we were disappointed with the lack of a beautiful sunrise, it was a gorgeous morning anyway. I was really thankful to get to see a bit more of Tasmania’s scenery, and it was great to get to spend a bit more time with the folks there.

Monday Inspiration: Two Quotes

March 4, 2019 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

4 Mar

First, this “quote-of-the-month” for me:

“Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.” — Corrie ten Boom

And this verse I wrote up and have tacked on the cork board next to my desk:

“Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.” — Acts 2:28

Tasmania 2019, pt. 3: Hellyer Beach and Rocky Cape

February 28, 2019 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

28 Feb

I got a note in my email last evening that made me pretty happy: Pictures from my trip to Tasmania have been printed and should have been shipped out today! Having gone through the pictures again to get them ready for these posts, it made me that much more eager to be able to arrange the real pictures into some sort of a scrapbook one day soon.

(To see the previous posts in this series, go to Part 1 here and Part 2 here.)

One evening, we walked down to Hellyer beach. It was about a 10-minute walk, over the Detention River, up through a residential area, along the road, through some native bush, past more houses, then out onto the tidal flat itself. Around the point was the beach itself, and I loved studying the different shells there—quite different from the other beach just 15 min. west!

A Huntsman spider, the biggest I saw while I was there

I saw quite a few kookaburras while I was there—and heard even more! What an unusual song!

One afternoon when we had some spare time, three other girls and I took a trip out to Rocky Cape. We first went to the boat ramp, and climbed up a cliff to see the scenery on either side of that part of the cape—pretty impressive!

Then we headed back down and walked up a track to the south cave; one of the two on the cape that the Aborigines used to camp in when they were passing through the area. I wanted to explore it, but unfortunately none of us had lights with us, and we were somewhat pressed for time.

We saw an Aboriginal painting (?) on the top of a rock near the lighthouse on the cape—I had to wonder how old it was, and, if it was fairly old, what kind of colors they used and how it managed to stay on an exposed surface so long, and also what it symbolized. Reminds me of sun-god worship, but I have no idea if it has any connection or not.

After looking at the view from the lighthouse (also beautiful), we headed down a track to see the north cave. We weren’t allowed to go into this one; apparently it’s a sacred site to some people.

The bay below the cave was pretty, anyway!

I loved getting to explore the area a little. New Zealand will probably always be the most beautiful place in the world to me, but Tasmania will probably be a close second now—or maybe third, if I’m counting my home state of Michigan during the month of June!

One thing I find sad is that we can often get used to the scenery around us—don’t even see how beautiful it is after a while. Today, go out and see the beauty around you, and thank the Lord for it. For me, the mountains across the river were a special shade of purple this afternoon, something I haven’t seen very often. It was gorgeous, and made me thankful all over again for what the Lord has made!

What are you thankful for right now in the scenery that’s surrounding you?

Tasmania 2019, pt. 2: The Community

February 23, 2019 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

23 Feb

…and here is part two of my trip to Tasmania! I’ve shared pictures of the community multiple times since I’ve left, mostly with family, but I’m not tired of looking through them yet! Sometimes I wonder if the maxim “a picture is worth a thousand words” would be more appreciated as “a picture is worth a thousand memories”. 🙂

The community garden, a place I worked often while I was there, as viewed from my front porch

I stayed with two other girls in a house while I was there, and some of my “off” time was spent there. All family-oriented occasions were spent with my host family, so in many ways it felt like I was with family even though my own was across the ditch many kilometers away!

My house–unit four

There were four houses in a block (and another one elsewhere). I spent a lot of time with the family that lived where the middle porch is in this picture.

The closer building has a school room at this end, and a bunkhouse on the other end; the further one is storage, I believe.

Many fun days were spent in the kitchen, helping out with various tasks. I got to help with some meal prep, but mostly my time was spent on other odd jobs around the place.

The community’s kitchen, dining, and meeting room (left building).

More storage/bunk houses, another family’s house, and the woodworking shop (on far left).

One of the biggest jobs that needed to be done was garden work. We spent many hours weeding and harvesting food from the garden! Although it was hot, dusty work, and sometimes bull ants marched across our path, I really enjoyed the chance to get my hands in the ground and see fruit from our labors (oh, and eating the fresh strawberries that had been sitting in the sun for a while…you cannot beat that!).

Tying up tomatoes

Another big job that we girls did together was work up nine kilos (over 19 pounds) of garlic. The garlic heads had split apart before they were pulled up, and wet sand got in between each clove, so we had to peel and work up the whole lot. It took three or four afternoons of work to get them all ready to be processed, and we were all a little sick of the job by the time it was finished, but I really enjoyed the time spent working together! Even if it isn’t fun work, doing it together as a group is very enjoyable. Great memories! (By the way, we figured out that if you have dry garlic, the easiest way to peel them is to soak them in hot water first—it really makes the job go faster!)

Part of the kitchen–the “bakery” area

All community meals were served up here

Two of the children who live there—I loved getting to know them! I miss having little ones around, especially the toddler stage. My baby sister is too grown up for that now!

One day we had a couple boxes of mince to repackage. Didn’t take long, but I did manage to get a picture of that! (Why is it that you rarely have your camera on you when you might want to have pictures later?)

“Detention #1 Egg Producers / Kookaburra Heights Chicken Community” — I loved their chook house!

Well, I ended up with a few pictures of the community that didn’t really fit anywhere else, so they were stuck in here. There are so many things I could say about my time there, but perhaps this will satisfy for now. Next up is pictures from a quick trip some girls and I took to Rocky Cape—what a beautiful area!

Monday Inspiration: The Gospel

February 18, 2019 by Esther Filbrun · Leave a Comment

18 Feb

I’m sure I’ve shared this video before, but it’s something that always strikes a deep, deep chord in my heart. It’s a message I know I need to hear often. And perhaps you do today, too. Stand in His strength!