Camper Capers: Live and learn

Did I say Tasmania was cold? Boy it is hot, we got our warm weather, and sunburn. With a big hole in the ozone over Tasmania, you certainly burn easy. The weather has settled again, but it is nice to be warming up!
With the warmer weather, I decided it was a good time to ‘de-fuzz’ and get a wax job. A search on Yellow Pages, showed a listing for ‘Huon Beauty’. I rang the number and an older sounding gentleman answered. I thought this rather odd for a beauty salon and so enquired if I had phoned Huon Beauty. Indeed I had. I then proceeded to ask if I could make a booking for the next day, for a bikini wax. After some throat clearing, he informed me it was a men’s hairdressing salon. I wanted the ground to swallow me up...... I was rather embarrassed! But no, I couldn’t get off the phone that easy. He proceeded to tell me how he had bought the business a year ago, which used to be a beauty salon, and not changed the name. Oh well I am sure I will have many more of ‘those’ experiences along the way!
I recovered from my ‘ordeal’, and the four of us got ready for our ‘tramp’ to Lake Esperance high up on Mt Hartz. The walk started off easy enough on a level boardwalk. It was cool, but this seemed to match the ambiance of the alpine landscape. As we climbed the vegetation became denser,

View from Mt Hartz, across to Bruny Island

then thinned back to expose an amazing view of Bruny Island and mountain ranges to the north, south and west. It was stunning. And serene. An hour later we reached our destination. As we sat at the lakes edge and ate our picnic sandwiches, we soaked up her beauty.

Lake Esperance, atop Mt Hartz

The weather began to close in, and as we made our way back, we braved both strong winds and rain. However, our spirits were high, and we joked and giggled the wetter and colder we became. It was still a great spot to be!

'Big Tree'- a walk we took after climbing Mt Hartz

Dave and I are soon to leave our generous hosts, so next was a day trip to visit the hardware, Repco and odd bods shop topped off with lunch at the Beachside Hotel, Kingston (huge plate of yum food!). For the past 4 months we have had ‘battery trouble’ in the camper. The battery only lasting 2 days, even though we have a solar panel on the roof. After months of investigating and tinkering Dave has solved and fixed the problem! YEAH!!! The solar works! Well done Dave. We can now free camp for long periods (mmmm .... am I pleased this is fixed, hee hee). There is now really nothing left for us to buy or fix for the camper. I’m not sure what Dave will do with all his spare time now.
Although it seems Dave has turned to working the land and has hacked a path to the river, and mended a fence- we had several sheep from next door help themselves to Kel & Dean’s paddock. No problem really, however we don’t want them to get to the roses. In full bloom, over 300 rose plants adorn the circular driveway and various beds of the garden. Such a pretty sight, and sweet smelling perfume.