Animal and Vegetable Updates

You might be wondering how my patients are going: I think it's about time for an update.

Well, thank God Fergus survived his near-death experience, and his wound has healed very well. Wondering what happened to him? Check here.

I removed his final dressing yesterday, and he's been enjoying baths and mud ever since. The wound site looks great.

But who was my other patient? Remember Pinya, my pineapple plant? He survived the initial scary experience of being chopped from the top of the pineapple and planted in a pot. He's taken root and survived a cold winter, adding a few new leaves to his collection. Progress is pretty slow, partly because he needs a bigger pot, but the fastest growth is expected to be during summer. I can't wait to eat his juicy flesh, when he gets it...


Pinya is pictured here with some herbs I'm growing and a daffodil I got in Tassie.

I'm also taking care of a Kalamansi (that is, Calamondin) tree I bought. Kalamansi is a beautiful fruit that grows in the Philippines, and I figure with a bit of molly-coddling I'll be able to grow some here. I can't wait to enjoy the beautiful juice, which I'm sure will transport me back in my mind to my favourite Filipino beaches and restaurants.

All of these plants are quite difficult to maintain because we're currently on water restrictions. The drought here has got so bad that we are not allowed to water our plants, except for using grey water (that is, recycled water). Let's hope and pray we get some rain soon.

Touring the Two Headed Monster - Finale

Finally, I'll let you know what we got up to on day 4 of our Tasmania tour.

This was a pretty relaxed day; our first stop was the Cadbury chocolate factory in Claremont. For a very cheap entry fee we got a tour of the factory, and a free box of Favourites choccies. It was all very interesting - I was blown away by the amount of Freddo frogs they make every minute. The most intriguing machine was the one that wraps the freddos - it does it so quickly - in a matter of seconds the little freddo zips into this machine and comes out wrapped! I could have stood there watching it for hours! An interesting fact was that Australia eats the most easter eggs per capita in the world. The factory makes easter eggs for 11 months of the year!

I bought some chocolate home and silently vowed to plant a cacao tree in my backyard.

Our next stop was Eastland shopping centre. We mucked around there for a while and then went back to the caravan park. I did some study (it haunts me wherever I go!) and relaxed for the afternoon.

We flew out Tuesday morning at some inhumane hour, once again Jetstar did a fantastic job. That morning we heard of the death of Steve Irwin at the airport. I was pretty sad about that... I think Australia lost a great bloke that day.

All in all, it was a good trip. Mum wants to go back, and I'd probably go with her, but at the same time I feel like I've 'seen' Tasmania. If I was to travel to any other places in Australia, I'd love to go to the Northern territory or Queensland.

Touring the Two Headed Monster - Day 3

Day three was a Sunday - the day most of my friends went home. We, however, went to Port Arthur, the ruins of an old prison. It was a really interesting day - in fact, it would have been better to spend two days there because it is so big.

My favourite building was a huge church in which they would gather the prisoners to help rehabilitate them morally and spiritually. It was completely cleared out inside, and had no roof.


Our entry to the park turned out to be good value as we got a boat trip around the bay and a free tour. This island is known as the Isle of the Dead. It was a burial place for the prisoners. I would have liked to have gone there, but it was pretty expensive as it involved an extra boat trip.


We also saw the memorial for the people who died in the Port Arthur Massacre. That whole event was very hushed up out of sensitivity to those who lost loved ones, so all there was was this wooden cross with the names of the deceased.


Rachel's Ghost: The silliest thing I saw was an advertisement for the 'Ghost Tour'. They would think that this picture has captured a ghost - indeed most of the pictures in the advertisement involved camera light tricks. Ooooooooo...


It was a great day, but afterwards I had had it. Back to our cabin... closing my tasmanian door that won't close... going to sleep...............

Pomp your MySpace!

Sick of being forced to display your zodiac sign in MySpace? Well, be sick no more, because I've finally found out how to remove it. Keep in mind that this method will hide your whole details box, but I think it's worth it.

Click here.

Touring the Two-Headed Monster - Day 2

Day two was the day my friends Hugh and Anita got married. We got up early and picked up our hire car (Avis are a good company for this purpose), a brand new Hyundai Getz (had only done 20km when we got it). Once mum figured out all the modern gadgets, and once we had gotten into the correct car, we were off.

It was a very nice wedding, Anita wasn't too late (and she had a beautiful dress too). Hugh's uncle did a great job, and gave a great speech about how to have a good marriage.

The reception was at the Salamanca Inn. Everyone gave thoughtful speeches, and nice toasts.

The funniest quote of the day was from Hugh, in his speech, when he said "To Anita's grandparents: expect grandchildren". Everyone was shocked, and then he added, "because Anita wants six". The room erupted in laughter - when we realised he wasn't making a shotgun-wedding announcement. Good on ya mate, it certainly lightened up the evening!

It was a great day, one of the best weddings I've been to. All the best to Hugh and Anita for a great future together.

Touring the two-headed monster

In the next few entries I'll be blogging about my recent trip to Tasmania.

Day 1 - Tasmanian tourist parks

This day begins at night, actually, because we flew to Tassie at 8:40pm (We did make it on the plane, thankfully, once Mum had gone back to the parking place to get a birth certificate that had been forgotten). We had a great flight, a little turbulence during our descent, but we made it ok.

First of all, I must congratulate Jetstar on two very good flights - the crew were very friendly and helpful, going as far as to help us with our touring plans and answering my 11 year old brother's questions about the plane. For a low-cost airline, I didn't expect this level of service. Thanks, Jetstar - I will be back!

Anyway, so we get into Hobart about 10pm due to a delay or two, and get a silver (?) taxi to the tourist park where we were staying. Mum carefully remembered the instructions she was given: "Yes, you can come in at 10 o'clock, no problem! We'll leave the key under the mat".

So we go to the 'mat'... no key.

We try all the other mats... no key.

We knock on the door... no answer. (By this time I'm freezing in the Tasmanian wind and wondering whether we'll be homeless for the night)

OK - what now? We try to find our cabin. Maybe it'll be under a mat there. We walk around in the dark, looking for a number we wouldn't be able to see anyway. We just about give up - and then we see it. A little gold number 6. Our cabin!

We hurry to the door - I use the flashlight on my phone - only to see there's no mat, and definately no key.

We return to reception - by this time I'm nearly hypothermic - and I calmly advise my mother that if we don't go and book into a hotel soon we'll be sleeping on a park bench for the night.

Suddenly, we hear voices. A couple of blokes talking in a spa shed nearby. There's a light on. Help is here! Brave mum goes to the door and knocks. There's silence in the shed. So she goes verbal. "Knock, knock!" she calls out, as if nearly banging the door in couldn't be heard. There's a sound of rumaging around inside as one guy reaches for his towel, and the door opens. Mum explains the situation. "Just hang on, I'll get dressed", the bloke says.

Anyway to cut a long and boring waiting story short, the guy comes out dressed, and explains that he's only the groundsman but he'll go in and get us a key. Thank God - I think he was an angel! He was tall enough anyway.

We get into our cabin by about 11.30, and into bed soon after. I wrote the following in my phone while waiting to get to sleep:

"Touring the two headed monster, Day 1. Just when I recover from mum's birth cert mishap, I experience tasmanian caravan parks for the first time... Thought we'd b homeless but God sent an angel in the form of a groundsman. My tasmanian door won't stay shut and there's a hole in my tasmanian wall".

Another blogger is born

My mate Cara has gotten a blog. Make sure you go there and shower her with comments!

Check it out!