The boys have moved out!

My experience of being dad to Marcus and Michael has just had its biggest ever change, as they have both left home within a few weeks of each other. Which is mostly coincidence, it's not a mutiny because we're mean parents.

Michael is just down the road from us at Jane Franklin Hall. For his 2nd year at uni we wanted him to have a richer and more human experience than he had last year, which was very online and isolated. So far the move has been great for him. He’s met a lot of people, and he seems a bit more focused on his work. He organised a small expedition to the tip shop for about 6 or 8  people, which is a big social undertaking by his standards.

From Jane Franklin it's 20 minutes walk to our house or to the uni in the other direction, and Michael's good friend June is 2 minutes away. This is the view from Michael's room. 

Marcus had gone a little further; to Hong Kong. At the end of his 3-month internship there he was offered a full time job. He started a week ago and it's going very well, getting a little better every day, he says. The financial firm he is working for is called Jane Street, so the boys are both at Janes which is a little confusing. 

Marcus found himself an apartment online before leaving Hobart, and he chose well. It's a good fit for him and about seven minutes walk from the office, in an area called Central. 

Here are some photos he posted to Instagram of his neighbourhood. Around his office all the skyscrapers have luxury stores on the street, like Armani, Bulgari, Louis Vuitton etc.

And this is his building, the grubby light grey one – he walks up 3 flights of stairs and the stairwells are pretty ordinary. But his apartment is clean, new appliances and so on. It's taking him a little time to work out things like where garbage goes, why the washing machine won’t give back his clothes etc.

We have had a few video chats and have been exchanging messages most evenings. It's amazing how nearby he feels at times. He and I watched the footy together a few days after he left, and we will through the winter when we can.

I have to admit I felt pretty down after Marcus left and there was just Elf and I in the house. A lot of people have said to us words to the effect of 'wooo now the party starts right??'. But it just doesn't seem like that to us. 21 years ago we started parenting… and we had only been together less than 2 and a half years. So our time establishing "us" was pretty short and it is now buried pretty deep under years of being mum and dad, co-owners of pets and co-mortgagees. I say well done to anyone who has a clear idea of what they are going to do once the kids are out of their hair.

Meanwhile we see Michael most Sundays for lunch with my mum and dad; and he walks Winston every Thursday. He bought me lunch during the week last week – it's good to see him and he's looking really well.And we had a driving lesson on the weekend too. So life goes on.

A break for a week by a lake

Two years on from our extended-family holiday at Swansea, The four of us and Imp, Ed, Karri and Miah did it again, this time a week at Sisters Beach on the NW coast. Our house was actually at Lake Llewellyn 2km back from Sisters, but very handy to that beach and to Boat Harbour as well – Australia’s Most Beautiful Drive-Up Beach (Wineglass Bay probably has the overall top spot sewn up but you need to walk or sail there).

This was an important family get-together as Marcus’ departure for Hong Kong gets closer, currently booked for March 10. The cousins all get on well, and they spent the week sharing a small bunk room. For various reasons we had four cars between the eight of us, so that meant we could go in a few different directions at once although we did spend most of the week all together. The house is called Platypus Chalet, it’s on Airbnb and we recommend it.

Disclaimer: we understand short term rental operations play a part in the Tasmanian housing crisis. Our host only has one house not ten, and it's a purpose-built holiday house, so I feel like it's kosher.

Our place was one of about 25 at the lake, I think the only one without water frontage. A neighbour suggested to us a good way to get down to the water (but that information is classified). The lake was man-made in the 60s or 70s, it seems mostly for watersports enthusiasts. We swam in it and paddled our wave ski on it every day. One day Elf was paddling while Imp swam alongside and they encountered two platypus! Imp was a bit concerned about the famous poison spur but everyone kept their distance and played nice. I was on the bank as they came back in. Imp had run out of swimming energy so she had hung from the back of the wave ski for a while. Then Elf got a bad cramp so Imp propelled them back to shore. What a pair.

A paddle around Lake Llewellyn

The high side of the lake bank (3rd pic above) looks at first glance like impenetrable virgin bush, but the road to Sisters Beach is right there. So occasionally the Castaway vibe is shattered by very mundane vehicles cruising through on the sealed road. This road has no footpath, and a 100kmh speed limit, but there are ‘Shared Road’ in a few places. If I was in charge of a road and I wanted drivers to share it with pedestrians and horse riders I'd probably make it 60, not 100. Imp and Ed have been here before and walked down this road, so they were happy to do so again. But it scares the pants off me as a pedestrian. One day the rest of us drove to Boat Harbour and Imp and Ed walked this road to Sisters Beach then walked along the coast to meet us. They are quite outward bound compared to us.

Mum and Dad used to own a block on the beachfront at Sisters, with plans to build on it. It was a very fast growing area in the early 00s and then there was a moratorium on new building for a while – they ended up selling the block and moving east to Turners Beach, and then later to Hobart. The house that has been built on the old block is … disappointing.

Around the Sisters Beach township. Middle pic is an amazing place next to Mum & Dad's old block built by a boatbuilder. The pic above is just a classic old shack, before people started proper real solid houses here.

We had a day trip to Stanley to climb The Nut. In a shed at the top there was an interpretative panel with various loose theories about how The Nut got its name. Then it mentions in passing that the palawa name for it is moo-nut-re-ker which seems to me like probably the source. I had never heard this name before. 

The amazing views from The Nut. 

Michael's 19th birthday fell on day 3 of 7, so we took his gifts up with us. We gave him a fairly good metal detector; more news on that once he has taken it for a spin. We had lunch for his birthday in Wynyard at The Vault, a great spot overlooking the river operating in an old bank.

We had heaps of trips to the various beaches. We flopped about the house and did a lot of reading. We got in and out of the lake and the spa tub. We watched old movies and TV shows in the extensive DVD collection. The kids had a Friday night out in Wynyard which was uneventful. I had a day prowling around my old home town of Burnie, and a walk on my own down to Boat Harbour, but I'll do seperate posts for those.

Above is Sisters Beach. A lovely place to swim, I had forgotten the water was so clear.
It’s surrounded by Rocky Cape National Park.
The pics below are Boat Harbour. It was a very calm day so Elf joined us.
I had not forgotten the clear water here; the sand is pure white and
it's just a joy to behold. There were white fish swimming around in the shallows.

At Ed's suggestion we also did a trip to Dip Falls, a spectacular spot 40 mins south of Stanley. It's the middle of nowhere but we all enjoyed it.

The four kids spent most of their time together and had a ball. [As I write a couple of weeks later write the same crew have just come back from a 5 hour walk on Mt Wellington]. They shared a bunk room and they were in the hot tub together every day. They decided to have a night out in Wynyard on our last night at the house. They rang to be picked up fairly early; as there was not all that much happening and they themselves were the main attraction in town.

On our last day we did a big clean up then set off in dribs and drabs in the four cars. The kids had two cars but wanted to travel down all together to enjoy the Hottest 100 on the radio, which is cute. So I took our car and Elf drove Marcus's. She was keen to just get home while I had some diversions planned.

I had another swim at Burnie; this time the beach was pretty grotty, as it as was the day after Australia Day. I did a walk around the CBD and pondered what used to be in various locations back in 1982 or whatever. The closeness of the beach to the town centre is something I mention every time Burnie comes up - but there can't be many places where you could buy a boogie board at K-mart then walk two blocks to the surf club and paddle out.

It was a beaut day for driving. After the swim and walk I drove to Launceston and caught up with Joe who is just back from a soccer camp with William in the UK, which was a big success. William is on course to be soccer professional. 

Lovely old deco Gospel Hall in Launceston next to Du Cane Brewery

Then I went across town and saw Lynn and Scott and heard all their news - they are both teaching at country schools now - Lynn is principal at Westbury and Scott is at Hagley.

Then the drive home from Launceston was mostly uneventful.

Instagram

 Not everyone wants to be on Instagram. But I post a lot of photos there of my travels (which are 98% on foot just around Hobart). And a few tiny drawings and paintings of similar landscapes. Here’s the last few months as teeny thumbnails. You can find me there @4boat4boat.