September moods

Tasmania is smack in the middle of the "Roaring Forties" - the belt of westerly winds which prevail about 40 degrees south of the equator. In September south-easterly changes bring rain and occasional storms and pile the waves upon the shore.

This is the time to head for the Bay of Fires if you like surf, or a reason to rug up, light a fire and create a cosy nest. Take advantage of breaks in the weather to wander along the beach and see what has come in on the tide, or head a bit inland along the flat near Big Lagoon and look for the first of the new season's orchids.

And some people think the beach is just for lying on a towel in the sun ...

Avoiding the floods!

The usual way to get to The Gardens House is via C850 - the Binalong Bay Rd - and turn off on The Gardens Rd (C848). Recently, the higher than usual rainfall caused some substantial flooding in the low lying area of the Binalong Bay Rd, roughly where the A - B line is on the above map.

This is not a major problem, as there are shops at Binalong Bay for basic food supplies, not to mention the Angasi restaurant!

There is also the alternative of Reid's Rd (C849) which takes you back through the hills to Priory. This is a fairly good, but unsealed road, so a modicum of care is necessary when driving. It does avoid all the low lying areas which tend to get flooded and is a good alternative in these circumstances!

It's not actually pink!

You can always tell the the poor tourism websites by the way they talk about the pink granite at The Gardens!

Phrases like "magnificent outcrops of pink granite, orange lichen" and so forth roll off the tongue, but unfortunately they miss out on accuracy. The granite at The Gardens is grey. In fact it is definitively grey and called Gardens Granite or Gardens Granodiorite if you want to get really technical.

Actually, if you think about it, grey and orange is a much better combination than pink and orange! Still, evolution is not necessarily fashion conscious so I suppose we'd better be thankful that it turned out that way.

If you are looking for a good escape, and are interested in staying at The Gardens, then make sure you book through a website that knows the place and what it is like ... this one for instance!

No Tsunami for Tasmania

The image above shows the process for sending tsunami warnings in Australia.

Yesterday, after a quake south of New Zealand a "marine warning" alert was issued for the south eastern Australia, including The Gardens, and, given the The Gardens house is only metres from the beach it did spark some degree of concern. It was originally reported as up to 7.8 on the Richter scale, but later this was downgraded to 5.9.

A marine warning is a "warning of potentially dangerous waves, strong ocean currents in the marine environment and the possibility of only some localised overflow onto the immediate foreshore."

I don't think "localised overflow" would have affected the house at all, but I did like the advice "to get out of the water and move away from the immediate water's edge!" The view from the balcony would have been enough for me!