Dramatis persona*

helenhead Helen Chick

I've always wanted a bumper sticker that said "I'm a female, LDS/Mormon, Scout leading, geocaching, piano-playing, bicycling, mathematics educator with a PhD in maths ... and I VOTE"!

I think this makes me a minority group of cardinality 1!

* Since there's only one of me and "personae" is plural (I think), I've gone with dramatis persona.
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Good Friday drive

So far, this year has been ridiculously overcommitted, and so I have been looking forward to the Easter break to catch my breath just a little. All of my trips up and down the Midlands Highway have reminded me of different destinations, hinted at by signposts and memories of trips in my distant past, but until this Easter break I’ve had to ignore their beckoning call. On Good Friday, however, I took Mum and Dad for a drive into the central highlands via a route I don’t think I’ve travelled before. We covered around 450km all up, and took some photos on the way.

The weather was quite pleasant as we set off, but as we headed northward the promised cold front loomed grey and damp on the western horizon, creating interesting light effects by forming an ominous backdrop to the sunlit nearer hills.

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At Tunbridge we turned off and headed towards Interlaken, on a near-deserted gravel road that twisted and climbed steeply up to the central plateau. The temperature plummeted about 10°C in the process, with the bush itself — with tree branches bedecked with Old Man’s Beard lichen — bearing strong witness that this change in climate was a year-round phenomenon.

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Interlaken itself was all but deserted, its shabby fishermen’s huts neglected since the lakes are closed to fishing at the moment.

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After detouring via another lake and then the old hydro-electric powerstation at Poatina, we headed back to the south via some different back roads, and chanced upon Kirklands, one of the oldest Presbyterian churches in Tasmania. In the seeming middle of nowhere, it must have serviced the local farming communities, and, apparently, still has a once-a-month service (which is more than can be said for many other rural churches). It was a delightful spot, and the autumn afternoon sun weaved its magical effects on the neatly maintained cemetery.

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A little further along the road we came across a paddock full of dead gum trees. There are a few patches of these skeletal zombie forests in various places throughout the midlands. They have a striking desolation, but it’s hard to capture the full effect in a photograph.

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2 comments to Good Friday drive

  • Grey Haired Matriarch

    We loved the day and the company … thanks.

  • mihaj

    Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, to Heeelllllllllllllllllen, happppppppppppppppy birrrrrrrrttttttthdaaaaaaaaay to youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
    I am hoping its your 50th, if not then it must be 51st,and if so, sorry for missing the BIG 50.

    mihaj [aka] looking from over the pond.

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