Consulate Boy - 4. Consulate Chapter 4

The trip down to Tasmania was fairly uneventful, with a one-hour flight down to Sydney and a two-hour layover and a 1 ¾ hour flight to Launceston, which was fairly relaxing, because we had Business Class tickets for the whole trip, which would take over five hours, leaving at 7.30 am. Once we had collected all of our checked-in luggage, we headed to the Car hire desk, where Dad had arranged for a car for the two days that we would be staying in Launceston to have a look around the region.

Dad informed us that we would be taking a smaller plane to get to Flinders Island, which is a 19-seat twin prop plane, and that it is a 35-minute flight to get there from Launceston, and once we arrive there, Alison and Grant will meet us there and will be providing us with a car to loan to get to our accommodation just over 4 kilometres away. When we arrived, we were very surprised to see another vehicle parked there.

“Looks like the folks have come over to welcome you back,” Grant said as we exited the two vehicles, “Thomas and Sue, nice to see you both again,” we heard Dad say to Mum’s parents, as she was wrapped in a tight hug by her mother and father. “Kids, this is your Nana and Pa, who haven’t seen you all since just after Kerwin was born and Helena, you had just turned eight at the time,” Mum said to us.

Don’t bother to unpack the car, we have an alternative location for you all to stay at, just follow us,” Nana said to our parents, who looked just as confused as we were at that statement. “You have any idea what this is about?” Dad asked his brother-in-law Grant, who just shrugged his shoulders, before returning to his vehicle.

A short drive later we turned right off the main after being pointed out that the District Highschool was down the road on the right that we just passed, and we slowed as we turned left through a set of gates onto what looked like a farm property. “Do you know where we are Mum?” my sister asked, “Yes dear, it appears that we are one block past and directly behind the District High School,” Mum replied.

On the right on a bit of a rise, there looked to be a large odd-shaped house as the car rounded a bend and headed for that building, stopping near the large double garage. “Welcome to your new home Edwards family,” Pa announced to us with his arm spread out. “What’s this all about Dad?” Mum asked, “As I said, your new home, we have done very well with our investments, and when you informed us of your interest in settling down here for a few years at lease, we started looking at suitable properties for you, and this is what we found,” Pa announced.

“This place has 52 acres in total, with a 207-square metre fully furnished home, three-bedroom and study that has been made another bedroom, with two bathrooms and laundry. The house has two reverse cycle air conditioners, solar and gas hot water systems, power solar panels and batteries, half of the garage is a man cave with a refrigerator, lounge chairs, pool table, big screen television and even a couple of kayaks included, and also two large water tanks.

The property has four paddocks of various sizes, a good size dam, a machinery shed, and a small set of yards, plus the bonus to this, from the south boundary, it is only a 200-metre walk to the school boundary, via a track around a nature strip that separates the two properties,” Nana announced to us. “The County 110 Landrover that we have driven around is actually yours now,” Alison announced to my parents. “You will also find in the garage a four-seat Polaris Buggy that is for you to get around the property in,” Grant added.

Over the next hour, we had a good look around our new home, and as we sat down for some afternoon tea, Uncle Grant and Aunty Alison said goodbye and headed off in the car that we had arrived in, a very comfy Rangerover, and while our grandparents relaxed in the living area, I headed to the back corner bedroom, which I had decided will be my room. Helena was happy to have the biggest bedroom opposite, and Kerwin has his bedroom next to our parent's bedroom, at the other end of the house.

After our grandparents had left, we moved all of our luggage into our assigned bedrooms and unpacked everything, with us each having two suitcases and a backpack. Now I realised why Mum had insisted that we pack more than we would need for our two-week holiday to Tasmania, as this was now our home. As we relaxed, the family all sat down at the dining table, so our parents could tell us about what is planned.

We would be spending a week doing some travelling around Tasmania before we spend our second week exploring Flinders Island in more detail, which would include visiting our new school in preparation for the new school semester. We also learnt that Dad has taken up the position as Deputy Principal of the District Highschool, as well as teaching Humanities and Social Sciences, which is split into four areas, Civics and Citizenship, Economics and Business, Geography and History in the Secondary School.

Mum would also be teaching at the Secondary School, where she will be teaching French and Auslan Sign Language and English Literature. After two days of settling into our new home, we packed a small suitcase each for our six days of touring around Tasmania. It was agreed by the family that taking a coach tour was the best way of seeing as much as possible, even if we do spend a heck of a lot of time on the coach.

Flying into Launceston in the early afternoon, we booked into the hotel that is where we will meet all the other tour passengers, with Kerwin and I sharing a room, and Helena would have her own room. After checking in, we had a bit of a look around, before relaxing for the rest of the afternoon, while Mum and Dad met up with the tour guide & coach driver and some of the people who would be on the same tour.

Dinner was a very noisy event, and we met the other tour passengers, most of them are aged in their 50s or more, with only one other couple aged around Mum and Dad’s age, and a total of 22 passengers in total, as we will be travelling in a Safari 4x4 Coach Bus, because of the small numbers booked for this tour, which is usually a maximum of 38.

After dinner, while the adults continued to chat and socialise, we headed back to our rooms to shower and go to bed early, as we have a busy few days ahead of us, starting with breakfast at 7.30 am, and we had to be packed and ready to leave before then. Once on the bus, the tour guide gave us some information about what would be happening today, with our first stop to Bridestowe Lavender Farm, which is about an hour's drive northeast of Launceston.

From the Lavender Farm, we travel east through the town of Scottsdale and onto Weldborough Pass, where we stop for lunch, with spectacular views of the forested mountains and farmland. After lunch, we were continuing east with our destination now St Helens, where we will be based for two nights, and after checking into our hotel, we had a bit of time to have a look around the large coastal town before getting ready for dinner.

Mum and Dad were getting on well with Eric and Anita Rankins, who are wildlife photographers in their spare time, and accountants by profession, and they come from Darwin in the Northern Territory, and our parents said that they used to work in the Federal Public Service, and nothing more, even thou the Rankins wanted to know more about what they do, we had decided as a family before we started this holiday that we would so nothing about what our parents do for work previously and only what they are about to start doing at the start of the new school term as teachers.

After another delicious dinner, we headed to bed early as we were all very tired, and the following morning after breakfast, we headed south to Coles Bay, which was a 90-minute coach drive, to join a cruise on Wineglass Bay, which included seeing sheer cliffs, sea caves and remote coves, of the Freycinet Peninsular, with lunch served on the cruise.

After a brief look around the small community, we boarded the coach again for a short twenty-minute drive east to Cape Tourville, to see the lighthouse and lookout, that looks out across the Tasman Sea towards New Zealand, plus there was a boardwalk along the coast, which took about twenty minutes to do. Back on the bus, it was a 0-minute trip back to St Helens, where we would be spending our second night there.

The following day, we stopped at the historic village of Ross, located on the Macquarie River, where a lot of the buildings are made of sandstone and the interesting ‘Four corners of Ross’, where each corner had a label, ‘Temptation’ - the location of the hotel, ‘Recreation’ – the Town Hall, ‘Salvation’ – The Catholic Church and ‘Damnation’ – the jail.

Next, we stopped at the historic town of Richmond, where Tasmania’s and Australia’s oldest stone bridge still in use, is located and where we stopped here for lunch that day. Here we learnt that both the Catholic and the Anglican churches are the oldest churches in Australia. As the tour continued, we were soon in the State capital of Hobart, where we toured the Botanical Gardens and Battery Point before we checked into our hotel and relaxed for a while before dinner.

The next day, we headed to the historic Port Arthur, a 90-minute drive east and slightly south, where we visited the famous Convic penitentiary which is made of sandstone, using convict labour, and also checked out the Memorial Garden at the old Broad Arrow Café, where in April 1996, a gunman shot and killed 35 people and wounded many more, and we are told that gunman will never be released from prison.

While we didn’t go, the rest went on the cruise to the Isle of the Dead, where most of the prisoners from Port Arthur have been buried, and while waiting we walked over to the café for a snack. On the way back to Hobart, we stopped at the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park, where we saw not just devils, but also kangaroos, possums, wallabies, and a large amount of birdlife.