1953 Daimler Conquest

Home from market: Sylvie, Pat and the Daimler return from town

This week I caught a ride into town with Pat and Sylvie Synge. Pat and Sylvie have been hosting me these past days as I look for a suitable mount.

Like most Australians, Pat and Sylvie drive sensible cars – like the Honda that sits in front of their house. Then there’s the Daimler.

The Daimler

Out back in their shed, behind a set of roller doors, lives a… Continue reading

Sea Garden to Vegetable Garden

Shell and tomato leaf: along with plant matter, seaweed mulch contains rocks, fish bones and sea shells, like this one at the base of a tomato plant.(Outside Hobart,Tasmania)

Think “garden mulch” and usually, we’re talking ground leaves, wood chips, bark or, if you’re around Southern Pines, North Carolina and feeling flush, pine straw.

But seaweed? It’s not something we see lots of back in Carolina.

Not so in Tasmania.

Outside Hobart, I recently visited a garden that featured seaweed mulch… Continue reading

Sailor Seeks

So just how do you find a suitable means of transport in a foreign land? You could do as I did before showing up. You could trade in precious tea drinking, pipe smoking hours for something much more hazardous – searching the online classifieds.

Total waste of time.

Really, a man wants to buy a horse he should hang out with mule skinners, right? Maybe go to a bar, drink some whiskey. Talk bloodlines, draft, pack saddles and picketing. See… Continue reading

Ludo and Chico

Ludo and Chico (Hobart, Tasmania)

Walking the streets of Hobart, I ran into a wooly looking creature on a leash manned by a Hemingway-esque looking fellow. Thinking he might steer me in the direction of a suitable mount, I approached the duo. Turned out he didn’t know where I could find the equine I’m questing. But he did shed some light on the critter he was walking – and the island I was visiting. To listen to Ludo Mineur and… Continue reading

Fishing Vessel Chaparral

Fishing vessel “Chaparral

Okay, so a man looking for a horse in Tasmania gets distracted. During a recent shower outside Cygnet, I tucked into a small shelter overlooking a marine railway. That’s where I found “Chaparral”.

Chaparral is a tradition fishing boat of the sort used by fisherman in the Cygnet, Tasmania area. Descended from a long line of fishing boats, she still sports a sailing rig. Look closely and you can see the mainsail bent to the boom (it’s… Continue reading

Greetings from Tasmania

Greetings from Cygnet, Tasmania! Before I dive into the No Horse Pout, I want to extend a huge thank you to Pat and Sylvie Synge of Lymington, Tasmania. They’re friends of a friend back in New Zealand and are putting me up a few days while I collect my wits and transportation – if not the horse – I intend to find for this trip.

Pat’s a marine surveyor – the fellow you call before you buy the boat you… Continue reading

You Can't Take it With You

You know I don’t cotton much to fancy gear. Nothing wrong with it. It’s just that you always end up buying too much of it. The only time I ever bought all the stuff the magazines told me I needed I ended up walking out the door with two backpacks strapped to me – one fore and one aft. Like the guy at the airport baggage pickup sandwiched between two massive rucksacks and he’s looking for another one on the… Continue reading

Bernie's Guest Book

As long as you’re stopping by, please leave a note. Go ahead… write on the wall a bit.


Frankie
2010-10-27 15:17:18

Why can’t Woody go to Tasmania? You’re not very thoughtful regarding Woody.


Alfonse
2010-10-27 15:22:39

What if I want Woody to send postcards from his retirement meadow?


Marcy
2010-10-27 17:21:32

So if the moon hangs upside down over Tasmania, does your horse, when it throws you, run off in reverse….? Have a great trip.


Bennie
2010-10-27 17:50:54

Hey, what… Continue reading

Getting Mail Like You Used To

Your mail’s gone to hell hasn’t it? Remember back in the day when your cousin Benton used to send you those mashed up cards from the funky places he visited. The time he went to Tumbleweed Adventure in Wyoming, snagged his jacket on the gift shop jackalope (he was trying to light his cigarette) and brought down the whole row of stuffed heads….. Yeah, but he sent you a postcard, didn’t he? It was the one with the Jackalope Hunting… Continue reading

Current Ramble

Other Cool Reads

Categories

Archives

Follow Bernie!