On a wet windy and really cold sunday during my recent visit to Australia, I was sunday driving with an aunt from Launceston, Tasmania…. where I was born and bred. I always enjoy going back. When we were very young, back in the ’50’s, sunday drives after sunday lunch with our grandmother and aunts were a bit of a family tradition. In those days not too many people had family cars and each drive was quite an expedition. The routes were often repeated – but we loved them anyway. Sometimes we had an icecream or a snowball en route, quite often we stopped for a case of apples or some veggies from someone’s farm or dropped in at more or less afternoon teatime to some family friend or vaguely distant relation of my grandmother’s. When you consider it is not altogether joking to comment that Tasmanians are all related to each other somehow, this pretty well covers anyone third generation or longer on the island …. and most back then also had some connection to the land, just as people still do here in Uruguay.

Anyway time’s moved on, and this time it was me sunday driving my aunt. We’d actually had to stop first at the airport out that way to collect a small extra bag I’d completely forgotten I’d checked in Perth WA, containing overflow items, complicated by having to collect up several quilts I hadn’t started with when I left Montevideo. A bit of a worry – but, by the time I realised, on reaching my hotel about half an hour after landing, the airline’s airport office had closed. A small place, Lonnie, and I didn’t worry, knowing they’d be safely secured for the night; and sure enough someone was phoning me by 7am the next morning . So with that collected, we continued on. First town past the airport is Evandale, where we happily browsed some time in an antique shop with a cosy fire in the front room of a beautiful old, very old, early colonial building – very Jane Austenish in character. (some lacey little bits I bought will be subject of another post) after which we had a nice lunch at the local bakery. Continuing on just after lunch, this one really stopped me in my tracks, and despite the freezing wet windy weather I just had to get out and capture a pic for my ongoing series on follies and such. A worthy addition. QED.