This was breakfast. 12 hours ago. When I was still in Strahan. It's topped in blackberries. It's fruit picked from the plants weeds growing across the road from our accommodation. It was yum. And gratifying to pick it myself (with help from Mr B). I love picking my own food. Even if I didn't grow it.
I didn't grow these. They grow like weeds, completely out of control across the whole NW of Tasmania it seems. To be clear: they are weeds as they are not native to Australia and are an issue. But that doesn't stop them being delicious!
Here's evidence of me picking them. Here's how it went: One for breakfast. One for my mouth. Another one for breakfast. Another one for my mouth. It was a slow process ;)
Thanks Mr. B for getting evidence of my berry picking skills.
Here's the drive we did today (see photo below). It would have been fine, enjoyable even, except that I had another sh^t night's sleep and was struggling to be happy, or kind, or enthusiastic at all. Poor body. It's trying so hard to work with what I'm giving it. All I can say is: far out I'm grateful that I have, to date, practised so much mindfulness, so much meeting myself and how I'm feeling and so much EFT (tapping) that I managed to not yell at Brad today, or cry, or swear. I'm sure I felt like doing all three of those things at least once. Each. I seriously have no idea how couples function without tools to recognise and be with their own emotions. Seriously. These are the most underappreciated practices by those who do not practise them.
Screenshot of Google Maps showing the route we took (in Blue) from Strahan to Hobart.
Back to the day that I managed to do despite 3 out of the last 4 nights being awful sleep... (Compounding much?) So Brad drove. I could not have managed that as well as not fighting. Thankfully, he likes driving and lucky bastard seems to be sleeping just fine. I (mostly) joke because God knows how we'd manage if we were both this strung out. But I digress. Again. Back to the trip.
We stopped briefly at Queenstown. It's a mining town. It was cool. It had a toilet. That was its main attraction for me. Brad took photos. Bless him. Expect to see them in an upcoming post soon. A post by him that is, not me. I'll be over here meditating or even better, sleeping!
After Queenstown we did an another ultra short (and pretty!) walk (and toilet stop) at Nelson Falls (in some conversation area). The regular stops were helping me drink more water. Which was helping me flush out this head cold I've picked up from doing too much and sleeping too little poorly.
Next stop was the Franklin River Nature Trail. It was also pretty. I wanted water and a walk and a toilet. The latter two were missing so I stopped my epic water consumption to wait until we got to the next stop. And I made use of my well-honed "peeing-in-the-bush" skills that come in handy when absolutely necessary.
Franklin River Nature Trail. Photo of my back. Taken by someone (fabulous) that's not me.
We snuck in two more stops before we hit Hobart... the second to last kinda made my day. We turned off at Derwent Bridge to access Lake St Clair National Park. Before we even made it to the (gorgeous) visitor centre we spotted an echnidna on the side of the road.
Let me underscore for all you non-Australians how incredible this is. Echidnas are shy creatures. And even with all the time I've spent personally and professionally in the Australian bush (and it's a lot) I've only seen live, wild Echnidnas maybe three times.
Today we saw three. All within one hour. So freakin' awesome.
Here's the proof I took of the little guy (girl?) that was cruising around, digging for ants, less than 2 metres from me.
Before I could come down off my high we arrived at the visitor centre and did their 500 metre stroll (that's about all I was up for) to check out the lake and the jetty. There are so many awesome short, medium and long hikes there that Brad and I both thought we'd happily come back one day.
And then we tried to sneak in one more stop. It seems this one almost broke the day. We made a detour to Mt Field National Park. Brad hadn't been there and I remember it being totally epic and didn't want him to miss out. But I was shattered. I would have been better of just finding a gorgeous, massive tree fern to sit under and admire and let him just do the whole short loop to Russell Falls without me. But we both did it and it's done. And no one died.
And now we're in Hobart. Vegan dinner inhaled from a mexican place nearby. And as I waited for the sun to go down so I can sleep, I wrote you this post. The end.
My steps for the day. Here's hoping I get more steps tomorrow for way less effort!
Blackberries also grow like weeds closer to the Pacific coast of the USA, or toward the Columbia River gorge. At least they're delicious and nutritious, though, unlike the horrible spotted knapweed here where I live! Huckleberries are the local favorite, but they grow at higher altitudes in remote mountains. We also see much different wildlife. Pack a pistol when huckleberrying lest you cross a grouchy grizzly bear! I doubt the echidna is quite at that threat level. But you're next to Australia, so I wouldn't be surprised to hear it resembles the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog.
Hello!
Never heard of it. (Probably because there are likely countless numbers of plants in North America I've not seen yet!). Not nutritious then?
Oooooh. These I've heard of. And I'd love to try them. I shall add them to my mental wish list of things I wish to eat in my lifetime ;)
Eeek. They say Australia is scary because of all the animals that can kill you but in reality it's pretty easy to avoid most of them.
Nowhere near. Now those spikes are full of poison but since all these little mammals do when threatened is curl up in a ball until the threat passes you'd literally have to walk over to it and stick your hand on one of the quills. Therefore the only threat is to another animal wanting to eat it and basically zero threat to me the curious photographer. 😅
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But not as fast as his brother Sudden Lee.
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spotted knapweed is an invasive species from Eurasia. It is mildly toxic, thrives in disturbed soil, and apparently poisons plants that try to grow near it.
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