Mayfield Beach

Mayfield Bay Conservation Area is a small reserve, only a few hectares, tucked in between the Swansea-Orford road and the northern end of the bay. The beach looks out across Great Oyster Bay to Freycinet Peninsula.

Freycinet and Schouten Island from Mayfield Beach
Late afternoon sun catching Freycinet Peninsula and Schouten Island

On the skyline we see the low-lying isthmus between Hazards Bay and Wineglass, the rugged southern end of the peninsula (Mt Freycinet at 620 m is the highest point), and Schouten Island just off the southern end. A wider perspective includes the mountains at the northern end of Freycinet (Mayson, Amos and Dove).

Beach and bridge

Looking south instead of east there’s just a sweep of white sand, one of many along the east coast (e.g. Kelvedon Beach, nearby). Walking south along the beach there’s an odd little convict-era bridge not very far from the picnic area.

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Tasmania again

Tasmania is very beautiful so we try to go down there almost every year. The gap after our 2021 trip stretched to three years, however, before we visited again recently. We spent time in several favourite reserves and national parks and discovered a couple of new ones.

I will write about these soon, adding links here when I do so:   Continue reading “Tasmania again”

Resilience

We’ve just had our first real wet-season rain, foreshadowing the approaching cyclone season. It’s a reminder that our weather is getting less predictable and more dangerous to ourselves and our cities.

We can’t do much about that, although we should still do what we can, but at least we can cultivate a more resilient lifestyle. This is not about going into full ‘prepper’ mode, with a bunker in the back yard and a tinfoil hat, but about making minor and generally painless adjustments to how we go about our daily lives.

Some of them look quite old-fashioned but there’s a reason for that.

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What to do with too many bananas

Bunch of bananas on a table
15 kg of Ladyfingers, just picked

We love our home-grown bananas but a large bunch can be challenging. A big bunch might be 15 or even 20 kilos, up to two hundred bananas, and the time between the first fruit being ripe enough and the last being too overripe to eat isn’t much over a week. What can you do with them?

We’ve been working on answers for a few years. Cakes, breads and slices are my main focus here because I’ve been collecting recipes and experimenting with them recently, but I will briefly cover other options at the end.    Continue reading “What to do with too many bananas”