E121402

Glenn, James, Diane, Elizabeth, and John with the family mascot

Erin's Tasmania Journals
12-14-02

Our arrival in Tasmania was at the small town of Devonport. The huge ship cruised up the river a bit to its dock, and was the dominating skyline feature - the tallest buildings in town were the old 3-story mansions that dotted the hillsides above the harbor! At that hour, it was too early for anything in town to be open (almost 7am), so we followed the crowd to the only breakfast spot in town: McDonalds. It was jam-packed, and we were quick to wolf down our food and get out. We still had time to kill before we could call Glenn's relatives (as directed by previous email correspondence), so we wandered Devonport's mall area for a bit and called around 8am.
The Lord family invited us to come down for the day and get acquainted, and we figured we could stay in the nearby town of Launceston. We drove slowly, as it was a gorgeous day and the countryside was very scenic. We stopped at a hedge maze along the way, and at a copper art studio we'd seen a brochure for on the ferry. It was fantastic stuff, but didn't fit our motif, so I resisted buying any of the beautiful stuff. We arrived out at the Lord farm in Longford around 11:30am, just in time for tea.
We met up with these relatives from Glenn's mom's side of the family and were quickly put at ease. We sat around the table with John & Diane, Gordon, Diane's father (and Glenn's mom's half-brother), and Elizabeth, James, & Charles, the Lord kids. We also greeted Oscar, the family Jack Russell terrier, who might have converted Glenn to a new breed of dog. After tea we were treated to a walking tour of the extensive farm, where the major crop this year is poppies, manufactured for the major pharmaceutical companies. We'd seen lots of fields of the pretty flowers on our way to Longford, and John explained the legal manufacture of these heroine-producing plants. Very interesting stuff, as was the tree farm James (17 years old) was cultivating both here in the valley and up on the mountain acreage the family owns. We also saw the sheep (at 200 head, their wool is only a small part of the farm's income) and the old horse, who mostly hangs out getting fat in the pasture behind the house.
Upon returning to the house, we had a wondeful lunch of cold cuts, cheese and bread, and I talked a bit more with Gordon, who is a little disappointed at having to move inland due to advancing physical ailments. His sense of humor and mental facilities were sharply intact though, and I enjoyed chatting with him. We wandered about with Diane and Elizabeth, helping move some sheep, after lunch. The farming life held new appeal for me after a day spent with this wonderful family! By late afternoon, John and Diane had to get ready for a wedding they were attending that night, but the kids invited us to join them at the mountain shack for dinner, and we gladly agreed. The Lords also invited us to spend the night, and we were glad to get to spend more time with them.
First we drove Gordon home and stayed to admire his apartment and the paintings of the coast and countryside that his wife had done in her late-blooming artist phase - she was very good! On the way back to the farm, we stopped for beer as our part of dinner preparation, then joined Liz, James & Charles for the 30 minute ride across the valley and up the side of the mountains. They maintained a couple of different types of tree farms up there, and James was in charge of the trimming crew this year, so he'd been the foreman for the past 2 weeks for a crew of guys and was the master chef this evening. He whipped out the BBQ, fried up a few lamb steaks and eggs, and made us some really good sandwiches to go with our beer.
We all stood around admiring the view and chatting about terrorism, war, Bush, college, and local phrases that differ from our U.S. common sayings, and both Glenn and I were constantly impressed with how mature and yet how fun these guys were at ages 18, 17, and 14! We had a blast, and when we returned to the farm we sat down to teach Liz, James and Charles how to play Shanghai Rummy. We had a couple of rousing rounds in by the time the beer ran out and Charles had to go to bed to be ready to play cricket the next morning. The remaining 4 of us grabbed a little more beer and finished off another game before bed.