Sat, 23rd May, 2015 Blackburn Park, Campbell Town

Freezing night. Got up at 6am and put on the heater as the thermometer says it is -0.4 inside. It got to 6 degrees at 7am when we heard the ticking of the fuel pump and then the heater stopped working. I turned it off and climbed back into bed. Steve got up at 7.30 to check the heater etc and took the temperature outside and it was -5.7 and the ground and everything was covered in frost. He took some photos as I wasn’t getting out of bed yet!!

But I had to get up to look and it looked like a winter wonderful – so beautiful.

The water had frozen in the pipes too so luckily we had water in bottles so we could make a hot cup of tea. Even the water from the shower pipe had frozen.

Zoomed in on the ice crystals on a leaf and grass.

Took a photo and texted it to home and Tas friends. Rebecca texted back that she checked the met bureau and Liawenee had -8.7 between 5.30am and 6 and we aren’t too far away.

Mr Chook was out and about and the ducks were having a swim – crazy!!

Kaylene rang laughing after our photo text. She said Jon had fixed her gas problems which she was very thankful for.

Ian and Cherie started to pack up to go. They had problems with their heater too and it was a Webastco so it can’t be because we bought the chinese version. Rang the chap we bought it from but being Saturday we just left a message. Rang Alan in Burnie so see what he knows then googled it and found that we might need to add an additive to make it ‘winter diesel’.

The heater fuel warmed up and it worked fine again. The sun is out and we had our cuppa soaking up the warmth. The frost disappeared except where it was in a shadow of the van or a tree but eventually disappeared.

After lunch went for a walk to the other end of the main street. Eliza and the Ram and the tree were wrapped in knitting. Stopped at the Town Hall that has a small museum. The chap said that the knitting was because next week is the town’s show which really is a sheep show. There are very big prizes for the best fleece etc. The show’s claim to fame is that it has been held continuously since 1839. Steve saw a tea towel that listed all of the firsts that Tasmania claims.

Steve put me in the stock and wasn’t going to let me out!!

The Town Hall was built in 1939 and houses the movie theatre. Now the markets are held there and it is used for other various events.

Lots of information about the Transit of Venus.

Info about Lake Leake, the Midlands Highway, coaches and the railway.

Next were the Sunday School (1845) and St Luke’s Anglican Church (1835) making it one of the oldest churches in northern Tasmania.

Beautiful hospital building.

As we walked back the ladies were adding more to the woollen wrappings.

Back to the van for a cuppa and sun soak till the breeze came up outdoing the sun’s warmth. Another couple of vans have pulled in for the night. The sun disappeared over behind the Fox Hunters Return giving a lovely orange glow about 5.30pm. Heater on and I updated the blog while Steve watched TV.