The Montifiore Manse

Hello from the other side of the world! Well, the other side of the world from Terry... the same one as most of you who read this. I've been home since 12:37am Monday night / Tuesday morning. It's nice to see Orion right side up again; in Aussie he was upside down.

Wednesday I started my student teaching at a local high school. I work with my cooperating teacher in a Reading & Writing Improvement class and four classes of British Literature. So far, I'm just acting as a teacher aide, doing grading and whatnot, but I'll be planning a unit on Macbeth soon after the marking period ends and team teaching it with her. Eventually, I will be taking over her work completely.

It's hard to transition, but good to get into the work I need to finish before graduation. I like working with the students so far, but I'm still jittery about actually teaching them. One thing at a time, I suppose! It's not comforting that there is but little age difference between myself and the juniors in the classes. Thankfully, it also certain that God is with me and will supply every need according to His riches in Christ Jesus.

I have taken a good number of pictures while in Tas; so although I cannot publish the 128 pictures that I developed for my albums at home, I will put up a dozen so that you can get a feel for what it was like there.


Here we are driving on the wrong side of the road. Oh, excuse me, you say that's biased? Ah, yes, the left side. :)


A traditional Aussie pastime - the barbeque or "barbie" for short. This is a New Year's Day church barbie at the Trevallyn Dam. Note that barbeques ar on a metal surface with gas heat underneath, rather than a grill. This is typical in Tassie.


Terry and the Cataract Gorge just 10 minutes or so from our house. Carved out by the Tamar River flowing down from the north of the island, the Gorge is a great place to hike. There is a small dammed lake there with swimming. Wild peacocks roam the area too, which rather shocked me!


Terry in his temporary study, one of the two spare bedrooms. (Yes, there is room for you when you take a Tasmanian vacation / visit!) Later, there are plans to convert half of our spacious garage into a private study that will be more visitor-friendly for small meetings or counseling sessions. Hopefully, it will also be able to accomodate Terry's books, currently being shipped o'er the high seas.



Here's part of the back yard on one side, with a great view of our man ferns, jokingly called "person ferns" as a spoof of the politically correct types out there. We also have a peach tree, an apricot tree, two lemon trees, a laundry tree, rose bushes, and strawberry plants. I was amazed and delighted at the contents of our backyard. We have already been enjoying the fruits of it - at least I have been. Terry likes the lemons... but his inexplicable fruit freakishness means that the other fruits have no appeal to him. Poor man, he cannot appreciate what he misses!


Behold the creation of Mr. Alan Dinsmore which adorns the front wall of the house! From the first moment we laid eyes on our new house, it shouted "home" to us. We hope it will be a sign of welcome to many others, too.


We visited the Dawsons up in lovely Low Head at the northern end of the island. It was a lovely, windy day out, with a lighthouse in the vicinity that we visited as well. That day I also had my first experience with pumpkin soup, which is a wonderful dish created from the comparatively thick and meaty pumpkins grown over there.


On the other (southern) end of the island, Terry and I spent a few days with the pastor of the other Southern Presbyterian Church in Tasmania and his wife, along with two other couples from our churches. Terry and I serve in northern Launceston; they in southern Hobart. Here Terry has caught a lovely big golden trout which is supposedly difficult to catch; I have hooked a rainbow trout. They were a treat to eat! As you can see, hats are the order of the day in Tassie when you're outdoors; the sun is stronger there because of the hole in the ozone layer about Australia.


Here's the lot of us, each man with his wife in front of him. From left to right:
Back row: Rev. Iain Smith, Pat Connors, Terry Connors (Pat's brother), Terry
Front row: Mary Smith, Mavis Connors, Bev Connors.

I stayed at Pat & Mavis Connors' house; and in addition to putting up with me, they made sure I was schooled in Tasmanian humor (in which Pat is famed), culture, and news. But when the Connors brothers get together, it's a great sight to see. The witty remarks just fly. Rev. & Mrs. Smith were wonderful to meet too, with their lovely Scottish brogue and warm-hearted welcome.


Terry gazing on the historic Ross Bridge, built in the 1800's by convicts transported to what was then known as "Van Diemen's Land" (now Tasmania, of course). Its engineer was emancipated upon its completion. It has many carvings in the stone, one of them said to be the head of John Calvin. Who knows? Ross was a great place to stop for some historic sightseeing.


Plugs and electrical outlets are just the beginning of the many small differences that make you do a double-take and remember that this is definitely not the U.S. Sometimes they are really helpful innovations, other times just different from what we thought to be "the norm." Spellings, measurements, slang terms, household procedures, foods - all have a Tasmanian or wider Australian twist to them. Some things are rather English; but woe betide the one who betrays a resemblance to the despicable "pommies" or British.


Lorraine, definitely a close friend in the making, took me to the falls in Lilydale for a short Saturday "bushwalk" or hike there. It is so beautiful in Tassie with so many wonderful places to explore. Just down the street from our house in one direction is an open park that's great for jogging or bringing little children or picnicking. In the other direction is an awesome reserve with lots of trails through the bush. It covers a few blocks and is absolutely wonderful - the type of thing I might do when on vacation but now it's right down the street from my house!

Well, that's all for now. Hope you've enjoyed the mini-tour and be sure to ask me if you'd like to see more pics.