Captains Log - 03/07/2026

The circle of life is well known here.

I recall when I was involved in Harvest Market in Launceston and had the honour to speak with an aboriginal Tasmanian. Geoffrey explained the seasons of Tasmania and changed my perspective forever. One circle ended with a 150 year old iron bark falling on the property, some circles end closer to home. Some circles involve alchemy where the changing of the ground beneath your feet to support life is required. Some circles are the seasonal arrival of our resident bees. Others are the explorers of the world that find themselves here at The SHiP on their travels. When all the noise of modern humanity is stripped back to its atoms, all in all it is basically all just a circle of life really.

Chooker Whispering.

Within the circle of life there is a Darwinian need to understand the reality of the planet that we live on. Sometimes there are subtle observations, sometimes they come as a blunt reminder that whilst we currently enjoy sitting perched on top of the food chain , those at the beckon and call of the wild have a reality quite confronting at times.

Roula, Toula, Soula, Voula, Foula, and Agape came to us as chicken teenagers. Alas we now only have Roula, Toula, Voula, Foula, and Agape with us these days.

Over a period of a week I engaged with a wedge tail eagle that meandered over our property. On the first occasion I was planting native grass around our dam and our local family of magpies alerted me to something going on. A glance to the sky showed a wedge tail eagle in full flight circling the thermals above me. I was transfixed for a long time before waving to him and having him drop to about 40 meters above my head and circle three times before catching a air wave into the horizon (it will be a story around open fires for years to come). The next day whilst in the vegetable garden he returned with his wife and they circled above me for about thirty minutes, up high though. The day after he returned with his wife and kid and circled again for around half an hour. The next day we had only five chickens.

It has been a traumatic event and Roula, Toula, Voula, Foula, and Agape are twice shy about open spaces these days. They have also been beyond the comprehension of laying an egg….which to be fair is their primary purpose.

Enter the Binalong Bay Shangri-La of chook kingdom chicken therapy day spa room creation. Just take a second to go through the photos above. A salute to Bruce the Rooster perched on top of the spa roof as a marker of respect but warning not to come back - the chickens are out of bounds (and quite frankly I consider to be very lazy of our local wedge tail eagle family). Therapy also includes a daily reminder to Roula, Toula, Voula, Foula, and Agape that it is a two way street here and eggs are part of the deal.

Tasmaniner’ing

The above clip (if the link worked), is our good friend Kim from Jackey’s Marsh (about half an hour out of Deloraine) on the deck of The SHiP with some friends on a recent visit. If you have a coffee in hand and want to click in, you will hear Kim sing his Tasmania song “pass me another mango will ya love”.

It is a suitable theme song for the microscope of Tasmania that I have viewed over the last year and a bit. The Tasmanian Trade Strategy is complete and accepted by all members of the Tasmanian Government as a blue print for the future of trade for the State. Of course it is somewhat out of date due to the speed of change out there, but the philosophy is sound. It has been an eye opener to be able to explore all that the top of the food chain is doing in Tasmania. It has been inspiring, there are levels of Tasmanians exploring all aspects of humanity from our little island at the bottom of the planet.

Our accommodation has been successful. We maintain a five star rating on Air BnB and a couple of digital certificates that places us in the top tier in our region, thus we are usually booked (which was the intention of course). We have been closed here for the last five weeks for a number of reasons, but bookings are being made in July, August and November and as soon as the weather warms up we expect to be booked out for next season before the end of the year. We have observed the trends for visitors with mostly being international and a growing number of city living escapees from the big island. As part of the microscope view, we hear the views of visitors and their thoughts about Tasmania……without exception all are in awe of where and how we live.

We have a lot to be thankful for.

The SHiP

Circles of life and seasons are similar in a way.

Our current season is Winter. We sit on the East Coast of Tasmania with warmer waters and changing climates (sometimes hourly). The good news for those that know is that we have water. A solid day of rain has dampened the forest and engaged life into the vegetable garden as well as nearly filled the dam (a couple more of these would be nice). The fire is on, always. Soup. The property is alive with new fungi and winter flowering. Potatoes, garlic, spinach, lettuce, herbs and basically everything in the vegetable garden is standing strong and to attention and pining for longer days ahead.

The Winter is what we consider free time down here. There are basically only two seasons when it comes to accommodation down here - On and Off. We are in the Off season where less time is given to welcoming visitors and more time to soaking in the world in which we live (and splitting firewood of course). Call it maintenance if you like. The roads through out the 68 acres are meticulous as are the lawns and grounds around The SHiP. Days are spent under the lower hanging sun and evenings in front of a fire with the sound of waves crashing on the beach in the distance.

We still continue to pinch ourselves every morning as the sun rises to make sure it is still all real. Happy to share it with you, just don’t leave it too late to book a room (direct is better for all, but Air BnB works quite well).

The roads of The SHiP

I recently took a video of all of the tracks on our 68 acres for my brother - the easiest way for him to see them (besides ride the bike himself….which he did), was to park it on youtube (link below). I would turn down the sound if I was you as I just popped random computer generated music to the visuals….bit of a rush). It gives you an idea of the “Creator of Roads” last log.

Of course there are many other things happening but that can wait for another day……

Thank you for reading my ramblings again.

Cheerio

The Captain.