Super September

September was another busy month. At least my month planner makes it look like it was. I’m not sure if this will be one post or two. Let’s try for one!

Disclaimer/Disclosure: this post and all of my posts and all of my writing is done solely by me with no input from generative AI or any other form of AI. I have used the AI masking feature in Lightroom Classic in a small number of my photos for the purpose of selecting the sky to I can edit it separately from the rest of the image. I do not use AI for any other purpose. I do not give permission for my words or images to be used for training AI.

A collection of stickers against AI data centres in Tasmania
Thanks to No AI Data Centres Tasmania for the stickers

Super September

Plovers!

I went to the Hobart Photographic Society meetup at the Botanical Gardens and spent about an hour there before they kicked us out. They had to close the gardens because of the wind and safety concerns. While a lot of the others went looking for flowers, I went straight for the plovers.

A masked lapwing with its wings outstretched standing on some grass
Amazing wingspan
Baby masked lapwing with an adult in the background
Baby!
Masked lapwing standing on the grass
Masked lapwings stand around a lot
A masked lapwing sitting on the ground. Its mouth is open and it is screeching
It was not screeching at me. It warning off someone else who got too close

I have my usual complaint about the Botanical Gardens in that there is no obvious way to get there on a bike. You either have to ride on the highway or on a gravel path that descends steeply to the road at both ends.

A gravel path leading downhill to a road
I cannot safely ride a bike up or down this steep section of the path because of all the loose gravel
A person riding a bike trying to go up a steep gravel path
This person tried to ride up here …
A person on a bike waiting at an intersection to get out onto a main highway
… and gave up and took the highway. Good luck with that

I’m told there is another, much more indirect, way that uses the roads that cross the Domain but I have no idea how to get to them without going on one or more main roads. I think it would involve crossing over the pedestrian bridge, but where you go is not obvious to me. I should try and figure it out before the next time I want to ride there because that gravel is super dangerous.

Kunanyi

My sister and I went on one of the final Kunanyi Connection walks with Nunami Sculthorpe-Green of Black Led Tours.

Looking out at some thin trees from underneath a large overhanging rock
Sphinx Rock

Nunami recently closed Blak Led Tours to concentrate on her art so we were very lucky to have the opportunity to learn from her in this environment.

Hail on a bush walking track
Walking on Kunanyi

It was even more special because it hailed on the way back to our starting point.

Many performances

Let’s start with the French lutenist, Thomas Dunford, who performed at St David’s Cathedral for Van Diemen’s Band.

A man in a blue suit sits in a cathedral. He is playing a very large lute
Thomas Dunford at St David’s Cathedral

He was magnifique!

There was Bell Shakespeare‘s performance of Macbeth at the Theatre Royal.

A promotion for a Theatre Royal production, a photo of a man with dark skin and dark hair wearing a great coat
Anthony Taufa as Macbeth in Bell Shakespeare’s production at the Theatre Royal

It was amazing, with wonderful costumes and set design, and transported the 11th century Scottish Highlands to 1920! I went to a meet the cast session the night before I saw the show, which was also a fabulous opportunity.

A stage set with a bright green curtain
Macbeth set during the interval at the Theatre Royal

The day after that, I went back to the theatre to see re:group performance collective‘s show POV, where two adult actors played the parents of a 13-year-old girl, but they had no script and no rehearsals. They just had to show up to the theatre and be directed by the young performer. They got some very broad instructions on things to research and what to wear (something with pockets), and were told to turn up at the Studio Theatre an hour before the show started.

They were very brave!

A board with several rows of polariod photos of people lined up
Some of the talented people behind POV

In the show I saw, the adult actors were Katie Robertson and Scott Farrow, and the young performer, Yuna, did a great job directing them. It was a really interesting concept, and we even got snacks in the mandatory break (mandatory because Yuna, as a child performer, has limits on how long she can work for).

We went to see John X‘s production of And Then There Were None.

The program of the play And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
And Then There Were None

This is based on a novel by Agatha Christie, which had a very different title when it was originally published. I hadn’t read it, so I didn’t know ‘whodunnit’ and I guessed wrong anyway.

A stage with a screen of the poem "Ten Little Soldier Boys"
Ten Little Soldier Boys

It was great!

I also went to see O’Grady Drama’s On Cue Ensemble production of Jane Austen in 89 Minutes.

A program for the play Jane Austen in 89 minutes being held up in the theatre
Jane Austen in 89 Minutes by O’Grady Drama

This is Kramstable’s former drama class and I love going along to see their shows.

What else?

Now we basically get to the photo dump …

I got this dodgy looking old camera and want to get hold of some film so I can see if it works.

An old film camera by Agfa
1960s Agfa Optima 1a camera

I went to the Tasmania Police Museum to do some research for a story I’m writing.

Two different types of police hats: a helmet and a flat cap
Tas Police hats in the Police Museum (The caption is incorrect. Helmets were replaced with caps in 1947. I needed to know this.)

I went to Fullers Silent Book Club.

The book The Hobart Hotel is on a table next to a cup of tea
The Hobart Hotel by Mary-Lou Stephens (also part of my research)

More research.

A purple covered old book called the City of Hobart Plan 1945
City of Hobart Plan 1945 by Fred Cook

The lovely staff at the library found this for me and I had a wonderful morning looking through what Hobart might have been if the council had accepted Fred Cook’s 1945 ideas.

It was Kramstable’s birthday so Zoe and I went out for lunch.

Barb and Zoe are making a selfie
Happy birthday, Kramstable! (this is not actually at lunch)

I recently became a delegate for the Community & Public Sector Union (CPSU) and one of my first activities was to take part in the CPSU action to get community support for the Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, which (along with many other parts of government) is currently facing large staffing cuts.

A group of people holding signs on a street corner
CPSU Save TMAG demonstration

I also went to the delegates conference.

Some papers from a CPSU delegates conference
CPSU delegates conference

I reported this hole to the council and a couple of weeks later I noticed it had been fixed.

A small hole in the footpath
Collins Street

I’ve been watching the peregrine falcons at 367 Collins Street in Melbourne, and this led me to learn about this falcon in Redcliffe Queensland, which has only one eye and  has been breeding on the roof of a local hotel.

A peregrine falcon with one eye
The female peregrine falcon at Redcliffe, Qld

I took this screenshot from the Facebook group that watches this breeding pair. The group admin says

What makes her truly special is that she has thrived and continues to hunt successfully with only one eye. This is nothing short of remarkable. Many experts would say that hunting at speeds of up to 300 km/h without full depth perception—and with a completely blind left side—would be nearly impossible. Yet she proves just how resilient and adaptable these birds can be.

Amazing!

I went to Bett Gallery‘s 40th Anniversary exhibition.

Walls of an art gallery
Bett Gallery’s 40th Anniversary exhibition

And I saw some cool clouds on the way home on the bus one day.

Orange tinted clouds in a blue sky
Clouds from the bus

So that’s it for Super September! Now I need to find a name for October.

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