Port Arthur! What I learnt this week #7

Ohhh, I'm a little late posting this one, but for good reason....I'm still in holiday mode!! I spent last week in Hobart visiting my wonderful friend, and boy did we have a great time. We took a drive down to Port Arthur and I learnt all about the fascinating and super pretty historic site.

Originally founded in 1830 as a timber station, Port Arthur fast became a penal colony for some of the worst convicts and repeat offenders in Australia. Banished to what must have seemed the end of the world, this prison was strict and unforgiving. If you were a well behaved prisoner you got to build ships! In order for the site to be vaguely profitable, other prisoners were put to work in the timber yard, flour mill, or as carpenters, blacksmiths and shoemakers.
The creepiest part of the site was the Separate prison, which ushered in a new regime replacing physical punishment with psychological punishment. Basically, if you were super naughty, this is where you got stashed away, in complete isolation, to dwell on all your bad life choices. There was no speaking, no interaction between in-mates, and limited exercise time to be done all alone. Understandably, this made some of the prisoners go crazy, luckily they had built the asylum right next door!
Port Arthur ceased operation as a prison in 1877.

this is a cell in the Separate Prison. The convict in this one would have worked as a shoe-maker.

spooky hallway of the separate prison

lovely old cottage!

This was my favourite building of all, doesn't it look super cute like a koala?!

We also went on the ghost tour when it was appropriately dark and spooky! ooohhhhhhh.

Unfortunately, I didn't see any ghosts, but our guide gave a fascinating history of some of the many hauntings that have occurred over the last 140 years. She also knew how to tell a good story, and every-one on the tour had a great time.

So yes! Port Arthur! I would recommend a visit, and that's what I learnt this week!

Ravioli! What I learnt this week #6

Ok, so anyone that knows me understands that I'm not big on cooking....why waste time slaving over a hot stove!! all that preparation, slicing and dicing, saute-ing and stewing...Boring! then, after all that nonsense you have to wash all the dishes....DOUBLE BORING!
But I'm starting to worry that if I keep treading down this frozen pizza, sandwich and shapes lined path I might well be dead soon. I am also getting a little weary of being mocked by my nearest and dearest for having eating habits that apparently resemble that of a 50 year old bachelor..eep

So, it's time to add a few more dishes to my repertoire!

This week I had the pleasure of going on a lil' holiday to visit my BFF, and she is a great cook!
She taught me how to make ravioli....Fun Town!!

Making the dough was super easy, its just flour, egg and a bit of oil....blend blend blend, kneed kneed kneed! then it was the fun part of rollering it out till it was perfect.

The filling was spinach, ricotta, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Gettin' all that pesky air out!

Wheel time! this was the funnest!

Look how pretty and fancy!

Ta-da! amazing huh....it was 1 billion percent delicious too.

Big thanks to Pate-Face for teaching me how to make it (and for taking the photos)
Fun town and Tasty town all rolled into one. And this it what I learnt this week.

Fabric Markers! What I learnt this week #5

I love textas! that's no lie. So when I saw these fabric markers at deans art shop I was very excited....all the fun of drawing and colouring in, with the added bonus of doing it on fabric! Wowzers.

I drew a few silly little pictures to test all the colours....cute huh!? and then, like I did so often in my younger days, I made a pencil case....fun!

I also thought it would be exciting to do a pattern using the greatest shape known to man...the triangle...ooooh! so I whipped up a little skirt and did a cute border round the hem.

Fabric markers are a winner in my book! and that's what I learnt this week :)