It doesn’t happen often, but it snowed in Geeveston….. now I realise some of my readers probably live with way more snow than us, but this was exciting, even if it only lasted a couple of hours. The snow event was seriously hyped up by the weather bureau that had predicted Tasmania wide snow down to sea level, so when I woke up this morning it was cold, -2.5°C, but the sky was clear, and disappointingly all we had was a boring old frost….. Then just as I was about to feed the goats, what looked like fog rolled in, and lo and behold, the white stuff started coming down!
Even though it probably only lasted twenty minutes or so, we had a good covering considering we’re just below 100m altitude. I was starting to think I’ll have to clean the solar panels to keep the batteries charged, but by the time I had got around to the goats, that snow had completely disappeared.
The house remained nice and warm throughout, in fact it’s performing beyond expectations now that it’s properly bermed at the back. The internal walls made of blocks retain a constant 19~21°, and these days internal temperature rarely drops below 19°, no matter how cold it is outside….. UPDATE: having now gone through summer, I can report that our bermed wall having been charged now holds a steady 23.5°C.
While the rest of Tasmania is suffering terrible weather with roads cut and power lines down, the Huon seems to have escaped the worst of it, even if it’s currently not possible to go to Hobart; rain, and intermittent sun even, is the order of the day. It might be cold, but cooking around the AGA is fun. We haven’t had much of a winter in truth, a few frosts and a couple of single digit temperature days, but not much rain…… this year is the first one since I arrived five years ago that our dam has not overflowed. Another month or so, and it’ll be spring again……
Damn the Matrix 
a cup of coffee,or tea at early morning with a view of the hills would have to be a highlight, for me anyway, with the aga going of course.
A beautiful solar passive house would be a blessing at the moment, I’m glad it is working well. It has dropped to 5° on our patio at Pomona recently and not much warmer inside. Although the road to Cooran is a picture at this time of the year with green fields and gold wattle, when the heat kicks in it will be far less pleasant, and I’ll once again want to move to Tassie!
Come on down….. 🙂