Burnie....some papermaking

In from the wild west to spend a night at Burnie....

We really enjoyed Burnie, we met some great people here...

We started at the Burnie Information Centre which is part Museum; part Arts Centre' and part travel Information centre....

There are little stalls around the centre where Artists and creative types demonstrate their crafts.

I could have stayed here ALL day!!

We did a Paper Making Workshop with a lovely chap named Darren who we had lots of laughs with.

He obtains materials from 'locals' to make their paper.

Denim jeans, towelling, lavender, apple, and even Wombat and Kangaroo POO are just a few of the new and 'upcycled' ingredients used.

Apparently the wombat and kangaroo poo paper is quite famous. Tourists off Cruise liners flock to the centre to buy some.

Here is Darren demonstrating how it is done and doing a big batch of (8) sheets. 

(The ingredients have been beaten/ pulverised in a big 'food processor' type of machine prior to this step)

It is flipped over onto absorbent mats. Even though it is still wet it has bonded already.

Then onto some glass to dry. 

Because of the smooth surface it peels off rather well.

Darren then let us jump in and get our hands wet...

The kids thoroughly enjoyed this and picked it up really quickly.

I think we could have left them all afternoon making page after page for Darren....

There was many different watermark prints to create. Such as the Little Penguin....

Speaking of the Little Penguin.....at dusk, we walked a short distance to sit and wait patiently on the beach for these cute little creatures to return to their nests.

It was absolutely freezing! 

However, we were in luck!!

We saw plenty of Mums making the dash up to their burrows.

Most follow the 'safety in numbers' principal.

One chick even emerged out of his nest looking out to sea to look for his mother. He did this for ages, amazing!!

Another great Tassie experience......