The campaign stalled today with news of the death of a dear friend who has been battling cancer for some years now. I was aware her condition had deteriorated and last night when I ran into her husband at the supermarket sensed that the end was near. The news was confirmed this morning.

Monika was formerly the Mayor of Yarra Valley and had a fairly tempestuous term. She moved to Oatlands shortly before I did and they established the local antique shop. After a long struggle and many miscarriages she gave birth to twin children who are now seven years old. Much of her battle with cancer was waged alone as she rarely discussed her illness other than to tell us she was a lot better now thank you and to boast about the fact that she was still able to walk (just) despite having been told she would not be able to do so. Fortunately our local cottage hospital meant that her last days were spent surrounded by family and staff who had become friends over the years.

I have spent much of the day weeping and restlessly looking for distractions but finally succumbed and went to say goodbye to her at the hospital. Then to her home  to spend time with friends who are caring for the family. Her husband is very angry - a  natural result of his years of denial that she was as ill as we all knew her to be, and needs to get past that before we can make plans for the funeral.

In the middle of all this I was finally contacted by the media and have arranged to have an interview on Thursday morning by which time I will hopefully have had the chance to pull myself together enough to speak fluently. I hope to have the chance to acknowledge her role in enabling and encouraging me to pursue my present course.

The latest wintry blast has passed and we are back to normal Autumn weather - this morning was the first proper frost (all previous efforts having been slightly crunchy dew) and the day was glorious - and we will be repeating the pattern tomorrow.

My meeting with the Mayor of Sorell went well - I was of course punctual, he was of course talking to a customer so I amused myself looking at testosterone driven off-road trikes and other such toys for the urban farmer.

He provided some valuable insights, though it is clear where his political sympathies lie and it was all very civil.

After that, since it was almost lunchtime I headed to Dodges Ferry and Park Beach to letterbox a few more miles of street on the principle it would be kinder on my feet than hot paved surfaces and headed home once that was done. There I found a message from the ABC (thank God for Leon Compton) seeking comment which I have provided. Hopefully it will result in an interview. I did point out I am the only female Independent candidate, so if nothing else I have novelty value, haha.

I cleaned the bank yesterday as it was a bit tricky doing it in the dark on Monday, but now need to go do it again tonight. When I return I will recharge the mobile and regain contact with the outside world.

The reason I need to do this is that I had two calls from an unfamiliar number. When I called it from my own phone this wonderfully chatty person started burbling on about what I was doing and congratulating me and telling me how J said it must be me as it sounded just like the sort of thing I would do and so on and so forth and it took me some considerable time to work out that the person on the other end was someone I went to school with many years ago, haven't seen for at least 30 years and who I do know quite well - she always has been a bit eccentric poor dear. I blame growing up at Port Davey!

A long-term power failure closed off all plans for yesterday and they were all deferred till today, with the result nothing was done today that was originally planned. But that's OK as it gave me time to catch up with myself.

Tomorrow I am off to hound the people of Sorell and to meet their mayor (which will be interesting, but not in a good way - he is a nasty piece of work by all accounts, but at least he agreed to meet with me - possibly as a consequence of my comment to the Duke that since he had met with the Liberal candidate he should probably not show is political preferences quite so clearly.

In case anyone is wondering why I place fast and loose with the name of a member of the aristocracy, he is not a real duke but simply assigned himself the title, mainly as a tax dodge.

Frost tonight, which will be a nice change from yesterdays winds, but that means the fire needs to be stirred up soon.

Seb was thrown off at kennels in my way down to Moonah for the draw - and I spent a happy hour being regaled with tales of the tall and true from the Duke of Avram. His Grace (haha) seems to have a high opinion of his ability to purvey scurrilous gossip and is fairly incessant in his efforts. I met a few of the other candidates also - it was all very civil, and those of us in it for the general public good (as opposed to personal gain, idle interest and general self-promotion) seem a decent lot, though some seem a bit out of their depth (eg micro-party candidates, poor sods).

Home again to sort out packing for the weekend and to deliver a few more leaflets in conveniently accessed points along my route. And on Saturday I headed off at the crack of dawn (well, a little later really) to get to Swansea.

The forecast for this weekend has been foul - bitter cold, strong winds etc, though on the East Coast it has been rather nice. At Swansea (a very prosperous little town seemingly in the middle of nowhere) I walked miles, and talked to nice people and drank coffee in main street cafes, visited the market (where I was promised two votes) and the charity store. But given my delayed start, did not have time to call into Coles Bay. The weather started to crack up as I headed north, but I managed to call into all the wineries en route and some of the clusters of letter boxes.

My overnight accommodation was not as posh as last weekend - barely enough room for the single bed and set of bunks, but with en suite bathroom, and frankly clean sheets, comfy bed and a bathroom are all you need. It did put me in a premium position to start delivering leafets around Bicheno fairly early (far too early to knock on doors on a Sunday though). Found a few people already out and about and most of them seemed to find me appealing, so hopefully a few more votes to be had there.

One was a former employee of the Leg Council and we took a shine to each other in a good way - she even waved cheerfully to me several hours later as I drove past, so hopefully another vote there.

A little scenic journey to follow me around the electorate seems in order and here are a few highlights, mostly from the East Coast I have to say.

 Bicheno, looking toward Diamond Island (that darker line along the boundary between water and distant hills). When I was a kid we used to stay at Mrs Grey's Farmhouse (now Diamond Island Resort) and wade across to the island on the sand spit at low tide.

 This is the same view, rotated to the left. You can spot the bird on the rock immediately above in the broader image.

 Even near sewage outflows, the water is crystal clear on the Coast - these anenomes are in a rock pool in the same rockscape above.

 This was taken today at the Blowhole. The wind made it hard to keep the camera pointed in the right direction, but you can see part of what was a fairly spectacular spout.

 Down on the Freycinet Peninsula - the Hazards are part of the Park, and as a child I was carried over them by my father on our way to Wine Glass Bay. The local shop is also the post office and fortunately they were willing to take a booking to deliver leaflets for me as no-one there has letterboxes!

 Heading back up the peninsula, these two shots were at the same beach. You can see the degree of 'chop' on the water, and this is on the sheltered side of the peninsula!

 Still some wild and shacky places to explore - this wants to become a painting I think!

Further down the East Coast is still remote and wonderful - this stone building is still decaying in solitude beside a rarely frequented beach, right beside the road. Piles of sea wrack from the storms.















Getting home to find the sheet of black plastic on the pile of lumber beside the house was trying to take wind, but soon sorted that, brought in some wood, and settled in to feed the cats, and eat my dinner. Bedtime soon and time to collect the dog from kennels tomorrow. I will have a day off tomorrow to pay a few bills, sort out the animals and my groceries, and print off/cut up more flyers as I seem to have given them all away.

Not wasted - never wasted to spend time with friends, but yeah, I guess so Deb

Yesterday I was in Brighton knocking on more doors and also dropping off a sign at the home of someone who had the perfect location if my sign was actually effective. Sadly the font size and my innate tendency to avoid garish colours means my signs are pretty useless really. But this at least gives me an excuse to be self-righteous about the suffocating quantities of signs from the others.

Kevin Bonham has done an opinion piece summarising the seven candidates he was then aware of -I rate a mention second last, but he has picked up on the fact Kim Peart and I are the only candidates from within the electorate (surely there should be rules about that?) and notes Kim scored 156 votes in the State elections. He also draws attention to my former candidacy for Southern Midlands and uses the word 'claims' in relation to my relative political virginity, implying this may not be so. Sadly for him it is, but no doubt it will be a question others raise. I have my first media follower on twitter @jobain4prosser, and sent off a letter to the Mercury regarding the State government's proposal to pay landlords $13000 to take on low income tenants (equity issues there for landlords who miss out in the rush, not to mention it being almost the entire annual income for a single person on NewStart).

This has been tweeted too and I will be posting it on my page later. Today is a day to catch up with paperwork, plans and communications. I have emailed all local governments in the electorate seeking an appointment with their GM or mayor, though just remembered I forgot Northern Midlands and Brighton (must do that now).

Grey and chilly. I plan to go to the announcement on Friday so that the media can have a go at me then, so will need to find something respectable to wear that does not look like funeral clothes, haha.

Two nights away and the dog was very pleased to see me when I collected him from kennels. The cats, on the other hand were temporarily feral until they remembered me, and are now glued to various parts of me as I wait for the fire to start.

The media release disappeared into a vacuum. I suspect having covered what they view at the top four contenders (certainly in the saturation signage stakes), they will wait till Friday to address the other candidates. Friday is the day they announce candidates and conduct the draw for the order of appearance on the ticket. This is  not as important in Tassie as it is on the Mainland because as the tickets are printed, the names are rotated, so the person at the top on one is second on the next and so forth. It avoids the very realistic threat of the donkey vote (top down numbering) biasing the result.

My travels took in Carlton and Primrose Sands (sorry if I didn't get to your place Deb, I tried to cover those streets where houses and letter boxes were fairly close together), and Carlton was mind-boggling. Back when I was a surfy chick it was wild desolate land, some sand dunes, and a beach you could hoon on if you managed to get your car past the first two obstacles. There was almost inevitably a panel van on the sand spit waiting to be engulfed with the incoming tide that we all had to band together to carry to safety and there was only us and the sea. Now it is wall to wall houses. Since it was getting on for four, and I have discovered people tend to start getting busy by then, I headed back to Richmond for the night.
Sunday was the Peninsula, and turned up some very interesting conversations, a former professional colleague who works for Parks and will recommend me to his colleagues, a farmer who gave me a lovely bag of fresh-picked cox's orange pippins and a group of lovely people who had specifically invited me to go meet with them. Since they liked what they saw they will now encourage friends ot vote for me also.

But someone, in an effort to cheer me up, pointed out I need a minimum of 3000 votes to get across the line, and since I have only spoken to about 1000 people, clearly there is a long way to go. On the up side, it seems the electorate also includes Brighton, so that's a nice solid lump of buildings all together.

Signs are now erected along the Mangalore Strait, and I have another along the road to Bothwell, one will go in my yard once I summon the energy to go bang in a couple of posts, and I will try to get some on the East Coast. A friend in Sorell will see if she can get me a site there, but really! You can barely see the buildings for the walls of signs from the Liberals and the local candidate.

The pub at Brighton had almost disappeared under a wall of signs for the Lib's candidate too, but I notice Brighton Council has sorted them out and removed about 80% of them.

It was nice to spend the night at Barb's last night and to chat about life the universe and everything and to plot how to spend a six figure income, haha. And she makes the worlds best pizzas, so that was dinner.

The frenzy has taken over my life - sorry for the slack reporting. The writ will be issued at six tonight and my media release will be sent shortly thereafter. That means if it inspires any interest I will be fielding interviews while trying to clean the bank, haha - such a glamourous life I lead.

This weekend I will be heading down your way Deb and I am planning to overnight in Richmond so as to avoid excess travelling. The dog will be booked into kennels for the night and I should be able to at least get the peninsula covered and parts between, but possibly not Dodges and Primrose as I suspect they are rather more populous than back when I was a girl going surfing at Park Beach. But since they are closer to home, I should be able to visit there.

I have had a trip to Triabunna and today has been spent frantically seeking signatures of nominators - one requires ten - I have seven so far, and would probably have the lot except everyone wants to chat.

I have also loaded my signs etc into the ute so future trips can hopefully permit deployment of some in strategic  locations - it's OK to do that now, once the writ is issued.

Apart from that, the weather has been lovely, the cats are very much in charge, the dog is very much subjugated, and life is tiring but good.