Watch Gaelic Coimhead Gàidhlig

[Calum] Is toigh leamsa gu mòr a bhith am measg beanntan agus àitichean iomallach airson dealbhan a thogail ach, uill, leis gu bheil mi air a bhith aig an taigh, chan eil mi air mòran dhe sin a dhèanamh o chionn ghoirid. Ach tha mi air a bhith a’ coimhead air seann dhealbhan. Ach chan ann leamsa a tha na dealbhan seo, ’s ann a chaidh iad air an togail le m’ athair, ann an Tasmania far an do rugadh mise. Agus cho-dhùin mi barrachd fhaighneachd dha mun deidhinn.

[Ruairidh] Corra uair a bhithinn a’ faighinn nan dealbhan ann an irisean gu sònraichte nam bithinn a’ sgrìobhadh mu dheidhinn coiseachd agus aig an àm sin, bha thu a’ togail camara mòr leat agus filmichean agus gach latha bha thu ag ràdh riut fhèin ‘uill, ’s’dòcha nach tog mu barrachd na còig no sia dealbhan an latha seo oir cha bhi film gu leòr agam’.

[Calum] Is bochd nach robh Instagram agaibh sna laithichean sin.

[Ruairidh] Uill, chan eil fhios a’m am biodh signal ann fhathast, tha an t-àite cho iomallach.

[Calum] Chaidh sibh fhèin agus Mum tarsainn Tasmania, ciamar a bha sin?

[Ruairidh] Bha sin uabhasach math, thòisich sinn ann an àite ris an canar Penguin ann an ceann a tuath agus chaidh sinn tro choilltean 's thairis air na beanntan tro na pàircean nàiseanta. Agus bha sinn air biadh fhàgail ann an diofar àitichean, falaichte, sàbhailte bho na beathaichean mar dhiabhalan – Tasmanian devils. Mar sin choisich sinn airson seachdainean, chaidh sinn aon latha deug gun duine sam bith eile fhaicinn.

[Calum] Snàmh – a bheil e san fhuil ma-tha?

[Ruairidh] Uill, yeah, agus cuideachd bha e na b’ fhasa a dhol tarsainn an àite seo le bhith coiseachd tron uisge seach a bhith a’ dol suas trì mìle airson bàta fhaighinn. Bha seòrsa de buidheann againn a bha dìreach a’ dèanamh coimeas eadar na diofar àitichean, lochan agus easan ’s abhnaichean far an robh sinn a’ snàmh.

[Calum] An uair sin nochd Ciorstaidh agus mise. An robh fhios agaibh daonnan gun robh sibh gus tilleadh a dh’Alba gus ar togail an seo?

[Ruairidh] Bha, bha mi air a ràdh ri Kerrie mus do phòs sinn gur e sin a bha mise ag iarraidh a dhèanamh agus gu fortanach dh’aontaich i. Ach seo ann an Tasmania far an robh sinn an toiseach. Thug sinn a-mach sibh corra uair dha na beanntan ann an Tasmania, a-rithist tòrr tursan nuair a bha sinn a’ fuireach ann an Alba. Ach ged a tha e aig ceann thall an t-saoghail, tha mi fhathast a’ smaoineachadh air Tasmania mar àite brèagha. Tha teaghlach agam fhathast a’ fuireach ann agus nuair a tha mi a’ dol air ais, tha e a’ còrdadh rium gu sònraichte ma bhios cothrom agam a’ falbh a-mach gu na beanntan agus na h-àitichean prìseil a bha cho sònraichte dhomh nuair a bha mi a’ fuireach ann.

[Calum] I really like to be amongst the mountains and remote places to take pictures but well, since I’ve been at the house, I haven’t done much of that for a while. But I’ve been looking at old pictures. But they’re not my pictures, they were taken by my dad, in Tasmania where I was born. And I decided to ask him more about them.

[Roddy] On occasion I would get the pictures in magazines and especially if I was writing about walking and at that time, you would take a big camera with you and films and each day you would say to yourself ‘well, maybe not take more than five or six pictures this day because I won’t have enough film’.

[Calum] It’s a shame you didn’t have Instagram in those days.

[Roddy] Well I don’t know if there would be signal there now, the place is so remote.

[Calum] You and Mum went across Tasmania, how was that?

[Roddy] That was really good, we began in a place called Penguin in the north and we went through forests and over mountains through the national parks. And we left food in different places, hidden, safe from the animals like devils – Tasmanian devils. So, we walked for weeks, we went eleven days without seeing anyone else.

[Calum] Swimming – is it in the blood then?

[Roddy] Well, yeah, and also it was easier to go over this place by working through the water rather than travelling three miles to get a boat. We had a sort of group that were just comparing the different places, the lochs and waterfalls and rivers where we were swimming.

[Calum] Then Ciorstaidh and me arrived. Did you always know that you would return to Scotland to bring us up here?

[Roddy] Yes, I had said to Kerrie before we married that that’s what I wanted to do and luckily, she agreed. But this is Tasmania where we were at the beginning. We took you out occasionally to the mountains in Tasmania, again many times when we were living in Scotland. But although it’s on the other side of the world, I still think of Tasmania as a beautiful place. I still have family living there and when I go back, I enjoy it especially if I have the chance to go out to the mountains and the valuable places that were so special to me when I was living there.