In search of the Tasmanian Devil
Trip Start
Jul 20, 2004
1
51
156
Trip End
Jul 20, 2012
Launceston,
Australia
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
According to Patsy Adam-Smith from her book "Footloose in Australia", conditions in Tasmania bear no resemlance to the legendary Australia of tradition. Because of this the people of the island are Tasmanian, not Australian. Their folk culture is different, their struggeles have been different; their pace, outlook, and environment are so different that they are separate people, as tough and tenacious as the "mainlanders," as they call people from "over the other side," but different. A visitor to Australia who does not tour the island cannot claim to know a thing about it or its people, but a visitor from abroad visiting Tasmania alone of the Australian states cannot be said to know anything at all about Australia or Australians. The subtleties of this distinction would be worthy of a thesis - if any candidate for a PhD had the courage to attempt it
Bennett's Wallabies in Cataract Gorge Reserve
.Flying to Tassie is cheaper and faster than taking the ferry, so an hour after I left Melbourne, I was welcomed in Launceston by my hospitality club host Murali. Murali and his wife Sridevi are originally from India so I got to taste some yummy Indian food and learned a few things about culture and tradition of South India. Sridevi is working on her PhD in Aquaculture at the University of Tasmania. After two days exploring Launceston, including the Cataract Gorge, I headed to Lefroy, near Georgetown, for my next farm stay. Here, I am staying with Bonnie and her dogs Pockey and Chad, her cat Kitty and 5 geese. The house and garden are lovely but need lots of work; that's what I am here for.
Today is the last day of August which means the last day of winter in the southern hemisphere; tomorrow is the beginning of Spring here. Here is Tasmania, we have been looked inside the house for the past 2 days as heavy winds and rain make live miserable. Watching the news and seeing the destruction Hurricane Katarina left in the US and the destruction caused by heavy rains and gales in the South of Oz leaves me with an uneasy feeling. In a week or so, I am planning on heading out on the overland track and pray that the weather will be more reasonable than it is now
Curious Peakock in Cataract Gorge Reserve
. The Overland Track is Australia's best known walking track and runs 80 kilometres through the heart of the Tasmanian wilderness from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair. My week at Bonnie's place went by fast. The weather was gorgeous, so we got the garden straightened up pretty well. Perfect timing with weeding and moving before the rain hit. The trees are left to grow, so no pruning. The veggies are unfortunately eaten by possums or the geese, so Bonnie will have to do some new planting. Bonnie's house is a cozy place, with warm wood fires, old fashioned oven cooked yummy food, lots of cups of tea and a hot water bottle for bed. Talking about food, ever had geese eggs for braky? They are hugs, rich, and very yummy. Another interesting feature in her house is the composting toilet which, i assure you, does not smell. Since most of the houses have water tanks filled by rain water which can become scarce during the summer months, a composting toilet does not require water. This is definitely an environmentally conscious investment. While I am sitting here and pondering my next steps (better my next farm stay up in Derby), I am coming to think that I will miss Bonnie's place, her big smile, her food and her stories. And stories she has; she has done every imaginable job in her life form store owner to hotel owner, etc. She lived in a hippy community near Byron Bay; what I like about it is that she lived in a 40 foot bus complete with 3 rooms and lots of space for the dog. How I envy her for that. That's one thing I regret not being able to do, just buy a little VW bus and travel around Oz for a year. Maybe in my next life. I am sure I will stay in contact with Bonnie and hope that our ways may cross again.
In addition, I wanted to mention some of the books I read while traveling in NZ and Oz. "Nothing venture, nothing win" by Edmund Hillary, "Kiwi tracks" and "Outback" by Andrew Stevenson, "Down Under" by Bill Bryson, "Kiwis might fly: Around NZ on two big wheels" by Polly Evans and "The Navigator" by Morris West.
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