Tag Archives: Tasmania

Narawntapu

We clamber over dunes that heap sand into my shoes,until a broad flat beach stretches before us –west to the estuary and east to the hills –Sky, sand, sea, space, to the end of my fingertips,the scent of salt and … Continue reading

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Shipping Notes

There is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea.”  — Joseph Conrad, Polish-British Writer Growing up in a land of droughts and water restrictions, I love the water, despite the fact that I am neither a … Continue reading

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A Final Glimpse of Tasmania, Past, Present and Bucolic

‘Scrimshaw.’ My favourite new word for the week. What is scrimshaw? A character from Harry Potter perhaps? No, not quite. That was Rufus Scrimgeour, I believe. Scrimshaw is, in fact, the art of engraving images on objects made from whale … Continue reading

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The Joy of Cheese

“Dessert without cheese is like a beauty with only one eye” ~ Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin When we first visited Tasmania, back in the late eighties, it was known as a destination for serious hikers, those keen to explore the wilderness … Continue reading

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‘A Pack of Thieves’

Port Arthur. Today, it is an hour and a half’s drive from the pretty, waterside city of Hobart. Two hundred years ago, it was a day’s sailing from the decidedly seedy and often violent waterfront of Hobart Town, which had … Continue reading

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Wildlife Among the Gumtrees

‘Give me a home among the gumtrees, with lots of plum trees, a sheep or two, a kangaroo, a  clothesline out the back, verandah out the front, and an old rocking chair’  – John Williamson Craggy Peaks. An old golf … Continue reading

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Return to Tasmania

This summer, we finally realized a dream of long-standing: to return to Tasmania. You may remember that I wrote about my first visit in the late 1980s, when the One & Only took me on a trek to Frenchman’s Cap? … Continue reading

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Trailblazing

As he stands being you and lifts the pack onto your shoulders, your knees buckle, and you feel the urge to tip over, fall flat on your back. You quail, unnerved by the unexpected weight. Are you completely insane to … Continue reading

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