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| Boat trailers at the beach - Tasmanians to the rescue |
It has been far too long since I posted on this blog. As many people know, parts of Tasmania were
devastated by bush fires earlier this month and, even though our family was not
personally affected, the world seemed temporarily turned upside down. Aside from the obvious destruction and damage
to people’s homes and livelihoods, and the painful images of animals injured or
killed by the fires, there were the inevitable positive aspects to the
event. The fact that there were no human
deaths by fire (although one man died of a heart attack) was miraculous.
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| A different Tasmanian sunrise - smoke over the city |
The stories of overwhelming support and community spirit have
been awe-inspiring as they so often are in these situations. Someone set
up a Facebook page on day one (Tassie Fires - We Can Help) that produced
miracles and provided a fantastic platform for people to communicate. Hooray
for Social Media working in such a positive way! I put the word out that I had a bus available
and within 20 minutes I received a phone call - an hour later I was waiting at
a beach that was covered with boat trailers belonging to private citizens who
were ferrying people who had been stranded on the Tasman Peninsular.
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| Typical Tasmanian Bushland |
I brought a group of tourists to the Hobart City Hall where
they were processed so the authorities could keep track of everyone. At that time there was close to 100 people
unaccounted for, but that was largely because communication had broken down so
badly, with no electricity and no cell phone service in many remote
communities.
I had several tours that I had to rearrange with people on
cruise ships, but I also work at the local Tourist Information Centre and we
were overwhelmed with people who had been displaced by the fires, the worst of which
were at two of the most popular tourist destinations in the state. We
were insanely busy before the fires - our single busiest time of the year, and
it was frustrating and depressing trying to explain to people that their
holiday plans were going to have to change.
It seemed like I spent two straight days saying no to visitors. No, you can’t go there, that road really is
closed, no there are no cars to rent, no there really are no hotel rooms available.
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| Bruny Island coastline |
Aside from the more obvious devastation, the damage to our
tourism industry will be profound – just as some people didn’t seem to realise
that they really did have to change their
travel plans, others didn’t know that there were still so many places to go that
were still safe. There have been people changing their plans
for a visit in March, long after the fires are over, the rains have come and
the bush will already be vigorously regenerating as it does in this part of the
world. And the tourism industry will be
trying to make up their losses from what should have been the peak of their
season.
So come see us - Tasmania needs you, specially the businesses
and communities on the Tasman Peninsular and the Derwent Valley. March
is my favourite time of year in Tassie and the weather can be just as gorgeous
here in May as it is in February….
Thanks for listening…
Rosie
