A Brilliant Idea

I wrote this blog post several years ago when I first started blogging (without really knowing what that was!)  Given the momentous way in which big business and the “powers that be” have been throwing their weight around in Washington DC these past few weeks, I thought this was the perfect time to finally post it.  I have left out the name of the beach because I don't know for sure who the perpetrator was in this case, and as you'll see below, all is well now...

Southern Tasmanian Beach

 A Brilliant Idea

I was recently reminded of one of the cleverest concepts I have seen in a long time - a brilliant, community-based strategy for standing up for the common good and giving a sense of control to everyone who ever got frustrated with money and influence throwing its weight around. 

I remember several years ago when some rich local politician in the Seattle area decided he didn’t like the trees in front of his house blocking his view, so he just cut them down illegally before anyone could do anything about it.  I remember my frustration when I realised that, aside from the fact that these lovely old trees were demolished, the perpetrator received (as I’m sure he knew he would) a fine that he could well afford, a slap on the hand, and a bit of public outrage that probably died away as people moved on with their lives.  Meanwhile this arrogant …whatever….- you can fill in the blank - got to sit back and enjoy his new multi-million dollar view.

A similar incident happened in a little community in southern Tasmania, but the outcome was very different.  This place is nothing particularly spectacular, just a lovely, popular swimming beach about a 30 minute drive from the capital city of Hobart.  A homeowner there must have thought that they deserved a better view from their deck.  They probably wanted to enjoy a panorama that wasn’t marred by the few scraggly trees out on the beachfront (all the foreshore in Australia is public property) or be able show off their view to their friends.

Unlike the Seattle incident, their friends would probably be very unimpressed with the new view, not to mention what this did to the value of the house.  But it is so extraordinarily fair without being vindictive; simply justice being served (and thoroughly deserved).  Scroll down to see what happened.  The photo speaks for itself; it’s not the best quality but you get the idea………

All Tasmanian coastline is public property - no "private beaches"

Nice view!!

 I also happened to be driving past the beach yesterday, preparing for the first of this season's food and wine tours in the Huon Valley, and went to check out how things had changed .....the signs had been taken down, the vegetation is growing back and all is right with the world, especially this little corner of it!

The new vegetation

The right view

Thanks for listening....

Rosie
www.islandtimetours.net.au

Home in Tasmania again

Spring daffodils in September

I dropped the ball on this blog for a while and, in picking it up again have found it to be bigger and much more noticeable, like a bright, shiny new basketball that bounces enthusiastically with resilience and zest. 

After a northern hemisphere summer spent at my Whidbey island home, (one of the most beautiful summers Washington state has ever seen) I have arrived back to a green, lush Tasmania that is buzzing with anticipation of a tourist season that promises to be one of the best ever. 

Log cabins in the bush

The secret is out; the one we have been telling people about in the USA for the past 20 years.  The Tourist Information Centre in Hobart (www.hobarttravelcentre.com.au) where I work part-time, is already bustling with activity, both in person and via email and phone calls.

Mainlander Aussies (and people from all over the world) have found out that Tasmania is the place to visit, especially in the summer.  While they are burning up in the scorching desert heat west of the great dividing range, or sweltering through a tropical summer in northern Queensland, Tasmanians will be experiencing one of our uniquely refreshing summers  – mild, sunny and dry for the most part, with every other possible combination of weather added in, but rarely the sweltering heat of mainland Australia. 

Bush daffodils

As I tell people in the USA who comment on the fact that I never spend a winter anywhere, with my seasonal rotation through spring, summer and autumn in Tassie, then summer in the USA, I get plenty of winter experiences in Tasmania in the time I’m here (snow on Mt. Wellington right behind my house a few days ago is a case in point!)

It’s lovely to be home, with the fresh smell of eucalyptus forest in my back yard, the wallabies hopping away from the lights of my car when I arrive home after dark, and kookaburras laughing raucously at the sight of me hanging out the washing, as if they get the joke -  that just because the sun is shining at this moment, it’ll probably be pissing with rain 10 minutes from now!

I took a friend out to our bush property about an hour from Hobart yesterday and the sun stayed with us most of the day, along with a gentle wind and occasional clouds blowing through.  The daffodils were still out, an incongruous sight in a bushland that feels like it’s hundreds of miles from anywhere, and I was reminded again of why I love this place so much – it is the silence.  Apart from the wind and the occasional call of native birds, the overwhelming feeling is one of peace and stillness – an undeniable call to pay attention to the natural world that is so often forgotten when one’s head is buried in a mobile device that suddenly seems terribly important, even though I just lived without one for 4 months and my world didn’t end. 

I will always remember waking up one morning in the "big cabin", and as I drifted up to consciousness I was vaguely aware of an unfamiliar sound.  As I became more alert I realized what it was – in the morning stillness I could actually hear the sound of my own heartbeat. 

Now I’m back in my office with the view of the city and harbor in the distance that will soon be bustling with waterfront festivals and the arrival of a record number of cruise ships.  The ferocious winds blowing down from Mt Wellington and the sulphur-crested cockatoos in the morning are a more noisy reminder of Nature’s presence in this wild and wonderful island place.

It’s good to be home.

Cheers,

Rosie