The Trip

Until 20 years ago the Tasmanians were ashamed to be so closely associated with the convict history of Australia. This came to me from a few sources so I'm not, for a change, making it up. Tasmania used to be named Van Diemen's Land and it was the site of the first convict colony here in the Antipodes. This surprised me as I thought that New South Wales had that distinction, but NSW was a convict settlement whereas TAS was an actual corrective institution. Or so it goes. The Island does not feel like Australia. It's cold, wet, very green. Its capital Hobart is on the same latitude as Christchurch in NZ. The road signs are different from the rest of Australia and they all have a faintly English accent when they speak. They are reviled by some mainlanders as backward, inbred, faintly moronic, farmers. This is all balls, naturally. I found them to be incredibly friendly and hospitable even in the towns. I guess this temperament befits people who live in such a fertile and gent...

Fraser Island was okay. It was beautiful in places, like the soft white sand of the beaches at Lake McKenzie or the long beach which acts as the island's motorway-cum-airstrip along its East coast. India Head is a lovely viewing spot for the ocean where you can see sharks, turtles, and whales in the water far below you. I traveled the island in an old Land Cruiser with 8 other people. Six Irish, one Welshman, and one Yank. It was a good crowd though I couldn't help but feel slightly disinterested in the island and what it offered. I was more concerned with the driving of this behemoth across the rutted sand tracks of the interior of the island and the lethal beach and washouts along its coast. At one point I even found God in the back seat of the 'Cruiser as I prayed for the thing to stay upright. It could get pretty hairy back there. Even God got out at the next stop. If I ever went back to the island again I would go off-season as it's a very popular tourist spot and ...