Tassie, tassie, tassie oi, oi, oi
Trip Start
Jun 14, 2007
1
17
40
Trip End
Ongoing
Launceston, Australia
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Hope you are all well.
Just arrived in Tasmania there yesterday. We were supposed to be going up north from melbourne to mildura to do some fruit picking at another hostel owned by the one were we stayed and claire worked in. We were getting picked up at 12 noon to go up but at 11.55 decided feck it we will go to tassie instead! So glad we made the decision already as after one day im in love with the place. I knew I would like it as it has a reputation for its natural beauty and laid back feel and it is a reputation well deserved. Arrived in Launceston which is in the north of the island last night and met up with Luke who used to live with us Melbourne. Had a few beers (our last for the next three weeks as we are going on a total detox while we are here....we think!) and got the lo down from luke on how good the place is. He is working up in the mountains on an organic tea and herb farm which sounds class and claire and I are heading up there for about five days before we head back to Melbourne. Today Luke took us for a walk up Cataract gorge (5 minutes walk from the city centre which is class) which was breath taking and only the very tip of the iceberg according to luke. We are hoping to go to Maria island at the end of the month to do some conservation volunteering to try and get the island world heritage listing which will be sweet. So all in all happy as a big fat sow in shite at the minute. It was a killer leaving the house in the end but we knew it was coming at some stage and besides we are going back to melbourne on the 6th may and then the whole house is getting the night train to Sydney for a last hurrah of a weekend before Colm, Mark, Claire and I head off to New Zealand on the 12th. Five others from the house are also gonna join us when we do the east coast in july/august so we will be reunited at some stage in the future. That said I doubt, although will hopefully be proved wrong, that Claire and I will ever be as lucky in meeting such a group of people in the one place again. The five months in Melbourne, and especially the three months in the house, was one of the greatest living experiences of our lives. The house was a dream with up to 15 people living in it at the same time and in the three months there I never heard a bad word against anyone and there was never any arguments (even among the girls!). Everyone cooked for each other, kept the place clean and partied like we might never get to party again. The place was filled with musicians, poets, comedians and all round good skins and I thank each and everyone of them for their friendship, love and entertainment.
So what else have we been up to I hear you cry at your screen! Well the work at the carnival I mentioned on my last entry never happened for most of us as we went on the piss on the thursday and didnt finish til the monday, again!. Paddies weekend was the same as you can imagine and was good to catch up with some old friends from home and from Perth. Our earth was party was a resounding success and was possibly the best party we have had at the house to date. The candles all over the house were class and everyone who came respected the no lights or power policy with great diligence which was great. At one stage there was 5 guitars, a tamborine, set of bongos and a harmonica all going at once which sounded good at the time but since we were all pretty monged at the time it could have sounded like a pair of stray cats getting it on! However, the great thing about hte party is that now we use candles all the time when watching telly or sitting around chatting or playing music and long may it last. Last thursday we had a bit of a leaving do at the poet which was great with open mic on music and poetry and then on Saturday we went to the V festival in Melbourne which was class and then threw another party back at the house which finished on Monday again. So as you can see the three weeks off the drink is not an empty remark so much as a neccessity for the body and mind!
So thats about it folks. As I said we are sad to leave Melbourne but know we will return before our time in Oz is up and can I recommend to anyone coming to Oz to come here and leave those snobby, up their ass c*nts from Sydney to their bridge and opera house as thats all they have!!
Congratulations to Liverpool on knocking the goons out of europe. Cracking tie over two legs and they just about deserved it. Still a penalty for Hleb at the emarites tho but im not bitter honestly! Would love to see a pool -Utd final now so best of luck against the commie money machine!
Stay funky people. Peace and good times.
Noel & Claire
A little quote which seems apt now that we are in Tasmania where massive logging is threatening the magestic landscape
"If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen."
Henry David Thoreau (American Essayist, Poet and Philosopher, 1817-1862)
And one from our own:
"I don't know if there are men on the moon, but if there are they must be using the earth as their lunatic asylum"
George Bernard Shaw (Irish literary Critic, Playwright and Essayist. 1925 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1856-1950)
