Burnie 16 – 18 November 2007

We set off for Burnie on a beautiful sunny Friday following the old winding coast road. So pretty just like you would hope - funny how it all feels a bit like Kiama though!
Burnie is a major industrial town that admits in its brochures to a pretty terrible toxic industrial scene in the 1980’s. “Bass Strait was red with pigment from the paint factory, acid rain etched cars, sulphur steam spewed from factory chimneys and chemicals infected our water ways.” They pride themselves with the rehabilitation plans that are in progress. Now, beside the pulp mills, they are promoting cheese, whiskey, milk and creative paper making. However it still has the feel of a small, industrial port city.
Enjoyed the Growers’ markets again, with a more genuine “home-grown” feel than ours. One lady stated how busy she would soon be as the berries were nearly ready. Bring them on!
Enjoyed a concert of a Scottish fiddler who chatted on about the history of the compositions.
Free camped on Cooee Point right on the water. The water is 10 metres away and we love listening to the sound of waves at night. 3 -5 campers every night. We are staying 3 nights and off in the car for drives. The weather has been really good, though cool by our standards - “cardi” on and off. Locals are commenting on how good it is!
Visited an 11 hectare rhododendron garden out of town and surprised that we didn’t miss them all. We were very impressed with the unusually long flowers of a pale wisteria in peak condition. The seasons are “later” in Tasmania, as we are discovering!
Politics are fundamental and dirty in Tassie and seem to revolve around pro- and anti- timber and pulp mills positions. The Greens have a strong presence down here and has an arch nemesis in the Timber Communities Australia (TCA) which represents the timber interests. The TCA have been mounting a venomous campaign in the local media against the Greens and the more outrageous claims include - every vote for the Greens will cost a person their job, or a vote for the Greens will reduce your superannuation, lower the value of your house and mean no roads, farms, mines or dams!! You can image a Green Monty Python type village in Tassie, where people wander around saying “mud – mud! You lucky bugger, I wish I had mud to build my house with, we only have biodegradable leaves and our house falls apart every week!”