the quiet revolution

Woah.

katmeow and I are going to South America next year. Flights are booked, baby.

I've never made such a big decision so quickly before!

Ok, I am most definitely insane. I have just booked myself in to spend 7 days over New Years in the middle of the Tasmanian wilderness. I'm going on a rafting trip down the Frankin River, part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

If the river itself doesn't kill me^[1], the portages and day-hike up Frenchman's Cap will come close!

The Franklin's a part of this island I've been keen to see for a while. It's apparently stunningly beautiful and is also an interesting part of Tasmania's history. The modern green movement was born here when the Hydro Electric Commission moved to dam the Franklin in the 1980s. Protestors successfully prevented the dam from being built, bringing down a government in the process. This makes the trip particularly interesting to me, being an ecologist, environmentalist and supporter of the green movement, and also a current employee of the descendant of the old HEC. Poignant, no?

Meanwhile I'm off to Launceston this evening, spending the weekend "up north" for a soccer tournament in my role of team manager for the southern girls under-16 squad. I've got plenty of time between games so I'm hoping to get out exploring and photographing, providing the weather cooperates and I can drag myself out of bed for the early morning light. A visit to the Ninth Island winery would go down nicely as well. I'm yet to even pack and am not looking forward to driving up in the dark, dodging the wildlife (both human and marsupial).

May your weekend be what you need it to be, I'll catch you when I get back.

xoxo



[1] Refer to Richard Flannagan's debut novel set on the Franklin River: "Death of a River Guide"...

Tomorrow morning I pack my bags once more and fly home to Hobart. I have had a most excellent little holiday, but I am ready to be home again now. I've had a chance to put my brain back together a little better and I think I'm ok to cope with my day-to-day reality once more.

I am tired, my muscles are a little sore and after 6 days of laryngitis-induced near-silence I finally have my voice more-or-less back. Grand adventures have been had and shall be posted about once I'm home and have sorted out the photos. I'm on an alcohol and cheese break as of now for the next month or so while my body recovers from the abuse and neglect of the last 3 weeks (work trip to Brisbane, back in Hobart but too sick to do anything, then far too much wine & cheese in Victoria).

Life, eh?