Hobart, Tasmania, Jan 28, 2002 Smallest State

By Bob Van Leer
(HOBART, Tasmania, Australia, Monday, Jan. 28, 2002) - This is the smallest of the six states (and one territory) that make up Australia. It is a triangular island off the southeast coast of the mainland.

  Approximately half of the state's 360,000 people live in Hobart on the south coast. We took a bus tour from Hobart to a number of stops around south Tasmania.
  At one of the stops at a private zoo we were able to see a Tasmanian Devil, of which I have heard over the years. The devil is about the size and shape of a small dog. It is black, sometimes with white stripes across its chest and back. It has a reputation as a fierce predator with a nasty disposition although one raised at the zoo on a bottle was almost cuddly.
  The zoo also had a variety of other indigenous animals, wombats, kangaroos, wallabies (a small kangaroo), a duckbilled platypus and, of course, koala bears.
  The lowland valleys are devoted to agriculture with apples the largest crop. We were told aquaculture is a growing industry and we passed a large salmon processing plant. Salmon are pen-raised in the numerous estuaries here.
  The highlands are timber country. The small town of Geeveston bills itself as the timber capital of Tasmania. A lot of the public debate sounds like home. Environmentalists don't want any trees cut and there is a movement to stop building of a new timber milling complex.
  The timber trees are all eucalyptus, some of which must be six to eight feet in diameter at the butt. The trees grow fast and in a tour through the logging woods, signs point out when areas were reforested. Forests planted 30 years ago have some trees large enough for saw logs
  In the forest we went on the Tahune Forest Airwalk, about 30 kilometers from Geeveston, the nearest town.
  This is a canopy walk 620 meters long with an average height of 23 meters (a meter is a little over a yard in length). The highest point is 37.5 meters. Our guide said it was built by Forestry Tasmania at a cost of $1.4 million and is mostly aluminum. Our guide said the airwalk has only been open eight months. So far there have been 80,000 visitors, 30,000 more than original projections.
  We made three stops in Tasmania, Devenport on the north coast and Port Arthur on the east coast. Devenport is a thriving town. We arrived on Australia Day, roughly equivalent to the Fourth of July, but most shops were open. This is a state of small shops-there are no Wal Marts here.
  Port Arthur is a former penitentiary, now a park. It was sort of like Pelican Bay Prison but 150 years earlier. No one was transported from Britain to Port Arthur. You had to have been a convict in Australia and committed another crime to be sent to Port Arthur. Also, there was a separate segregation unit in which prisoners were single-celled and confined to their cells in silence. Many went insane over the treatment. The prison was open for 47 years, closing in 1877.
  Tasmania is a pleasant green island and a nice place to live. But the population of the state is gradually falling, including this year. Our guide said young people are moving to the mainland for job opportunities.
  We are now leaving Australia and sailing southeast to New Zealand. We will be at sea for two days before arriving at Milford Sound.
----<>----