Melanie

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My Secret Map of Tasmania

 

I was given a plane ticket to Tassie by my family for my birthday one year, as they thought I was working too hard at the time. I had no particular thoughts of a plan at the time, but I had this dream one night where I dreamt of a map of Tasmania. It had a dot on it, like one would find on an actual map, but the map was rotating in my dream & I had to focus to keep my eye on the exact location of the dot. In the morning when I awoke, I got out a map and found what I thought was the location that I had seen in my dream. Redpa. It was written in bold, and so I thought it was going to be a large township, and decided then & there, my trip was going to be a dreamquest. It had to do with connecting with the ancestral spirit of the Aboriginal peoples I was sure, envisioning a greeting given to me by the gathered elders of "We've been expecting you" upon arrival.

After arriving in Hobart, I drove to Staughn, then up to the north west of the island. Excited that I was near my destination, I turned my hired campervan at the sign with the township's name on it, drove past a few houses and a school to arrive at an unsigned T intersection which seemed to go to nowhere in particular. Hmmm, I thought to myself (to exclamate my dumbfoundedness). Where is my dreamtown?

Thinking synchronicity would be on my side, I checked out the houses along the street and picked the one that appealed to me most. It had a moat around the house. I gathered my courage and traversed the drawbridge, well, just a few planks to be honest, and rapped my knuckles on the weather worn fly screen door. The front door itself was open & the house inside was messy and I could see through to the back. There were sounds of children clamoring in the distance.

A lady in her mid 30's answered the door. She was happy in the way that Tasmanians can be happy with no particular reason to account for it. I asked her sincerely, could you please tell me the way to get to Redpa, there is no sign on which way to turn at the end of the street. She replies, "No, this is Redpa". I then enquired about where the centre of town may be. "No, this is Redpa" she repeats as I now understand, she had been referring to the street alone. Somewhat flummoxed at this slight quirk in my dreamquest, I mentally backpedalled & stammered "so.... what's life like in Redpa?" and many other such lame questions, fishing for some dreamquest related info, and where are the aboriginal elders may be found near this town.

We stumbled on self sufficiency as a topic, and she relayed how the man up on the corner makes his own interesting everythings then sells them at the market, and the family down the road grows their own everything on their property. As a matter of fact, she is just about to head on down there now with the kids for lunch and asked if I would like to come along & meet them.

The old guy was out in the paddock fixing a fence & was short worded & suspicious of me. I dont suppse they get many out of towners "just passing through". He had a bad back & relayed the story of how he had a massive disc prolapse a few years back & was told he would never be able to walk again as he downed his tools and made his way towards the sheds & pens. Made of steel this bloke seemed to be. In them he had pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, pigeons, & rabbits, right next to a pretty impressive vege patch. He talks me through a few tidbits & a bit of know how on keeping these animals, and invites me to come in for lunch as he washes up.

4 hours later, after talking shop with his wife & guests, & graciously sampling everything they had made on the premises from cheeses, breads, jams, salamis, and what I told him was the finest home brew I have ever tasted in my life (and I have quite extensive experience in this field), he discloses to me that he is a direct descendent of James Boag himself! Whoa, my dreamquest vision was about beer!

I politely refused another beer & the request to stay there for dinner, as I had to make it to a known big wave location for a quick peek before sundown, and then that I had to be back in Hobart (450km away) by morning for an exploration of Tassies wild Southwest, around the Bathurst Lakes area. They didnt express that I might be a tad ambitious.

There were no waves there, but lo & behold, an aboriginal presence, particularly in regards to old campsites & dugouts. I caught wind of a reserve and jumped in the van. Night was falling. I was driving fast down long sand tracks, the tea trees were in flower everywhere, so much so that it looked like I was driving through the snow.

There is a building of some description as I reach the reserve. The folks there are closing down for the night, finishing off their game of cards, and about to head home. There is no connection there, no real acknowledgement, no "we have been expecting you" or "you're late", just a nonchelant passing appreciation that I would like to enter the reserve and that they had no issue with it.

I followed the track down hillsides & embankments until I found a good vantage point, stopped & got out of the vehicle. Silencio. I was in the middle of fucking nowhere, all on my own, and there was a spread of stars across the sky like I had never seen before, a fucund moon rising above the water of the north coast, and an amazing vibe coming from all the natural landscape that was surrounding me. I was soooo excited by it all, I was having an internal one man party. Stayed on for a few hours.

I made it halfway to Hobart that night, slept on the side of the road, & was delirious the whole of the following day during our expedition, and took an amazing array of photos through my dreamlike lenses. Think I travelled 1300km in 36 hrs to make it all happen, but who wouldnt do that to have a beer with James Boag's great grandson?

I'm getting thirsty now, better go & stock the fridge.

 

(Edit: sorry, posted the wrong story previously, this is an Aussie yarn with Aussie inuendo, but hope it comes across well enough as a story)

Edited by Sanzon

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"One plus One equals zero"

 

 

Edited by sinansencer

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