The Road to Strahan

We left Hobart at 10:00am and arrived in Strahan, a tiny mining port turned fishing village, at 8:30pm. It was a long and amazing drive across the lower west quadrant of Tasmania where the surroundings change from dark green mountains, to desert brown mountains, to rainforest, to craggy rock mountain, to prairies and crisp blue lakes with every turn in no particular order. It was like VT, West TX, the Rockies and WY all got crammed into a 300k space-repeatedly. I don't think I exaggerate when I say we passed fewer than 10 cars in the second half of the trip. The drive made the Great Ocean Road's 1100 turns seem like child play- but since I was the captain (driving on the left, I might add!), I held down my spaghetti rather nicely!

We made several stops along the way-once in a town so small that the entire 'centre' was one building hosting the post office, the 'shop' and the gas station. Everyone-and I mean every last soul-worked at the hydro power plant so it was a ghost town midday. We stopped at Lake St Clare National Park and did a 3-4mi hike to see Australia's deepest lake-crystal clear and home to platypus (we didn't see any). There were HUGE 2,000+ year old eucalypti trees, many of which had been hollowed by fire. We made another stop to hike through rainforest to Nelson Waterfall. Finally we stopped in Queenstown, an active mining town, for dinner where the locals were far less patient with my overly cautious driving.

We are in Strahan now, with a room overlooking the village and the bay. I will go sit on the balcony and drink my Tassie wine and watch the night set in. We are so remote, that there is no cell service, so I am not certain when I will be able to post this entry to the blog....rumor is there is a fancy restaurant with a hot spot- we will try it tomorrow!

I forgot to mention than when leaving Hobart we passed a lake with dozens of black swans! Aa sight to behold...and I am trying to recall the symbolism in the business world- perhaps there is an omen here....does anyone remember? On a related note: I haven't yet had alot of mental space to think about work life after this adventure, but here is the thing: I actually love what I do/ did. Always have. All of it. What I didn't like was the steady fear of job-loss that I harbored for the past 3 years (justified, at that!). So, I'm not sure I need 'reinvention'...maybe just stability...and a 12 week sabbatical!

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