The secret of a good blog entry is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible :-)
There are many blogs about Tasmania. Back in 2003 I used to read the Tasmanian dolebludger blog (by Meika VonSamorzewski)
Only Tassie pubs like Shippies at Batery Point provide in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat Van Diemen Land: Is Tasmania Really A Part Of Australia?
It is believed that the island was joined to the mainland until the end of the last glacial period approximately 10,000 years ago.
Much of the island is composed of Jurassic dolerite intrusions (upwellings of magma) through other rock types, sometimes forming large columnar joints. Tasmania has the world's largest areas of dolerite, with many distinctive mountains and cliffs formed from this rock type. The central plateau and the southeast portions of the island are mostly dolerite. Mount Wellington above Hobart is a good example, showing distinct columns known as the Organ Pipes. In the southwest, Precambrian quartzites are formed from very ancient sea sediments and form strikingly sharp ridges and ranges, such as Federation Peak or Frenchman's Cap. In the northeast and east, continental granites can be seen, such as at Freycinet, similar to coastal granites on mainland Australia. In the northwest and west, mineral rich volcanic rock can be seen at Mt. Read near Rosebery, or at Mt. Lyell near Queenstown. Also present in the south and northwest is limestone with some magnificent caves.
Tasmania is an Australian island and state of the same name. It is located 240 kilometres (150 mi) south of the eastern side of the continent, being separated from it by Bass Strait. The state of Tasmania includes the island of Tasmania and other surrounding islands. Tasmania has an estimated population of 494,520 (March 2008)[4] and an area of 68,401 square kilometres (26,410 sq mi).
Tasmania is promoted as the Natural State and the "Island of Inspiration"[5] owing to its large and relatively unspoiled natural environment. Formally, almost 37% of Tasmania is in reserves, National Parks and World Heritage Sites.[6] The island is 364 kilometres (226 mi) long from the northernmost point to the southernmost point and 306 kilometres (190 mi) from west to east.
The first reported sighting of Tasmania by a European was on 24 November 1642, by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman. Captain James Cook also sighted the island in 1777, and numerous other European seafarers made landfalls, adding a colourful array to the names of topographical features.
The first settlement was by the British at Risdon Cove on the eastern bank of the Derwent estuary in 1803, by a small party sent from Sydney, under Lt. John Bowen for the purpose of preventing the French from claiming the island. An alternative settlement was established by Captain David Collins 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to the south in 1804 in Sullivan's Cove on the western side of the Derwent, where fresh water was more plentiful. The latter settlement became known as Hobart Town or Hobarton, later shortened to Hobart, after the British Colonial Secretary of the time, Lord Hobart. The settlement at Risdon was later abandoned.
The early settlers were mostly convicts and their military guards, with the task of developing agriculture and other industries. Numerous other convict-based settlements were made in Van Diemen's Land, including secondary prisons, such as the particularly harsh penal colonies at Port Arthur in the southeast and Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast.
Van Diemen's Land was proclaimed a separate colony from New South Wales, with its own judicial establishment and Legislative Council, on 3 December 1825.
• Be careful about Tasmania Devils; Dog owners behind mass penguin kill;
Coda: "The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers."
-Erich Imrich Fromm
Pondering in Tassie about Rose of Bells: It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman in Tassie to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics or chemistry ...
It is of no benefit to got to bed early to save the candle, if the result is twins ...
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.
-- Oscar Wilde
Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people only once a year...
Insanity in individuals is something rare, but in groups, parties, nations and expochs, it is the rule ... ach ... Friedrich Nietzsche
By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
-- Socrates
She had a rose named after me and she was very flattered. But she was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: 'No good in a bed, but fine against a wall ;-)
I've just learned about her illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial...
I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.
-- Mark Twain
I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure ...
I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it ;-)