My adventure started about 18 months ago, if not before. My wife and I were stuck in a rut, the monotonous drag of everyday life in England. Many people survive, if not, enjoy the routine of work and play but we were beginning to feel like we were trapped in a never ending loop of the-same-ness.
We'd work, we'd head home, put tea on, sit and watch TV, go to bed [repeat 5 times per week], then when it came to the weekend, we were too tired or busy to actually enjoy ourselves and would get all the jobs done, that we hadn't managed to get done earlier in the week. Everyone has lived this existence, at least for a short period of time. The thing is, we weren't satisfied and it definitely wasn't enough for us. It also happens that number four on my bucket list was: 4. Live in another country. So, could we? Why not? Hey, what an opportunity!
We don't have any kids and our ties to back home (except family) could be changed/cut without major life-shattering drama. Its a scary process approaching 30, in good solid jobs with a couple of rental properties, pets and all the household clutter associated with living somewhere for 8 years, just to then decide, right lets throw it all in to seek an adventure elsewhere. If you ever end up in the same position as us, being ready to pack up and throw in good jobs, sell up and move to the unknown, its pretty daunting but there is definitely success to be found.
After holidaying to Australia a few years before, my wife and I had visited friends in Tasmania and found it to be a 'local' kind of place with a culture and climate similar to that of the UK but even in a 3 week stint on holiday we could see that the pace of life was significantly more laid back. Of course, the people of Tasmania have to work, the same kinds of jobs and livelihoods as any similar climate (like in England) but in some way, when they weren't working they seemed to be really making the most of their spare time. It goes without saying, of course, that not all Tasmanian's live a fulfilling life and ironically I'm sure some would think that living in England is the ideal for them. Nor am i bagging out England, I love England, and it has many amazing places to go, things to see and a cultural history that I love. This blog is all about how at this moment in my life, Tasmania is the place for me to be.
N.b. Before I continue on, many friends from back home had no idea what Tasmania is or indeed where in the world it is. The sum total of some of my friends knowledge of Tasmania is that it has something to do with furry devils that spin around in a mad rage a la the Looney Tunes character, Taz.
Some others even thought that it is it's own country, and that it was in Africa, I think they were confusing it with Tanzania! And, some consider it to be somehow not included in Australia.
To clarify this point, Tasmania is one of the seven states of Australia and is the small 'triangular shaped' island off the South-East coast of the mainland, Tasmania is 42 degrees South. It is generally sparsely populated and the majority of all residents of Tasmania live in Hobart, its state capital city. See it here on the map!
After having moved out here in early January 2013, we set about finding work and exploring. We found work relatively easily as our areas of work were included on the 'required skills list'. Arriving in January means that we arrived in the Summer season, it was pretty warm, 40 degrees in fact.
We settled in to working, adventuring, sight seeing, eating local produce, drinking local beer and wine and doing everything that we could to truly embrace the Tasmanian - Australian lifestyle. It only really occurred to us after about a year was that many of the places we had seen and things we had done, whilst incredibly Tasmanian, were indeed beyond the experiences of many of the Tasmanian born population. This was evident when new found friends of ours would comment how they'd not been to a place that we'd just been out to for the weekend, or not seen an event that we'd done.
Our mission from then was to create a blog, noting things that we've done in an effort to show that Tasmania has more to offer than most people, even Australians realise!
P.s. My bucket list is better off for us being here, ive tackled a good few off it, even in the 18 months that we've been here!
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