This will hurt me...

Ezra's found lunch down at Wineglass Bay Beach!

Henry has been made ducks of his class! .... [ahem] .... I'll get me coat.

Early morning and the sun is nowhere near the yardarm. Elizabeth Street Pier, May 2010. 0⁰ Celsius as I arrived in town this morning. Zero degrees Celsius . I’m wearing shorts. I’m Tasmanian, so shoot me.

Ezra here is starting to resemble Tasmania's most famous export: the master of the boudoir, one Errol Flynn .

Again a shot of Bellerive Oval, the home of the mighty Tasmanian Tigers cricket team! The stand there you can see there is the excitingly-monikered Southern Stand, which I am campaigning to have renamed the Danny Buckingham Stand after the rotund big hitter from Burnie who would have played a hundred Tests if he was born in Wagga Wagga. I'll let you know how that pans out... On other matters, like the Tigers, I am breaking records left , right and centre . This post represents number sixteen hundred for this blog. Remarkably, every single one of them has been brilliant !

1: They are not brown , rather a distinctive black and white 2: They don't spin. 3: They do slobber and sound like the Devil himself . 4: They stink when stressed. 5: They prefer eating dead stuff that they've found rather than the hard yakka of finding it themselves. 6: The first Tasmanian settlers ate Tasmanian Devil, which they described as tasting like veal . Given their protected status, I doubt anyone is out there gobbling them up now. This particular Tassie Devil was Henry and Ezra's favourite of the mob of them at ZooDoo last Friday.

Ummmm. Theme Thursday you say? A tricky one. As ever, I have chosen the photo before making myself aware of the theme. It keeps the challenge up. This one is not too tricky though... The theme today is FLIGHT, and when you say flight, the word that immediately comes to me does not evoke birds, wind or airports; it is the cold, hard truth of reality . Here, two typical Tasmanian CSIRO-employed nerds hunks are taking a well earned lunch break from their daily humdrum reality of, I dunno, measuring seagull farts. Re-creating Hemingway’s allegorical commentary on his philosophy of Manhood – The Old Man and the Sea – these two epitomes of manhood are locked in a desperate battle of wills with nature’s greatest beast: fish the ego . For the most part, reality is a bummer. Back when Generation X hadn’t been superseded by the vacuous, self-absorbed nitwits of Generation Y (why indeed), the kids used to say reality bites . It bites especially hard when you’re stuck at work. So dudes like th...

The statue of Abel Tasman stoically looks upon the Dutch flag on a sunny Hobart day. Of course, this morning it is raining yet again, and Abel is enjoying the chance to have the bird poo washed off his lovely Lutjegasti head. Abel seemed like a good bloke, even if he was a bit of a suck. Upon being the first European to stumble upon this fine island, he promptly named it Van Diemen's Land , in honour of his boss – Anthony van Diemen – head honcho of the Dutch East Indies, a bloke with big dreams and deep pockets who had visions of a grand Dutch empire that would extend into the “Great Southern Land”. So he sent Abel down here in 1642, a good year for most not named Charles I. Despite its obvious charms, the Dutch didn’t think much of the joint. Lazy buggers, the Dutch East India Company reckoned Tasman's explorations were a letdown: he had neither found a promising area for trade nor a useful new shipping route. With no existing thriving communities to leach upon – the Dutch (a...

Theme Thursday again, and this one is rather easy. I am Tasmanian, you see, and aside from being all around general geniuses - as I have amply described previously - we are also very familiar with the concept of WATER. Tasmania is the ONLY island state of an ISLAND continent. That means, we're surrounded by WATER. That should help explain why I take so many photographs of water . Tasmania was for a long time the place where the British (an island race terrified of water) sent their poor people most vile and horrid criminals. The sort of folk who would face the stark choice of a death sentence , or transportation to the other end of the world. Their catalogue of crimes is horrifying : stealing bread assault stealing gentlemen's handkerchiefs drunken assault being poor affray ladies being overly friendly with gentlemen for money hitting people having a drink and a laugh public drunkenness being Irish Fenian terrorist activities being Catholic religious subversion. ...

Here we have some clouds. Not just any clouds of course, but very rare Tasmanian clouds . As any proud Tasmanian will tell you, we very rarely get clouds around these parts. We are quite lucky down here at the arse end of the word (thank you Paul Keating ), quirks of history, geography and weather have engendered character traits in Tasmanians that are quite profound in both their homogeny and uniqueness . In general, Tasmanians are very trustworthy ; we rarely (if ever) lie , exaggerate or worship false idols . We wash behind our ears every time, and brush our teeth not twice, but three times a day . We love our mothers dearly , and we respect our fathers deeply . Tasmanian men in particular are excellent lovers , kind to their wives and are exceptional fathers. Tasmanian women are a credit to their gender ; they smile at the appropriate moments, frown when required , do not talk back to their husbands and benevolent (yet firm ) with their children. Tasmanian children are see...

To combat the depressed atmosphere around this blog today, I though that I would share with you five things gleaned from the latest issue of the Australian Bureau of Statistics excellent little monthly for the statistically inclined, the Tasmanian Statistical News: In 2006, 36% of Tasmanians over the age of 18 had done some kind of volunteering in the previous 12 months. In 2005, Tasmania had the lowest level of household crime in Australia, with 4.5% of the population reporting being victims of actual or attempted break ins or motor vehicle theft. In 2006-07, first home buyers in Tasmania borrowed an average of $164,400, the lowest average compared to other states or territories. In 2004-05, Tasmania had the lowest proportion of people with diabetes (2.8%), and between 2004-2006, the lowest rate of death from stroke (45 per 100,000 population). In 2006, Tasmania also had a lower infant mortality rate (3.9 per 1,000 live births) than the national average (4.7 per 1,000 live births). ...

Here is a shot down Castray Esplanade, which runs down the waterfront opposite Salamanca Place. On the left there, you can see Princes Wharf Shed No 1. It acts as a car park for most of the year, but in Summer it hosts The Taste of Tasmania . I will admit that it gets a bit cramped for my style, as someone who is more comfortable with more rather than less personal space. There has long been talk of knocking it down and building something of a more modernist (or at least useful) bent, but I kind of like it the way that it is. Anyway, this is Tasmania, nothing much gets done down here, people would rather just sit around and argue!

Today's post is in response to a (potentially) tricky question that the Political Umpire threw me in the comments section of yesterday's photo. The Ump was after my view on a story that has had national focus here in Australia over the past few days, titled: " No room for gay developer in Penguin's property parade " There are two parts to this question that in my mind should easily be separated. However, it is worth noting that anti-development sensibilities and homophobic tendencies both have a lengthy history in Tasmania. On the question of development on the North West Coast, I am broadly supportive. Anyone willing to invest (potentially) millions of dollars that stands to create new jobs, attract new people, and help offer viable pathways for residents is welcome in my book. Context (as ever), is vital. When I left the coast in early 1996, spirits could not have been much lower. Global economic circumstances and the subsequent shift away from heavy industry ...

Given that I have been surprised to learn that there are people from all over who seem to be reading this blog; I thought that I would accept an open meme that was presented at Miss Cellannia 's site some time ago. Of course, always short of ideas, I thought that I would rise to the challenge and today present to you "four sets of four things" about my home state – the artist formally known as Van Diemen's Land – Tasmania . As always, bias shall play no part in my representation of my home. A Tasmanian Devil, looking very annoyed Four things that you may have heard about Tasmania: 1. The Tasmanian Devil . Not to be confused with the Looney Tunes bloke . 2. Wilderness . Whether we're talking some of the world's biggest surf at Shipstern Bluff ; wombats trekking through the snow at Cradle Mountain ; the aptly named Hell's Gates on the West coast; world class bushwalking on the Overland Track ; or just getting lost in one of the most remote and inaccessibl...

Fingers crossed that BLee or Johnson have a strain or something, and that the Hilfenstud will get a run in the first test. Likewise, I hope that Hogg gets picked over McGill.

Australia have named their preliminary squad of 30 players for this year's inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in September. Australia's preliminary Twenty20 squad: Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, George Bailey, Nathan Bracken, Luke Butterworth, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke, Dan Cullen, Brendan Drew, Brad Haddin, Shane Harwood, Matthew Hayden, Ben Hilfenhaus, Brad Hodge, Brad Hogg, James Hopes, David Hussey, Mike Hussey, Phil Jaques, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Andrew McDonald, Ashley Noffke, Marcus North, Luke Ronchi, Andrew Symonds, Shaun Tait, Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Cameron White. With only Ponting, Bailey, Butterworth, Drew and Hilfenhaus named in the squad, there are clearly not enough Tasmanians. I've long maintained that at least 10 Tasmanians is crucial to international success. When will we ever learn?

Champions. 'Nuff said...

New South Wales require another 568 runs with 10 wickets remaining. In one day. I don't think that Tassie can lose from here. With Lambert promoted to, NSW may have an early slog and chase hard. The risk for them (obviously) is losing a few wickets. If this happens Tassie could easily roll their soft middle order. If they do, NSW will officially become our bitch. Either way, I’m confident that Tasmania will win the Shield for the first time ever. Whatever, worst case scenario and they lose, I’ll just stress that the final is a load of rubbish and Tassie finished on top, and that was enough to win the shield for 75 years so everyone else can get fucked and we’re still the champions. And looking closer at the side only makes me happier. Michael Di Venuto; Tim Paine; George Bailey; Sean Clingeleffer; Luke Butterworth; Adam Griffith; and Ben Hilfenhaus are all Tasmanians born and bred. Travis Birt and Damien Wright are from elsewhere, but have only played first class cricket in Austral...

At 3/139 chasing Tassie's total of 340, I'm a bit worried. Hopefully we can get the next load of wickets for just a few runs. Riddled with the flu here, and with work all Thursday it's looking increasingly unlikely that I'll get to the game. My only hope is for rain, and the snot and fever to clear up on Friday!. C'MON THE TIGERS! C'MON THE STUD!

They should bring that little ditty back, far more appropriate now we're top of the table and hosting the final! I'm calling it now, Tassie to win the shield! Bugger it! Essendon to win the flag this year as well! No I'm not getting carried away. It will happen, I feel it in my water! Watch for Jaques to get a pair, Paine to get 300 and the New South Welshman get a run in the next test team. Here's hoping the Hilfenstud will do the business as well. And I'd like to see Clingeleffer do the job and remind the selectors that he's the best keeper in the country and should be playing every game.