TRAVEL FEATURE - TASMANIA
LEIGH WILKINS
SHIT MAN ! I AM LIVING THE LIFE !
R
emembering the place and time is lost , a comment on high rotation , as repetitive as a radio station over playing its favourite tune .
The latest offering somewhere on the Australian island state of Tasmania , a man , reaching his golden years , approached with the comment , “ Wow , you ’ re living the dream ”.
“ Thanks ,” I held back my true feelings , looking across at his wife , she looked miserable . “ Looks like you are too .”
He shrugged and walked away . This happens all too often , someone assuming that a motorcycle traveller is living the dream , well , the truth is , most of us are , but why are caravaners wont to suggest this most mundane of all comments ? Is life in a travelling white box so sterile and removed from the environment that one half of the couple wants a different form of travel , and the other half just wants out ? In Tasmania of all places , a travellers paradise . A microcosm of everything the world has to offer , majestic landscapes , trying weather , remote environs , and a history as old as time . In a box or on a bike , it ’ s not hard to find something to enthuse over when exploring this place .
A few days earlier my travelling companion and I had argued over the most boring of subjects . The discussion had become heated and personal , his argument that my opinion was narrow minded and factually incorrect , my argument mirrored his . The truth lay somewhere between , suggesting that our opinions were our own and quite broad just on opposing sides of the fence .
For once in my life , despite knowing my opinion was correct , you see , my opinion is always correct , I walked away from the argument . In main street
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