[Ainan]

Hello everyone. I'm in Tasmania at the moment and have fallen in love with the island state. I've decided this is probably the place for me to stay. But I'm not an Aussie and I'd like to hear some thoughts on Tasmania as a location for a doomstead.

Have any peakoilers lived in Tasmania? Does anyone know about the transistion movement here?

You get the idea, I'm looking for thoughts on Tasmania as a place to live now and in the post peak world.

[SeaGypsy]

Geez Ainan you don't muck around!
Tassie is in a peculiar position out of the whole world. Similarly isolated to New Zealand, but a state of Australia. Bass Straight is a very serious barrier between mainland Oz and Taswegia.
Tassie is very cold compared to the mainland of Oz, it is prone to serious droughts from time to time.
It is very politicly polarised. Most people are hard core loggers or greenies. The economy is shit compared to the northern states where i live. I think unemployment is about 8% compared to 3% in the Northern Territory.
The upside of this is that land and housing are way cheaper than almost anywhere in the country.
Tassie is famous worldwide for it's genocide of local Indigenous people in the 1st 2 decades of white settlement. The history books say Truganini was the last full blood to die in about 1876, but the truth is there were only 21 left in 1818. The history of early Tasmania is brutal.
Salamanca markets is the main meeting point for alternative lifestylers in Tassie these days. Not a place to shop if you are on a budget.
There are still some great wilderness areas in Tasmania. There are a lot of very sincere, down to earth people who have seen the writing on the wall and moved there for doomerish reasons. There are also areas where if you park your car with a greenie sticker on it you will come back to find it has all it's windows smashed and tyres slashed.
You will already be finding all this out from the locals by now I imagine?
No doubt the place is very special. If you can find a good job there, within a couple of years you could be well on your way to doomer Shangri-La.

[Ainan]

Thanks for the replies. Good points on the job front, that's the real trick.

@SeaGypsy: Yeah I have noticed a bit of hostility. People are people wherever you go, at least there's less of them here than most other places.

May have to leave Tassie to save up some money, but I think it's here I'd like to end up. Trying to build up some contacts here and learn a little about the place. It's going to be a long road.

If anyone knows of any IT companies in Tasmania that are looking employees give me a PM.

[Pretorian]

Why dont you go around all over downunder before you make up your mind? Is there anything special about tasmania, aside of a good location? Islanders are always hostile to aliens, no matter what island we will talk about, thats the most natural thing since they feel overpopulation issues before any other groups of people do. In ancient Greece many were forcing even their own children to leave islands and when they were trying to come back starving because of unseccessful colonization effort they were usually forbidden to land.

[SeaGypsy]

He has a year to find a base or extend his visa based on remote or farm work; hence the rush.
I agree however, as someone who has lived and worked in every state of Australia that ultimately it's a good idea to have a righteous look around before pegging a spot.
Ainan has told me he likes cold; the opposite to me. I haven't owned a jacket or a jumper in years, I only go south in peak summer every few years.
I also find the monoculture of transplanted England is dying slowest down in the rural south.
Here in the far north it is much more of a melting pot.

[SFDukie]

Fanny Cochrane Smith, who was also the source for the only recordings in an indigenous Tasmanian tongue, was probably the last full blooded Tasmanian aboriginal when she died in 1905.
http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/divisions/cdd/women/leadership/significant_tasmanian_women/significant_tasmanian_women_-_research_listing/fanny_cochrane_smith

[Ainan]

Well, having a look around is always a good idea but I really like Tassie and a good plan today is better than the perfect plan tomorrow. Having said that I may spend some time in the island the the North to get some Aussie work experience. I will spend a few more weeks here and see.

Also, you don't need a jacket here in Tassie! I only started wearing a jacket in Melbourne to stop people from staring at me. Bloody coat-carrying communists.

[SeaGypsy]

Fannie was typical of the tiny minority which survived genocide, spending most of he life in utter servitude to her conquerers effectively. Truganini was a true warrioress, her life story is quite incredible. She only gave up fighting after every man in her warclan was dead and 3 women remained, she outlived the others by over 50 years and was treated like a royal prisoner "Truganini; the Queen of Van Diemen's Land".