Published The Advocate, February 4, 2006
A FRIEND rang specially to say it was bucketing rain in Adelaide; I might have told her rain was not uncommon in Tasmania but it would have spoiled her day. Adelaide had just endured three consecutive 40-plus degree days, so the rain was welcome. The city is like a furnace when the hot wind blasts in from the desert, and between the Melbourne Cup and Anzac Day you can count on one hand the number of rainy days there. Coasters can only imagine what it’s like. It reached 27 degrees on the Coast a couple of Sundays ago and people were carrying on as if it were the End Time. Everyone assured me 27 here was like 37 in Adelaide. Actually it’s not, it’s just like 27 – here or in Adelaide. They quickly changed tack and waffled on about the effect of humidity here but I was no longer listening. I have grown used to the Coastal weather after moving from Adelaide. The wind drove me crazy for months and then one day I realised there was no wind, and it began to rain. But summer here is special – real Goldilocks weather. An aside: 170 years ago tomorrow, February 5, 1836, the English naturalist Charles Darwin sailed into Hobart Town aboard the Beagle on his five year voyage around the world. He made several inland trips to study the geology and departed 12 days later to eventually write The Origin of Species, which divided 19th century society for and against the theory of evolution. And on it goes. There is a Mt Darwin south of Queenstown. Such were the evolutionary passions of Darwin’s time that the mountains around Macquarie Harbour were named after his contemporaries, both pro and con. Those against evolution were given the taller mountain names while the smaller ones were named after Darwin’s supporters. Very Tasmanian, that. But Darwin loved the Tasmanian summer and said were he to live anywhere other than in England, it would be Tasmania. Had he visited Hobart in mid-August when it’s cold enough at night to crystallise the wax in your ears, he might have thought differently. Tourism Tasmania could do a lot worse than to quote Darwin to promote Tassie as a summer escape for hot mainlanders. It is currently doing a lot worse: the ridiculous 'Rejuvenation through Inspiration' advertising campaign aimed at luring tourists from Melbourne and Sydney. For mainlanders who spend a large part of summer locked inside with the blinds drawn and the air conditioner on full-blast, it’s not rejuvenation they desire, it’s a cool change. When it’s 35 degrees in Melbourne, the Coast’s 25 degrees is mighty appealing. I know this by the phone calls from mainland friends and family who watch the Tasmanian weather map with envy. Why not adopt 'Tassie – a Cool Change' as a summer marketing slogan? Or 'Come for a Change'; or 'Breath of Fresh Air'; or 'Refresh your senses'; or simply 'Chill Out'. Anything but the insipid 'Rejuvenation through Inspiration'.
