I’m Closed – Suck it up Baby! Chapter 14.

 

 

Whilst travelling around Tasmania I became addicted to the local radio.  Apart from learning about Blaze Aid and where the bush fires where,  I gained a little insight into the minds of  Tassie residents who appeared not to be too bothered about making a buck or too when opportunity knocked.

Take the 600 cyclists plus 1,500 entourage who were doing a week’s tour around part of the state.   Kerrr Ching …… one would have thought.  The radio presenter posed two  questions

“Were business owners  doing enough to accommodate a group this size?” and others like it,  and

“could we do more?” such as  opening up on bank holiday to cater for the cyclists needs.

The callers were not keen – A local member for the commerce and tourist industry seemed more concerned about the windy weather and one restaurant owner in Bichino said she “needed a rest” – seriously? I was there before the horde descended and it was dead.  Of course, it could have been June in which case she might have been harkening back to a teeming season many years before (see previous post on Bicheno).  Anyway the bottom line was no one seemed willing to give up their day of rest despite the fact that tourist season is  short and they would be able to hibernate for months and not miss out on a single sale.

I give you another example.  Hobart hosted a 7 day wooden boat festival and the last day of the show fell on a Monday Bank Holiday.  One lady,  I met over a dozen oysters, said to me as she cast a dirty look at her husband,  “there’s only so many wooden boats you can look at”  and although 15,000 visitors to the show clearly disagreed with her the shop owners of city of Hobart obviously concurred – as they all shut down.   Madness.

So for those of you who are thinking of a trip to Tasmania,  don’t expect any special treatment, don’t expect anything to be open after 9.00pm and businesses will close during the day if the social calendar is marked – Tasmanians clearly have different priorities and if you don’t like it…….. well as the Australians so delicately say, “suck it up”.