h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I thought Bran's piece on Hobart was very good, but missed some really important aspects that may have been of interest to all those who are less familiar with the city, and the State of Tasmania, than either Bran or me.

For instance, Hobart was established before Melbourne. Hobart's harbour is bigger than Sydney's. Errol Flynn was born and raised in Hobart. Some other famous Tasmanians include David Boon, Darrell Baldock and Piping Lane. You can see the Aurora Australis in Hobart, and an awe-inspiring experience it is, too. And how many people have a duck-billed platypus messing around in a stream at the bottom of their garden? Everyone knows about kangaroos and koalas, but what about echidnas, and bandicoots, and Tasmanian devils, and wombats? Or our convict heritage, courtesy of the British? Or our rich aboriginal heritage, which predates white settlement by tens of thousands of years?

Our trout fishing is the best in the world, as is the quality of our air and water. Tasmanian Atlantic salmon ditto. Our cheeses and wines are superb, and you would kill for our fruit and vegetables. We don't have the Olympic Games, or a theme park, or an AFL standard football ground. But we do have other international-standard creature comforts, such as Macdonalds, Burger King, KFC, Coke and Nescafe.

Come on Tasmanians, build on Bran's framework and give h2g2 readers and Internet users generally a real insight into the Island State!

Walter of Colne.

Excellent stuff Walter! This was actually my first entry so I was a bit tentative about what to put up. The official one drew a bit from mine but mostly used some other guy who had sampled the bar culture a bit more deeply than myself.

Are there any more Tasmanians out there??

Bran.

Hello cobber Bran,

Glad to see that you are keeping abreast of developments on the site. If there are more Tasmanians out there, they are either apathetic, moribund or not tuned in to us. We must not be dissuaded from promoting the Island State with as much vigour as we can muster - who knows, our enthusiasm may be come infectious. Did you catch up with yesterday's news item about King Island Dairy's Roaring Forties Blue cheese picking up the gold medal at the New York International Cheese expo?

Walter

No I did not Walter my mate. Well done to them! I am still basking in the glow of Strahan being voted the best small town tourist destination in the world by some terribly important US travel digest. Not to mention Wineglass Bay being rated in the top 10 world beaches.

Yeehaw.

Bran.

Gooday Bran cobber,

If in the next week or so no-one else displays the slightest vestige of interest in Hobart Town or the Apple Isle, maybe we should engage in some history-type e-chat. I don't really mind what the topic is, in fact you can nominate the first one. Perhaps we should post the stuff on the history page of this site in the hope that it will attract some attention/response. For instance, one topic could be 'Why were the Middle Ages like a game of cricket?' Or whose approach to history was the more correct: Collingwood, Hobsbawm, Hempel, John Howard or William of Malmsbury?

Walter.

Walter My Old China

Great idea. The guy who manages the history page has done this once or twice ... but seems to have stopped lately. I reckon that we would certainly get takers if we started the conversation there. Have you found the history page yet? Just follow the link on my page to the H2G2 Historical Society if not.

I reckon we should start with your idea of why the middle ages were like a sport of some sort ... crickey, soccer, lawn bowls, etc

Cheerio
Bran

P.S. That should be "cricket" ... not "crikey".

Bran me old pal and cobber,

Good morning. I worked out that crikey was cricket, but it was considerate of you to send a confirming follow-up message. To some extent I don't mind which sport it is, although if you know bugger-all about say bowls, or AFL football it is less easy to write in an analogous manner vis-a-vis history. People who know a lot about sport but little about history would experience much the same problem but then they should not be reading the history site in the first place.

It has occurred to me that this site may be a fizzer and that no-one who does read it gives a tinker's toss about Hobart or history (hey, that was deliberately provocative, although by no means up the scale in how provocative I can be when really putting my mind to it).

Okay Bran, it's Monday, I don't want to be here, I want to be at home in this lovely sunshine doing absolutely anything except what I am being paid for. I am going to take up your suggestion and hit the history site and see what's going down (it could be me, it could be the site).

Walter.

Walter Young Feller My Lad

Here it is Tuesday and for the first time in days I have woken up feeling well and motivated (I think I have had a flu thingy).

When are you going to give up that low-paying government job of yours and get a real and highly-paid one teaching and researching history? (And incidently, if you find one ... let me know as I would like one too!)

What sport to choose will be a little tricky as I know almost nothing about any sport ... watch none and couldn't care less about the rest. BUT, I can carry out intelligent though not so well-informed conversations on: rugby union, soccer, golf (!), tennis, squash, cricket (if I have to), and some others I'm sure. As you are a cricket guy, what say we go to bat on that one?

Have a look at the History Site fora to see the one that I am about to begin.

Onya!
Bran.

P.S. And its there! The discussion has indeed been initiated. Yahooey!

Gooday Bran me old mucker,

Glad to hear that you are over whatever it was that ailed you. I have received my first 'hate' mail, from someone named 'Gena' who I think slightly missed the nub of my sardonic and humorous attempt at self-effacement. But it did give me another idea - why not just whack into every chat forum and be completely over the top offensive and outrageous on whatever topic is being discussed. You know the sort of thing, others forget the subject and queue up to pour invective on you. Think about it. In the meantime I'm off to the history site.

Walter.