Longford Mania in Tasmania

  View from Cape Bruny Lighthouse A week ago, we headed back to Hobart for a change in vehicle, after some beautiful days in St Helens .We had planned 10 days in the motor home, and that's what we did. Whilst we are a  happy family, we knew we didn't want to test relationships by sleeping in a bedroom you drive around in, any longer than that, at least not for our first venture into Campervan world. While I had a ball in the Van, enjoying singing my rendition of "On the Road Again" on and on again to my adoring audience, as a first time camper, I wasn't crying when we returned it. I would definitely do it again, and I enjoyed driving it for a while during our travels because it made me sing louder,  I was pretty happy with the prospect of a decent sized bed a shower and 5 minutes of private thinking time. I'd do it again, maybe for 14 days next time. For me the Campervan was a good learning curve, the main one being that I have been packing too much luggage fo...

  If I said that I never really cared about my name, which I doubt I have, that would be because of two things. The first is that when I grew up most people had close approximations to the Bible for names such as Phillip, John, James, Luke, David and Roger and so although I was down the pecking order Stephen was ok. The second was that I rarely heard it. I heard “Shorty”, from my Dad, “Idiot” and “Stink” from my brothers and sister, and either “Longy” or my favorite, “Longschlong” at school, so it didn’t matter.   Mum called me Steven, or Kay, or Wayne, or Robbie, depending on what she was doing. Add to this I am a tall blue eyed blonde male that took German in Grade 8, I was comfortable telling everyone my heritage was German and without invoking the Aaryan call   (which I didn’t learn about what that even meant until the second year of training at the police academy) I felt superior enough that it could end there. That’s what Toowoomba can do for you. Again, two thing...

  No one wants to read about how if you make it to the Qantas check in and you have already bag dropped three bags, but the bag drop time closes and you can’t take the fourth bag. Nor do they want to read a story about the fact that there are no taxis at Hobart airport. I’m certain there is minimal interest in just how little information you are told at your briefing by Val, when you pick up your 457 tonne motorhome. And admittedly they are little things – how to get hot water to work, how to avoid blowing up from LPG while on the road, how to make sure the things that stop your shit from stinking in the toilet don’t get a bit wet, because apparently, they are are water soluble. So none of that, just some high quality lessons for a nice relaxing Tasmanian holiday. I’ll start by saying that driving a 6 berth motorhome is a lot like playing Fourza 4 after 8 beers, 6 bourbons and pizza.   It seems like you are doing so very well, but in fact, you are just a head tilt away from ...