Hi all, new to the
forum and thought I would post my experiences on a recent trip to Tasmania. We timed it perfectly to arrive as the fires kicked off. It was sad to hear of the losses suffered. However, further losses were suffered at
Bicheno due to exagerated reporting of the fires there. Radio reports claimed the town was under dire threat and that visibility due to smoke was down to a few metres. Many tourists cancelled their stay in the town with serious consequences for the local community. A local business man tipped that some locals would go broke due to incorrect reporting. Freycinet
Park was closed, so we missed that, but
Bicheno was safe and open for business. As we were leaving a town meeting was being held and the locals claimed that "heads would roll" when it was discovered who was supplying misleading and fals info to the media.
We wanted to take our boat on the Spirit, but the coast was prohibitive at $2500 for 2 people, 4wd and 7 metre trailer. That compared to only 360 for 2 people and car. I asked if we could split the deal and my wife have a space allocated to her ticket, but they said that was no go and that space was a premium. On loading onto the Spirit we found that there were in fact plenty of open spaces and ample space between vehicles.
If I had taken the boat I would have planned longer stays in Caravan parks and motels, instead of cheaper
camp stays, bought around 100 litres of
fuel each trip plus bait, tackle and sundries required on any boating holiday. So I saved probably around $2000 to $3000 or more importantly $2000 to $3000 didn't go into the Tasi economy.
When I mentioned the prices on the Spirit virtually all the tourism dependant people went ballistic. Not only does the price gouging prevent huge numbers of visitors, including caravanning and
camping grey nomads, from going to Tasmania, but the pensioner
grey nomads in Tasi are locked on the island by prices they can not afford to pay to go and see the rest of Oz.
The numbers of people who would go if pricing for trailers were cheaper would be a huge boost to the Tasi economy. It is very short sighted of government not to subsidise travel between the two islands.
pete