Connected, cocooned and beguiled

This is another post about 'place'. I know I rave about Tassie rather a lot, but I'm trying to get my head around this over-familiar place I call home. Last Monday I spent walking to Shipstern Bluff, an exquisite little walk. For the first time I found myself able to tramp along, carrying a pack and wearing walking boots, without feeling I'd lost my femininity somewhere back down the track. Now I'm not saying I was a Lady - you gotta be an urchin child.

Bushwalking makes sense in Hobart. The mountain is a permanent part of our visual environment, so the idea of going for a walk in the bush seems sensible enough. Now I think that the way Hobart people embrace nature flows on into our relationships with people too. Nature's presence - as well as Hobart's creative spirit and small population - gives Hobart people a certain groundedness and calm, and a warm and trusting attitude to the people around them. You're always expecting to share some connection with a stranger, and, even if you don't, you are joined by the shared environment - to the west, the mountain; to the east, the river. It's hard to get that attitude living in a big city, where the buildings are inchoate and the only thing connecting people is the sky.