Veronika Wild

The vegetation is much denser here and there are lots of lovely tree ferns At last, we came to the Liffey turnoff, then took the right turn towards the picnic ground.   Would we or wouldn’t we?  Surprisingly, there didn’t seem to have been a drop of rain on this side of the mountains and the the second road was completely dry. Gingerly, I took the van down. It’s narrow and caravans and long wheel -based vehicles aren't allowed down because of the tight bends. There's a carpark for them not far from where the road turns off the highway but it would have been much too far for either of us to walk down to the start of the track. It didn't say anything about campervans. The van is tall but only the length of a normal delivery van, so on I went. About three quarters of the way down there was a wide 4WD coming up and we couldn’t pass each other. The driver motioned to me to back up but on my side there was a soft edge and a steep drop and I don't have great visibil...

That was last week  Coming soon..... Taking a bit of a break to catch up with family and friends this week, so I thought it might be time to finish telling you about the visit to Liffey Falls. On the other hand, May 3, our election day, was also World Press Freedom Day which is vital to healthy democracies, so I want to write something about that over the next few days, as well as thinking about some of the lessons we can draw from the migrant experience. I'm sure I have given you far too much to read already.   Today* *PS. No any Climate Change deniers reading this, this is not an affirmation of your beliefs, nor is the rather large snow pack in Antarctica just now, but rather proof that predictions for temperate regions are coming true - that is, our weather has become more erratic and unpredictable.

Getting ready for the Dragon Dance at a Multicultural Festival in Hobart The tripling of the oil price in the 1970’s was not the only shockwave to hit the Australian economy. When Britain joined the European Common Market in 1973, Australia had to scramble to find new markets for its produce which had hitherto reliably gone to the UK. It entered into a number of free trade agreements such as the one between Australia and New Zealand, between Singapore and Australia and one with China in the 1980s. It also led to the dismantling of tariff barriers between countries which meant that labour intensive industries such as clothing and footwear could not compete with those produced with cheaper labour in Asia. Soon other companies also sought to take advantage of cheaper production abroad and Australia’s factories began to close. Australia could now no longer accommodate large numbers of unskilled workers  -"factory fodder” as it were, and shifted its focus to skilled migration, bu...