There are few instances when being on the wrong side of 35 in the media works to one’s advantage. But when the Over 50s travel mag Get Up & Go needed a mature but still ambulatory journalist to trek through the remote wilderness of Tasmania’s north-east being about 600 years old in journalist years played out in my favour. After a day of fine dining and genteel sightseeing in Launceston I found myself lugging a pack, with three couples who actually were over 50, along the pristine coastline of the Bay of Fires (so called because the original Indigenous inhabitants used to keep fires constantly burning on the beach to keep themselves warm). A lot of holiday destinations market themselves as allowing you to ‘get away from it all’ but I doubt much compares to schlepping along endless pristine beaches, largely out of mobile and email range, in the most sparsely populated corner of one of the most sparsely populated islands in the world. On the rare occasions I was sufficiently energetic to get out in front of the other six guests and two guides I could very easily imagine myself to be the last – or first – person on earth. It’s a bit pricey ($2150 – $2,300) if you’re not a freeloading travel writer but still well worth the price of admission if you’re after a restorative glamping getaway.
epistlinginthedark 