Category — Only in Tasmania

Two women who were seriously injured in a car accident outside Tasmania’s Mersey Hospital yesterday could not be treated at the Mersey, because the hospital still does not have an intensive care unit (ICU).

The injured women had to be taken to Burnie Hospital for treatment, even though others who were less seriously injured in the accident were treated at the Mersey.

The former Federal Government promised to reinstate the ICU as part of the take over.

Listen to the ABC Radio report here.

Jelly would have to be one of the luckiest cats alive.

Nine-year-old Jelly spent some time yesterday walking around with a deadly Lowland Copperhead snake wrapped around her neck.

Owner Wendy Wallis said Jelly wandered back in to their property, which borders the creek at Sorell, about 11.30am yesterday carrying the snake with her.

She called wildlife rescuers who removed the snake.

‘Both the cat and the snake seemed quite happy,’ Ms Wallis said.

‘She didn’t show any signs of a bite last night, but this morning she was almost paralysed.

‘She’s at the Montrose vet at the moment being pumped full of anti-venom, but the vet says she’ll recover fully.’

Ms Wallis said she snapped the picture through a glass door, but didn’t dare open the door as the cat would have walked inside.”

(Via The Mercury)

Tonight, Tasmanians will be able to view a total lunar eclipse.

Shevill Mathers from Southern Cross Observatory, Cambridge, together with Discovery Science Channel TV, is filming the total lunar eclipse that will be happening tonight, August 28, 2007.

It will be visible in its entirety for all of Eastern Australia and New Zealand.

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Found: A Tasmanian Tourist Bureau video advertisement from the 1980s … we wonder if they paid a commission to The Sound of Music?

A fine female rainbow trout weighing more than 6kg was released in Bradys Lake a week ago.

She’s shown above with Inland Fisheries Officer Brett Mawbey shortly before release.

Tasmanian anglers have a chance to catch her with the opening of the trout fishing season this weekend, and if they do there’s a bonus — she’s been tagged and is worth $1000.

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Since our launch on July 1 we’ve recorded visitors from 117 countries, and had the odd email wanting to know where our island is situated.

With a bit of help from satellites and The Living Earth we’re able to show you exactly where we exist on the famous blue marble. Visit them to see a much larger image.

Tasmania is the last bit of green on the bottom, below Australia, with Antarctica being the next stop if you continue south. We’ve added a little white arrow to rub it home.

Horse-powered farming is experiencing a rebirth in Tasmania, according to Rural Online, ABC, and the price of fuel may have something to do with it.

A heavy horse association has just been formed to help share the dwindling knowledge of how to train and work horses on farms.

More than 100 people turned out to the association’s first field day at Kindred on July 17.

Field day host, Brad Saunders, says people are interested in keeping heavy horses for a number of uses, not just farm work.

Brad says he uses his Clydesdales for 80 per cent of his farm work.

Dean Preston, a sound engineer from Sydney, obviously enjoyed his trip to Tasmania. Here’s his contribution ‘Spring in Tasmania’, courtesy of YouTube:

Launceston-based photographer Peter Daalder consistently travels around Tasmania in search of images that capture the essence of the State.

He has a finely-tuned eye for detail, visual contradictions, and the impacts on an island going through enormous change.

For his first thisTasmania portfolio we have selected images that show the diversity of Tasmania’s rural landscapes.

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Visit Sheila Smart’s portfolio.

My husband and I have lived in Australia since 1974 but it was not until 2004 that we decided to visit the only State we had yet to see — Tasmania.

It was long overdue and was very much an eye-opener for both of us. We were immediately struck by the beauty of the countryside and the friendliness of the wonderful people. Coming from frenetic Sydney, it was a joy to relax and let Tassie take over.

Photography being my great passion, I was not disappointed. From the wilderness of the Gordon River and Cradle Mountain, albeit in constant drizzle, to the white sands of eastern Tasmania, specifically Swansea, we were besotted by the landscape and plan to return in, hopefully, the not too distant future. — Sheila Smart

A convert to the world of digital photography, Sheila Smart is a Sydney-based freelance photographer, living with her husband and two cats in the northern beaches suburb of Avalon Beach.

Her varied portfolio includes candids of Sydney folk, black and white images, including infrared, aboriginality of urban Sydney and also urban wildlife. Enjoy more of her work here.