Why Tasmania's Central Plateau is sometimes called the Land of a Thousand LakesPeter Grant
First of all Peter can you tell us a bit about yourself? Where you live, where you work, etc?I live in Hobart, Tasmania, in the foothills of Kunanyi/Mt Wellington. I’m one of those “Tasmanians by choice”, having moved here in 1980 with my wife. After 37 years we’re almost “naturalised”, and have three adult children and eight grandchildren all living in Tassie. I have an education and writing background, and worked in that field with Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service for almost 24 years. I took early retirement in 2015, so I could spend more time writing, bushwalking … and chasing grandchildren.
What is Nature Scribe all about?The blog covers some of the outdoor activities I enjoy, especially bushwalking, cycling and other forms of self-powered travel. I also have a great curiosity for what’s happening in the natural world, so I often include observations on what I find when I’m outside. My approach to writing is biased towards the personal and reflective rather than the guide-book style.
Why did you start a blog?I love writing. I wrote a book Habitat Garden for ABC Gardening Australia in 2003, and was keen to publish more. I’d also founded a prize for nature writing (The Wildcare Tasmania Nature Writing Prize), and wanted to do some of my own writing in that style. With full-time work making that difficult, blogging looked like a good way of keeping myself writing. Blogging suits shorter forms of writing, and gives you the chance to create content you can adapt and use later. You can also experiment more, and include photographs and other media in the blog.
Do you have an overall goal?When I worked for Parks & Wildlife, we had a slogan that went “Share the Wonder”. And I suppose that’s what I try to do through my blog. While life has trials and difficulties, our planet is also full of wonders. Some of that is hidden from us some of the time, and writing is one way of helping people to uncover and celebrate those wonders for themselves.