Our Proposal

Over a hundred and fifty years ago, visitors and residents could walk from Hobart to Launceston more easily than modern, enlightened folk may do so now.  At some places, on modern, major Tasmanian highways, no pedestrian acceſs exists.  This is a lamentable, retrograde situation.

We believe that we need paths between cities and that such paths would, at a slight added expense (compared with the cost of constructing highways) provide manifold benefits to residents, visitors and busineſses and to the entire State.  The paths, ideally, would feature bridges and ramps to allow maximal acceſs for elderly and disabled travellers and cyclists as well as occasional colonnades or covered walkways (and even pavilions, pagodas, gazebos, loggias and belvederes) and, at convenient intervals, camping facilities, public lavatories, kiosks, windbreaks, playgrounds, and well-directed acceſs to various local attractions and subsidiary services.

A pleasant way to travel the two hundred kilometres or so from Hobart to Launceston would be to amble, by easy stages, between towns, enjoying the diverse, delightful views, perhaps carrying (or arranging to collect) a packed picnic basket each day for leisurely lunches, and staying overnight at various, welcoming hostelries or camping sites, over the course of a week.  A slightly more relaxing trip could involve riding some days in a rickshaw or pedicab or even on a hired Segway.  (Someone in a hurry, if reasonably fit, might comfortably walk from Hobart to Launceston, on a smooth, well-maintained path, within four days.)

We call upon our political representatives to support this proposal.