“The sky thickens and purples, but only a few drops fall onto the sand. It’s not the long-awaited shower, but the Tasmanian curse: a dry thunderstorm. The air absorbs the moisture before it manages to reach the ground. Embers that could have been easily put out by rainfall now spread into fires.” Emilia Dłużewska describes her travels in the paradise turned hell.
Why is it so hard to solve a murder in Tasmania? Because there are no dental records, and DNA matches everyone. It’s one of many jokes Australians tell about the island. Tasmania, located 240 kilometres south from the continent, is stereotypically branded as the poor, backwards province, where half-savage natives are forced to resort to inbreeding.
This doesn’t scare the tourists away, and they grow in numbers year by year. Most of them come here in the summer when the unforgiving climate is the most friendly – the average daytime temperature being just over 20°C. Unique wild landscapes are among the island’s most precious treasures. Tasmania is roughly the size of Ireland, but its population is not much larger than that of Palermo. Over half of the island is covered by national parks, reserves and protected forests, and one-fifth of the whole area is on the UNESCO World Natural Heritage list. The rest of Tasmania is mainly green, too: there are pastures, orchards and farming fields everywhere. Cape Grim, the northwestern point of the island, is known for having the cleanest air on Earth. Unsurprisingly, the local government, food producers, and travel and real estate agents are all obsessed with the word ‘natural’, promising Tasmania to be the place where you can finally breathe.
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In mid-January, the famous Tasmanian air smells just like Polish allotment gardens in November. When we drive along the southern coast, the unmistakable stench of burned leaves and grass seeps into the car, despite all windows being closed and the air conditioning working full-on. The pinch of nostalgia goes away quickly. Tasmania has been on fire for almost a month now. The online map, managed by the state fire brigade, shows new spots lighting up nearly every day.
Fires in Austra
