Greetings and welcome to Tasmania! Now, for those of us out there (and you know who you are) whose only image of Tasmania is from Warner Brothers cartoons, Tasmania is an island about 150 miles South of mainland Australia, bound on the South and West by the Indian Ocean, to the East by the Tasman Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and to the North by Bass Strait, which separates Tasmania from the mainland. With a population of around 470,000, Tasmania is the smallest of the Australian states.

Tasmania was originally named "Van Diemen's Land", after the governor of the Netherlands Indies. Until 1853, Van Diemen's Land was a convict settlement, with more than 5,000 convicts arriving over a period of several years. (Think "Alcatraz" meets "Survivor"...) In 1855 Van Diemen's Land was granted self-government, and in 1856 the name Tasmania was adopted. Today, Tasmania has a budding tourism industry, and as you can tell, is this close to Paradise.

This photo was taken near the town of Sheffield in Northwest Tasmania. Paradise is a small farming area under the shadow of Mt. Roland (seen in the background).

The beans had a great time in Tasmania, and were thankful that no devils showed up...