Amazing TAP is now 6 years old and are still doing what they set-out to do. Protecting the Tamar Valley from a toxic pulp mill. There have been some twists and turns along the way. Who would have thought TAP would use a global financial meltdown to stop Gunns from trading on the stock market?
A ‘TAP Special Forces Advanced Counter-Insurgency Tactical Response Workshop’ was advertised as part of the celebration.
After chatting with friends, putting-up some banners and cutting the birthday cake, some of us found ourselves at the top of the cliff at Brady’s Lookout wearing an abseiling harness and looking at the big boulders below.
A cold wind blew off the snow on the Tiers and the sun was shining.
Sometimes it all falls into place.
For the adventurous souls of this world the cliff from where bushranger Mathew Brady watched for ships he could rob on the river below would not pose a big challenge.
For somebody who has never abseiled before it was a cliff nevertheless and the thought of going backwards over it was scary at first. When the realisation dawned that you were controlling gravity it becomes a lot more fun.
If you want to do this sort of thing then get somebody like Bob McMahon to show you the ropes.
Bob’s confidence makes that first leap into the unknown a lot easier.
One of the people to abseil today was a 78 year old lady.
This may have been a record for Bob and shows that ‘if you don’t use it you lose it’.
TAP has been a challenge at times but we have always done what we set out to do.
In winter, against the elements, on the river in boats, on the mill site and up Ben Lomond, we have had a go at it all.
If nothing else, being an ‘activist’ in Tasmania puts you in the outdoors with like minded people in a world that has always been owned by nature.
There are a lot of groups in Tasmania defending their right to live in the kind of world they found here. You could call TAP a socio-political pressure group but we seem to do our best work in the great outdoors.
