In February 2020, I traveled back to Hobart, Tasmania and spent two weeks completing my research activities. Tasmania is one case study location for my PhD dissertation research. In this research I examine water resource management and climate change adaptation through the lens of agricultural wine regions. In 2018, with the financial support of a Sylff Fellowship, I spent nearly two months in Tasmania conducting interviews with key knowledge holders in the wine industry, environmental conservation, research and government.

 

This return trip gave me the opportunity to ground truth my initial research findings and reconnect with a number of interview participants. I presented my preliminary research findings to students and staff at the University of Tasmania. While there, my colleague and friend Dr. Rebecca Harris of the University of Tasmania and I had a chance to begin a a joint paper and I got to see her present on climate change in Tasmania at the Tasmanian Museum of Art.

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This visit included excursions to three wine sub-regions on the island, including a fun trip up north with Bec to the Tamar Valley and Pipers River regions. I had a spectacular drive into the rugged and wild interior west of the island to see the Gordon Dam (part of the Tas Hydro system of energy generation and water control). This trip I encountered a couple of sweet echidna, saw my first bandicoot, and met a Huntsman spider on my bedroom wall (!). I had the chance to connect and reconnect with some wonderful friends and colleagues. Tasmania is one of those very special little corners of the earth that I have been so fortunate to explore many times over the last four years, and I can't wait to return again.