Harry Potter Down Under

It's about as far from the madding crowd as one can get. Antarctica is the next stop.

Symmons Plains

JK Rowling

The Apple Isle,Tasmania is one of the most pleasant parts of Australia with a glorious country-side that is reminiscent of the green pastures of rural Britain. And the climate is far better. Glorious summers followed by  snowy winters with piercing blue skies.

Woman's Day, the glossy of repute reports that J.K.Rowling,  the most successful author of the last 100 years with the Harry Potter books and films has purchased Symmons Plains, a mansion that comes with a 865 hectare farm. Apparently she has bought several properties on the island. Other media reports question whether the sale actually happened but Woman's Day insists the tale is true.

'In Like Flynn'

Others who have sought the solace of Tasmania include the late MI5 officer Peter Wright,  former Sydney Morning Herald scribe Leo Schofield and the former UN weapons inspector Richard Butler who once had a contract put on his head by Saddam Hussein.

Tasmanians who have left for the wider world to achieve success and fame : The Mentalist's Simon Baker, Greens leader and possibly one of the most powerful men in Federal Parliament Bob Brown, Mary Donaldson now in line to become the next Queen of Denmark, composer Peter Sculthorpe, cricketer Ricky Ponting and our favourite swashbuckling actor, Errol Flynn.