Poatina

Poatina Village is unique.

I remember the first time I heard my father discussing the possible purchase of an old Hydro electric town at a family BBQ. I thought he was mad.

As I sit beside my roaring fire, fifteen years on, the dream is a reality.

I find the sign as I drive in to Poatina a challenge.

“The way life was meant to be”.

In a lot of ways that statement is more an aspiration and a vision than a reality.

After all Poatina is far from perfect.

What it is though, is an experiment that has mostly worked.

Hundreds of young people have been helped over the last 15 years, and the village is now a hub for trout fishermen and groups from all of over Tasmania who come for holidays, conferences and retreats.

It is the international headquarters of Fusion, and also its main training centre.

It has a school that caters from kindergarten right the way through to grade 12.

It has the main studios of the local radio station, Heart FM.

It has the local region’s first responder team, who will be the first on the scene if you dial 000.

I love the golf course and swimming pool.

Most of all though, what is special about Poatina is what happens between people.

There are about 150 permanent residents and most of them become very multi skilled, regularly volunteering in the local shop, service station or motel, all of which are run completely by volunteers.

That tells you a little bit about the heart of the people who live in Poatina.

They are people who have made a choice to order their priorities so that the many young people who live there short or long term have the best chance of a healthy future.

They are people who will give you a smile when you pass them on the street, whether you have known them for years or whether you are only now meeting them for the first time.

They are people with big dreams. There always seems to be something new happening. One of the big things at the moment has been the opening of a hot glass studio, and as if that wasn’t enough, they created Australia’s only mobile hot glass studio!

The residents of Poatina don’t live ordinary lives.

They don’t always get on,

Things don’t always run to plan.

It can get cold.

But Poatina, in my view, is one of the most special places on earth.

Poatina is a place where people are continually living with the wrestle of what it means to live life “the way life was meant to be”.

Come and say G’day some time.

Interview with me about Poatina

Devotions given at Poatina Morning Teas: