The first major event I covered as a reporter for this publication was the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. As a thoroughly land-based mammal, I was out of my depth.

Now I'm taking the same trip as those yachts to begin an even longer journey – thankfully, almost entirely overland – from Hobart to Cairns.

Here’s a mark of my ignorance setting out on this trip: looking at the map to plan my journey I saw the town of Bonnie Doon on the banks of Lake Eildon in Victoria.

Until then I had presumed that the town, where the Kerrigan family holidays in the classic Australian film The Castle, was fictional.

I'm not going anywhere as rural as Bonnie Doon but I am taking in smaller towns that we tend to cover less than Sydney and Melbourne in order to talk to people about what matters to them in the upcoming election.

Say hi if you see me.

Leg 1: Hobart to Launceston

Helen and Wally, a Hobart couple I met on the plane from Sydney, tell me they are thinking of moving to the mainland to enjoy retirement closer to family.

"We worked long and hard enough," Wally, who was a fitter and turner, says.

But if they list their house on the market, Helen says with a laugh, she is afraid it will sell too quickly for them to get their affairs in order.

"Four or five other houses have already sold on our street," says Helen, a retired pathologist.

She and Wally keep abreast of politics but have paid more attention to state than federal politics recently – “too busy playing with grandkids”, Helen says.

And though she sees Tasmania as a Labor state, Helen reckons the economy has done better under the current Liberal government.

Joseph, who manages a hotel bar in Launceston, is more agnostic. It is private industry which he sees as the real job creator, not the government of the day (he has moved from Adelaide for this job; his family stayed behind).

'The government can't do anything. I wouldn't want to be prime minister," he says. "You just can't please everyone."

Helen too is worried about population growth bringing the congestion problems of Sydney or Melbourne to Hobart's tiny CBD. Like Joseph, she's concerned about the dry conditions that sparked bush fires late last year.

"It's just barren," Helen says.

Things are different for Manish, who is travelling with me on the bus from Hobart to Launceston to interview for jobs in hospitality.

If he gets a full-time job and keeps it for a year, Manish, who was born in Nepal but has lived in Australia for about a decade, says he will be able to apply for permanent residency.

"It’s very hard finding a job," Manish says. He has qualifications in IT but is working part-time in hospitality now. "The government is putting a lot of people in Hobart but not more jobs."

But he is hopeful about finding work in Launceston.

"Launceston is a second city so it’s a bit easier and cheaper," Manish says.

At least for the people I’ve spoken to in Tasmania, the Scott Morrison’s claim that his government has fostered a strong economy looks believable.

200.5 kilometres down, 4351.4 to go.