Category: Tasmania

I ran from my campground down the road to cradle mountain lodge where I picked up one of the trails.

The wallabies were not only out in the campground but along the walk/run I took that morning.

Sorry, they are adorable and I tried not to scare them too much.

I walked on the enchanted walk. I have to say it was enchanted. Wallabies were there but not the platypus I was hoping to see. Regardless, Tasmania is truly unique. Australia and Tasmania developed differently from the rest of the land masses. They did not evolve much. There are many marsupials here as well as tree ferns (though smaller than a long time ago). It feels a bit prehistoric.

Knyvet falls

It is at this point that I do not have any other pictures. I decided to go down the Dove Canyon circuit which was tough. It involved rock climbing, again, and I stowed away my phone. If I had more time I would take it out to show the rocks I climbed up but I needed to get back, check out, and get on the road to get back to Hobart. Time was tight. I did run every boardwalk and trail ran many other sections, then cursed when I had rock climbing to do.

I am really going to miss Tasmania. Walking outside and seeing these incredible creatures has been amazing.

In the evening I went to the sanctuary just to see the devil’s feed and hear them screaming.

They were named devils as when settlers first arrived they would hear these screams and chomping of bones and saw these black creatures running around. Devils…

These guys are young at about 6 months old. They have a life span of 5 years. Since especially the facial tumor disease that had claimed the life of much of the population, this sanctuary had rebreeding and re-entry program as they are endangered.

We learned about mating and reproduction, feeding behaviour, and maintaining healthy devils. These are marsupials as well and can give birth to 40 young each the size of a piece of rice. Only 4 will make it as that is how many mammary glands they have.

This video shows them playing and asserting themselves. Basically the loudest devil wins. Size doesn’t always matter.

We watched the Tasmanian devils being fed. They will be predators and hunt if need be but they are primarily scavengers. They find dead carcasses. They have the strongest jaws of any mammal and can crunch through bone giving them the calcium they need. Watch:

Eastern quolls. This is another marsupial that is not currently endangered.

They feed the same way though they are known to do from a tree down onto prey much larger than themselves. They have the second strongest bite next to the devil’s.

I drove to Cradle Mountain particularly to see different ecosystems and view the Tasmanian Devil.

On the way I stopped in the little town of Sheffield. They have many murals but I really only took pictures of one (I actually did not look very for many. I was looking for a bathroom. Sorry, Sheffield.)

After checking on assignments and making sure all questions were answered, I went for a walk. Dove Lake circuit was easy and beautiful.

Wombats! I decided to extend the walk to another loop and so glad I did as this mother and baby were grazing off of the boardwalk.

Here is a video of these little cuties. They are about 50 pounds full grown.

After that I went back to do more work at the campground and wait for Tasmanian Devil feeding later that night at Devils at Cradle.

Before we drove to the park we looked at sunrise at the beach near the cottage.

On the way it reminded me of Western PA with deer that had been hot on the road only it broke my heart it was kangaroos and wallabies.

This is an 8 km track and the most challenging in the national park. According to them: It is only challenged by those with good fitness and features rigorous climbs with steep sections of slippery rock and scrambling over boulders. Mt. Amos is one of the peaks of an area called the Hazards.

Beth wanted to do it. I agreed but several times along the way I almost went back. It was tough.

The first km is gravel track then it gets really tough. It is 4 km to the top. Though I grumbled all the way, I was more concerned with hugging granite boulders to not slide down the steep slopes, finding foot holds in crevices, and scrambling up rock faces.

Focusing on one section at a time kept me occupied and the view at the top made it totally worth it.

We ate lunch at the top to enjoy the view some more. The area belows is called wineglass bay. Not for the shape but because they used to bring whales ashore and bleed them, making the water red. What a horrible story!

Coming down I crab crawled or scooted down the faces. I was impressed we were up and down in 3 hours with minimal bleeding and clothing tears.

Muir’s beach to cool down the feet in the water.

I took a small day tour to Bruny Island to see the sites and sample some food. It was by far the best tour I’ve done. It is with Tassie Tours and the tour guide was fun and really worked at getting everyone talking amongst themselves and playing nationality games. The one Frenchman onboard was the designated DJ. Fun!

On the island we stopped to get a good view of the scenery. Beautiful!

Our first food so was Get Shucked, an Oyster bar. They have their own Oyster catch across the road so these are as fresh as can be. Literally just from the sea.

Next was a cheese shop.

Next we stopped at the neck. It is a tiny step of land that connects the South part of the island to the North. It is not much wider than the highway. Here is a penguin nesting ground.

Next was a berry farm. They make homemade ice cream!

We took a bush walk and found some wallabies!

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant that had amazing views. I ate smoked salmon roll which is the freshest and lightest I’ve tasted. The cascade beer has no preservatives and is so clear. It is bottled here in Tasmania.

At a beach we stopped at. Beautiful. The water was cool but that day the air was chilly. This water comes straight up from Antarctica. A couple people swam but I decided not to.

On the way to the lighthouse. You can see it at the top of the peak on the right.

Bruny lighthouse.

Walking down to the beach from the lighthouse. Graves of two of the 14 children one lighthouse keeper had. Yes there was not much to do here as it is isolated.

Hobart has a small airport with fun art!

This island is beautiful. I did not have many hours after arriving to look around but made the most of my time walking down Elizabeth St. to the wharf to find food.

Down at Salamanca markets there is usually a large farm market on Saturdays but it just closed. Instead I bought Weetbix for breakfast.

At Fish Frenzy, I ate lightly breaded and fried fish.

I took a different route on the way back and stumbled on war memorials with a clever bridge over a highway.