Hi Family and Friends! I hope you all had an excellent week. Happy Fourth of July! I have to admit I completely forgot about the 4th, as it’s not celebrated here. I guess I did get the Queen’s Birthday off last month, so that will have to do…
This week was pretty slow! All office stuff, lots of spreadsheets, literature research… Nothing overly exciting to report on the work front. I only have ~two weeks left in Hobart, which is hard to believe. I’ll head out for two weeks of field work on July 19th, and then will spend the 1st week of August up in Launceston at the pathology lab. And then that’s the end of my internship! It’s five weeks away but with only two of those weeks in Hobart, the end of this experience feels right around the corner.
That said, I’ve been diligently checking things off my Tasmania bucket list! On Saturday I went to Richmond, which is a small and quiet town (inhabited by less than 900 people) about 30 minutes northeast of Hobart. Richmond has a fair bit of history; it can boast that it has the oldest bridge still in use in Australia and has the famous Richmond Gaol (aka jail). Built over a 15 year period (1825 to 1840), the gaol was small but had all the essentials: an airing yard for twice daily exercise, men’s and women’s sleeping rooms, day rooms, solitary cells, a flogging yard, cookhouse, and gaoler’s house (for those employed by the gaol). It was still in use as a jail/holding facility up until 1928, and was reopened in the 1940’s as a historic site.
Richmond is in a part of Tasmania called the Coal River Valley. As you may have guessed, British settlers named it as such for its abundance of coal, but now it’s more known for its vineyards! Tassie’s climate lends itself well to cool weather grapes so if you like white wines, you’re in luck. I treated myself to a wine tasting at Puddleduck Vineyard, and can confirm that the wines are delicious.
I still had some daylight left after the tasting (the sun sets around 4:45 pm), so I drove up north with no real destination in mind. I ended up right by Maria Island again, and managed to get a sunset shot in before heading back to Hobart.
On Sunday I went to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, which was so wonderful I may have to go back. Bonorong is a phenomenal facility that’s active in wildlife conservation, education, rehabilitation, and so on. Over the last 200 years Australia has had the world’s fastest rate of mammal extinctions, and Bonorong is trying their hardest to stop that trend. They’ve done a lot of work with the devil program, previously with breeding and now more with caring for retired captive devils that are beyond their breeding years. Bonorong has established Tasmania’s first 24-hr Wildlife Rescue Program, the only Tassie seabird rehabilitation enclosure, established a breeding program for the virtually unknown Tasmanian Tree Frog, and so on. They’ve also just started construction of a Wildlife Veterinary Hospital, which will be Tasmania’s first dedicated wildlife vet facility. In addition to all this excellence, all the staff are just so….nice. And happy! I happened upon a group tour, and the guide was absolutely jubilant.
Of course, the animals are awesome as well. They have a massive enclosure called “Kanga Country” that houses 80+ Forester kangaroos (and the occasional Bennett’s wallaby). As part of the entrance fee you get a bag of “Roo Food”…..BECAUSE YOU CAN FEED THE KANGAROOS! I mean, straight from your hand. It was so much fun. Most were sleeping and enjoying the rare bits of sun peeking through the clouds but others were all up in my business, attempting to determine exactly which pocket held the food… So much fun. In keeping with Australia’s theme of “survival of the fittest”, there were no barriers between us/humans and the kangaroos. They have a few guidelines posted for behavior, which of course all the 5 year olds running around, screaming, and hugging the kangaroos followed perfectly… But thankfully there were no incidents, other than extremely dirty hands from grimy kangaroo lips on your palm.
Other animal highlights were the devils (naturally), Tawny Frogmouths, Koalas, quolls (both Eastern Mountain and Spotted), Potoroos, Bettongs, an echidna, and many, many birds. Unfortunately, many of these species are nocturnal so if I could see anything at all, it was of them snoozing. Still great though, and well worth the trip. Apparently Bonorong hosts special night tours, and I’m seriously considering booking one of those before I leave.
And, that was the week(end)! Thanks for reading, and have a safe and happy 4th! Someone light a sparkler for me!
The Devil is in the Details 