May 7 - Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary and the Drive to Cradle Mountain

We headed out of Hobart today to go north and west to Cradle Mountain. On the way, we stopped at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, the only private reserve for injured animals in Tasmania. Tasmania has the dubious distinction of being the road kill capitol of the world. Many of the native animals have not developed a road sense, and they (or their offspring) are brought here to recover. In one case, a wombat was killed by a car and a driver stopped and discovered a joey (all marsupial babies are joeys) only a few months old still in the pouch. Bonorong was contacted and made arrangements for the baby to get personal care until it was old enough to move into the sanctuary. In general, they work to release the animal to the wild once they are ready. In the case of baby wombats, this means about at two years, when they become teenagers who are no longer compliant. As youngsters, they are cuddly, but when they mature, they definitely want to be on their own. They do not bond with people and are quite successful after release.

Wombat after the keeper's shoelaces

Wombat being held - very stiff but silky fur

Tasmanian Devil lured out by food

Koala scratching

Koala walking -- notice that of the 5 fingers, two are thumbs

Baby kangaroo watching the world go by.

Some animals cannot be released. Tasmanian Devils in the wild are experiencing a devastating facial cancer that has wiped out over 80% of them in the last 20 years. The cause and a cure have been elusive. Areas that don't have evidence of the disease are physically segregated to keep sick animals out and devils are being bred and kept at sanctuaries such as this in the hopes that their offspring can be released once the disease is beaten. They also had 3 koalas, which came to them after fires that destroyed their habitat. Koalas are picky eaters, only eating about 15 of 900 varieties of eucalyptus, and only a couple of them grow in Tasmania, so there is no native koala habitat here. The sanctuary was formerly a petting zoo and there are several emus and kangaroos that remain from that time. They have become so accustomed to people that release would not be successful.

A Quoll

Jim feeding kangaroos

A mob of kangaroos

We spent the rest of the day driving, with a short lunch stop in Ross, site of a beautiful convict-built sandstone bridge. The two stonemasons got creative and won their freedom for the additional decorative work they did, including a bust of the state governor's wife of the time. Many of the homes here are built of sandstone, and the elm-lined streets are lovely. Dutch elm disease has not made it down here.

Convict-built bridge in Ross

Sandstone detailing on each arch with portrait in the middle

We made another stop in Campbelltown, which has a really interesting project: a decorative row of bricks long the sidewalks with information about various convicts and a brief bio. It is now a badge of courage to have a convict ancestor instead of the badge of shame it was in the past.

Finally, we made our way to Cradle Mountain National Park. We stayed at the Cradle Mountain Lodge. Our cabin overlooked a billabong (aborigine for pond) that supposedly houses a platypus, but the entire time we were there, the pond surface was amazingly flat. Before dinner, we went for a short walk along a river, called the Enchanted Walk and spotted a couple kinds of wallabies. After dinner, we headed out on a king-sized 4-wheel drive to look for wildlife. I guess it was successful because a number of wallabies and wombats were sighted, but it was seriously cold because both front windows were open and I was glad when it was over.

Lynn on the deck of our room, overlooking billabong.

Wallaby spotted during a short hike before dinner.

Another kind of wallaby -- pademelon -- on the pre-dinner hike.