Tasmania: Bonorong Boomerang

I have a few more Bonorong pics I want to post:

Tasmanian Devils' jaws have more than 6 times the power of a pit bull's. They crush everything. And they eat anything. Raw meat, for one. 

You can tell everyone who works there really loves what they do.

 Justin petting the stupid koala.

Tasmania: Bonorong WIldlife Sanctuary

Our last day staying in Hobart we went to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. This was another highlight of the trip--they primarily care for injured and orphaned animals. It was so great! You can feed kangaroos. See koalas. Check out weird birds! You can see Tasmanian Devils* -- we lucked out into a tour where we could watch them being fed. I'll get to that in a sec.

(*One thing I forgot to mention in my Maria Island writeup: Tasmanian Devils have been deeply affected (as in not sad but lost 70ish% of their population throughout Tasmania though a communicable facial tumor. Scientists are taking healthy populations and setting up colonies of them in isolated areas such as Maria Island to help repopulate them.)  

When you pay your entry fee. they give you a little bag of food for the kangaroos. If you've ever gone to a petting zoo and gotten feed pellets for the goats, it's kind of like that. They sort of look like a cross between a goat and a rabbit.

Also they like being chucked under the chin. One of my cats likes this too, btw.

These birds are called Tawny Frogmouths. They are SO COOL. They look like wood.

Tasmanian Devils! Justin got some great video of them. I need to get a hold of it.

You could pet a koala! They are very stupid.

Kangaroo with the joey!

Tasmanian devils look sort of like a cross between a piglet and a cat.

A baby wombat. That's right. Well, a ranger with a baby wombat. Both kinda cute. What?

Ranger feeds the devils.

LOOK AT THE LITTLE BABY WOMBAT!

Koala fur is dense and a little coarse. It feels like the batting inside a cheap pillow or stuffed animal.

More in a bit.

Maria Island: Day 4

It was time to say goodbye to Maria Island the next day. We got a slow start and wandered into Darlington. Justin and I decided to go to the fossil cliffs, about an hour's walk from Darlington. It was hot and we wondered if we should bother. I'm glad we did; you don't go across the world to not do stuff, you know?

More ruins from the Darlington area:

 Those are former silos, not a nuclear reactor.

 I love their  logo.

And then it was time to leave. The ferry was a little choppier on the way back. But whatever! We saw dolphins! I don't have any pictures, but trust me. There were a few of them! All rounded and shiny and playful, following our boat and jumping in and out of the water in these perfect, joyous, fun little arcs. "Bye guys! Hope you had fun!" They hung with us for a little while and then decided they were done. I got a little teary, like with the penguins. 

Bye, Maria Island! We won't forget you!

Maria Island: Day 2

The next morning was a little rough; Justin had a pretty bad cold and kept us up most of the night, not in the good way. But that was soon forgotten (at least by me) as we walked on several gorgeous, deserted beaches that looked like this:

Black swan, black swan.

Justin has legs. And he knows how to use them.

This day was about 12k of walking, most of it flat and over beaches. Each one was more gorgeous than the last!

Eventually, we turned inland to check out some of the convict sites:

Justin outside the remnants of a cell.

Imagine being deported from England for stealing a loaf of bread and ending up in this kind of beautiful, haunting isolation as a result.

Cells.

Maria Island is a haven for many different kinds of birds. The Cape Barren geese were some of my favorite.

Some panorama shots:

...of the beach, where, sweaty and hot, we raced into the water and played in the waves. Yes! Even Justin! It beat the hell out of a motel shower.

Day 3 coming up!