Stormwater Thom, the Billabong Bloke: Tasmania Too: Hobart, Bonorong Sanctuary, and James Boag's Brewery

From the last blog post, I thought I would mention two things that I didn't go more into. First, the brushtail possum (see pic below). These guys are not your North American opossums of home. You can really see their evolutionary connection to wallabies and other marsupials here in Australia, and they lack the snout and ratty tail of our American opossums (though I will say their eyes make them look a bit off in the intelligence department, in anthropomorphic ways at least). They were very curious, less than timid guys in Tasmania, and a few of them hung around our campsite each night, checking us out. The second things was our post-backpacking lunch in Coles Bay at Tombolo (see pic from their website below from exactly where we sat). Gorgeous views from the deck, really nice local wines (Devils Corner vineyard), and super nice people! We both had a harissa-spiced pumpkin soup to start and split a wood-fired pizza with all the meats! It was maybe my favorite meal since I have been here, though it's hard to say whether that was because we had just returned to civilization or not, but who cares? I loved it!

Brushtail Possum friend.

View from the deck at Tombolo Cafe, Coles Bay, Tasmania.

From Coles Bay, Cameron followed me in his car to the Hobart airport to drop my car off and consolidate back down to one as originally planned! It was nice to unwind quietly, listening to the ABC Radio International shows (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, much like NPR programming), and taking the scenery of my initial drive in from the other side of the road. We then made our way into Hobart during rush hour to find our place for the night. Hobart is a beautiful, hilly town set along both sides of the bay formed where the River Derwent meets the sea. It reminded me a lot of Astoria in Oregon near the mouth of the Columbia River but a good bit bigger. We drove to the westside of town and up into the residential hills to our abode, the downstairs apartment of a house overlooking the river and city below! It was amazing and honestly quite affordable. As our host was checking us in, he gave us the rundown on the cable TV pointing us to all the sports we could watch, including American teams like the Washington Redskins! I asked him why he mentioned them specifically and it turns out he used to captain Dan Snyder's yacht for many years and was even around when he bought the team as Dan called him to celebrate! CRAZY! We got settled, grabbed much needed showers, and sipped a few beers while watching the second half of an Australian Football match between the Adelaide Crows and my team, the Melbourne Football Club (MFC) Demons. I will surely do a post about the AFL later as I will be going to a game in a few weeks.

Map showing Hobart, surrounded by mountains and along the banks of the River Derwent as it meets the sea.

Dusk view of Hobart from our place in the hills. Truly a beautiful town!

We were in a pretty chill mood but wanted to seek out some seafood as there were a BUNCH of shacks and trucks selling oysters and scallops along the road leading to Hobart (reminded me a lot of the shrimp sellers in the low country of South Carolina). I had tried to order oysters at lunch but they were clean out as recent rains had left the waters in the bay muddy with runoff. We found a spot that was kind of touristy, but enough to get us a good sampling, and we had oysters, fish chowder, local Tasmanian smoked salmon, and calamari, which is much more substantial than what we have in the States. Really good stuff! We then wandered around the marina and local buildings a bit, encountering a really nice park next to the cathedral and some really eerie but cool music piped out to the streets from the Arts Center (kind of odd choral chanting...a bit spooky, a bit pretty, and all around odd but interesting!) We then headed back to the pad to watch some rugby, another big sport here but regionally more popular around Sydney. Cam filled me in on the rules and I have to say, I finally get it.

Floating Fish and Chippery in the harbor.

Monumental statuary to a footballer unknown.

Interesting light up quotes with fiber optics in the ground near the Capitol building.

Some state building I do not recall the name of, looking really sharp on the water on a cool night.

We had a lazy morning as our good weather luck finally ended and rains had set in, but we nonetheless made plans to check out the Bonorong Sanctuary, as suggested by some fellow hikers the day before who we had talked local animals with while on the trail. Plus we had to fly out of Launceston a good 2 hours up the road later in the evening and this was in that direction outside of Hobart. We drove through the rainy morning commuters, stopped and got coffee from McDonald's (drive-thru on the right-side!), and found our way to Bonorong on a really cold, drizzly morning. I was skeptical of how this would go but the folks at the front assured us the animals were not really bothered by the rain, so we bought tickets and had an hour and a half to walk around before a guided tour would start. We were also handed paper bags of kangaroo feed, so that was exciting enough to keep us up despite the rain!

The ubiquitous koalas, here for their popularity despite not actually inhabiting Tasmania. These guys are LAZY as eucalyptus has nearly no caloric redemption, which is odd because they have evolved stomachs specifically for its digestion as it contains a large amount of noxious compounds to most mammals. They are cool but I have fallen much harder for other Australian mammals and am kind of over them!

The Tawny Frogmouth, my new favorite bird! They are part owl, part bird and I find them to be really really funky fun little guys! They have nearly no neck as you can see and that crazy cool owl face and they remind me a lot of something out of Jim Henson's movies like Labyrinth or The Dark Crystal.

We cruised the paths of the sanctuary that had many caged enclosures for smaller arboreal birds and animals but open areas (though still penned with smaller barriers) for the land-dwellers. It was cold and rainy, and most of the glimpses we got of any of the critters were them huddled in warm dens or logs with straw, but it was still early yet, so we headed to the kangaroo range to interact and feed the roos.

Our first glimpse of a dozing Tasmanian devil, deep in his warm den.

Baby wombat poking its head out in the rain. Apparently when these guys get bigger they can run as fast as Usain Bolt and are quite territorial and aggressive! I had no idea.

Emus, dripping wet.

You enter the kangaroo range through double gates much like at the dog park and then are in front of nearly 100 forester kangaroos, a subspecies of the grey type very common on the mainland. These guys are managed as a small breeding population and for rehabilitation and it was obvious right away that they were used to people feeding them. Some of them were kind of aggressive at first until I became comfortable with them. I admit to being a bit intimidated as up close you can see these guys have claws on their upper paws and really long ones on their lower ones. BUT the kind folks up front said that if we scratched them in between their front paws they would love us because they can't reach there, and once I felt okay trying this, they really did! It was hilarious! Their fur is really soft, too. We hung out with them for quite a bit, trying to feed the smaller guys, and we saw several Joeys poking out of their momma's pouches to have a look around!

Roos, roos on the range.

Momma with Joey!

Cam feeding the hungry buggers.

When our feed ran out it was about time for the tour to start, and after checking out a bunch of colorful birds the sanctuary had saved, we joined the group braving the continual rain and were led around by an employee who dropped some major knowledge on us concerning some of the more charismatic species, specifically the wombats, koalas, and my favorite, the Tasmanian Devils. These guys have faced a huge decline in the wild due to a really sad communicable facial tumor cancer. There is promise that the fight against it is turning with healthy populations being bred at places like Bonorong and released cautiously in more isolated areas to spread naturally, though sanctuaries are maintaining insurance stock in case these trials do not go well. The devils had been hiding all morning but when our guide led us to their areas, they came out and scampered around as they had become used to feedings, etc. Tasmanian Devils are SUPER cool little guys, like stout but cuddly looking football-sized dog-bears. They aren't great hunters, feeding mostly on carrion (already dead animals), but their fierce name comes from their hellish growl and the fact that they spread their jaws wide as a sign to others what their bite may or may not be capable of. I really love them and hope they rebound effectively as seeing one in the wild would be AWESOME! They actually have a more fierce relative in mainland Australia called the quoll.

Hello friend! How about this rain, eh?

Male devil named Batman with our guides boot mimicking an open jaw wider than his so he doesn't chomp down.

Friends? Not really. See my Youtube clip below when they got too close!

Tasmanian Devils meditate too!

Satisfied with our animal experience quota being met, we headed up the road towards Launceston and stopped in a nice rainy day village and had really good burgers made from local beef (mine was Aussie style with bacon, egg, and beetroot). With dwindling time, we decided to shoot into Launceston to check out the James Boag brewery for a couple of pints before we flew out. James Boag's beer is Tassies biggest brewery and can be had all over Australia and I think I may have even seen it in the States. They had a couple Tasmania-only brews on tap that we tried (XXX Ale and Wizardsmith's Ale) and they are crisp and delicious in the Aussie style ale and lager brewing. These were made even better knowing they came from the pristine waters of Tasmania, a place I now hold really dear in my heart! It is like a mountains and sea smorgasbord with the Aussie friendliness but way less of the busy feel of Melbourne. I could easily retire to a small farm here way down the road. After our beers we made for the airport and flew out with no hassles, supremely satisfied with a great weekend away!