Down in Tasmania

---

Despite its name and being so far south, Tasmania is not the exotic place many believe it to be. The mainland Aussies actually regard it the way many Americans regard West Virginia. Basically the towns and cities (very small cities) look like the towns and cities in Ireland. The pastures with sheep look like Ireland too. The mountains, trees, lakes, etc are bigger though, more like the landscape of central PA or the Rockies in the US. Unlike the landscape of PA, the Rockie, and Ireland, there are incredible beaches in Tasmania that made me wish it were summer time so I could swim in the sea. The most beautiful beach was Wineglass Bay in Freycinet National Park. I will go back someday to swim at this beach. The water was crystal clear and blue, definitely not like the Jersey shore in the winter. I even saw three dolphins (or porpoises?) swimming in the water not far from the shore. It was a long hike to the bay and back with lots of rock scrambling but it was well worth it.

Going hand in hand with Australian landscapes are the strange Australian animals. I saw numerous Tasmania devils in action (all in a wildlife park). The devils are about the size of a really fat cat but not as good at hunting. They are really cute until they open their mouths and make this horrible screeching, yelling sound as they pretend (and sometimes do) attack each other. Settlers in Tasmania heard these noises in the woods and thought they came from devils or demons, which is where the animal’s name comes from. They also loose any remanent of their cuddly appeal when you see them eat. Since they can only catch small, wounded, slow things, they are mostly scavengers that will eat anything and everything. By everything I mean bones, fur, skin, claws, teeth, they completely clean up. Their jaws are the most powerful in the world for an animal their size and you believe it when you see and hear them easily crunch through the leg of kangaroo. They are pretty dumb too. The father devils will try to steal and eat the baby devils from the pouch and back of the mother. The baby devils have to fight their mom off for any food they find. The mom does not give them any food and will take her babies food if she can. Baby devils have to grab a chunk of whatever they find and climb a tree to eat. Devils lose the ability to climb, as they become adults.

Despite the devils viciousness, they never attack humans or even dogs or anything that can move at a decent pace. You never really see them in the wild unless one has an unfortunate end with a car. Right now the species in great danger due to an infectious cancer that has halved the population in the past 10 years. The cancer causes facial tumours that cause a painful death. No one knows where the cancer came from, how to test for it, or how to treat it. They really can’t tell yet if the species will survive.

Moving on to cuter, less threatened animals, I had my first encounter with fairy penguins. They are the smallest penguin in the world, about a foot high with dark blue backs and live along the southern coast of mainland Australia and the coasts of Tasmania. Every night, the little penguins leave the sea and walk up to four kilometres inland to their burrows. They are pretty unfazed by the people as they find a path through groups of people on their way to their burrows. Watching them walk around is extremely cute and funny and if they hadn’t told me not to, I definitely would’ve picked on up (and maybe put it in my backpack). So as not to bore you too much about them, I will limit myself to one fairy penguin fact. As they swim in the water, they convert salt water into fresh water. When they exit the sea they have to get rid of the salt by shaking their heads and the salt coming out their noses. Thus, as the guide put it, they are little mobile saltshakers. I found this hilarious.

---

Photos

The beach at Wineglass Bay
I tried to get a shot with the dolphins (porpoises?) but just couldn't do it. This one is still pretty.

A Tasmanian Devil
Her (and yes I know it was a her) not so cute side

Two fairy penguins
Their eyes are sensitive to light so you couldn't use flashes. This was my best shot. Trust me on the cuteness

Another pretty beach
One of the random beaches I stopped at as I drove along

Remarkable Cave in Port Arthur
It would've been more remarkable if the tide was out and I could've climbed through it.

Comments

[Mark]

Huh.
So there are no tornado-like swirls under the Tasmania devils? Very disappointing... Also, I plugged the phrase "easily crunch through the leg of kangaroo" into Google and your page is most definitely the only page on the ENTIRE web featuring that combination of words. ARGH!

[Kate L.]

perhaps i'll try that technique
i wonder if caleb will be able to steal my food and climb a tree after he's born. we'll have to check that out.

[Angela]

blurry penguin
....all i wanted was to see the penguins....darn the world i say.

[shana]

looks like bad pms
do those tasmanian devils attack humans? that thing is angry