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Published: April 20th 2011
Boarding the Spirit of Tasmania this morning, both Paul and I felt a little sad to be leaving such a beautiful part of Australia: the dense magical rain forests, the pristine deserted beaches, the multi-textured, multi-coloured eucalyptus forests, impressive and mysterious old growth forests, the mountains, rivers, the exotic animals…Tasmania is definitely undeserving of the neglect and derision it gets from mainlanders, but then again, being Australia’s best kept secret keeps the island state peaceful. We also had an emotional foreshadowing: imagining what it will be like in nine months’ time boarding the plane to go back home (which for all you doubting Thomases, will be happening, unless Paul decides to become a hippy at Byron Bay!). But then, after another eight months of travelling (the latter of which will be quite hard core, with no holiday homes or farms to seek refuge in) we might be more than ready to say goodbye to our caravan.
With each new destination, Paul and I are constantly amazed at how beautiful - and diverse - this country is. After each experience, we can’t imagine anything better, and then, just around the corner…and we haven’t been to Queensland or Northern Territory yet!
But then I am reminded of the beauty of South Africa, and of the wonderful things my sister Nicole and I saw and experienced backpacking in Europe….basically we live in a beautiful world, but get too caught up in the daily grind of living and tend to forget this. My friend Vicki who is caring for Ridge Road while we are away gallivanting is seeing things in Joburg that I - and even Paul - have never seen. I guess the trick is to, every now and then, pretend you are a tourist in your own hometown, and see it in a new - hopefully reinvigorating - light! (and yes, I am going to try and practise what I preach, as I am the worst offender for getting myself caught up in the nitty gritties of life!)
I think I would love to be able to spend my ‘twilight’ years with Paul being nomads (here in Australia, the majority of caravanners we meet are retirees who have sold up their homes, or downscaled, and spend months on end travelling - they are referred to as the ‘grey nomads’), experiencing this world continent by continent from the perspective of a
caravan, and then spending week or month-long breaks with children, grand children, good friends...actually, Paul had better start working towards early retirement!
OK, enough philosophising, how did we spend our last few days in Tasmania? As predicted, we were unable to see any more of Tassie’s east coast and the rivers we crossed were indicative of the heavy rains that had fallen in this part of the country; all were flooded, swallowing river banks and even swimming pools, and the waters were flowing furiously. We decided to drive straight to Launceston, Tasmania’s second largest city. We arrived late in the afternoon, and decided to visit Cataract Gorge, an amazing tract of wilderness in the heart of the city. The South Esk River has carved its way through the cliff, and opens to a huge natural basin. Normally this is an area of peace and tranquillity, with a proper swimming pool built alongside it. But what we saw was a churning fury of water, swirling within the basin, and no swimming pool in sight: the waters had flooded not only the swimming pool, but also a large part of the beautiful lawns. We decided to treat ourselves to a ride
on the chairlift which spans this natural basin, to see the torrid waters from above. The central span of the chairlift, covering some 308 metres, is purportedly the longest single chairlift span in the world. It was fun! We did a little bit of exploring, and then headed off home, only to return the following day because it was so beautiful. The waters had subsided slightly, and we could now see the steps of the pool - so we realised we weren’t having a legs pulled! We crossed over the swing bridge and walked along the path ways - many of which were carved into the cliff face and ran right alongside the river! Afterwards, we headed off home, but on the way saw a wetlands meander, so decided to go for another walk. This was another long, beautiful walk along a 4km boardwalk round trip which wended its way through the heart of the wetlands - a totally different experience from The Gorge.
Oh, I forgot. First thing in the morning we visited Tasmania Zoo, a privately-run zoo primarily focused on breeding the Tasmanian Devil. This small carnivore is now listed as endangered; its future threatened not by
humans, but by a cancer called devil facial tumour disease. Once contracted, the disease will kill in a matter of months, and there is no cure. The cancer has also mutated at least 14 times, making it pretty much impossible to develop a cure. What does work in the devil’s favour is that it is not genetic, rather it is contracted through saliva. What works against the devil is the creature’s propensity to fight - the ones we saw were constantly at each other, and they looked vicious! And they really do have a blood-curdling screech. Anyway, at Tasmania Zoo, they have a very successful breeding programme. In fact, it claims to have a 100 per cent success rate on live births in captivity. Unfortunately, they get no government funding, and it is not cheap to keep up with their voracious appetite and their need for space. The plan is to breed as many devils as they can (statewide, the plan is to breed a critical mass of 1,500 uninfected devils so that, if the wild population is wiped out by the cancer, they can reintroduce the uninfected devils into the wild). There is also the hope that, because the
cancer is so virulent, it will soon run its course and the virus will die a natural death. Then the captive devils can be released back into the wild as well. Interestingly, attempts have been made to breed devils in New South Wales (the idea being to keep them as far away from the threat of infection as possible) but these attempts have been met with little success. According to the guy at the zoo (I have forgotten his name, but he was the person in charge of the zoo’s breeding programme and you could see he was totally passionate about these creatures) the mainland programmes will never be successful. The reason? Devils breed in winter, and winter in Tasmania is bitterly, bitterly, cold. During this time, there is a markedly reduced threat on baby devils from predators. NSW, cold as it is, is not cold enough, so the devils do not breed because they don’t think it is safe to do so. We won’t mention the fact that devils have no predators in Tasmania, and in fact, have not had any for generations, but apparently, they are not the brightest of creatures either.
Sunday, being our last day
in Tasmania, we decided to visit Platypus House, as we never had the good fortune (despite minutes of agonised silence from the boys) to see one in the wild. Platypus House is essentially a research and captive breeding facility of the shy platypus, and its fellow monotreme, the echidna. Unlike Tasmania Zoo’s success with devils, the Platypus House has had no success in breeding either a captive platypus nor a captive echidna. The research continues, but meanwhile, we were able to see these odd-looking creatures up close, and to learn more about them. As we now know exactly what to look for, we will continue our hunt for a real wild platypus in Queensland, and in northern NSW...watch this space.
We also visited Seahorse World which breeds some species of sea horses for aquariums around the world, but which also works to preserve a wide range of threatened sea horse species. A wonderful experience - William in particular was enthralled. Afterwards, we visited the mine and heritage centre at nearby Beaconsfield, which at one stage was the richest gold town in Tasmania. We went there mainly because it was included in the entrance ticket to the Platypus House and
Seahorse World, but I am so glad we went, because I think this has been by far, the best museum we have visited. A lot of the displays were interactive, including an old telephone exchange, complete with dial telephones. It was hilarious to see that the boys could not work out how to dial a telephone number - touching the number simply did not do the job! Paul has been reading to us A B Facey’s A Fortunate Life in the car, a truly remarkable and accessible account of life in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This museum was perfect as it had many interactive displays of how life was back then; a ‘home’ we could walk into, with mud floors, a wooden bed, and very little furniture; they could pump water; try their hand at writing with an old-style ink pen etc etc. Quite an eye opener. Then they also discussed the town’s mining history - did you know that if all the gold mined in the world were put together, it would only fit into a cube with sides of 20m.
Then on to Devonport where our ferry was to depart early the next morning. We
had to wait quite a while in the queue, and met some very interesting people. We met Ross and Christie who sold everything, trading their home in for an ancient caravan and car, and they, with their three boys, are travelling around Australia to find themselves a new home (I don’t envy they task). We also met another couple from NSW, Gary and Diane, travelling with their three daughters (aged 7, 9 and 11). He is a fireman and she does temp work. A couple of years back, they spent a year travelling around Australia, but the travel bug keeps biting them. When we met them, they were returning from a seven-week stint in Tasmania. He accrues so much leave, so when they decide to travel, she quits her job, they take the kids out of school, and he arranges leave at half pay. They are planning to take 10 months off next year and travel around Canada and the USA. I wish them luck - great role models!
Our ferry trip was again very uneventful - thankfully (we met somebody else who had travelled to Tasmania the day after us and experienced five-metre swells!) A nine-hour day trip,
the boys watched a couple of movies, we did some school work and then a lovely ranger named, believe it or not, William Oliver, visited with his stuffed Tassie Devil called Quinton (really true!) and helped the boys make some badges. We docked late, and then drove straight to Ellinbank to stay with the Tuckers - ex-South Africans, friends of a good friend of ours in Joburg (Glenda), who live in a most beautiful home with a mountain ash and eucalyptus forest and dam for a garden, but that is a whole new chapter!
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Claire
non-member comment
Happy Easter
Sorry to be a party pooper but don't get excited about early retirement yet. Paul's turn to work from next year. We have holidays for life now. Stunning pictures & beautiful cursive writing Oliver- hope the kangaroos bring you boys a whole pouch of eggs. Regards from CT.