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Published: March 12th 2009
Wombat
A Small Marsupial Creature.Day 124
We woke up at our free campsite to another beautiful morning, it was warm and the sun was strong.
I got up and went to make tea, I asked Caroline if she wanted her first cup and she asked me what time it was, 7.20 I said, “give me another ten minutes!!”
I sat outside at our table, piping hot tea steaming in the morning air, checking e-mails and uploading the blog for Kangaroo’s in bullet proof vests. We have had an e-mail from Vicki and Norm who have been reading our blog and are in the throws of planning their trip for six weeks in Tasmania. We had also had an email from Roz the daughter of Lionel and Janet who we first met at Singapore airport and then at their lovely beach house in Narrabeen, on the outskirts of Sydney. Roz has been periodically reading our blog which we really appreciate, and we responded by wishing them our very best, such nice people.
Packing up the trailer we got away for just 10.00 am, on these free camp site you have no conditions about having to leave by a certain time, you could
Another Wombat
This Wombat looked for a big enough gap under the boardwalk. stay in bed all day if you so wanted. Our onward journey to Cradle Mountain was only 42K’s, and we were both really excited about going back to this area so wanted to get on the road.
On route we popped in to another free camp site at Moina on the edge of Lake Gardenier, its only suitable for a couple of trailer tents and would need to be accessed by a 4x4, and obviously has no facilities. But what a view waking up to that panorama every day would be a spectacle.
Onwards to Cradle we pulled in at around 11.30, we parked and went in, it was like visiting old friends, Clare and the others all said G’day how’s it going and where have you been? We had to give them a blow-by-blow account of what has been going on.
Mark her Husband came in and we started to chat, they are looking for relief Managers here at the park, they feel Caroline and myself fit the bill, and would we be interested in the position. We talked about salaries, and the like then Caroline and myself went to pitch our trailer and talk about
What Can You See?
Wombats are well disguised in this environment the proposal.
My thoughts are this it would give a different dimension to our trip, it would give us some more cash for our trip, It would allow let us explore Tasmania in greater depth. Caroline is not so sure, she thinks that it will stall the trip and not get started again, which I disagree, we can start and stop this adventure as much as we like. Our mission was to have a change from what our lives were like before and all these experiences just contribute to it. We will need to give our answer by Friday latest. (I don’t think that it will stall the trip, I feel it is not the right time for us to make a commitment like this, I agree that it will allow us to explore Tasmania in greater depth which I would enjoy as much as Andy, however my mind set is that we are touring Australia for the moment and this was not part of the plan, well my plan anyway).
The trailer was all put up, it was still a beautiful day so we mooched around a bit, drank too many cups of tea, did some photo
Eva-Maria
... strokes a wombat. management and had a shower.
At around 5.00 we went out up to Waldheim which is around Ronny Creek area, while driving I said to Caroline, “Where are the Wombats” just as I said that Caroline noticed a Wombat on the right hand side. We drove down and parked the truck, put our boots on, grabbed our camera’s and headed off to try to intercept this Wombat that was ambling down the hill.
As soon as we were on the board walk they all just started to appear, they were obviously waking up and been directed by their stomachs.
We sat down on the board walk as their eyesight is poor but their hearing is excellent, and their sense of smell even better, luckily Caroline had just had a shower or she would have scared them all away.
We were sitting there quietly and a gorgeous one just waddled past, under the boardwalk then out the other side and up the hill. A lady walked up, fascinated as much as we were by the Wombats, we started chatting, she too loved the Wombats, we pointed out 3 that were close by, she sat down with us
and we all just fell in to this huge conversation.
Eva-Maria is Austrian, a country we love, and a long, long story but a divorcee, and at 54 has just started living again, and is now exploring this beautiful Island of Tasmania.
We offered Eva-Maria a lift back to the rangers centre where she had left her car, so started to walk back to the Ronny Creek car park, however just walking past a large rock, engrossed in our conversation, we frightened a Wombat that must have been snuffling about just by the board walk.
The poor creature was truly frightened and bolted underneath the board walk, we looked underneath and saw she had popped out about 2 meters along, so we walked towards her gently and she stayed where she was. Eva was lucky enough to stroke the Wombat and the Wombat seemed to like to be stroked. I used Eva’s camera to take some photo’s.
Back at the truck we all jumped in, we dropped Eva Maria back at the rangers station, she was very appreciative of the lift. We got back to the trailer and checked to see if all of our electrical
stuff had charged.
It was our plan to go out tonight, possibly do a dusk walk in the hope of seeing more wildlife; A Duck Billed Platypus is high on our list and possibly some more Tasmanian Devils.
Our tea was soon cooking on one of the camp kitchen Barbeques; the baked potatoes were doing nicely in the Microwave, soon to be crisped up on the Barbi. In no time at all we were sitting eating our evening meal, and talking to some fellow campers that had come in to cook their evening meal.
Lee and Marilyn were a young retired couple from Bathurst in New South Wales, and are on a trip that will take them away from home for 3 months, this is short trip for them and have already been around Australia. Lee was a Technician for Telstra for 34 years before retiring.
They have a camper trailer, but have left that at home and have only come away with a vehicle, a tent and a load of gear, they were telling us they fancied walking and staying out on the mountain for a night. I have to say the nights are cold
here now, I would not fancy staying out on the mountain.
Lee’s dad was born in Manor Road Stetchford, where my dad taught me to swim as a nipper, a lot of his family come from Acocks Green. Lee has done a lot of research on Birmingham and new of my town of Castle Bromwich.
Marilyn was born in Australia and has spent nearly all of her life here, here mother was British and her father is Australian. Marilyn’s mum still lives in Kendal.
Something I have not really done on this trip is have a drink, me and Alcohol just don’t see eye to eye and people make to much of an importance on it for my liking. But last night Caroline said why don’t you buy a pack of beer’s and that sounded like an excellent idea. Caroline attacked a bottle Wolf Blass Eaglehawk Cabernet Sauvignon (in the aid of research apparently), I had a few beers, sitting in the camp kitchen was lovely and cosy, there was a fire lit in the grate.
The Possums, “Dumb and Dumber” were on the BBQ licking the fat off, which is gross, its these two who
got in our trailer, I know so as we had a confession from one of the Quolls. We could also tell because one of them has a dodgy eye. They flicked the heavy lid off the BBQ just with their snouts; they don’t give a dam when people are standing around watching them they just carry on.
A Tasmanian Devil happened past and peered in through the window for the second time this evening, I have never seen so many people move in unison, and as they did he just padded away, still no photo yet, but there still is time.
We had a few games of cards and a chat and suddenly it was 11.00pm nearly the latest we have been to bed on this trip. We packed up and headed for bed, we just needed to collect our bedding from the tumble dryer on the way back. Caroline had put it in there to make sure it was not damp after being washed earlier.
That’s all folks, no more than that happened honest!!
Wherever we go people ask if we are enjoying Tasmania, of course we are, I’ve even got the scars to prove
Free Campers
Gowrie, O'Neills Picnic Reserve it. Tasmania is a lovely part of Australia and should not be missed out if you are ever in this part of the Southern Hemisphere.
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Darryl and Sarah
Wallaby Wanderers
Making an impact
Hey you guys. Wombat count is impressive! Proposal of relief managers even more impressive even if you don't take this opportunity I'm sure there will be more. You've given a great account of Tasmania, don't think there will be many reading this who wouldn't want to visit in light of your experiences! Take care, Darryl & Sarah