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Published: November 16th 2007
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OK, so I was trying to get to Narawntapu National Park because that seemed like the best place in all of Tasmania to visit, not least because it is still a stronghold for Tasmanian devils. But at the Launceston info centre I had been told there was no way to get there without a car. Not being one to give up easily I took the bus to Devonport. The ride took two hours. The seats were comfortable enough but so close together that I almost ended up with deep vein thrombosis from having my knees tucked into my chest the entire way. Once I hit Devonport I visited the info centre, where they told me there's no way to get to Narawntapu without a car. I went round to a camping store to see if they knew anyone who might be heading out that way. They didn't. Apparently there used to be little operators taking buses and shuttles all over the show in Tasmania, then the government brought in the big bus companies and now all the little ones are gone and the big ones only do main routes so no-one can get anywhere. Best bet, it appeared, would be to
go to Port Sorell and try to find someone who I could hitch with or get a boat-ride from.
I stayed the night at a pub called Molly Malone's, where I had a dorm to myself for $15. At the supermarket I bought a Nestle "Violet Crumble" because the name sounded interesting, but which turned out to be exactly the same as a Cadbury "Crunchie Bar". And I found a pet-shop where there were land hermit crabs for just $5. Lots of the shops have signs saying "Devonport money accepted here". You can trade your real cash for fake Devonport cash and then spend it in the shops as if it was real, just like at Disneyland.
In the morning I caught a local bus over to Port Sorell and dropped into the corner dairy to see if they knew of anyone who could get me to the Park. Well, says the lady, there's this one guy called "Casual" who is starting up in boats, you could go see him. She gives me directions to his house and off I go. I feel a bit wierd about just turning up at some dude's house at eight o'clock in
the morning and asking him to take me for a ride in his boat, but he was happy to do it. He's just starting a business ferrying people across the river to the Park (seriously, if you had a good arm you could literally throw a stone from the Port Sorell beach to the beach at the western end of the Park). I was his first customer. The only places to drop me off at low tide were both about 4km from the Springlawn area where the ranger station is which is where you need to go first for arranging campsites, so I had a bit of a hike but that was fine. Once at the campsite it took me an hour to put my tent up. It was like a scene from a National Lampoon movie. Yeah, I'm not good with stuff.
Narawntapu is fantastic. They call it the "Australian Serengeti" because of all the marsupials grazing on the grassland (in the evening, not during the day when most tourists arrive and go "hey, where are all the animals?"). It used to be called the Asbestos Range National Park because asbestos was mined from the surrounding mountains. Something
to bear in mind. Narawntapu is the name once used by the Punnaalaapunnaa tribe who are now extinct.
There are animals all over the place at Narawntapu. Wombats come out in the late afternoon. They're built like tanks but really look like overgrown guineapigs. When startled they run much faster than expected, but still like an overgrown guineapig would. Echidnas are common, although I found only one. The Tasmanian ones are much hairier and less spiny than the mainland ones because it is colder down here. There are macropods bouncing up and down everywhere. The grey kangaroos are the biggest, then the Bennett's (red-necked) wallabies. Next down in size are the red-bellied or Tasmanian pademelons (pronounced paddy-melon). Pademelons are so fat and round they should be called ballabies. Although I didn't see any, the potoroos and bettongs are the size of little rabbits -- they're the smallabies. I also was lucky enough to come across a tiger snake. Tasmania only has three snake species (tiger, copperhead and white-lipped) and they're all deadly venomous. Right around this time of year is when they are becoming more active after hibernation.
The main animal I was seeking was of course the
Tasmanian devil. The ranger lady told me I had no chance of seeing one. I said I would stay till I did. She said she would have to kick me out after two weeks. The first night I had no luck. It was worse than hunting kiwi, and that's hard enough. Although I stayed out till after midnight I didn't even hear any of their characteristic screeching. The problem with tracking devils is that, despite their fearsome reputation, they are apparently incredibly shy. I don't know why. I've seen enough Warner Brothers cartoons to know that devils can handle themselves in a scrap so you'd think they'd be pretty staunch in the face of anything that the forest could throw at them. But then, wombats are solid as concrete and they still bolt like Italians when scared. I did see a quoll the first night out so that was something. The thing with staying in National Parks is that I don't get any sleep. I'm out walking all day looking for birds (I managed to see a full third of all species recorded from the Park, which is pretty good for me), and then I'm out all night looking for
marsupials. I'm going to need to take a holiday to recuperate when I get home. Anyway, the second night I was sitting on a bench at a fork on one of the forest trails. I'd been sitting there for an hour and a half waiting for something to happen and thinking that I bet there's a bunch of devils running round in the campsite right about now, when there was a crunching in the bushes and a big male devil comes walking past my feet about two feet away. And it's true they are shy! I moved slightly, rustling my jacket, and he ran like a rabbit and disappeared. About ten minutes later there was a little bit of devil screaming from the forest not far off. I hung around for another hour and a half to see if any more came past but none did, so I went back to the camp. Funny thing, not long after I was in my tent there was something right outside that sounded exactly like a devil snarling. It was gone by the time I opened the tent flaps of course, but maybe I could have just stayed at the campsite after all.
I didn't really see any sandflies or mosquitoes while at Narawntapu, but they found me. I've got a whole bunch of big welts on my arms, and I got one bite right beside my eye that swelled up and made me look like I had a conjoined twin stuck on my head. Fortunately it went right down after just one day so I didn't have to come back to civilisation looking like a freak-show escapee.
I got a lift back to Devonport with a couple of Scottish birders, then took the bus back to Launceston where I'm back at Lloyd's Backpackers for the night. Because of the ridiculous Tasmanian buses I can't do the things I'd wanted right here. I can't go to the Tamar Wetland Walk because while I could have got a bus out there today there would be none coming back the other way, there is no service at all tomorrow (Saturday) and the only Sunday one is at 7.30pm! Up at a nearby town called Beauty Point is a specialist aquarium called Seahorse World which just displays seahorses and their relatives (according to their promotional material, the most varied collection in the world) and
across the road from it is a platypus and echidna place. But again there would be no buses back today, and there are none at all either weekend day. I should have just stayed on the bus right through to Hobart, because that's where I'll be going tomorrow now.
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Peter
non-member comment
red devils
So glad for you that you got to see one. The fulfillment of a dream I suppose. God is good!