Advertisement
Published: March 3rd 2015
Edit Blog Post
Hi, we arrived at our destination in the mountains to some lovely log cabins tucked away in Loongana, near Leven Canyon. This was situated on a private nature reserve. It is pretty remote, no neighbours, no wi-fi, no tv, just mountains and wildlife. We were met by our host called Pat, she said her husband Len was a bit poorly so she showed us to our cabins where she had made us a log fire which was a blessing as it was really cold. Little house on the Prairie or what !! As it was raining heavy, we decided we would make dinner, relax and have an early night as we were all knackered. Pat said she would put food put outside our cabins so the wildlife would come. Stu and I moved our couch to face the window and door, Sue and Brian did the same, and we sat in our individual cabins and waited. Well we had visits from Pademelons wallabies, Possums and Spotted tail Quolls. It was pretty amazing to watch them, munching away on apples and lettuce, we didn't see the Tasmanian Devils, they did come but much later after we had gone to sleep. Sleep was
lovely, what with the log fire going, the smell was so homely, definitely like 'The Waltons', 'goodnight Jim Bob', 'goodnight John Boy'.
Next morning, we decided to go for a walk, we met Len who showed us where to go and said he would come back late afternoon to show us some things. Off we go, and we walked and walked and climbed and kept climbing, an hour later everyone exhausted, really not knowing where we were going or how long we were going to have to walk to get a view, plus no water, we decided to turn back, yes not very well organised at all. Well we were only going for a bimble !! So later that afternoon, Len came and said would we like to see the glow worms in the cave. Oh yes, very excited about that. He gave us wellies as it was going to be a bit muddy, off we troop and low and behold we came to a sinkhole !! Yes you know those things that open up and you fall down them !! yelp, so the climb began, all health and safety went out the window, no helmets, no climbing gear,
no signed disclaimer forms, oh no, Len said grab the rope and one at a time, slowly get yourself down these muddy steps, at one point being a contortionist !! I started to laugh, a bit hysterically, that usually happens before I get really scared, so down down into the sink hole we went and then into a dark cave. Flip, it really wasnt very inviting but we had torches. I kept thinking, is this going to cave in and then were blocked in here forever !! So onward we went, crouching down so as not to bang our Barnett's, Len who was a fountain of knowledge said we have to adjust our eyes to the dark and then the glow worms would appear and quite rightly so, they started to shine but would then dull knowing we were there if we made too much noise. Apparently you can only see these in the Southern Hemisphere (Google them). Oh yea, saw a disgusting spider a Hickman, it was big, I'm sure there were plenty down there, I kept shaking my hair, dreaded to think what might go in there. So after being pretty wowed by this, it was back to
the climb out of the sinkhole. Grabbing the rope, one at a time up we went, I got stuck at one point, Brian had to give me a hoff up, Len meanwhile was giving us instructions how to climb, yep easier said than done !! Anyhow all up safely, Len takes us back to the cabins pointing out the trees and plants and different animal poo on the way. I'm quite an expert on 'poo' now, I know what wombat poo is, devil poo, pademelon poo, you name it, I can point it out !! Found it all very interesting. Len was quite a remarkable chap, probably in his mid 70's, but absolutely passionate about wildlife, he was so happy telling us about the animals and trees. He brought the place in 1979 and said he joined the National Park and Wildlife scheme to preserve the natural habitat, so the area can never be logged and the habitat can never be degraded.
So later on before it got dark, Len took us down to the river to show us the Platypus swimming. We were lucky we saw 3 which was a bonus. Len said he would put some metal
dishes outside our cabin door with meat in, so that when the Tasmania Devils came, it would wake us up, we were really excited about this. So all the usual animals turned up again, eating our food we put out for them, we left the outside light on, but saw the spotted tail quoll come up and pinch a lot of the meat, greedy thing. So all through the night we were drifting off to sleep waiting for these Devils to come. Well it was a long night, we didn't see them, lost a lot of sleep ! but Sue and Brian saw them. Len wanted Sue to email him if they turned up as he said they move on a lot, never stay in one area for very long.
It was an amazing experience staying there, one I won't forget in a hurry, a real MUST, if anyone came to Tasmania, having someone like Len explain to us all about the animals and habitat was a definite plus, really nice couple.
Well we returned to Melbourne by ferry yesterday, 232 miles to Port Melbourne, came back to the house, now doing the washing. We are here one
day and we are off again first thing tomorrow morning. We will be gone for 6 weeks. Will blog when we arrive.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.092s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 13; qc: 27; dbt: 0.0534s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Wendy Newman
non-member comment
On tour!!
Thanks for our update and wildlife lesson,really love reading you blog...and I must say am impressed by how daring you are. From your photos you both look very happy,look forward to the next part of The Brady's on tour down under.x Love Dolly.x