Who goes where?

Tasmanian Devils

A visit to ZooDoo was our first opportunity to see some native Tazmanian animals up close. In particular we were keen to see some Tasmania Devils and wombats. Chris found the Tasmanian Devils quite cute despite their scarred faces. They are the worlds largest carnivorous marsupial. The Devils had been close to extinction in Tasmania due to a contagious facial tumour disease. Following a programme of seclusion of healthy Devils they are now making a slow recovery in numbers. Some of the Devils we saw had facial scars which were as a result from fighting amongst the territorial males.

I was enthralled by the blue macaw parrots. The keeper kindly let Ella and I feed them, but we weren't to tell anyone! I was surprised to learn that birds don't have any taste buds, so the macaws enjoyed sweet corn, walnuts and red chillies.

We fed some White Lions slices of beef. The White Lions are now extinct in the wild, but once roamed right across sub-Saharan Africa. We weren't sure why the Lions and othernon-native species were here, they seemed to be completely out of place in this mainly Aussie wildlife park.

We also fed Emus and Ostriches breadcrumbs from a plastic cup. The mouth of the beaker was smaller than these big birds' beaks so they sometimes pecked the hand holding the cup. I'd always been a bit wary of these big birds, but their peck was not too harsh, and I'm quite fond of them now! I can't say that Ella felt the same way though as she tried to stay well away from the Emus and Ostriches, which is difficult with their long necks!.

Rarrrrrrr - cute?

Ugly?

Cute!

Just chilling in the shade

A bit of a slowcoach - Koalas spend up to 20 hours a day asleep, 3 hours eating and less than 1 hour moving. Their diet is so low in nutritional value that they must conserve energy constantly

"Ah.....ah.......ah......ah..ah..ah..."

".......chhoooooooooooooooo!!!"

"Bloody cold this Tasmanian climate!"

"What happened?"

"What what what what what??"

"Just a cold Fred"

"Bloody Lions!"

Feeding time

Colonial Past

Ella took us out and about through the vineyards of the Coal River Valley to Richmond, some 27km NE of Hobart. Richmond has a colourful colonial history. There was a lot of what is termed 'heritage architecture' which looked like common UK buildings to me, particularly the Georgian buildings which were somehow comforting to see again. We browsed the stores including a fake vintage shop, the sweet shop (which sold great tasting ice-creams) and a woodwork shop specialising in Huon Pine, where apparently the Royals, Kate & Wills, had stopped and brought a box during their recent visit.

Richmond town bridge was built by convicts from the local gaol in 1823. Australia's oldest surviving bridge is still in use today. There is a story about how the convicts were managed by a cruel Superintendent who treated them very harshly, even by standards of that day. He regularly beat the convicts on a whim and they despised him. One winter morning dung the construction phase a heavy fog hung over the bridge and the convicts seized their chance. They beat the Superintendent to death and flung his body off the bridge.

We took a brief look at Richmond Gaol, which was built over a peroid of fifteen years between 1825 and 1840. One of the men that past through the door in 1832 was Issac 'Ikey' Solomon (1785-1850). He was an English criminal who was famous for dealing in stolen goods. Issac is alleged to be the model for the character Fagin in Charles Dicken's Olivier Twist.

Walking along the river we spotted a pair of eels in the water. The ducks seemed oblivious to them until they collided!

Dolphins in the Derwent Estuary

Australia's oldest surviving bridge in the picturesque setting of Richmond

The girls strike a pose!

Slithering eels tickle the duck's feet

In The Nick

To keep us on our best behaviour Ella and Tim drove us to where 'our sort' would have stayed in Tasmania one hundred and fifty years ago - Port Arthur, a colonial prison.

Together we explored Tasmania's convict past at this World Heritage Listed Site. Port Arthur began in 1830 as a Timber Station, but in 1833 transformed into a self-contained, purpose built institution, intended to reform convicts through a brutal regime of hard labour. You could see many examples of the chilling realities of life as a convict in this colonial settlement. It was quickly apparent how harshly the convicts were treated.

The acts that got the prisoners condemned to transportation across the world and imprisonment where so minor compared with today's crimes. Stealing a pocket handkerchief or a loaf of bread, drunkenness in the street and even acquittal from a charge but the judge not liking"your sort" would be enough to condemn a man. Thousands of children were also imprisoned for such petty crimes, or even just to 'teach them a lesson' even when found not guilty! Maybe our current justice system should reflect upon its leniency?

The convicts labour activities were mostly boat building, construction of roads and buildings, logging timber and the mining of coal. Port Arthur's regime focused around a very strict working schedule and daily church attendance to reform the prisoners.

Port Arthur was an example of the "Separate Prison Typology", this signalled a shift from physical punishment to psychological punishment. It was thought that the hard corporal punishment, such as whippings, used in other penal stations only served to harden criminals, and did nothing to turn them from their immoral ways. For example, food was used to reward well-behaved prisoners and as punishment for troublemakers.

Towards the back of the site thick oak trees lined the avenue to the ruined church. The church was built by the convicts but it was never consecrated. The guts and the roof had been burnt down by a bush fire not long after it was built. Ella and Tim thought about the possibilities of holding their wedding there as it had a stunning vista towards the bay.

We took a harbour tour on a large boat which guided smoothly around the bay. We passed the Island of the Dead, where the broken convicts were buried. The officers were buried in a separate graveyard in named graves with headstones, whilst the convicts had unmarked graves. It was astounding that over 1100 bodies were interned on this small island.

We strolled round the sandstone prison buildings in various states of restoration and the Governors house, servants quarters and stables. I thought about how the Governors wife might have felt. She would have been so far away from civilisation, surrounded by criminals and had to be the epitome of a lady for visiting dignitaries. Did she enjoy her lifestyle I wondered? The prison was closed in 1877 but during its 44 years thousands of prisoners passed through its gates, many of whom would never experience freedom again.

On the waters edge at the Port Arther inlet

The prison buildings

Blocking the captains view

Cruising around the bay

Island of the Dead, the cemetery

The boat building area with a boat skeleton sculpture

The Governors House

The remains of the hospital

The remnants of the church

Arriving in Tazzy

"I can't believe your here!" repeated Tim for the fifth time. It was soooo good to see Tim and Ella again. It had been ten months since we'd meet on the Elephant Volunteering in north Thailand.

We became reacquainted in great style at Hobart's Annual International Beer Festival. It was in a giant warehouse on the quay and the entry fee included ten beer (or cider) tokens. We browsed the stalls, made a drink selection and then got 100ml to taste. Ella and I sampled a range of Tasmanian cider, while Chris introduced Tim to stout. We had a stroke of luck when a group leaving the show gave us their unused tokens. We then went to a local bar where we met AFL legend Barry Hall. He was a muscler tall chap and an absolute gentleman.

The next day we drove about an hour up the coast from Hobart. Keen to show us the beauty of Tasmania, Ella and Tim took us to Tasman National Park in the south east of Tasmania. As we explored we came to appreciate the natural beauty that the area has to offer. The landscape is truly spectacular and we were amazed at how clean the air tastes! In a way, some echo of Scotland's hills and inlets, the rolling green pastures and colourful heathlands were a feast to the eyes. How could we not love this place?!

We took a walk to see the stunning coastal scenery at Eaglehawk Neck, where a Tasmanian Devil reserve has had great success in establishing a healthy population of these crazy creatures.

After the heat of Melbourne we were surprised to meet 12C, with frequent rain. Being late November Ella told us that "The weather should start to get warmer as they were now coming into summer, but in Tassy expect all seasons in one day and you won't be far wrong!"

We chatted and laughed non-stop. It was entertaining to compare the differences between Tassy and the UK. Questions posed from team Tas about the UK included, 'Do you have vodka?', 'Do you have tomato sauce?', 'Do you have Pringles?'. 'They are not from Mars!' exclaimed Ella to Tim.

We enquired of the locals 'Do you have badgers?', 'What are pokeys?', What is a Chicken Parmi?'

Whilst staying with Ella and Tim we also shared culinary delights. Ella cooked us an awesome dish of Mango Chicken which was super delicious. We also adored her Chicken Parmi, which is a breadcrumbed chicken breast fillet topped with a thick chunky tomato sauce and covered with cheese. We flew the flag for European cuisine by preparing feasts of Beef Bourginion, Lancashire Hotpot and Roast Chicken.

In the evenings we frequently played animal charades with endangered animal swap cards free from the local supermarket. This game was Ella's brainchild and was highly addictive. We ended up learning all 108 animals cards! It resulted in many really funny animal impressions, we will never forget throwing our bodies around to mimic the Saltwater Crocodile, Streaked Trenrick, North Atlantic Whale and Sea Otter!

Superb Fairy Wren