Tasmania - the Adventures

So what does one do in Tasmania, you ask. Well, before we went, it was described to us as the poor man's New Zealand. It turns out that was a pretty good description of it. And that means, you look at beautiful scenery (alas not as nice as New Zealand) and do outdoorsy stuff. For us, this meant a nice little boat trip around some gorgeous beaches. A boat trip because it was way too cold to just go hang out on one of these beaches. A hike to see Wineglass Bay, which didn't look like a wineglass at all. And then some quad biking! Being the weenie I am, this was a little outside of my comfort zone, but once I got the hang of it, I really enjoyed it. I'm sure I didn't go as fast as Jason would have preferred, but at least I went, right? Now, I would like to make it clear that the pictures on this blog are a bit misleading. For some unknown reason, the bearer of the camera that day (not me!) only seemed to be ready to take pictures of me when I was getting stuck in the mud. This is not to say that HE never got stuck in the mud. He was just smart enough to only hand over the camera when he wasn't getting stuck! Argh! But the most notable adventure of the trip was a very unexpected one. We had been driving for a couple hours on some pretty windy roads, and came across a big tree that had fallen down, blocking the road. Our only option was to turn around and drive about 2 hours back to find a different way around. This did not make us happy people! Then, a guy pulled up on the other side of the road. Jason joked and said with a smile, "what are the odds this guy has a chainsaw in the back of his truck." But sure enough the guy walked to the back of his truck and pulled out a little chainsaw! I guess if you are a local and this happens to you once, you never go without a chainsaw again! (As a side note, the guy made Jason take pictures of the whole thing on his camera because apparently his wife never believes the stories of why he comes home so late . . .)

Tasmania - the Wildlife

The latest trip was a trip to Tasmania. Did you know Tasmania actually exists, and it's not just part of an adjective to describe a weird little animal on the Road Runner cartoon? And yes, Tasmanian devils are actually real creatures. Unfortunately, of all the wildlife we saw, we didn't get to see any. :( There aren't many left in the wild these days, and a good chunk of those that do exist have been pretty sick. Oh, well. We did get to see some interesting creatures, though. So this blog is for those of you who have any interest in weird animals. First, the wombat . . . the "it's so ugly it's cute" creature. Fortunately for us, Tasmania must be lacking some serious predators because none of these animals seemed too concerned that we were getting up close and personal. Then, the pademelon . . . the squirrel of the kangaroo family as far as I can tell (the size of a squirrel, but hops like a kangaroo). Next, you have to look really, really close . . . there is a little joey in this one's pouch! You are actually looking at a wallabie, not a kangaroo, but same difference as far as all of us are concerned. (It's just a bit smaller.) And lastly, the wallabie that was really annoyed we didn't have any food. Despite the numerous signs suggesting that you not feed the animals, I'm guessing that this guy had experienced a few exceptions to that rule.