We follow up on laundry this morning and then head down to the local coffee shop for breakfast. I had pancakes and Dick had pouched eggs.
We head down to Freycinet National Park, Wineglass Bay. We get our visitors pass and drive down to the trail head for the Wineglass Bay Lookout. After a quite strenuous one hour hike up we finally reach the lookout point. Surprise! We have been blessed with a wild Wallaby with a Joey hanging out at the outlook and spend quite some time watching them instead of the view we came to see. It was really interesting to see the behavior of the mother communicating with the little guy. They did some joint grooming and then the Joey came out of the pouch. The mom kind of pounded on her chest to get the little guy to nurse. When he wanted back in, she made him stay out and walk on his own. Really cool. Oh, the view was really great too.
After hiking back down (almost as bad as hiking up), we hit a few of the neighboring vineyards as this is part of the East Coast Wine Region.
Great seafood dinner overlooking the bay, and then the highlight of the day…
We are taking the “Devils after Dark” tour. A look & see of the nocturnal and nearly extinct Tasmanian Devil. The Tasmanian Devils are beset with a contagious cancer that affects their jaws, rendering them unable to eat. This colony is a protected one where they are breading devils to be resistant to the cancer while they also remain wild. It is quite interesting. I was kind of reminded of the scene in Jurassic Park where they lower the goat down for the dinosaurs. But very interesting.
Mary
———–
We back-tracked a little today on the Great Eastern Road to the wonderful Freycinet National Park. It’s a beautiful place comprised of the entire Freycinet Peninsula – great beaches, hikes, views & wildlife.
The jewel of the park is ‘Wineglass Bay’, a scenic view of which is reached by a ‘moderate’ hike of an hour straight up. The engineering of the trail is incredible and almost looks like something our CCC would have done during the depression. The view of the Bay from the lookout point is considered by some to be one of the most beautiful views in the world. The mother and baby wallaby hanging around at the lookout was a real treat. She wasn’t worried at all about us tourists.
On the return to our cottage in Bicheno we stopped at a few of the wineries, one (Milton Vineyards) recommended to us by a couple who live nearby we met on a tour in Western Australia. Good pick – Tasmania’s ‘Winery of the Year’ in 2017! This is cool-climate country where Riesling and Pinot Noir are king. All have been outstanding, yet none reach the states (bummer).
A non-profit conservation group has constructed and managed a reserve for the endangered Tasmania Devil. The night-time tour is an eye-opener as they deposit ‘road kill of the day’ outside a viewing chamber for feeding time. These are some fierce critters!
Dick