Devils and Ports

TASSIE DEVILS TASSIE DEVILS! Today I saw my first (living) Tassie Devils. I drove down from Seven Mile Beach towards Port Arthur where I stopped at the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park, which is on the A9 as you head towards Port Arthur, you can't miss it.

Seriously, if you drive past this sign you shouldn't be allowed to drive. Just look at the little bugger!

I paid the $32 entrance fee, which some may say is a bit steep, but it is well worth it. You can spend as long as you want or go in the morning to see the Devils and Roos then come back later to see the Quoll feeding (I didn't do that). I was the first person there at just after 9am so I had the run of the park for a little while, but the first of the Devil feedings was at 10am and I definatly didn't want to miss that as I thought the Devils would be hiding until then as they are naturally nocturnal.

As I entered the park there was a small shack with some posters about the history of the park and just after that a tiny little room with a tiny TV showing an old video about the now extinct Tasmanian Tigers. There are people who claim the tigers are still out there, but I think the general consensus is they are dead and now only a short video clip is the closest we will ever be to seeing one again.

Which is a strong reminder of the plight facing the Devils. The facial tumours that are spreading throughout the wild population are killing off vast amounts of Devils and at one point a keeper said that the only way to get rid of the tumours is to wait for all of the wild Devils to die and then introduce the healthy ones that are in captivity into the wild again. There are currently 700 captive Devils.

This thought makes projects like the one here all the more important and makes one appreciate the effort that is going into saving these poor little cutey cuddly wuddly smoochy poos

Adorable

Awwww, look at the little one!

OK, back in the car.

They are not hunters, just scavengers. Their front paws are more like little hands instead of claws and they are not very fast runners but three adults can eat an 'entire' wombat in one sitting. That's bones, teeth, hair, everything!

Before the first feeding session I had a chance to meet some more natives in the form of Forester Kangaroos, which were in an open area.

Cuteness levels - 50% increase to

100% cuteness

After a few minutes in the enclosure a keeper said good morning, I replied in kind and we ended up chatting about the Roos. Turns out there was a couple of Red Necked Wallabies around the enclosure, one we could see but another was only around 8 months old, orphaned and already I felt sorry for it, but it was hiding somewhere. Then it was almost time for some Devil feeding action! And the rain came down. Which made this little corner of the park all the more sombre.

 Yes, even Tassie Devils must go off to meet their maker, they only live for about 5-6 years, but it really sets the tone as to how much this park cares for the Devils and other animals when they give them burials. I don't think I have ever seen anything like it.

Turns out this Errol was not only a famous Tasmanian 1930's actor, but was genetically superior.

That's twice I've brought the mood down. Lets bring it back up again with some Devils eating a wallaby carcass!

The Devils in this pen were 10 month old males, the pen itself was set up to look like an old farm (hence the tractor) but the Devils were a little reluctant to come out.

The keeper I spoke to earlier was on duty to give some breakfast to the little guys and tell us more about them. Turns out their eyes are not too good (they are nocturnal after all) but they can hear and smell really well, so much so that they can hear another Devil crunching through bones and will head towards the sound to join in. After a while the Devils caught the scent of the fresh meat and made their way towards us,

In an adorable fashion.

 And then

Adorable no more!

See what I mean about the front paws?

As the little marsupials tucked into their meal, the keeper told us about the facial tumour problem and how it spreads but also how they are not very vicious, they are also not good with team coordination, but as scavengers they don't really need to be. Also I should add that the food comes from a gunman, or to use the proper term a 'humane shooter'

The Devils went through the meat and bone like it wasn't a big deal and one even did a bit of an Oliver Twist,

I know he could bite through my finger like a 40 pound rottweiler, but aaawwwww.

Then it was another feeding session, this time for the Roos. So back over to the Roo area we went (a few more people had come to the park by now)

Girls, you may want to grab something to wipe your tears from your eyes as... well... remember the little Bennet's Wallaby orphan that I mentioned a few paragraphs ago? The one we couldn't see...

Ehem...

Here's me feeding him!

No doubt, if you are reading this at work, the whole office is wondering what you are Awwwwing at. Well, his name is Franky and he was handed into the park after being found on the roadside. Apparently there was an English girl at the park yesterday who spent 30 minutes feeding him. It's just as well because at his age he should still be with his mother, especially with winter coming in, so he needs all the help he can get.

The other roos were a lot bigger, not as big as the ones you get in the Western Deserts on the mainland, but when you see one chasing away a goose it doesn't take much to see how much strength they have.

Sorry, I couldn't resist

He's just so cute!

OK, here's the Forester ones again.

"Geese? GEROFF MOY LAAAND!"

"What's that Skip? You pushed Timmy down the well?"

I think that is enough roos for now. There are lots of birds as well at the park and they also do a free flying bird show twice a day like Taronga's, only this one doesn't have you sitting in the nosebleeds trying to photograph fast moving birds.

The show wasn't for a little while, but there are other birds,

And possums

Oh and this guy

Before the bird show there was another feeding for the Tassie Devils, two adults, actually a mating couple who hopefully are going to be parenting some young'uns soon (gestation is only 3 weeks). But the male was a bit of a noisy one.

They were quite the comic duo as the male grabbed the first chunk of meat and ran around with it in his mouth for five minutes before finally hiding in a den and eating it.

Those scars are a mating thing. Basically the female tells him to get lost and is also how the tumours are spread..

The females are often pinned by the males during mating and that is how the tumours spread to them. So it's basically an STD, only it's terminal.

World's first real life Pokemon battle!

And here's a Devil doing what the cartoon said they did.

Actually it turns out the cartoon has had a positive effect on the conservation efforts as the awareness of the Devils increased because of Taz. I was so much of a fan that I named a guinea pig 'Taz' because he used to run around in circles. Also the name 'Tasmanian Devil' has proven to be helpful as they just sound too cool to let them go extinct. But now it was time for the Kings of the Wind bird show.

This coin trick was done at Taronga Zoo too, but this bird took 3 coins and gave them all back, unlike the one coin in Sydney. 

They also didn't have this Tawny Frog-Mouth, which sits in trees and rather than swooping down from a distance to catch mice it waits patiently for moths and other things to come to it.

You may notice this Peregrine Falcon is missing something. He flew into a power line at 300kph and damaged his wing to the point that after a year of trying to save it it had to be removed. The worst part is he still thinks he can hunt and tries to get at them.

And this is a Brown Falcon

Who happens to be a bad ass

But I still beat him in a staring contest

Oh, this is the same Frog Mouth as earlier, but in this image you can see his damaged wing. A result of a road incident.

But those little 'sensors' above his beak still work just fine though.

I felt really good about going to the conservation park, it is a really good way to start a morning and the work they are doing is well worth supporting. Plus I got to see Tassie Devils, which I promised myself I would do as, well, where better to see Tasmanian Devils than in Tasmania. But time was getting on and I also wanted to see Port Arthur today.

Now, I have put a link in the words Port and Arthur because there is a lot of history in this one place. A former penal colony it is now a tourist site (that was host to a terrible massacre in 1996, but I won't go into that). The site was also hit by a bush fire and before that was looted after it closed in the 1850's. 

The gutted ruins are all that remain after that fire.

The site also played host to ship building, with a blacksmith and other workshops all in the same area.

The entrance was $32 for a 'bronze pass' which gave me a 20 minute boat tour and access to the buildings on site. The boat trip was my first port of call. And the rain was heavier than ever. 

It was a great shame the rain was so fierce as... well... from inside the boat this was the view.

So like any other man I walked out to the deck for a better look, at the expense of my dry socks.

Not pictured: Trench foot

That's the Isle of the Dead, the colony's cemetery.

The trip was interesting. The guide talked about the first juvenile prison, an island off Port Arthur and the cemetery where the 'free' were buried with as much decoration on their graves as their families could afford and the convicts were put in unmarked graves.

I then hoofed it over the rest of the area. The rain was a real hindrance but in some ways made the experience a bit more authentic.

I should mention the card I was given after paying for entry. In short it's a playing card that you match up in the visitor centre to find out about a convict's story.

OOOH! What's in the box?

STEALING A PAIR OF BOOTS? Pffft, I was hoping for something a bit more exciting.

Why couldn't he just nail together some boots?

It's a great tourist attraction, had the weather been better I would have probably enjoyed it more, not that I didn't enjoy it. In fact the 'separate prison' was really good, it highlighted the point when British prisons stopped beating prisoners into submission and instead messed with their heads in an attempt to 'rehabilitate' them. EG. Let's lock Hatchet Harry up in a pitch dark room for 3 days, that ought to stop him killing people.

The rain was subsiding somewhat when I reached 'Remarkable Cave' just down the road from Port Arthur.

Remarkable.

The views were nice, not sure about the 'remarkable' cave though. Then I continued on to White Beach where I am now, sitting in the Aztec out of the rain.

Snoop Dogg was ere!

It would probably be really nice if the weather was also nice. But, hey ho, there you go. I hope it clears by tomorrow as I head up the east coast to see a few natural wonders.