Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park

After leaving Port Arthur we stopped for the morning at the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park. Not only do they have Tassie Devils but also various wallabies and birds.

This was during the feeding of the Tassie Devils. This pair were fighting over the last piece of food.
They are very feisty, cantankerous little beasts and growled at each other the majority of the time.
Smile ?????
Mmmmm - is that food I smell................
This wallaby had unusual makings. Apparently her mother had the white patches as well.
They were very friendly and fed out of our hands. This wallaby was the only one who had a joey in her pouch. The others had older babies.
This the hawk whose flights were one of the bird show's highlights.
Here the hawk is flying through everyone's legs. If you look closely I have circled it in red where the second person is in the line.
This is a tawny frog-mouth. These birds are a master of camouflage. We have them were we live and often when we arrive home at night there will be a frog-mouth sitting on the fence and they are unnoticeable with the way then blend in to their surrounds.
The other very clever bird was this corella who after taking either $1 or $2 coins from various members of the audience and dropping them into the handlers pocket then took them back. It was incredible as he knew who had given him the $1 or $2 and didn't return the incorrect coins. There were also a couple of others who hadn't been amoungst the audience members to have the coins which the handler asked to also stand up with their arms out and this clever little bird totally ignored them.

Tassie Plants & Landscapes

There were some wonderful examples of native plants which we came across during our travels in Tasmania. The flora was so varied from wet rain-forests to windswept beaches.

These were taken on the Freycinet Peninsular on the Cape Tourville Lighthouse Walk. I was able to find samples of both green and dried gumnuts.
This little shrub was in flower everywhere at Cape Tourville with masses of flowers covering each bush.
The Marlborough Rainforest Walk had the most awesome trees covered with lichens and ferns. I loved the trees with the 'windows'.
This poor little tree was struggling to grow in a crack in the rocks at "The Nut" at Stanley. The weather here was awful - windy, rainy, cold and apparently that is quite usual.
Also taken at "The Nut" showing the direction of the constant winds.
A shearwater burrow in amongst the grasses at "The Nut".
The beach at "Rocky Cape".......... very aptly named.
The pristine forest of the Gordon River Forest Walk.
The ferns growing along the Nelson Falls / Russell Falls Walk were so varied. Everywhere we looked there were different species.
All the rainforests and waterfalls were so picturesque. These are the falls at Mt Field National Park.
Mt Field National Park.
I was dwarfed by this old fallen tree. Because of the climate the fallen timber doesn't seem to rot away like in the rainforests in coastal Queensland.
Old timber on the Tahune Forest Floor.
The Air-Walk at Tahune.
Leatherwood flowers .... the honey from these flowers has such a distinctive flavour and the bees are only able to harvest the nectar for a limited time each year.
Port Arthur Historical Site ........
I just loved the lichen growing on this fence.
The green of this tree looked terrific against the terracotta coloured wall.
Banksias and Lichen from the Port Arthur Historical Coal Mine Site.

Caloundra

In January we stayed for the weekend at Graham's sister's at Caloundra and then on Sunday caught up with my sister and her family. I love Caloundra .... it's such a family friendly area with a choice of both still water and surf.

On Saturday we drove to Mooloolaba for lunch and went for a walk afterwards. The "parachute" which is visible was actually motorised. At first I thought it was a parachutist looking for a place to land until he started circling the building and going back & forth along the coastline.
In the afternoon we went for a walk along the Caloundra foreshore. This area is very popular with kite-surfers.
This is the view which my sister had from her unit. Wow - how would it be waking up to this every morning.