Tasmania: Salamanca Market and Bonorong Wildlife Park

We managed to go to three major tourist attractions in one day, but it meant we didn't get quite enough time at each of them, though that's what happens when you only have so much time. First was the weekly Salamanca Market in downtown Hobart, which had tons of stalls. I got stuck at one selling cards and the cutest reusable tote bags with screenprinted Australian animals. I also tried a garlic bratwurst at a German food stall, which helped me power through the rest of the long day of driving.

 

Bonorong Wildlife Park was a great place to visit if you like animals. It is a rescue and rehabilitation place, so they really care about their wellbeing and do try to re-release if the animals are able to survive on their own. You get a bag of kangaroo food, so I finally got to hand-feed kangaroos, and there was a huge paddock full of them! One grabbed the bag out of my jacket pocket as I attempted to take photos, so they were not afraid to stuff their noses and hands around to get the food.

We heard the keeper talk about the wombat - didn't know that it has a large, thick plate on its backside so that if an enemy follows it into its burrow, it can basically crush its head against the roof of the burrow (including dogs!). It also is affectionate for about one to two years, then goes into a kind of 'adolescent' phase where it suddenly wants nothing to do with its mother (or human keeper). That's when they can re-release it because it doesn't need to be mothered anymore.

The keeper fed the Tasmanian devils, which look pretty peaceful until they are feeding. Apparently they got their name because they would make these devilish howling noises in the forests, and the Europeans had no idea what was making the sounds. 

 

Finally, we heard about koalas and got to pat one. They also have a bone structure that allows them to sit comfortably in trees for long periods, kind of like a V-shape.

This was our first time seeing spotted quoll - pretty much polka dot rat-looking animals! There was a black one and a tan one. There were also several colorful birds and an owl-looking bird with no neck that had an ominous look.

 

Tasmania: Maria (Muh-RYE-uh) Island

With the conference over, we rented a car to check out some of the east coast of Tasmania. The first must-do was Maria Island (the Australians pronounce it Muh-RYE-uh, and it definitely sounds more Australian that way!). This island used to have convicts, so there are some buildings, but it has been turned into a nature reserve with all kinds of animals. It is nicknamed Wombat Island, and sure enough, we got our fill of the cute wombats!! We took a ferry over with a couple dozen other folks and hiked around for several hours, seeing wallabies, kangaroos, birds, and plenty of wombats. The tide was too high to see all of the painted cliffs, but we saw a little of them. It was such an incredible opportunity that not many people will get to do, so I felt fortunate to be able to see so many Australian animals in the wild and enjoy a sunny day on an island at the bottom of the world.

Hobart, Tasmania

From Melbourne, we traveled across the Bass Strait over to Hobart, Tasmania, which is the big island underneath mainland Australia. The high temperatures were in the 10-12 degrees C range (50-53 F) and lows hovering around 5 degrees C (41 F), just above freezing! Fortunately it was mostly sunny and not very windy, with a couple light rain showers. That made traveling in winter a lot more tolerable.

flying in to Hobart

Hobart was home to some interesting artsy pieces in seemingly unlikely places. And we arrived on the final days of one of the weirdest events, their annual Dark MOFO festival (an abbreviation of the Museum of Old and New Art [MONA] and Festival of Music and Art [FOMA]), which is a wintertime week-long festival. Sunday evening there was a large procession of people walking in the central city with a couple floats, one of which -- the ogoh-ogoh creature -- was to be burned (to dispel the bad spirits?). We waited around but it was freezing and there was no indication that the chanting and drumming were actually leading to something, so we gave up and left. Apparently a couple hours later it finally was burnt. It was one of the strangest things I've been to and confirmed that I was not interested in going to the MONA museum, even though several people in NZ had recommended it. We're not that into modern art, and we didn't have extra time in the schedule to take the ferry out to it.

close-up of the ogoh-ogoh (looked like a dragon)

the procession of the ogoh-ogoh through the city's edge

The conference over the next several days went well, and Hobart had some beautiful (albeit very cold) nights, being on the waterfront with the moon rising.

Fish Frenzy's fried food was just average, though the
Caesar salad was good.

Tried a Panookie (cookie in a pan with ice cream and marshmallows)
at an all-day dessert restaurant