We saw the Devil!

The Tasmanian Devil, that is, on a night-time feeding tour (I’ll spare you the gory details!) and at the Unzoo. This iconic symbol, only found in Tasmania, is the size of a small dog and is the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world. Remember the cartoon?

But it was the little blue penguins, also called the fairy penguins, who captured our hearts.

They are about a foot tall, and weigh about a kilo. You hear them before you see them because even though they are the smallest penguins, they are also the loudest! They come up out of the ocean after dark, and then return around 4am. We had one nesting under our cabin and we could hear him if we opened a door or window at night!

On most tours that we were on, there were lots of Asian tourists, with the majority being from China. Because of the proximity, they contribute greatly to the tourism industry here – upto 12 billion dollars in 2018!

And on Tassie they certainly catered to them, with soy sauce and chopsticks (this was in a popular seafood restaurant!) on the table, and signs in hotels and elsewhere.

But the roads are extremely quiet, with interesting signs along the way.

In spite of all the signs, there was a lot of roadkill in Tasmania – more than we have ever seen! They usually get run over at night, so you can’t even blame it on the drivers looking at the beautiful scenery…

…like these spots in the Bay of Fires, named that in 1773 because of the fires of the aboriginal people on the beaches. Bay of Fires was not as touristy as Freycinet National park…

…including the famous Wineglass Bay which is rated one of the the ten best beaches in the world.

Till next time!