My Mania for Tasmania

Okay, I was wrong. Tasmania is not some windblown, tribe-inhabited, move-along-nothing-to-see-here, "Lost" kind of island. It is a beautiful, clean, friendly, delicious, wondrous place. It is at once city and rural, quirky and logical, well-maintained and wild. An Australian state that exports much of the Pacific Rim's supply of carrots, potatoes, strawberries and cherries, as well as a wide variety of chemicals (including opium), minerals, and wood and paper products and much of Holland's tulip bulbs. They have the world's largest lavender field, and they are the only producer of leatherwood honey in the world. Wow!

One thing about Tasmania, you can take just about anything off the island, but you can't bring anything on. It is a disease free place with the cleanest air and the purest water just about anywhere on the planet. And the sunrises are beautiful.

By way of a stray timing issue, we get separated from Jon and Brett (Charles and Elizabeth had signed up for the later "Caves" tour) and we ended up on different buses. Same tour, just in reverse. We take off from the dock with Barry, our tour guide, and head for the Anvers Chocolate Factory. Yum! Tea and cakes, a tasting shack and a quick trip down the chocolate timeline. The best part of the tour was the house that housed the factory. An old Craftsman-style bungalow, reminiscent of 1930's California, with a beautiful English-style garden. Lovely. The chocolate wasn't bad either!

Our next stop was more of a rest stop. Now, I know that I will someday get old and gray, but I have to tell you, I have never seen so many bluehairs tottering around in my life! And they all have to be somewhere today, but it takes them until tomorrow to get there. Yeah, I am not a patient person when I have to wait for granny to make her way down the aisle of the bus like she's testing for landmines, then finally get down the steps and outside. And when we got back on the bus, there were several who were not pleased that Joe and I chose a different seat (even though we were not assigned seats). I'm sure I made some smart remark, because I was ready to take grandma to the mat.

For lunch (and the highlight of the tour) we went to the Trowana Wildlife Park. Lunch was great, but let's get to the animals. Wombats, koalas, Tasmanian Devil babies and adults, baby kangaroos (joeys), teenage roos, ecidnas (a marsupial porcupine) a peacock, some lizards (eeewwwww)...all of them amazing animals. One of the Rangers there talked about each of them and then let us pet them.

First was Wizard the Wombat, a big baby. He was so relaxed, he just folded right over her arm while we mobbed him. Next was a cute koala. He was obviously thinking one thing: "Which leaf should I eat next." He sat in the crook of a tree and ate eucalyptus while we petted and patted...he couldn't have cared less. Next was a baby Tasmanian Devil in a cage, pacing. We didn't pet her, but we did get to pet her brother, who was nestled in our guide's arms. My biggest surprise was how soft a Tasmanian Devil is...soft, like a kitten soft. We visited a large enclosure of devils...and yes, Virginia, they were snarling and spitting; fighting over food (none of them were spinning around, though). You couldn't help but laugh at the noise they made. Although I'm sure if they were gnashing through my skin, bones and hair, I wouldn't be laughing. There was a joey named Ramona. Her mother had been killed, so the park adopted her. She was curled up in a backpack with her head sticking out. She had the softest ears and the sweetest face.

The whole park was just amazing. Almost prehistoric looking, with giant trees, lots of ground cover and the sound of wild devils wrestling for their supper.

I have lots of pictures, but for some reason they don't want to load today. Could be because I'm posting from my cabin (very far away from anything resembling a strong signal). I'll get them up soon, or at least send you a link to them.

We got back on the bus and sat in our proper places so as not to upset Gen O (old) and headed to Chudleigh and our Honey Farm visit. I personally think taking us here was mean. They have a free tasting of over 50 varieties of honey...but you can't take any of it into New Zealand. Bastards! There was a guessing game of how many painted cartoon bees were buzzing around the farm, and yours truly picked 108...right on the money...so I won a prize. Turns out Jon won the prize on his bus with a 107.

What a great day! Except I didn't get any honey. Pooh!