Tasmania Schmazmania

Back in Melbourne: done! I think I could go on perpetual vacations with about three or four days of "home time" in between to recuperate, organize pictures, wash everything, bother Marc and Alana, and sleep in my own bed. With that schedule, I bet I would be happy to vacation forever and ever. I was reminded that I was in Melbourne and not in backwater Tassie today as I walked down the street of the CBD and found myself passing on my right: a man wearing a fuscia suit (where does one acquire this, I do not know) playing a violin behind an upturned hat on the sidewalk; and on my left: an extremely unconvincing Asian drag queen being ushered down the street by another man who was hard to notice through all this. Welcome back to the friggin city.

Tassie was a good time overall. We had a hard time planning the damn thing because it's extreme-massive-everyone-flee-to-the-south-most-state time of year, and the weather was less than desirable for a good chunk of the time. But overall, Tassie was nice, it was fun, and the animal experiences we got were totally worth it.

I am currently working on a Tasmania in Ten Days website to document our trip and provide travel advice to others, which I will post here when it's more complete. I have posted pictures on my picasa for your viewing pleasure, but I had better give you guys some info on the trip, huh?! I'm feeling a list coming on...

Top 4 Cool Things in Tasmania:
In no particular order...

1. The Wildlife. This actually probably would be #1 if these were in a particular order, which, as indicated from the note above, they are most certainly not. The Tasmanian Devil now exculsively exists in Tasmania, though they used to live elsewhere in Australia also. A massive epidemic of facial tumors has wiped out much of the population and the experts estimate that there will be no more wild devils in 10-15 years since they can find neither a cause nor a cure of the disease. Sanctuaries are gathering up healthy devils and breeding them in captivity such that a genetically diverse population is sustained if a cure is not found. The devils themselves are very small and cute animals and they won't bother you unless you get in the way of their food or get near them when they're in an enclosure. In the wild, they'll just run away from you if you can even manage to find one. They're very elusive, as is most of the nocturnal wildlife in Tassie. Everyone sleeps in the day and dines at night, save the birds. The Roos, wallabies, pademelons, wombats, echidnas, and devils are all nocturnal marsupials (save the echidna which is a monotreme, like a platypus). It's such an amazing difference from the wildlife of North America! And there are really no predators; the Devils are scavengers along with many of the birds, and all the others noted above are veggos. It's quite bizarre; there's not really a food chain like there is elsewhere.

2. Animal Sanctuaries. Though this is related to the first item, I think it should get its own category. The wildlife of Tassie is amazing, but we would not be able to appreciate it nearly as much without the many, many sanctuaries functioning throughout the state. Some are excellent, and some aren't so great, but either way, they're pretty much all in the business of preserving the un-infected population of devils, having the nocturnals in enclosures for us day walkers to observe, and most of them also do rehabilitation and/or re-release for injured wildlife. Two of the four sanctuaries that we visited were top notch, one was pretty nice, and one was like a hick-park as far as we were concerned. The two excellent ones were The Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park and The Trowunna Wildlife Park. I would especially not miss the latter of the two if I were to go again, since it's where you get an excellent and informative 75 minute tour around their park and where you get to pat a koala, hold a wombat, and pet a devil while learning all about them and why these particular ones are ok to hold/touch (you can't do this with just any animals). It was really excellent. Go sanctuaries!

3. National Parks. While we didn't do quite as much outdoors activities as we would have liked due to the unpredictable inclement weather, the National Parks on offer to visitors are plentiful. They have a whole system set up whereby you can buy a pass to all the parks in the state for 24 hours, 48 hours or 2 months (yeah, nothing in between, not sure why). It's not cheap, but that's because the money goes toward the pristine upkeep of the parks. They have nice car parks, well marked and signed trails, and the trails themselves are very well kept and debris-free. There are hand rails, photo points, and even raised platforms if the terrain is too rough or sensitive. Most parks have staffed visitors centers with informational displays of wildlife, facts about the parks and all the walks/hikes, and post cards and other goodies for sale. It's quite a nice system and much of the state is natural reserve, so there's a lot to enjoy.

4. History in Abundance. Tasmania was one of the first places that the British settled and yes, it was mostly used for penal colonies. Like all around Australia, bits and pieces of the old settlements remain in scattered parts of the state. Perhaps because it has not been developed nearly to the extent of the other original cities (Perth, Sydney, Melbourne), a good amount of the original buildings remain in Tassie and are now preserved as historical marks and tourist attractions. Since Tasmania was used almost exclusively to house convicts in its early years, there are a large number of prisons and related structures still standing. The most notable historical stronghold is Port Arthur, which was a secondary prison situated on a large outcropping of land on the south-east coast of the island. The only way into this part of the island was (and is) by sea or by a tiny 300-foot wide strip of land that connects it to the main part of the island, which assured a more effective Alcatraz-esque isolation area. Certainly a highlight of the trip.

Ok, and to be honest, I originally had this as a top five list but I made my top four so damn broad, I couldn't think of a fifth. So there you go. During our trip, Tassie threw a few curve balls at us (rain/snow, extremely difficult to find accommodation, overpriced everything, etc), but we bobbed and weaved as best we could and made it through unscathed. And now I have pictures to fuss with, a new website to make, and journals to finalize (yes I actually still keep a journal in addition to all this business) which should keep me busy for another few weeks! Yeay, it's like I'm still on vacation!...except the returning to work part...