In Hobart we went to the Bonorong Wildlife Park, which is a nature preserve that has wallabies (and some kangaroos), koalas, Tasmanian devils, emus, wombats, and other rare and unusual Australian animals and birds. The park is part petting zoo, part rehabilitation center, and part conservation center. We just wanted to see the animals.

The wallabies mostly are roaming free around the place . There are buckets of food pellets that you can give them, so they are pretty tame, although there are areas marked off where people are not supposed to go, which lets animals that are tired of interacting with people get away from it all. The general public is also not allowed into the rehabilitation areas. Although the animals are pretty tame, the staff gives a brief lecture on what they do and do not like (for instance, don't pet a wallaby like a dog or cat because stroking their back is a signal to go away; they like having the area between their arms on their chest scratched because they can’t reach there themselves) and warn you that they can bite or kick if they get scared or upset.

The Tasmanian devils are not out where people can pet them, because they bite just for the fun of it. Only people that know how to handle them, and who they are used to, can get away with being in the area with them. The devils are very entertaining, however, if they feel like it . If they don’t feel like it, they hide in their holes and pretend we are not there. Fortunately, there were a few who were feeling frisky.

The best part for me was the koala. One of the staff had a koala out where people could see and stroke it; its fur is very smooth and soft. As long as he had some leaves to eat, he was perfectly happy to have people pet him and get their pictures taken with him. After a while, he started to get sleepy, so he was taken away.

Another staff person was holding a snake; every now and then it would flick its tongue out and you could see its tongue was bright blue. A lot of people (including me) wasted a lot of pictures trying to time them for when the snake’s tongue was out; I did manage to get one, but a lot of people didn’t.

One woman told me her favorite animal is the wombat; when I saw one, I could see why. They are very shy, but round and furry and very cuddly looking. Their reaction to a lot of people seems to be to look for a hole to hide in.

After the park, we rode back to the ship, stopping at the town of Richmond on the way. It is a very picturesque town, with a lovely river and bridge, and a famous church that David and I didn’t visit, and a lot of art and craft shops. We went to one that had wood carvings and aborigine art and bought a couple of wooden coasters and an aborigine painting. After we got back to the ship, we walked around the harbor and found a place to have lunch: broiled rock lobster and Australian wine. Very good.