Today I am going into the Tasmanian wilderness. On the 2 hour trip from Hobart, I see the hillside and valleys covered with herds of sheep. Our guide tells us there are 4 sheep to every 1 person in Tasmania.  Kangaroos, koalas, wombats and various other wildlife roam freely here. But, I have come here to find the elusive Tasmanian Devil . . . in the wild . . . if I can!

Along the highway there is a sign warning drivers to be on the lookout for Tasmanian Devils crossing the road in this area . I asked the driver to stop while I took a photo of the road sign, which he stood next to.

As we travelled on the long trip today, I noticed all the road kill along the highway. I was told Tasmania is the road kill capital of the world! There are half a million animals killed every year on the roads here. Of the 500,000 most are wallabyes (small kangaroos) and possums. The Tasmanian devils and other scavengers feed on the roadkill at night and often become roadkill themselves!

The wallabies are small kangaroos (called roos by the locals). The babies are born very tiny. They are undeveloped when born and very helpless. When they are born, they immediately crawl into their mother's pouch and continue to develop for a couple of months. Even when the baby (joey) leaves the pouch it often returns to jump in when danger approaches.

One sad side note to add is that the wallabye often has a young joey in her pouch when she is hit and killed by an auto . The joey can live several days in a dead mother's pouch before dying itself. They are trying to educate drivers if they hit a kangaroo, to check it's pouch for babies. If there is one there, they need to rescue it.

We passed through the Maria Island National Park, about 42 miles from Hobart. It is located on an island just off the coast of Tasmania. Besides the wildlife you will see there, there are numerous hiking trails that lead you to fossil cliffs and painted cliffs. The views are wonderful and the hike is not that difficult. There is an interesting Arch made when the roof of a cave collapsed and formed this beautiful archway!

There were other stops of scenic beauty along the way for us to photograph, also.
 
We went to the Freycinet National Park next. It's a highlight of the Tasmanian wilderness! The park is a rugged, rocky peninsula full of hiking trails and wildlife. The paths that wind throughout the mountain were used by the Oyster Bay Tribe of Tasmanian Aborigines for thousands of years .
 
There are a number of 'viewpoints' along the trails, but the main one, and the one I will see today is Wineglass Bay. It is considered one of the top beaches in the world! The secluded beaches are good for all types of activities like kayaking, sailing, fishing, bushwalking (hiking), rock-climbing and just viewing the great scenery.

I took the 2 hour hike up to the top of the mountain to get a view of the Wineglass Bay. The day was not as clear as I hoped, but the view was spectacular just the same. The white beaches against the sapphire-colored sea was bordered by the grey granite peaks. The sight was a beauty!

After I hiked back down the mountain and was nearing the parking lot to look for my van, I saw a Kangaroo just sitting there. It turns out it was sleeping. I found out they sleep sitting up, so if anything alarms them they are ready to hop away from danger.

I motioned to a few people behind me to be quiet and we were all able to slip around and get photos of it while it was still sleeping! It was the first kangaroo I saw in the wild, but would not be the last . We are traveling through the Grampians, the Tasmanian outback and there is much more to see.
 
It had been a long day already, but as we traveled back down the mountains toward Hobart, we came to a small town called Halls Gap. And, all of a sudden we started seeing herds of wild Roos grazing in the fields and woodlands. We stopped on one occasion and they let us get close enough to them for some good photos. They are entertaining animals to watch as they hop around, carrying their joeys in their pouches and occasionally get into a boxing match with each other!

As it turned out, I did not see the elusive Tasmanian Devil today. I saw roadsigns warning he was in the area but did not see him. I will try again tomorrow!

NEXT: "Finding the Devil!"