Seeing the Roos in the wild was great and something I would not want to have missed. But, I still want to see a Tasmanian Devil, and I fly out of Hobart in two days. The staff at the Pickled Frog Hostel tell me about the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, just outside of Hobart. It is not a zoo, but a sanctuary for endangered or needy wild animals. They offer to take me there free of charge. There, I can see a Tasmanian Devil!
 
The sanctuary is a short ride out of town . There are various animals around the hillside. There are a lot of Roos! They are roaming free and are use to people. You can go up to them and touch them and feed them the food the people at the sanctuary give you when you enter. A number of them have a head and feet sticking out of their pouch! It's a joey! It looks uncomfortable for the mother and sort of funny to me.

There are koala bears, also. The caretaker of them brings them out a couple of times a day and plays with them and lets people touch them. I petted one. He seemed kinda shy but not afraid. Like a small child, he wanted to go back to the caretaker, reaching out his arms like a child would do to a mother.

There are wombats at the sanctuary, also. They are short-legged, muscular little animals that are native to Australia. They get about 3 feet long and have short, stubby tails. They were interesting and seem very docile as the caretaker played with them .

Then, the caretaker went to another place and got in the area with the Tasmanian Devils! He coaxed them to come out of hiding with a dead mouse! He played with them and hand-fed them. He explained they are nocturnal animals, only coming out at night to feed. That is why no one sees them in the wild much, except maybe on the roadways as they are feeding on roadkill at night. So, he says, it's unlikely I would have ever seen one in the wild. They eat live prey but also feed on roadkill.

The devils have a gestation period of only 21 days. They have between 30-40 young. The babies are only about the size of a grain of rice! The mother goes into a trance for about an hour while the young are born. Out of the 30-40 babies born, only 3 or 4 will live. The mother only has 4 nipples in her pouch. Which ever ones crawl blindly through the mothers fur to the pouch and lock on to the nipple will survive. The babies live in the pouch for 4 months, then leave the pouch for good . In the first year, 3 of the 4 will die by roadkill or other means. These devils are actually kind of cute little things and not deserving of the name!

The sanctuary worker talks about the survival of the wildlife on the island of Tasmania. He says house cats are a big threat. He said the cats eat things, then grass and things grow up around their droppings. When wild animals eat anything that has come in contact with the cat feces, they get infected and die. He said a law was coming that would only allow cats inside a house in Tasmania. I couldn't help but think about Kuching, Malaysia, the CAT CITY! They LOVE cats there, and Tasmania wants to rid itself of all of them.

I had spent a wonderful, exciting week in Tasmania and now it was time for me to fly back to Melbourne. 

My Australian itinerary was to fly into Melbourne from Vietnam, then fly to Tasmania and back to Melbourne. Next, I would take a bus along the very scenic Great Ocean Road to Adelaide . From Adelaide I would go to the Australian outback to see wildlife and the Big Red Rock. I wanted to ride a camel across the Australian outback for a few days! After that was all done I would fly to Cairns and snorkel the Great Barrier Reef before taking a hop-on-hop-off bus back to Sydney, getting off at different small towns along the way for a day or two. It would be a big loop all around the country of Australia by the time I finished in Sydney. 

From Sydney I would fly to Auckland, New Zealand. Overall I would spend 6 weeks in Australia and a month in New Zealand.

Once I got back to Melbourne from Tasmania I hoped the weather would clear up. But, it was still in the 50's for the highs and very overcast every day. I think all the 3 weeks I was in Melbourne and Tasmania I only saw the sun 2 times.

The Australian people are very friendly and I will never forget all the wildlife I have seen here. The natural beauty here is amazing and I can't help but laugh at the vocabulary some of these Australians use. Tasmania is awesome and Melbourne is a great city........ but.......I am cold!!!
 
My flight to New Zealand is still a month away, and I know it will be just as cold there. On the internet I found a flight to get me back to SE Asia. I bought it and threw my plane ticket to New Zealand in the trash. I know Cambodia is warm! 

NEXT: Boat Racing in Cambodia!