Tasmania 2
OK, here is the video, then you can read about it...
https://youtu.be/v6PcCgGDUbQ
For my wife's birthday we had booked the night tour at the Bonorong Wild Life Sanctuary.
http://bonorong.com.au/the-bonorong-night-tour/
We had spent the morning driving to Port Arthur and seeing other Tasmanian Devils, then checked into the hotel for a bit of a rest. (We started at 3AM...)
Then, we set out for Bonorong.
We were well before tour time, but the let us in to look around for a bit.
Cool place. People were doing things like patting wombats and such. But, we weren't part of that tour, so we didn't.
We did feed kangaroos.
Mariah the wombat was out and about. While tempting to just pat her when the keepers weren't around, I did not do an unauthorized wombat contact.
But, we decided we needed to get some food before the 3 hour tour. So, we went into town and ate a a bakery.
Then, back for our night time tour.
I watched the wombat more while we waited for it to start. With 2 minutes left, the wombat went and hid in its box.
I worried if I would ever get wombat time...
The tour also started with kangaroo feeding. But, with the guide's direction we knew where to pat them to make them happy.
There were several going on, but each group only had 4 people.
The woman in the other couple of our tour was from Boston like we are and actually used to go on school trips to the museum my wife and I used to work at.
Strange how that sort of thing works out...
The guide also seemed taken a back some when she asked why we had come to visit Tasmania.
"For this," I said.
"Just this?"
"Pretty much. We had extra time this morning and did other things. But, this is why we flew over from Melbourne."
"Wow. I hope it's worth it..."
The good news: it was.
Then we headed over to the devils. The guide hopped right in with them. We did not do that.
Our guide did tell us a lot about the devils. They were very impressed while they waited for feeding time to get there.
For insurance reasons, the guide holds the hand of the person feeding the devil. It's nice they pretend they could save your fingers...
Then, my wife went. This was what she had been looking froward to.
Then, it was my turn. But, they'd had three helpings so far. So, they weren't that interested.
We switched to another enclosure with a devil who had not yet been fed, Prince.
Our guide had warned us that when they are on all 4s they can jump up at you.
Prince did. So, using the bone of what I was feeding him, I parried his little devil nose as he jumped up.
This did not seem to be what he expected. He backed off and got a running start at me and I bopped him on the nose again.
Eventually, with the guide's help, we came to a compromise and he got fed some...
Then, on to the wombat!
But, the wombat could not be found.
She was not in her box.
Eventually our guide called for "Bob the wombat rouster". I'm not sure that was his official title...
He found the new burrow she had dug and out she came.
(Yes, I did feel a bit guilty about that. But, only a bit...)
She was brought over to a little enclosure with us and finally, finally I got to pat the wombat.
My wife also got to pat the wombat.
But, the wombat eventually needed to back to its burrow.
I did ask about the droppings and was shown an example.
Not quite a cube, but not round either...
Then, off to the Echidna.
Randal had been attacked by a dog and lost one of his front legs. So, he can't go back to the wild. But, he seems happy to be hand fed.
Then over to the Tawny Frogmouths.
There were four of them and four of us, so we each fed one.
The guide was having trouble getting mine to be interested. But, I saw it was because it's good eye was away from the food. So, once I took over, no problem.
My wife fed the male that was sitting on an egg and didn't want to get down.
We didn't pat them, but got very close. No zoom is used in this photo.
Then, off to the Koala Bears. They are very furry.
Then, we went and fed the possum.
While waiting to go in, my wife was assaulted by kangaroos who knew she had kangaroo food.
Then, possum feeding.
Then the spotted Quoll. These you fed through the cage with the tongs as they are very predatory.
We fed some other quolls too and some honey gliders.
By then it was too dark inside the enclosures and no flash photos allows.
The bettong was out and there was still enough light to see him. He eats from a bowl, so we only watched him eat.
The camera makes it look lighter, but it was after sunset we left.
It was a great tour! We both really, really liked it.,