Onward with our travel in Tasmania from Cradle Mountain to Launceston which has many 19th century and Victorian-era warehouses still standing. We visited the Platypus House Wildlife Center. Here we saw these unique duck-billed animals close-up. Each platypus has its own pond, yet one female, Dawn, would sometimes slip through a tunnel to visit a male platypus, Jupiter. When it’s breeding time the staff will see how well the two will get on; otherwise a platypus is usually solitary. Tasmanian platypus are biologically distinct from those on the mainland due to their isolation here.
We also saw echidnas. They and the platypus are monotremes meaning they have a single opening for urinary, defecatory and reproductive systems. While the platypus were swimming in their ponds, the echidnas were walking around our feet. The echidnas have unbelievably long tongues as we watched them eat! The platypus and echidnas here at this facility are animals that cannot return to the wild. This is not a rehabilitation place, solely here for educational purposes.
to help you know one end from another on this unusual animal.
Our lunch was at a boutique winery, Small Wonders. A delicious charcuterie board and a glass of the locally produced wine or two, as you wish. The vineyard was well pruned no doubt in prep for this spring and summer growth. Beautiful property. It truly is a first spring weekend for everyone so this winery was very busy.
While in Launceston, we rode the “longest single span of any chairlift in the world”, 308 meters at Cataract Gorge which was carved for thousands of years by the South Esk River. It was a beautiful, easy, short walk as we looked below to rushing waters from the winter’s snow. Yet last night there was snow on the nearby mountains. It’s been cold in Tasmania and I am “rugged up” every day.
Voting in Australia is compulsory. On that day a “sausage sizzle” is available for free to everyone voting. It is a piece of white bread with sautéed onions and a sausage. You can top it with sauce, BBQ sauce or mustard. Of course, we all tried one! Officially, the food is layered with white bread, then sausage, sautéed onions and sauce … or maybe it was bread, onions, then sausage and sauce … quite the discussion between the vendor and our guide as to which is the official way to serve the sausage sizzle. Whatever, we ate it!
The United States had benefitted from their allies, and the troops from Australia and New Zealand, when fighting in World War I and II, Vietnam and Korean War. April 25th is when Australians commemorate the loss of their people in various wars and conflicts around the world and it is called ANZAC Day. One statue where a commemoration would take place on the 25th:
On another note: it is good to see signs such as this:
Finally, we had to see the Fairy or, now officially known as, the Little penguins! We headed to Low Head with an arrival time as the sun was setting in anticipation of the penguins returning to their burrows for the night. They are about 12 inches high and weigh one pound. They are dark blue on their back and white on their belly, perfect for the time they spend in water. Predators above and below them will not see them. They eat about a half pound of fish every day, a good food supply here at the Bess Strait. Breeding will begin in September with the majority of the penguins mating for life. Two eggs are laid, usually 2 – 4 days apart, with the incubation lasting 35 days. Both parents share that responsibility. Our guide provided plenty of information about these little penguins which were so fun to watch! It was very cold and windy for us as spectators, but we watched the penguins as they marched off to their burrows. No flash was allowed so the photos are not the best, but hopefully you can spot the penguins. We fly to Melbourne next…
