I’ve been in Tassie now for almost two weeks (seems like longer somehow), and I had yet to see a wombat. They told me at Cradle Mountain I’d see wombats...nope. There were signs at Lake St. Clair to watch for wombats. I watched...no wombats. Well, I’ve have more than made up for the lack of wombat sightings today. In fact, there are so many wombats that I don’t even get too excited now.
I took the ferry this morning to Maria Island. I was only able to fit my rear panniers and tent in the bag Dorothy gave me. I just carried on my front panniers, helmet, and handlebar bag. They didn’t say anything. The ferry ride was about an hour. It was not the usual ferry (that one is having some problems), but one of the boats from Hobart. They just took the bikes (there were three of us) and tied them to the railing at the back of the boat.
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| Ready for the ferry |
I loaded everything back on Tilmann on the pier, then headed over to Darlington, which is the settlement area of the island. Along the way I saw several little pademelon (they look like wallabies), and a couple of Cape Barren Geese. Quite a bit for just getting off the boat!
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| Cape Barren Geese |
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| Pademelon |
I paid my $7.00 to camp in Darlington, and set up my tent. There were quite a few tents. Turns out there is a high school group of 40 kids here. They were off hiking most of the day.
Once my stuff was set up, I hopped on Tilmann to ride around the island...well, not exactly “around” the island. My first destination was the Painted Cliffs. They are limestone cliffs that have been eroded by the iron rich water to create beautiful patterns in the rock. The best way to view them is when the tide is low. It was low tide at 12:30. They were really really cool! The patterns and shapes of the rock were amazing. Of course I took a ton of photos. Here’s a few.
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| Painted cliffs |
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| More cliff color |
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| Erosion at work |
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| Flat Will at the Painted Cliffs |
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| Flat Will enjoying the beach |
After the Painted Cliffs, I continued along the road going south. The coastline was quite spectacular. As I was riding along, I came to an open grassy area. There, munching on the grass were three wombats. I parked Tilmann and walked toward them to get some photos. One ran off, but the other one let me get quite close. They’re awfully cute! Apparently when they fight they are kind of like sumo wrestlers. They just push each other around. I took a bunch of photos, then let them continue their munching.
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| Wombat! |
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| Munch munch munch |
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| Beautiful Coastline of Maria Island |
I saw more wombats at another grassy area further south. I was heading toward an area called French’s Farm, but ended up turning around before reaching it. I came back, stopping at Mrs. Hunt’s House. She lived on the island for a long time, operating a telegraph.
The island has a long history of being a convict prison, then a farming community, then back to a prison, then a place where they quarried the limestone for a cement plant, and finally a World Heritage National Park Wildlife Refuge...that happens to be crawling with wombats!
Of course, wombats aren’t the only critters here. There are the pademelons, kangaroos (haven’t seen them yet), the occasional penguin (the smallest penguin species known as the Little Penguin), brush-tail possums, and...Tasmanian Devils! Some years ago they brought over 15 devils that had been in captivity, and released them on the island in the hopes that they would survive and multiply. The Tassie Devils on the East Coast of Tassie are suffering from a face cancer, so the hope is to increase the healthy population. So far it has been very successful. One of the rangers said they are soon going to take another 30 devils off Maria Island, and back to the East Coast.
I returned to my campsite, and ate some lunch. After lunch, I headed to the Fossil Quarry. This is where they got the stone for the cement plant. The track was not quite as bike friendly as the road to the Painted Cliffs. This was a bit more like a walking track. It was also quite steep in places, but I made it. The Fossil Quarry is indeed rocks with fossils in them. An entire wall of rock with fossils in it. The view along the northern coast was pretty spectacular too.
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| Fossil Quarry |
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| Fossils in the rock |
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| Had to walk up this one |
After seeing another couple of wombats (this time a mother and baby), I rode/pushed Tilmann up a very steep hill to the edge of the cliff. The track continued up, but that was the way up to one of the peaks. There was another trail that headed back to Darlington. I took that one.
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| Mom and baby wombats |
Back in Darlington, I parked Tilmann at my campsite, and walked up to the town buildings. One place was the Coffee Palace. It was a sort of restaurant back in the 1800s. It’s all been restored. One building has been turned into a bunkhouse. It used to be the penitentiary. Now you can stay there.
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| The old prison |
Back at my campsite, I decided to take a shower before the kids started getting in there. Over in the kitchen shelter I ate my dinner, and also met Haley and Erin. They are from Hobart and New Norfolk. They asked if I wanted to play UNO with them. We played until it was too dark to see the cards. It was fun.
As I was getting ready to go back to my campsite, we noticed a possum was up on one of the tables eating some bread that one of the kids had left stuffed into a mug. Two of the rangers happened to be there (they are helping to run the camp for the kids). The one ranger took a photo to show the kids what happens when they leave food around. When I got back to my tent, I could hear a bunch of rustling around amongst the kids tents. The kids weren’t there. Apparently, one kid have left a tent open. One or more of the critters had been in the tent.
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| Brush Tail Possum |
So, my first day on Maria Island has come to a close. Tomorrow I think I will ride to French’s Farm. I take the 3:30 ferry back to Triabunna—plenty of time to explore more. Maybe I’ll see some kangaroos!
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