Last week sometime Jet promised that the kids would see Tasmanian Devils on this trip, so just as well for the Tasmania Zoo complex, just 20 minutes from Launceston. Excitedly that is where set off for this morning. Once we bought our tickets we looked in the large aquarium tanks in the main building. They had everything from catfish to clownfish and seahorses. There were excited shrieks from three very enthralled children. We then took those three children, who happened to be ours to the Devil enclosures for the 10:30 feeding session. A brave keeper got in with three of them and gave us a talk about Tassie Devils, while holding a bucket of road-kill for them to munch on. They were literally nipping at his heals as he informed us their bite pressure wise was like that of a salt water crocodile, but because they knew he would feed them they were only giving him minor ‘love bites’…
Once they were fed he got out a young female devil and we all had a pat of her… that was something none of us had ever done before. Her fur was quite coarse and wiry.
The rest of the zoo consisted of a few breeds of monkeys, other Australian animals such as roos, wallabies, echidnas, wombats and a koala. There were a couple of very graceful looking wedge tailed eagles who enjoyed a home out on the lake. They had been saved from being stuffed and mounted in the 1990’s as one had been shot, the other electrocuted on power lines and had lived at the park since.
At one of the monkey enclosures we were able to get up and close while one sat on the wire fence. Problem was he took a pee which came our way – just missing Daz unlike the llama lurgy that Jet copped as we walked by them a few moments later…
The kids enjoyed feeding the wallabies, a tiny pony and a tubby goat. We had our picnic lunch in the sun which was nice. The park has many species of colourful birds, both Australian and from overseas. We took heaps of photos of these. Ethan in particular found it very amusing when a cockatoo kept saying hello to him!
As we left the zoo all three kids fell asleep so we decided to keep driving up the Tamar Valley towards Beaconsfield. Got some terrific views of the river and surrounding hills, particularly at Brady’s Lookout. In Beaconsfield we visited the now very famous mine and did the mine and heritage tour. It was very interesting, they had heaps of hands on stuff for the kids. Everytime they saw the ‘big yellow hand sign’ it was a fight about who would have the first go! They got to turn old pump flywheels, talk on ancient telephones, try on old hats, operate model mine shaft lifts and even crank the big old waterwheel and get one of the pumps pumping! There was a terrific exhibition on the mining tragedy in 2006, that claimed miner Larry Knight and saw the miraculous rescue of the other two. Although, I did think somewhat pessimistically that the mine was cashing in on this by charging people to see the exhibition. I’m sure tourism has quadrupled since the incident… then I guess we wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t so infamous either.
It got dark as we drove back to Launceston. This took just under an hour, so it had been a full day out and overall the kids handled it all very well. They certainly had a fun time of it! Dinner in our unit, then showers and bed early for the crumpets.
Once they were fed he got out a young female devil and we all had a pat of her… that was something none of us had ever done before. Her fur was quite coarse and wiry.
The rest of the zoo consisted of a few breeds of monkeys, other Australian animals such as roos, wallabies, echidnas, wombats and a koala. There were a couple of very graceful looking wedge tailed eagles who enjoyed a home out on the lake. They had been saved from being stuffed and mounted in the 1990’s as one had been shot, the other electrocuted on power lines and had lived at the park since.
At one of the monkey enclosures we were able to get up and close while one sat on the wire fence. Problem was he took a pee which came our way – just missing Daz unlike the llama lurgy that Jet copped as we walked by them a few moments later…
The kids enjoyed feeding the wallabies, a tiny pony and a tubby goat. We had our picnic lunch in the sun which was nice. The park has many species of colourful birds, both Australian and from overseas. We took heaps of photos of these. Ethan in particular found it very amusing when a cockatoo kept saying hello to him!
As we left the zoo all three kids fell asleep so we decided to keep driving up the Tamar Valley towards Beaconsfield. Got some terrific views of the river and surrounding hills, particularly at Brady’s Lookout. In Beaconsfield we visited the now very famous mine and did the mine and heritage tour. It was very interesting, they had heaps of hands on stuff for the kids. Everytime they saw the ‘big yellow hand sign’ it was a fight about who would have the first go! They got to turn old pump flywheels, talk on ancient telephones, try on old hats, operate model mine shaft lifts and even crank the big old waterwheel and get one of the pumps pumping! There was a terrific exhibition on the mining tragedy in 2006, that claimed miner Larry Knight and saw the miraculous rescue of the other two. Although, I did think somewhat pessimistically that the mine was cashing in on this by charging people to see the exhibition. I’m sure tourism has quadrupled since the incident… then I guess we wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t so infamous either.
It got dark as we drove back to Launceston. This took just under an hour, so it had been a full day out and overall the kids handled it all very well. They certainly had a fun time of it! Dinner in our unit, then showers and bed early for the crumpets.
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