The Eternal Optimist

While in Tasmania, my stay centered around the city of Launceston. Alissa lives in a small town about 20 minutes down the road. Launceston is where she works, as well as where she got married and did her wedding planning. Her parents rented a cottage in the city for their time there, so that was our center of wedding planning operations.

Launceston is a gorgeous old city. The top photo shows a portion of the city, including the post office building (where the clock tower sticks up). It is also home to Boag’s brewery, Launceston’s finest beer. The city is situated along a river and includes a beautiful river gorge area, of which I unfortunately didn’t get any pictures.

The city park was between the cottage and downtown, so we walked through it many times. It was very green and pretty (it was summer when I was there). The park includes an arboretum, fountains (above) and …. monkeys! The monkey exhibit is similar to that of a zoo, but there is only one “cage” with one type of monkey.

While I was in Tasmania, we spent one day at Lullworth, a small beach “town” on the northern coast of the state. I say “town” because it is really just a grouping of “shacks” with no businesses (no stores, no restaurants, etc.). And I say “shacks” because all beach homes or second homes are called shacks there, regardless of size. You can have a million-dollar shack on the shore, or you can have a run-down shack, or you can have a nice, but typical shack by the beach (which is where we were — at Rob’s parents’ shack). We spent a day there in beautiful weather. The beach was a bit cool due to the breeze, so we didn’t venture into the water (although a few other people were in the water — and the dogs enjoyed splashing in it as well).

The water, which was visible from the house, was incredibly blue and beautiful. I wish I could reproduce it perfectly; I’m sure these pictures won’t do it justice. We walked along the shore at high tide, so there was less beach and more rocks. Technically, we were seeing the Bass Strait, which runs between the mainland and Tasmania.

I’m going to try to do better about posting on here. But I’m still going to make this only another glimpse of Tasmania. (I can’t give away too much at once, right?) So, I already posted a picture of some kangaroos we saw at a wildlife park we went to. I also saw emus and Tasmanian devils there (among other things).

Tassie devils

Tasmanian devils are about the size of a small dog (or raccoon). From what I understand, they primariliy eat roadkill. However, they are dangerous due to the strength of their jaws. They can bit through bone (and, thus, eat the roadkill, bones and all). The ones we saw weren’t overly active. However, we did see some interaction between them. They make a sound that’s a mix between a growl and a cry/whine. Also, for the record, they do not spin in circles. We saw a couple adults and also some younger devils. The younger ones especially were kind of cute.

Wallabies and brush-tail possums, oh my

My other biggest brush with wildlife involved Alissa’s car and a ride at dusk. We went out to a country road for a wallaby-sighting expedition. First, we passed the kangaroo crossing sign on the side of the road. Then, we drove through a somewhat-wooded area and saw TONS of wallabies. They were on the side of the road and hopping across it. We also saw a couple of brush-tail possums. These are much cuter than the “American” possums. They’re furry and look a bit like lemurs. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures from this expedition, since it was dark and we were driving. So, here are a couple photos I foudn online of what those animals look like.

Echidnas
My last wildlife sighting happened the day before I left. We went to brunch at the river gorge. As we were leaving, we saw an echidna in the grass. Echidnas look similar to porcupines. They are different because they have an anteater-like snout they use to find bugs in the ground. They’re also marsupials who lay eggs and have a pouch for their young.

I have to get ready for work, but I’m feeling guilty for not posting. So, here’s a picture to get you thinking in the Aussie mindset.