Cradle Mountain

Two and a half weeks ago we were just getting back from our amazing weekend at Cradle Mountain National Park. It’s crazy that’s it’s already been two weeks! As soon as we learned about Cradle Mountain, Tanner and I knew that we had to make it there before we left. Our first few attempts to get there failed because of weather and car/ group confusion. We finally had everything worked out on our third attempt. Then we looked at the weather and of course there was a 90% chance of rain in Cradle the whole weekend. We decided it didn’t matter and it wasn’t worth the confusion to put it off again. We were finally going on our Cradle Mountain adventure!

Since the weather decided it wasn’t going to cooperate with us, I decided that I probably should invest in a decent raincoat. My first few attempts at cheap raincoats didn’t really go well for me and let’s just say I found out the hard way they really weren’t waterproof. I found a nice purple raincoat at a sports store and made sure that the tag clearly said waterproof. It was well worth the extra money and since winter in Tassie is proving to be quite rainy it is coming in handy! We also decided that we really weren’t up for camping in the rainy, chilly weather. Our $15 tents and other incredibly cheap camping gear just weren’t going to cut it. One of my friends recommended some cabins right by the national park, so I quickly booked one for us. On Thursday night Tanner picked up our rental car and then we got ready for our weekend away.

Day One

Early Friday morning we packed up the car and picked up everyone. We had a completely full car (Tanner, Kate, Madison, Kirsten, and I), which was awesome. It’s always more fun with a bunch of people. It was probably the longest drive Tanner and I have been on in Tas, but it was so pretty it didn’t matter. Once we got up into the mountains there was snow all over the ground. Most people know I’m not the biggest fan of snow, but it was kind of cool seeing it in Australia. The car wasn’t really fond of the snow though and struggled with the tiny amount on the road. Tanner really appreciated that while he was driving. Once we got to the other side of the mountain and started going down again it immediately started to warm up and the snow disappeared. It was impressive how fast and drastically the landscape/temperature changed.

We made a pit stop at Mole Creek Karst National Park on our way to Cradle Mountain. I had read about the national park online and it said there was karst caves with beautiful formations there. Everyone in the car was easy going and up for anything, which was awesome! I really wanted to see a Tassie cave, so I was pumped to get the opportunity to explore one.  We ended up going on a tour of King Solomon cave. The website didn’t lie … it was full of beautiful cave formations and stalactites. It was crazy to think that when we were walking on the path to the visitors center this whole underground world was so close to us and we had no idea. At one point in the tour the guide shut off the lights and we were able to listen to the sounds of the cave. I couldn’t even imagine being the first one to find the cave. It would be so dark, especially with just a little lantern! On our way out of the cave our guide pointed out a Tasmanian Cave Spider. We had a whole lecture about them in our Tasmanian Fauna class, so I was actually really excited to find this little critter in its natural habitat.

Once our tour was over we said goodbye to our magical underground world and continued on our journey to Cradle. About an hour later we pulled up at the Discovery Holiday Park, which was where our home for the weekend was. We checked in and then dropped our things off.  After being indecisive for a little bit, we decided on going on some short walks. We only had about 2/2.5 hours off sunlight left, so we couldn’t be too ambitious our first day. We jumped back in the car and drove to the Interpretative Center to start our first short hike. It was raining quite a bit when we started our bushwalk and it continued the whole time. Our first walk was on the Enchanted Forest trail. I saw people post pictures of this walk on Pinterest. I of course thought it looked super cool so I pinned it, but I actually had no idea where in Tasmania it was. It was pretty exciting to actually stumble upon it. It didn’t let me down! We were surrounded my huge trees and lots of green just like the picture showed.  Actually being there was 10 times better though! We also saw some streams that were very high and were moving extremely fast. It was pretty incredible.

The Enchanted loop only took about 20 minutes to finish, so after we started on the King Billy Pine walk. This one was my personal favorite! All the trees were once again super tall and the moss made everything extremely green. I felt like I was walking in some magical forest in a Disney movie and animals should have been jumping out to talk to me! Sadly there were no talking animals, but we made it to a massive and incredibly old King Billy Pine tree. Who knew my brother shared a name with an enormous tree! I mean he probably would find that significantly less exciting then his sister, but that’s ok. We finished our loop and then walked back to the Interpretation Center. There were a few times we wondered if we were actually going to get back or if you we would be stuck in the forest because the path and river became one. The water was very high and beginning to flood!

We had a little more time to walk, so we did one more walk by the Interpretation Center.  We got to see the Pencil Pine Falls and the pencil pine/myrtle rainforest. By the time we finished that walk we were pretty wet and chilly, so we jumped back in the car. We didn’t want to go back to the cabin yet, so Madison suggested that we should go to Ronny Creek, which is were a lot of wombats hang out. Once we got there we started walking on the famous overland track. It generally takes people walking this trail about 4-5 days to complete... not quite what we were up for.  It seems like it would be an excellent summer activity! We only walked on it for 5 mins just so we could find our wombats! We found lots of them and we were all thrilled to see our furry friends. Not to deprive the wonderful wombats from their spotlight, but Tanner also spotted a platypus near the trail. Kate and I rushed over, but it had already disappeared in the shallow water. We were determined to find it again… we figured it would have to breathe again eventually. We also decided that since the water it was swimming in wasn’t very deep or large we had a good chance of spotting it when it did come up. After a little while, Kate saw found our platypus friend and we were all absolutely amazed by him. We watched our buddy search for food and swim around for a while. I was in heaven and love every minute of watching this adorable creature. Finding a platypus was well worth all the rain we endured that weekend. Now I can actually say, see a wild platypus… check!!! I never thought that goal would ever happen!

Proof I saw a platypus!

Once we were finished with our Ronny Creek wildlife excitement we headed back to the cabins to dry off and get warm. I keep saying cabins, but it was more like a hostel with our own really nice private room. We shared a kitchen, and toilet/shower facility with other people staying in bunkerhouse rooms. It’s just easier to refer to it as a cabin. The common kitchen area was super nice and we spent most of the time we weren’t walking or sleeping in there. It was a great place to hang out and warm up. There were tables, an oven, two fridges, all the cooking stuff you could need (even though I really didn’t use any of it), microwaves, and our personal favorite the heater. Our room was great too and we were all happy to have a warm/dry place to sleep. We all decided it was well worth the little bit of extra money not to have to camp. I personally liked falling asleep listening to the rain, especially b/c I wasn’t actually getting wet or cold. Tent camping would have miserable.

Day Two

On the second day of our Cradle adventure we drove down to Dove Lake. This is the famous part of Cradle Mountain National Park, since you can see the actual Cradle Mountain there. It is also theoretically where you can capture the iconic Cradle Mountain picture with Dove Lake and the Cradle summit. However, we found out pretty quickly that when it is cloudy and raining you can’t actually see the Cradle Mountain summit. I’ve officially been to Cradle Mountain without actually seeing the whole Cradle Mountain. Bummer! We were able to see a little more than half of the famous mountain though.  Plus the lake and landscape was still spectacular.

 After we snapped some pics of Dove Lake we started our bushwalk to Marions Lookout. Walking in this national Park was incredible and the views and sights were amazing. Every part of our walk was astoundingly beautiful. Tasmania has once again left me speechless and words just don’t do this park justice. On our walk the weather wasn’t too bad. It was mostly just cloudy and misty. There were even some brief moments of sunlight… we would all get super excited for our few seconds of light! We found a lookout that had awesome views of Dove Lake and the surrounding landscape! My favorite part of this walk though was seeing Crater Lake. The lake was very impressive and the mountains surrounding me made me feel so tiny. The views from this point were breathtaking as well. It was awesome to see all the lakes and the buttongrass landscape from up high. We continued walking towards Marion’s Lookout after we were finished taking in the Crater Lake scenery. Our walk got very steep and slick once we got close to the lookout. There was a chain rail that you could use to pull yourself up. I enjoyed the extra challenge of getting to our destination and not falling down the mountain. When we made it to the lookout we tried to take in the view. We could see little bits of things, but we were basically standing in a cloud and we really couldn’t see too much. I’m sure on a clear day the views are absolutely spectacular. There was a decent amount of snow at the lookout, so we all enjoyed jumping in the snow. Kirstein even left a little snowman at the top for other visitors. Then it was time for our journey back down towards the car park. We took a pretty steep and wet path down. I was doing so well and hadn’t slipped until the very end. At almost the very bottom I slipped and fell on my butt. Unfortunately, I picked a place with a big puddle to fall. Oops!

Kate and I at Marion's Lookout

Once we were down, we jumped onto the Dove Lake Circuit trail. This trail takes you around the whole Dove Lake and it was my favorite walk of the weekend. I loved seeing all the buttongrass… it’s probably one of my favorite plants now. It just makes the landscape look so fluffy! We also went through the Ballroom Forest, which showcased more giant, moss-covered trees (which I also love).  At the end of the loop we were able to set out onto Glacier Rock and take some cool pictures of the lake and mountains. It was a fantastic walk and I know my writing is not doing it justice! Pictures say 1,000 words right (they don’t do it justice either) ….

Button grass and other plants!

Cradle Mountain in the clouds... and a rainbow!

Boat hut on Dove Lake Circuit 

Once we made it back to the car park we sat in the visitors hut and ate our lunch. We were all pretty wet from all the on and off raining/misting. I was also personally very cold, so I headed back to the car to warm up with Kate. While I was walking back I noticed there was a rainbow in the middle of Dove Lake right in front of Cradle Mountain! AMAZING! The only thing that could have possible made that sight better was if the top of Cradle Mountain was showing. I wasn’t complaining though… I definitely wasn’t expecting to see the perfect rainbow in basically the perfect place!

We all hopped in the car and were trying to find the next place to walk, since we still had some daylight left. We decided to go back up by the visitors center and do the Dove Canyon walk. Right before we were about to get out of the car it started to rain…. This time it was raining really hard too. We sure know how to time things (this happened to us the entire weekend). We had all been sitting in the warm car and decided that we were tired, finally warm, and really not up for another 2 hour walk. Instead we went to check out the gift shop in the lodge and visitor center. We wanted to get souvenirs anyway so it worked out well. We even found some wallabies on our way in to the lodge aka Kate’s favorite Aussie animal!

After that we headed back to the cabin and hung out for the rest of the night. We played cards a bunch of card games, shared some wine (drinking age is 18 so no worries I wasn’t breaking the law), and talked a lot. It was a pretty awesome time and a great way to end the day. We also saw a hairy cicada around the cabin! It was pretty weird looking… kinda like a moth and a cicada combined. We found out later in Tas Fauna it is a primitive species of cicada. I thought it was cool.

Day Three

We waned to wake up early to do the Dover Lake Circuit walk that we neglected to do the day before. When we woke up we heard the rain steadily beating on the roof and we all turned over went back to sleep for a little longer. Eventually we decided to brave the rain and wind so we could have one last adventure. We decided to do a shorter walk to Kvyett Falls instead of the 2/3 hour loop. It started to clear up for us while we were driving to the Interpretation Center (the beginning of the our walk), but as soon as we were getting out of the car it stared to pour! We decided to just go for it and start our walk anyways. This walk took us to a waterfall. The water was running incredibly fast and there was a lot of it. We also saw a few wallabies on our walk. Kate tried to convince one that it should go back to Canada with her, but it didn’t want to. I found a wombat sleeping in the hole of a tree. It was all cuddled up and trying to stay dry. Adorable!

Once we made it back to the car we headed back to Hobart. Our ride home was filled with mountains, rainbows, and of course sheep. We even drove through a town called Perth, so now I can stay I’ve been to Perth. I don’t have to mention that it’s was the tiny town in Tassie and not the city on the west coast of the Australian mainland right?!?!

 

Heading back to Hobart

Cradle Mountain National Park was amazing! It was one of my favorite places I’ve visited in Tassie. It was beautiful even in the rain, so I can’t even imagine what it would be like to see it is when it’s sunny! It is now on my bucket list to go back to Cradle Mountain someday in the summer months.

Tanner and I officially have less then a month until we arrive in the USA. CRAZY! We just finished classes today and all we have left are exams. This upcoming week is SWOTVAC or as we say in the US dead week. There are no classes during SWOTVAC, so we are off to Melbourne/New Zealand for the week.  Don’t worry they also have 3 weeks of exams here and our finals aren’t until a little later in the exam time period. We will have a few days to study when we get back! I’m so excited to see what adventures we will have this week. See you all in less than a month! Miss you <3

Love Always,

Bobbi  

Tons of Tassie Adventures

It has been an exciting couple of weeks down under! We have had a lot of absolutely amazing adventures and I am once again very behind on writing. I’ll probably have to split this blog post into two parts, so it isn’t ridiculously long.

Mount Field National Park

Our first adventure was two weeks ago on Thursday night. We decided to go with the Bushwalking club to Mount Field National Park for a night walk. Right before left I found out my flashlight decided it didn’t want to work anymore and it didn’t just want new batteries (I used it the night before and it worked). Thanks to my awesome friend Kate I was able to borrow a flashlight. She saved the day and I was allowed to go on the night walk.

Once my flashlight troubles were solved and we were all ready to go we headed down the TUU (Tasmania University Union) building to meet the club. We waited for everyone who signed up for the trip to get there. Then the club drove to Mount Field, which is about an hour away from campus. Once we got there we started walking on a path. Thank goodness we had leader from the bushwalking club showing us where to go otherwise I would have definitely gotten lost.

Our first stop was to look for glowworms!!! This was part of the reason I wanted to sign up for this bushwalk and I was so excited to finally get to see them. Everyone had to turn off their flashlights because the glowworms need complete darkness. We held on to the rail that was on one side of the path and hoped we were still walking in the right direction. After a few steps I started to notice little, blue glowing dots along the left side of the path. As I continued to walk more and more glowworms were visible. It was absolutely incredible!  Walking by them felt magical and I couldn’t believe I was actually checking another thing off my bucket list. Ever since I got to Tasmania and found out they had glowworms I’ve wanted to go find them and it was just as amazing as I was hoping it would be. I wanted to keep walking back and forth looking at them, but we had more to explore on our walk.

We continued walking for a while until we reached the first waterfall stop. It was really cool to see a waterfall at night with just the light from our flashlights. After we finish looking at this waterfall it was off to the next one. This one was just as incredible as the first one. One of my favorite parts of the bushwalk (besides the glowworms of course) was walking by the biggest trees I’ve ever seen. These trees were super tall with enormous trunks! I was completely in awe and I love every second of walking in this magnificent paper. Before I knew it we had arrived at our final destination and last waterfall for the night. It was beautiful and very serene to listen to the rushing water. Then it was time for the walk back to the car park. I loved how peaceful our walk back was and I adored being surrounded by such magnificent trees again. After a fantastic walk we were back at the car and we headed home.

Hobart

On Friday Tanner and I headed down into Hobart to explore the city a little more. We decided to go to the Tasmania Art Museum, which is located right is by the beautiful waterfront. The first exhibit we looked at was the about Aboriginal history and it was really interesting to learn about their lives and see artifacts. After that found the wildlife exhibit, which Tanner and I definitely enjoyed. Shocker right?!?! I prefer my wildlife alive not stuffed of course. However, I did enjoy learning more about the amazing wildlife and getting to see the animals up close. There was also an exhibit dedicated to the Thylacine better known as the Tasmanian Tiger. This was my favorite exhibit and I really enjoyed learning more about this spectacular animal. There was an actual stuffed Thylacine in a display box and a video with Tassie Tiger footage was playing in the room. It was actually pretty sad because these were incredible creatures and it is upsetting to think they are no longer roaming the Tasmanian wilderness. It is an excellent example of the direct impact humans can have on animals though. It’s too bad in many cases we aren’t learning from this mistake though…

After this exhibit we looked at the Antarctic and Southern Ocean section, as well as the Great War sections. They were both also very interesting and it was definitely worth seeing the museum. After we finished walking around the museum we headed back out to the waterfront. We grabbed some ice cream/sorbet (me) and sat by the water. Tanner kept making fun of me because my raspberry sorbet made my lips bright red! Oh well it was delicious, so it was completely worth it. While we were sitting there I heard and Tanner saw a seal. I was bummed that I didn’t see it…. Still kinda bitter about it actually! After we finished our delicious treats desserts we headed back to campus.

Tasman Peninsula

Earlier in the week a couple people posted on one of the FaceBook groups we are apart of that they were going to the Tasman Peninsula on Friday to sightsee and bushwalk. They wanted to know if anyone was interested in going with them. Of course we were! It sounded like an awesome day!

We woke up early Saturday morning and headed to the Tasman Peninsula. One of our friends had a car and was nice enough to drive us. Thank you Nick! After about 2/2.5 hours in the car we arrived at our first destination of the day, the Blowhole. Actually it was longer than that because we had some minor struggles finding it once we got there. We all had some problems reading/understanding the directions on the sign. Eventually we got there though and it was very cool.  Then we decided we wanted to explore more in this area, so we continued to walk around. We found an area with awesome rock formations and Grace and I saw a Superb Fairy-wren. He was superb indeed and a beautiful blue color. Grace and I of course watched him for a while before we continued/caught up with everyone. We climbed up a short ledge. Simply for everyone else, but I struggled a tad. Being short did not come in handy then. I made it though! The view from where we were was amazing. The rock formations and ocean views were incredible. We found a path that led us to the top of one of the rocks. Words can’t describe how pretty everything looked! 

Blowhole 

Nifty rocks 

Superb Fairy Wren

Once we were done there we drove to the Tasman Arch and then walked a little bit to find Devils Kitchen.  The Tasman Arch and Devils Kitchen were a lot bigger and steeper then I had imagined from the pictures. It was super impressive! We also got some phenomenal views of the rocks/coast. I have been wanting to see that view since I got here and I couldn’t believe I was actually looking at it! AMAZING!

Tasman Arch

Devils Kitchen

We had another short drive after that to Fortescue Bay, so we could start our longest bushwalk of the day. I’m not entirely sure what our walk was called, but it was the absolute best walk I have ever been on! I can’t express how beautiful, perfect, and magnificent it was. We walked up tons of stairs until we finally hit level ground. We were all deep in conversation though, so it seemed to go pretty quick. We saw another hiker and she said we were in for a real treat soon and she was completely right. Soon we were walking down and then back up huge rocks… it’s hard to describe, but it was awesome. On one of them Tanner and I saw an echidna! I wanted to see one so badly and I didn’t think would happen. I could hardly get the words out of my mouth to tell Tanner when I spotted our buddy! I felt so fortunate to see one. Thank you Mr. Echidna for coming to say hi… I appreciate it even though he probably hated every moment of our presence. We ended up losing our group during our echidna stop, but we eventually found them. They were looking over a cliff to see the Totem Pole. The Totem Pole was something else I’ve wanted to see, but I choose life instead. I figured it was really windy and if anyone was going to lean too much and accidentally fall off the cliff it would most certainly be me! I didn’t want to ruin everyone’s day so I didn’t think it would be a good idea for me to lean over to see a tall rock. Plus I remember thinking “I can’t die now I have to tell everyone I saw an echidna”! Oh well! I’ll just have to look at pictures and know I was standing right above my Totem Pole.

Proof I actually found an Echidna!

Banksia... the only plant I can always remember from Plant Ecology! Therefore one of my favorites!

Taylor, Bobbi, Grace, Tanner, and Nick

After walking up and down tons of stairs we were back at the car. All I can say it the view, incredible wildlife, and the beautiful environment that surrounded me during our 5 hour hike was exactly why I choose to study in Tasmania. It was one of the coolest places I’ve ever visited and the Tasman Peninsula is officially one of my favorite places in Tassie. I couldn’t have spent the day with more amazing people either!

Cockle Creek/Southwest National Park

After a good nights rest we were all ready for another adventure! This time we were heading to Cockle Creek, Tasmania. We went with one of our good friends, Kate. We didn’t know anyone else who was going, but that was ok because we got to meet a lot of new, awesome people! Right away everyone was super nice and I knew it was going to be a great trip!

Cockle Creek is known for being the Southern most road in Australia and Tanner and I had been wanting to go there for a while. Other then it being the last road I had no idea what was down that far in the state or what to expect from the day. After about 2.5/3 hours we made it to our first destination. We literally had to stop there because we ran out of road! Drive as far south as I can in Australia… check! We went to check out the whale statue as soon as we got there, which was only a short walk from our car. We took some pictures there and hoped we would see a real whale for a little bit (at least I did).  

Then we picked Fishers Point, a 2 hour return trail, for our bushwalk. We ended up walking in Southwest National Park, which was pretty cool. I didn’t realize that there was a national park right by Cockle Creek Rd. Our walk took us along the beach and we were able to see part of the beautiful southern coast. I was surrounded by mountains, pristine beaches, and the ocean… what more could I ask for?!?! As we approached the end of our walk Tanner found the Fishers Point Navigation Light and Pilot Station ruins. Back when it wasn’t a ruins and whaling was completely acceptable, people would there and watch for whales. When they spotted one they would quickly go out and try to kill it. We reached a point where we couldn’t walk any farther. I made sure to face Antarctica and wave to it! In my mind I was a lot closer to Antarctica than I actually was. Once we were done exploring we headed back to the car park. We ate a quick lunch and we were on to the next stop.

Fishers Point Navigation Light and Pilot Station ruins 

Next stop Antarctica!

After a quick car ride we got out and started our walk to see Mystery Caves. I had no idea there were caves on the agenda and I was pumped to go find them.  The walk was super muddy and extremely pretty. A lot of the walk was rainforest habitat and everything was covered in moss. Everything was so green! We can along some old train tracks, shoes, and bottles that had been left there a long time ago, which was really interesting and cool to see. We continued walking and came across a sign that said our caves were close. After a muddy, steep climb down we had arrived. I was standing in the cave talking to Kate when I realized there was a glowworm colony right above her head! I have this new fascination and love for glowworms, so I was beyond excited to see my little glowing friends. It’s just so surreal to see them in the wild not just a picture. It’s also really pretty to see little blue lights in a pitch-black environment. I watched them the whole time we were in the caves. I’m sure they enjoyed my company as much as I loved theirs.

Still on the right path!

Train track remains

After the cave we headed back to the car and started our journey home. It was and excellent weekend and I’m so thankful people were willing to have us tag along with them on their adventures.

Bonorong

On Monday I went on the coolest field trip ever! For my Tasmanian Fauna class we went to Bonorong Sanctuary, which is a wildlife rehabilitation center near Hobart. The person who runs the sanctuary gave us a tour of the animals and taught us about Tassie wildlife. Many of the residents we saw were permanent residents because their injuries were too serious to put them back in the wild. The sanctuary does save and release tons of Tassie animal thought.  They don’t want them to get use to people or stress them out, so we didn’t meet them.  Our first stop on our tour was the wombats! Our tour guide brought out a baby named Tina and then sat down to tell us about wombats. Most of the time he was talking Tina was sleeping on his lap. It was adorable! Then they put food out for the little wombats, so she woke up and joined her buddies for some lunch. They are hoping to release all of the young, orphaned wombats we saw. They were okay to be around humans because I guess they don’t get habituated like other animals. Our guide told us that one day they just know it’s time to be a wombat and stop liking their mothers presence or in this case humans. They also don’t have to teach them how to do basic wombat things like digging burrows. One day their instincts just kick in and they start digging and practicing. I thought that was pretty interesting! Way to go wombat instincts!

Sleepy little wombat

While we were walking by one of the wombat exhibits some of the keepers were putting on of the wombats into a big transfer box and getting ready for his release that night. His whole world was changing and I couldn’t help to be excited for him! Max, the wombat was going home! My favorite part of interning at Willowbrook Wildlife Center at home was releasing animals back into the wild. It’s a priceless moment that makes all the hard work and cleaning you do seem totally worth it. I can only imagine how cool it would be to watch a wombat take his first steps back into the wild!

After that we saw the Tasmanian Devils! Unfortunately, none of them were able to be release because of their injuries. They did have a spacious exhibit and were very loved though.  There was one that kept running around the exhibit. (Watching devils run is pretty amusing!) Then she would try to sneak up on our tour guide (Tassie devils aren’t very sneaky) and try to take a nibble of his boot. He would step away from her then she would do another lap. Then she decided she was sleepy and plopped on the ground. She was my favorite… I liked her spunky personality. We also talked about their unfortunate facial tumor disease and their declining populations, which is always sad to hear about. 

My sassy Tassie Devil friend! 

We also saw tawny frogmouths, possum, a spotted quoll, bettongs, sulphur-crested cockatoo, and an Eastern quoll. We ended our trip by feeding kangaroos, which is always the best! I love when they hold my hand when they eat… so cute! Before I left I also got to talk to Fred, the sulphur-crested cockatoo. We established that Polly didn’t want a cracker. I wished I could have stayed longer, but I didn’t want to be left behind.

Wild Tawny Frogmouth!

Spotted Quoll

Well hi there cutie!

View from Bonorong! 

These were wild Eastern Rosellas I believe! They were just chilling around the sanctuary. One of the prettiest bird ever right?!?!

Fred! 

Plant Ecology Field Trip

Tuesday we had our last Plant Ecology field trip. It was a week full of field trips! It was a pretty long drive to Silver Plains aka our destination, but I slept a lot of it so if flew by for me. One of the highlights of my day was that we got stuck in the road because sheep were blocking it. So great! There are LOTS of sheep in Tassie (especially the middle of the state) and I find them very amusing to watch. They didn’t let me down on our field trip. Once they moved we continued on our way. 

So many sheep in the road!

When we got there it was raining pretty hard, so we waited for it clear. Then we made our way to an area that has a research project set up. My professor is involved with this project and needed us to help him set some equipment up. There are birds here called currawongs (they look like ravens). Since they are intelligent and extremely curious birds, they decided it would be a good idea to put out there first attempt at setting up this soil temperature monitors. We were helping set up the new and improved currawong proof equipment. It was pretty simple and it felt pretty cool to be contributing (very tiny contribution) to a worldwide science project. You go plot number H35! Hope your new monitor works well for you!

After that we went on a short walk. Tanner wandered away hoping he might see a deer shed, even though he wasn’t exactly sure when deer shed their antler here. He missed shed hunting this year though, so I think he was just happy to be out walking around in a place there might be an antler. He did end up seeing some deer. He said they were black! Deer aren’t supposed to be in Tasmania. They are one of the many introduced species here, but they keep them around so they can have a deer hunting season. The situation seems to be a lot like pheasants back home. Then we headed back to our buses and headed home. I stayed awake the whole time and really enjoyed the scenery. I love Tasmania… it’s all so pretty (even the parts the locals say aren’t pretty)!!!

Well I think that’s probably enough writing for one blog post. Plus I really have to work on my Tas Fauna homework (I know weird homework). Less than 40 days until I’m back in the States. I’m not sure I’m ready for my life abroad to end… It’s going so fast! Darn Mom was right again. I do miss home tons though, Seeing all the prom, graduation, and end of the school year posts/pics definitely made me want to be home to see everyone. Quick shout out to my “little sis” and Best Buddy, Grace! You looked absolutely stunning in your prom dress and your date looked pretty darn handsome too! Hope you had an amazing prom. You definitely looked like a princess. Miss you like CRAZY Grace and Adam <3 Congrats to all my friends who graduated from college too… you guys rock. So proud of all of you!

See you in less then 6 weeks everyone! I’ll make sure write about my Cradle Mountain adventure soon.

Love Always,

Bobbi