I headed off mid-morning, and on my way to Deloraine, I stopped off in Westbury to have a look at the Westbury Maze.
I can't say I was very impressed. The maze corridors were very narrow, which was claustrophobic, and I picked up a few scratches on my arms from constantly brushing against the walls of the maze. It only took about 10 minutes to find my way to the center, and 5 minutes back, so it was a pretty easy maze.
After Westbury, I headed on for Deloraine. I randomly ran into my parents and their friends there, (we hadn't planned to meet up) so we had lunch together, and I went to see the Yarns (artwork in silk) exhibition with Mum and M. Dad and H went off to find a coffee shop while they waited. The Yarns exhibition is four large panels of Embroider and silk painting, representing images from around the area. As a (very amateur) embroiderer, it was fascinating to see the various styles used, from cross stitch, to tapestry, to ribbon embroidery and more. For anyone interested in needle crafts it is well worth a visit.
After Deloraine, my parents headed off directly to Strahan, while I decided to stop at Mole Creek on the way. I didn't have time left to visit the Mole Creek caves, but I did have time to stop at the Trowunna Wildlife Park. Trowunna specialises in rescuing injured wildlife and nursing the animals back to health. This means that the only animals permanently resident at the park are animals which were too badly injured to survive in the wild, and animals which are being kept as part of breeding programs to try to preserve species. They have a number of enclosures, including a nocturnal enclosure. While I was there they had spotted Quols, an Echidna, a couple of Bald Eagles (apparently they had been wounded by shotguns, and had trouble flying), and a number of different types of birds.
If you look at the photo above to the right, you can see a Tasmanian Devil lying in the sun. I was fascinated by the shape of the foot, which is almost human in shape.
After wandering around the park on my own for a while I joined a tour, and was shown a number of the animals. I was given the chance to pat a wombat, a koala, and a Tasmanian Devil.
The wombat was rescued when his mother was killed by a car, and was getting close to the time when he would be leaving. The picture shows him being held by the park ranger who was leading the tour.
The fur was very coarse, which makes sense for a burrowing animal.
The Koala I was able to pat was one of a colony kept at the park as part of a breeding program. Apparently Koala's are not found native to Tasmania. This colony came from Victoria, to be kept as a reserve population, during a period when the Koala's in Victoria were being hit hard by an illness. The fur was a bit softer than the wombat's fur, but still fairly coarse. Definitely coarser than dog fur.
The last type of animal I was able to pat was a young Tasmanian Devil. In this case, the Ranger started by feeding the Devil's in the enclosure. They were fed with whole rat carcases, which a number of the tour group found too disturbing. Tassie Devils are messy eaters! In the end, only myself and one other man were still there (both of us obviously fascinated), when the ranger picked one of them up, and took it out to us to pat.The fur was the softest of the three types of animal (koala, Wombat, tassie Devil), and was similar to dog fur.
By this time it was getting fairly late, and I still had a long drive ahead of me to reach Strahan by that evening. Trowunna was worth it though, definitely the highlight of my trip to date.
