Devil Country...Hobart, Tasmania

Hobart Harbor with Mount Wellington
Locals tell the day's weather by looking at the
mountain 

From the perspective of a non-Aussie, the only thing we really knew of Tasmania was that of the Tasmanian Devil. It had also roamed mainland Australia, but for the past 3000 years has only been on Australian’s smallest state, the island of Tasmania. Because of its viciousness, ability to open its jaw to 80 degrees and the fact that it has the most powerful bite of any animal its size, this creature deserves its reputation. At the Bonerong Wildlife Refuge we were able to see a few of them in different states of action.

Tasmanian Devil

One had developmental defects including growth stunting and cataracts but did its best to bite its caretaker’s pants. Another showed incredible hyperactivity, pacing quickly back and forth in its cage, and one showed what its jaw could do.

Bonerong, meaning “native companion” in the aboriginal language, was probably the most popular of all the Viking Sun Hobart tours. Set up for rehabilitating injured Tasmanian wildlife, it was also the best chance for us to see these native animals up close.

In Cage with Koala

Prior to entering, we were given a brief talk on how to feed and where to scratch kangaroo chests. As we got off the buses, we were almost as numerous as the kangaroos freely hopping on an acre of land with low fences they could easily jump over if desired. Some do, but they have it so good here, they often jump right back. Hundreds of kangaroos were awaiting our arrival. As we held out a handful of grain, they would slowly hop over and at times even grab our hand to munch the food. The main danger in the park was stepping on kangaroo poop… and, yes, they did love getting their chests scratched. 

Besides these, we got right up to cuddly koalas and wombats and saw many of the country’s exotic birds. All the animals were being rehabbed to be released when ready. We were told the wombats are incredibly cuddly up until two years of age when suddenly
they start pushing people away.
They will even kick their mother out of the den. 

Year old Wombat...
Still Cuddly

Vineyards with bird netting over the ripening plants

Stone Bridge in Richmond

Charming Homes and Gardens

Convict Built Lutheran Church

The bus took us through wine country on the drive to and from Hobart and stopped in Richmond, a charming village, again filled with beautiful convict-built sandstone buildings and Australia’s oldest continually used stone bridge built in 1823.




Earlier that morning on our included bus tour, we rode through the old city center with its sandstone government buildings and museums, passing the Salamanca Place District where old wharf buildings had been repurposed into boutique shops and businesses.

Salamanca Place...Repurposed Warehouse Buildings

Abel Tasman

 Parliament Building at the Waterfront

Tasmania's Oldest Brewery

We returned on our own after the tour to walk from this area to Battery Point, a charming neighborhood. Here, Prince’s Park had originally been a battery hill, prepared at first for a French invasion, and then later a Russian invasion, neither of which ever happened. Not one shot has ever been fired on a foreign enemy.

The Aboriginal People were not so lucky. From the beginning, their lands were taken from them with no payments, and soon fights began with the convicts and free settlers...first for loss of land, later as their hunting ground greatly diminished. With food becoming scarce the Aboriginal People tried to steal cattle for food. The conflict grew and Britain sent soldiers. The Black War ramped into full steam in the late 1820s culminating in a six-week push from combined settler and soldier columns called the  Black Line. Out of an estimated original 6000 in population, the remaining 400 were either killed or pushed to one corner of the island. In the end, the 40 that remained were transported from Tasmania to the nearby island of Flinders. By 1876, the last of these full-blooded Aboriginal Australians died.

                                   Springing into Fall at the Beautiful Royal Gardens

The Tasmanian Royal Garden tour had a much more cheerful story. Lady Jane Franklin, whose wealthy husband had died searching for North America’s northwest passage, pushed hard to turn Hobart from its stigma of a penal colony into a respectable city. She donated 130 acres to start the Royal Gardens, then later gave away 100 lots, 130 acres each, to farmers who would work the land. She saw apples as the way to succeed. By 1849, Tasmania was exporting apples to Australia and the US and is now known as the “Apple Isle”.  As in other ports, whaling had been an important industry.

Another boon to Tasmania came from the painter John Glover, who in the mid-1800s sent 150 watercolor paintings of the beautiful Tasmanian landscape back to England, causing tourism to begin. Tourism is now Tasmania's main industry. We were impressed with the fact that 90% of its energy use is from renewable energy. We would have loved to see Tasmania's beautiful interior lakes and rugged mountains, but alas, it was time to sail on.

Dinner That Evening