Monday 18th December – Trowunna Wildlife Park and Cradle Mountain (brace yourself for cute animal pics)

Epic view from our cabin in Mole Creek

It was our last day in Tasmania.  We came to the conclusion that we weren’t going to see a Tasmanian Devil in the wild, they are too rare and mostly nocturnal so very difficult to spot.  But luckily, the Trowunna Wildlife Park was almost next door to our cabin and seems to have the right ethic of being a sanctuary for orphaned and injured animals as opposed to a zoo for tourism purposes.  Our visit had to be brief, but it wasn’t just Tasmanian devils that we got to see, so it was well worth it.

Finally found one - young Tasmanian Devil pup

 

I'm not sure if this is a yawn or a roar.... but they seemed to do this regularly!

A spotted Quoll

Wombat

Australia's largest raptor - the Wedge-tailed Eagle

More echidnas.... seem them already.....

Simon feeding a very lazy kangaroo

Back on the road, it was another couple of hours to reach Cradle Mountain and Lake St Clair National Park for our second whirlwind visit of the day.   

Not having time to make the 6-hour trek to the summit of Cradle Mountain, we had to make do with the view of the mountain from the shores of Dove Lake before squeezing a shorter hike in to see a waterfall within some rain forest.

With time being of the essence, we had a long drive across Tasmania to be back at Hobart airport for 630pm for our return flight back to Melbourne. Phew! We made it. What you should take from our experience is – four days is NOT enough to explore all of Tasmania.  I advise at least a week.  It’s stunning here.

One more wildlife spot on our way out... a Sea Eagle

After a long day and a short flight delay we arrived back at our not-too-cosy Ibis budget Hotel about 11pm for our last night in Melbourne.