Wednesday Dec 9th: Gunns Plains, Tasmania

Greetings from Milford Sound, in New Zealand. We have been at sea the past two days, and the internet is super slow, but I still want to post our tour of Tasmania.

We landed in Burnie Tasmania, early in the morning. We could tell we were docking because of the vibrations of the boat. This port was very industrial. Not too much tourist stuff right near the boat. We took a 45 minute bus ride to Gunns Plains. Our tour guide's name was Barry, who used to be a professor. He was a bit dry, and we were all tired, so we all ended up sleeping for part of the ride. The landscape was gorgeous. Very hilly, unlike the mainland of Australia. It reminded me of rural Massachussets where there were tall rolling hills, but not quite big enough to be mountains. Also the soil of Tasmania was a deep red. The crops being grown were Opium, and Daisies. Odd crops, but we were told the Opium Poppies are used to make different narcotics for medical purposes, and the daisies were used as a natural fertilizer.

Eventually we reached the Gunns Plains Cave. This was owned by the State, but operated by a couple. The wife Trish was our tour guide, who was very bubbly and animated. You could tell she really enjoyed the Caves. Once we entered the cave there was about 50' of super steep steps. The cave was cool and refreshing once we were inside. Our first stop in the cave was to see the glow worms. These were very cool. They are actually tiny fly larvae attached to the ceiling. They excrete tiny strands to catch their prey for food. Also when the lights were turned off they glowed a light green. It almost looked like a planetarium with the lights out. From there we hiked through the caves seeing various formations. Some were very impressive. My favorite was the ribbon formations. They were very thin almost like curtains hanging from the ceiling. One had a light behind it, and you could see each of the thin layers of rock that made it up. Absolutely stunning! One other formation of note was one they called the "birthday cake." This one looked like a giant cake that stood 10' tall and about 6' around. To get out of the cave we had to squeeze through some tight areas.

From there we went to Wings Animal Farm. This was almost like a petting zoo, Aussie style. We saw a baby wombat that was being raised by a rabbit. We also witnessed some Tasmanian Devils tear apart some food the care takers gave them. Another area housed two Koalas who were surprisingly very active. They were eating their Eucalyptus branches. They were very soft to the touch. Another area had Kangaroos. An older gentlman gave us some feed and told us to give it to the Kangaroos. The kangaroos let us get up close and feed them from our hands. What a neat experience. I also got to touch one of their tails which felt like one big muscle. Some very different animals indeed!




Link to Pictures

Well that will conclude my entry for today. Until next time!

Dan