Cradle Mountain, Tasmania Trip (Day 9)

23rd March 2016, Wednesday

Breakfast

Woke up on and off during the night but still woke up @ 7.00 am as we need to move out to Cradle Mountain today. So we packed our things and loaded them up to the car. Then we drove out to the bakery shop in town, which we bought some breads for breakfast. After that, we drove to Launceston, another town (almost 2 hours ride away). We travelled past many fields with sheep and cows, the roads were all wavy and up and down. We also passed by many smaller towns along the way.

Once we reached Launceston, we went to Coles supermarket to stock up water and food as we know there was very ulu up in cradle mountain and the restaurants were quite costly. We also went to pump some petrol for the car too (Don't want to run out of gas out in the nowhere...kekeke...). Then we continued another 150km up to the cradle mountain...long long way. We even played some music from our handphones so it won't get too bored and sleepy. There was even a sign to let the travellers know that they were leaving the last town along the way. We stopped by a small cafe named Round Hill Coffee, along the road. It was small, with only one group of customers inside. There was a big and fluffy cat sitting on the table outside too. We ordered a soup and chicken cutlet for lunch. After that, we continued on the road again.

Finally we reached Cradle Mountain Wildness Village. I went down to do the check-in, the staff informed us that there were only 3 eating places area the mountain and we will need to make reservation if we want to dine in the restaurants. And it was fully booked for the night too. Then she gave us the direction for us to drive to our cottage and the parking lot. We unloaded our stuffs once we reached the cottage. The cottage was not very nice from the outside but the inside was quite nicely decorated. But i do feel quite cold inside as the heater was not feeling strong enough. And there was no network totally and we can't use the wifi unless we pay for it and it was only at the reception area. not even in the cottage. Anyway we just rested for a while.

After that, we drove out to the visitors information centre to grab some information. We also booked the Devils@Cradle tour for our evening program. So we just stayed around there till 4.30 pm (really nothing much to do there). Then we drove up to the Devils@ Cradle office which was about 1 km away from the visitors information centre. As it was still early before the tour starts, the staff let us in to see the Tasmania Devils first on our own. My friend got scared as they resembles to rats, so she didn't want to go see. So i went alone down to see the devils and quolls (the devils' cousins) and wormbats. One of the devils was quite a bully inside its dome, keep bullying on the other devil, which was smaller in size. The wormbats were hidden at the back, we managed to catch them (as the tour didn't go to their area). They were very fluffy and big in size too.

The rest of the people started to come in slowly too, the tour guide gathered us in a briefing room @ 5.30 pm. In the room, she gave us introduction to the devils and Tasmanian tigers which were extinct. And because of this, the devils went up in the chain of the life cycle in Tasmania. However, the devils' population went down sharply due to a cancer disease which only targets on the devils and it was spreading fast. The tour guide told us that there wasn't any cure yet till now. Hence, the devils were on the endangered list now. She mentioned those kept in the protected area are currently free from the disease, however, they were also worried to let the devils out in the wild. She also showed us a 10 minutes video on the devils' behaviour and lifestyle. Apparently, the female devil can give birth up to 20 young but she could only feed 4 young. Due to this, many young can't survive, only the strongest can survive. Sometimes, the males do fight to see who is the strongest, however they don't fight to death. Once the winner emerges, they will stop and recognise the winner as the strongest. Every devil have their own unique white marking on their body too. So the staffs were using the different marking to recognise each devil. This marking will help the devils to camouflage in the bushes to hide away from their predators. After that, she explained more details on the devils, which later she told us she is going to feed the devils. So she went down to get some wormbats' torso for the devils. And she went in to the devils' open area and put down the torso.

We could see one of the devils (name: Chopper) approached and started to bite on the torso. However, when the other smaller devil tried to approach the torso, the other one made some loud noises to get him away from the torso. The guide told us that was the way the devils communicated, by making loud noises. And the devils' bite can be very fatal, its teeth were very sharp that it can break off the bones. But fortunately, the devils don't attack humans as far as she knows. And the devils can also open their mouth to at least 90 degrees angle, we could see it when the devils yawn.
Later, the guide brought us to see other 2 younger devils (age of 12 months) and later the compound where they put 2 males and 2 females for mating purpose. Normally, they will try to let the devils to mate naturally when the devils reach the suitable age.

Dinner

Then later she took us to the quolls' compound, where she also fed them with the raw meats. The quolls were smaller in size, weighed about 2 kg plus and they jump on trees. After the tour, we were free to go off or walk around to the see the devils. So we went back to the cottage, where we started to make our dinner. After preparing the dinner, we just watched the TV while having our dinner. Then we just rested for the day.

Hotel Stayed:
Cradle Mountain Wildness Village

Places Visited:
Devils@Cradle