What to do in the Hobartian Suburbs - the gateway to two good attractions

The day after we went to the Cascade Brewery, we went to Richmond. Richmond is this little town about a fifteen to twenty minute drive from Hobart. It's one of those towns with boutiquey shops, an old fashioned candy store, and a little museum about the town's history. Please note too look for these three significant sites among the next two paragraphs.


Richmond

Once we got there, we headed to Old Hobart Town. Old Hobart Town is a model of what Hobart was like in the old days; kinda like Madurodam. (Madurodam – a humongous model of all the cities in Holland all put together in an amazing realistic model. Located in Den Haag. See previous blog for more details). The miniature town had the harbour and the old causeway connecting Tasmania to Hunter Island. There were boats on the harbour too! The town was really cool. They put in little streets, a creek, a mill, people, houses, and convicts. The old convicts of England were every where in the town. They even put in the old gaol! (Gaol - the Australian word for jail.)



When we finished Old Hobart Town, we walked along the streets looking at shops. We walked across the Richmond Bridge, which is the oldest bridge in Australia, and back again. Then we headed to lunch. After lunch was finished, we went to the Richmond Gaol. I guess it kinda counts as a museum about Richmond's history. Personnely, I didn't like it. After that “task on our list” was done, we got ice cream which was purchased at the old fashioned candy store.



Bonorong Wildlife Park



Australia is known for it's unique and different animals. But like I said in my Tasmanian introductory blog, Tasmania is often thought of as a different country, which means that they are known for two animals that the “mainland” doesn't have: the Tasmanian Devil, and the Tasmanian Tiger.



When we got to Tasmania, we had heard that Tasmanian Devils could be seen on the roads and in the bush. Well here we are in Tasmania sitting and contemplating why we haven't seen a Tasmanian Devil on the road, or in the bush! We heard that they are mostly found dead on the road, which is sad, but we never even saw one dead on the road! Tasmanian Tigers are now extinct. Someone tried to clone them but it didn't work out. How come they could clone Dolly the lamb then! Anyway, we saw Tasmanian Devils at Bonorong.

It was a long ride out to Bonorong, as it is all the way out in the bush. When we got there and had bought our tickets, we went off to see the Tasmanian Devils first. Well, we got sidetracked by an adorable baby wombat, and a silent, sitting, Kookaburra.


We finally made it to the Devils. They are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They had adult Devils, pre adult Devils, and the baby ones. The babies were just so cute!!!! Tasmanian Devils are black with a stripe across their chest. They are pretty tiny, about a foot long, and about six inches wide. They look a little like dogs but their face has some resemblance to a bear.



We got to feed kangaroos again and touch koalas. We saw one Kangaroo with a joey and the joey's head was sticking out of the pouch! Some of the kangaroos would grab our hands when they were eating. It really hurt! All and all, it was a fun experience!!