Sleeping koala, hungry devil

19/10/2001

By Jugjet Singh in Tasmania

AFTER hearing so much about the Tasmanian Devil, we just had to go and see
for ourselves what one looked like.
And since the Junior World Cup took a one day break from its hectic
schedule, so off we went to the Bonorong Wildlife Park, which was about an
hour's drive from the centre of Hobart town, armed with cameras and
curiosity.
The journey took us past about 50 sheep farms and a dozen vineyards. The
sheep huddled together for warmth even though it was the end of spring and
summer was just around the corner in Tasmania. The grapevines were just
sprouting and getting ready for the fruits of summer.
The heater in the car was on full blast so we were not prepared for the
outside world when we stepped out at the wildlife park.
All the animals at the park were either sleeping or huddling around
under the gum trees to keep warm. The koala bear was a bundle of fur and
after reading the placard we were shocked to find out that the native of
Australia sleeps 20 hours a day, eats for four hours and moves its limbs
for only five minutes a day.
We did not have enough time to wait for the koala's five-minute
performance so we left it in its deep slumber and headed for the Tasmanian
devil's enclosure.
The devil did look more menacing than the soft toys of it that we saw in
almost all the souvenir shops in Hobart. It looked like a small musang but
when it opened its mouth and took a bite at the chunk of meat that someone
threw into the enclosure, there was a bone crunching sound as the devil
swallowed the meat after only chewing twice.
The devil's teeth is razor sharp and the inside of its mouth and tongue
is blood red in colour. Its black coat and short stubby legs do nothing to
clear its nasty temper and reputation. The sign at its enclosure warned
tourists of venturing too close to the Devil, but it was not necessary as
the warning was prominently written on the devil's snapping jaws.
It was off to the vineyard after that.
It was closer to town and the main wine processing house was built
overlooking a huge lake and it was a real peaceful and quiet place. We
went there without any knowledge of what makes a good or a bad wine year
and what brings out the best in the grapes selected to make wine. But when
we left the wine showroom, after a hectic tasting and tutorial session, we
were quite dizzy with the amount of information we had to absorb in such a
short period at the Moorilla Estate.
But the tour was good to the last drop and five merry men made their way
to Mount Wellington, with a bottle of wine each to keep us warm.
Mount Wellington is the highest point in the whole of Tasmania and is a
must-see.
At the foot of the 1,207m mountain, the weather was bright and sunny and
people were sitting on deck chairs in gardens blooming with a dozen
colours. But the 30-minute ride up the mountain, opened to the public
after a road was built in 1937, was an eye opener as not only the weather
changed, but also the type of trees that lined the road.
Gum trees were at the bottom and as the climb reached the middle,
gnarled and weather beaten trees took over the landscape and it started
raining heavily. Two kilometers more of travelling and the sun started
shining brightly and as we approached the top of the mountain, rocks the
size of three-ton lorries and shrubs covered with snow took over.
All this changes in 30 minutes of traveling still failed to warn us of
the weather at the top because we were cosy and warm in our car.
As we stepped out, winds from the south pole raging at about 60kms an
hour greeted us and the weather was about 2 degrees Celsius.
We dashed to a lookout point and tried to snap a few shots with the city
of Hobart, miles below, as a backdrop. But our fingers froze as did our
ears and nose as the chilly glacier gale kept pushing us to the edge of
the mountain so we made a dash for our car and sat there watching the
antartic surrounding around us, amazed that only 30 minutes below, the
weather is totally of a different nature.
We were only up Mount Wellington for about five minutes, but the memory
will linger a lifetime even though we absolutely never had any chance of
opening a bottle of wine at the top of the mount.
(END)