Total wildlife count as we leave Tassie:
(D is really starting to worry that she's going to suffer physical and psychological withdrawal from Australian wildlife.)
Add to that a couple thousand domesticated sheep and cattle, a small herd of saddle and/or pack horses, plus a donkey named Baby and a handful of domestic cats roaming free, and we've had ourselves a very animal-ful vacation here in Tasmania.
Which has been great, for the most part-- especially the unexpected treat of the proliferous echidnas.4 The animal portions of our vacation have had their bumpy spots, too-- like the two-day horse ride we had scheduled for Friday and Saturday. Neither of us are experienced riders, but we were intrigued by the idea of riding out to a secluded campsite, spending the night, then riding back the next day. Well, first of all, it was pouring rain on Friday morning when we were scheduled to leave. Secondly, the "two-day" ride was really just two day rides back-to-back, returning to the stables for the night in between. Fortunately for us, the owner/operator of the company was flexible and considered himself "in the business of giving his clients a good time"-- so we took his advice and changed our two-day trip to a one-day ride on Saturday.
But, we went ahead and stayed near the stables on Friday night as we had planned, and it turned out that the weather cleared and we could take a short ride Friday night along the river. So far, so good! Saturday morning we got up and saddled the horses for our day ride-- and we got joined with another small riding group out for the day as well. We expected two 2-3 hour rides with a break for lunch in between, but the ride we took was more like a 5-6 hour ride with a snack (then our lunch at 4pm!). Painful for us inexperienced riders in strange saddles,5 but by riding further out we got to see a little more, so we were still okay.
Then D's horse6 stumbled and she fell off. Rolled over the side and hit the ground on her back-- she had a helmet on so there were no real injuries. And let's face it kids-- she's fallen off of a horse before. Get up, brush off, catch your breath, get back on. This time, it shook her up a little bit more than she expected, though-- maybe because it's been many years since she's been on a horse at this point, and before when she fell she'd had the chance to get comfortable with it before it happened.
Still, we're doing okay (more or less) except that as the day progresses, D's horse is getting more and more antsy with the other horses and starts to kick out when he feels crowded. He manages not to hurt anyone, but every time he kicks, she feels him move suddenly and it puts her on edge. This continues for a while until her nerves are frayed, and then we reach a long uphill slope that the horses are often allowed to gallop up. But, they don't want D's horse and Chad's horse to gallop, so they add a lead rope and hold them back with the guides' horses... until one of the guides has to go check on a situation and both D's horse and Chad's horse are given to one guide (also on horseback) and the three horses are in close proximity. Remember, D's horse has been antsy about being crowded! Sure enough, tensions among the horses and riders escalate and before the guide is realizing what's happening, D's horse Tall Tim rears up (nearly vertical, or so Chad claims) with D hanging on for dear life. She stayed on (evidently a small miracle for an inexperienced rider) but before his front feet even came down she was crying hysterically, and she immediately dismounted.
Well, all said and done, the guide coaxed her back up onto a different horse for the remainder of the ride back to the stables, and it was all okay. But it shook her up pretty badly. We were both sore after that, but for the next three days D felt as though she'd been hit by a car, sore and bruised from head to toe! We drove to the city of Launceston Saturday night and stayed in a hotel with comfortable beds to nurse our tired and wounded bodies... then Sunday we visited the "Aquarius Roman Baths"7 and nursed our tired and wounded bodies in large marble pools of hot and warm water. Mmmmmm, nice.
Aside from the adventures with the horses, we've gotten to see a good bit of this beautiful state, an exquisite blend of untamed wilderness and refined cities and villages that feel like England or Europe. Some people have said that Tassie is the area of Australia that is most similar to New Zealand-- we don't know about that because we haven't been to New Zealand! But it is often overlooked, especially by international travelers, and though the tourist industry here is certainly growing, there is much here yet to be discovered. We've hiked below Cradle Mountain, seen glow worms in caves, seen 2000 year old trees that are naturally resistant to water and rot, climbed up to the lookout over Wineglass Bay on Freycinet Peninsula, seen and tasted cheese in the factory and lunched on fresh raspberries on a raspberry farm, seen a 30-foot wooden boat being built, and stayed in a A$60/nt room with sweeping views of the northeast shorelines of Tasmania. D even got to play a cat in a local history play in the little town of Strahan.8
And now we're back in Sydney for two nights, and then we finally get
to fly home. It's a long flight, and neither of us is looking forward
to the trip. But we are definitely looking forward to what's on the
other end... even though there are just as many unanswered questions
about how and where we're going to live and what we'll be doing as when
we left ten months ago. There are neices (okay, just one), and kitties,
and siblings and parents and hot dogs and good pizza and Christmas and
Tivo. We can't wait!
;)
- D
-----
NOTES
1The fourth most venemous snake in the
world. This one was approximately four feet long.
2They move fast, okay?
3These guys are terrible pests, even
worse than raccoons.
4Echidnas have been one of D's favorite
native Australian animals since her first visit to Oz in 2003, but she
had never seen one in the wild.
5The saddles you might recognize from
cowboy movies or rodeos are known as "Western" tack, and they are not
widely used in Australia. Of course, this is the tack that D has
experience with! In Australia, most riders ride English, or a modified
(deeper) English saddle called "Australian stock." In addition to the
differences in shape and stability in the saddle, a crucial difference
is the way the reins are held and used.
6A sixteen- or seventeen-hand beast
called "Tall Tim."
7Not, we are sad to report, actually
built by the Romans. We think that even the Romans never made it to
Tasmania, but perhaps we're wrong...
8Her performance was well-reviewed by
both audience and fellow performers, although she is aware that she
was only cast in the role because she could speak cat so fluently.
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