It was wonderful to sleep in. Woke at about 6:30am and took my time to pack then helped to pack some of the household gear and had breakfast.
Ian drove the volunteers in the bus as we left Arthur River and headed east along the coast to Burnie. There we had another pit stop at the park then headed for one of the vets. There had been a series of phone calls around Tassie to find a carer to take over with the joey and she had suggested that she would pick it up from the vet later that day. We named the joey Gini after our Gini who had found it.
After a coffee for some we headed on to Mole Creek and the Trowunna Devil Sanctuary. There we had a light lunch and a talk from Androo Kelly, the owner/manager. This was followed by a tour including lots of behind the scenes sections that tourists would not normally see. The experience at Trowunna was highlighted by three spotted tailed quolls that came up to me right at face level when every one else had moved away. I had to quickly take my camera off zoom because they were too close to me.
We then drove to our accommodation (Mole Creek Holiday Village) and settled in. What a beautiful cabin I am in – we've named it the “big house”. We have two cabins but the big house is our dining and lounging area.
Off to the Mole Creek Tavern to buy our drinks and go to sit beside the creek that runs through the pub grounds. We had been told there was a platypus there and lo-and-behold out came the platypus. What a joy to cap off all our experiences during the expedition! The only significant animal we have not seen is a Tasmanian Tiger and that is not likely.
We had dinner at the pub and Gail was able to relax a bit as she did not have to cook. There were the very informal thank yous and Jimsy and I, as veteran Australian Geographic scientific expeditioners, had written our thanks to the Curious Traveller and UTAS teams in the form of a very unpolished poem...
After tessellating cases and loading up the bus
We drove to Arthur River where we met the rest of us
To research Tassie Devils with the UTAS science crew
Led by the tireless Menna with Chris, Gini, Lily too.
Menna as our leader led us far along the track
Where we met all sorts of birds and quolls and devils in the sack,
We were scratched and burnt and tired but the data was all done
And now our journey's ended we'll remember all the fun.
Menna, thanks for mentoring and teaching us so much
And thanks to all the UTAS team for our part in your research.
We learnt about the west coast plants and habitats and weathers
How to ID poos and watch real scientific methods
But most of all we thank you Gail, Ian and Amelia
For your thoughtful, calm and patient cheer and even washing windows.
Such a crowd of disparate vollies, we were worse than cats to heard
But you coped with us superbly with just a kind word.
The dinners were delicious and breakfasts were quite beaut
With coffee, chocolate strawberries and skroggin for the ute
Slices, eggs, home made dishes, nothing goes to waste
But as we've found this week that everything has gone to our waist.
So thank you Gini, Lily, Chris and our leader Menna
Ian, Gail and also young Amelia
For all our fun and science we've shared together
You've satisfied our inner need to be a curious traveller.
After dinner we returned to the “big house” to watch “The case of the baby-faced assassin” which I had bought at the sanctuary shop. So the evening ended with a movie, a chocolate and a glass of wine before crashing into bed late again.
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