Noon Report:

• Location: S 42° 52.97′, E 147° 20.28′
• Speed: Docked
• Course: Docked

Early start to the day as this was the first Australian port. We (all passengers) had to bring forms and passports to clear immigration which made the morning excursion process a bit interesting. However our excellent Shore Excursions staff demonstrated, once again, their skill at moving large groups of people in stages, in different directions, all at the same time. Our bus actually left the terminal 5 minutes early.

We proceeded north to the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. Along the way our guide talked about the political and economic history of Tasmania, the current sources of economic development, the flora and fauna of the region and whatever else came to mind.

Arriving at the sanctuary we were given a short orientation and turned loose to explore.

They are mainly a rehabilitation facility. As much as possible they return animals to the wild following care. They have an on-site veterinary hospital and they’re proud that they just received funding to expand the hospital’s operation from 5 to 7 days per week.

Cheryl’s factoids:

• The wildlife sanctuary mostly rehabilitates animals and birds that have been injured (by cars at night usually as most of the marsupials are foraging then).
• The Tasmanian Devil is about the size of a small dog. It has the strongest biting strength per their body mass of any mammal – can bite through bones! In the light, their thin membraneous ears look red (devil horns?). They would rather flee than fight but are aggressive if threatened, fighting for mates, or protecting food and have scary, vicious-sounding growls.
• The kangaroos at the sanctuary are the small “gray” forest kangaroo-about 5 feet tall. The large (over 6 foot) “red” kangaroos are found out in the bush areas of Australia
• Wallabies and Pademelons are smaller kangaroo-like marsupials.
• You can cuddle wombats when they are young, but when they turn into teenagers they get aggressive. The wombat is famous for having mostly dry droppings with their poop shaped like cubes which they leave in a pyramid on the ground to mark their burrows.
• The echidnas (spiny anteaters which can curl up in a ball) have a long tubular “beak” which only opens wide enough for its very long, sticky tongue emerges to lick up ants.

Following our visit to Bonorong…

…our bus took us to the quaint village of Richmond.

After poking around town for a bit (and buying a bit of chocolate) it was back on the bus and back to the ship.

Driving thru the countryside we noted how similar it seems to the area around Sonora California.

Before we boarded, though, we walked around the dock to the biannual Australian Wooden Boat Festival currently being celebrated (another 3 day weekend holiday – they really like 3 day weekend holidays here).

Back on board we settled in for lunch on the back deck, overlooking the festival and a fairly steady stream of sailboats coming in and out of the harbor.

The afternoon was spent with a haircut and a nap (Randy), blogging and reading (Cheryl) and the 4:30 port talk on Geelong, Australia (our port on Monday).

Following the 6:30 “Iconic Species” lecture on Orcas and dinner we settled in with the team for our evening exercise in humility. Tonight we did slightly better than normal with 13/22.

Tonight’s show was a “Comedy Magician”. We chose to watch it from our stateroom – and we’re glad we did because it made it easier to turn it off after 10 minutes.

So that’s the day. Tomorrow is mostly a sea day as we don’t dock until 4ish.

Till then… R

Pro Tip:

Like many others, Viking ships have a card slot – you put your room card in the slot to activate certain (but not all) electrical lights and outlets. (It’s interesting to find out which are ‘constant on’ and which are controlled by the card slot.) Rather than using our ship cards we took an old gift/loyalty card (This one’s from Dutch Bros.) and use it. Hanging it from the wall next to the slot is a way of keeping it handy. The coil is cute, but I think string would be just as effective.