Ruminations upon Sunday March 9, 2025 in Hobart, Tazmania, Australia (Cruise)
When we were on the cruise ship, sailing from New Zealand to Australia, one of our off ship excursions was to go to the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. We had to wake up really early so that we could get to our group on time. We got dressed, ate a quick breakfast and then met up with our group. After we got to our group we had to go through customs because it was our first excursion in Australia. We were also given cards that we had to fill out for security, but the ship gave us the wrong card so we had to fill out another one!!! It was so annoying! We finally got on the bus and started to drive to the wildlife sanctuary. On the bus ride there, our tour guide taught us about Tasmania. She also taught us that a wildlife sanctuary is different from a zoo. At reserves they bring in animals that are injured and nurse them back to health, but then they return them to the wild. Wildlife reserves also take in orphaned animals because a lot of them can’t survive by themselves until a certain age. In Australia, there is a rule which is if you hit an animal with your car you have to check if they had any babies with them, and if they have babies that are still alive you have to call a wildlife reserve to come take them.
When we arrived at the wildlife reserve, our tour guide told us that we had forty-five minutes to explore. The first thing we saw when we walked in were a bunch of kangaroos hopping around. But the kangaroos were not in cages, they were just hopping around in the open. Everyone ran up to them to get a closer look. We noticed some black boxes here and there that said kangaroo food on them. We took some and we fed the kangaroos. We were also able to pet them, but instead of petting them on their backs you were supposed to pet them on the front of their necks. They were so cute and fluffy!!! One even pooped while I was feeding it. We also saw a bunch of other animals. There was this really chunky Tasmanian devil that was just romping around and chilling in his cage!!! There was also a huge Emu that was just standing there like a statue. And there was an echidna which looked like a porcupine with a huge nose. It was drinking water and then it went to sleep. We also saw some owls and cockatoos. And there were a few snakes and lizards. One of the lizards had a blue tongue and it was about three feet long. They were all so adorable.
We saw an area that looked like a big house and we asked what it was for. The wildlife keepers there said it was for animals that were sick and injured. They also said that they took any of the animals that died so that they could see why it died. After we finished seeing the animals we went into the giftshop and looked around. There were a bunch of stuffed animals and other animal related stuff. After we looked around for a few minutes our guide called us to the bus and said that it was time to go. I had a great time and wish we could have stayed longer.
