Thursday Feb 18, 2010

Thursday was bright and sunny. We tried calling Mom again and it worked. It was nice to talk to her. We stopped at the mall to check the banking at an internet kiosk then headed down towards Port Arthur.

We had about an hour and 15 min before the cruise so we stopped at the Tasmania Devil Conservation Park. We were just in time to see the Tasmania Devil feeding. We saw some devils walking around. We saw a pair in a den. It turned out that it is mating season and these two had made a match. At the feeding we found out some interesting facts about the devil. They are basically scavengers. They usually only eat things that are dead. Occasionally they will kill an animal that is injured. They do not have the stamina to hunt down an animal or bird that is well.

When a male finds a mate he bites her at the back of her head and drags her back to his den. He will not let her leave for up to 72 hours. If she leaves for any reason he will drag her back again. About 11 babies are born. They are about the size of a piece of rice. The mom only has 4 teats so only the strongest survive. Most of the time only 2 or 3 babies survive. After nine months with mom they are on their one. The devil is now endangered by a type of facial cancer that kills them within 5 months. It is a transmitted cancer through biting. There were two quolls that are cousins of the devil. We ate lunch in the park and talked to the gentleman who started the park. We ran out of time to see much more of the park which was too bad.

When we got to the office for the cruise we found out we had to go back to Adventure Bay by bus to catch the boat. We were given a choice of hat as well as a pair of gloves for doing both the Bruny Island and this cruise. The seas were rougher today and the boat was not full. I was the only one in the back. We saw the Tasman Arch from the sea this time. We could see people looking at it from the shore. Also there was another arch we did not walk down to see on Sunday. As we travelled down the coast we saw the geology change from layers of sand stone to dolerite columns. In the sandstone area there were lots of caves and arches that all changes in the dolerite area. There were two sea columns, one is the candle stick and the other is the totem pole. Many climbers have climbed the thin totem pole. At the top there are 3 wires that climbers make their way across to the mainland. Once the crew saw a climber tight rope walking across the wire.

We went around the Tasman Island. There were many male seals there. On the island was a light house. There was a system to get the lighthouse keeper and family to the light house with all the supplies. The light house is still working but now it has solar panels and a backup generator. Domestic cats were left on the island by past keepers. Now they run wild. They are trying to capture them all as they are killing the birds.

During our trip we saw a feeding frenzy by seals and birds. The seals corralled schools of fish, and then fed on them. Many of the sea birds got into the action, cormorants, seagulls, terns, and albatrosses. You can sure tell how big the albatrosses are compared to the rest of the birds. Birds and seals thrashing around coming up with fish to eat. It was an amazing sight. The morning group saw lots of dolphins. Unfortunately we did not see any. The feeding frenzy made up for it.