The forecast was ordinary for the next 4 days with 20-35 knots from the south/south west predicted. We decided to sit out the bad weather in Little Norfolk Bay.
The Tasmanian Devil UnZoo at Taranna was an interesting place to visit. The theory behind UnZoo was to provide a place where animals, such as wild birds, wallabies, kangaroos and possums could come and go as they please in their natural environment. There were, however, some enclosures which were homes for retiree Tasmanian Devils. The UnZoo acts as a retirement village for all the older Tasmanian Devils that are held in captivity. Our tour guide explained that Devils do not have a long life, anywhere from 4-8 years. We also discovered that Tassie Devils may look cute, but they are far from a nice animal.
Gale winds were forecast for Monday and Tuesday and even in the safe shelter of Little Norfolk Bay there were gusts coming through at 30-40 knots. Escapade yawed back and forth healing up to 13 degrees with each gust.
Monday saw a small cabin cruiser break free from its mooring and wash up on the rocks. The owner was able to tow if off the following day and towed it to the slipway nearby. The relentless wind was starting to cause havoc with a large cabin cruiser coming loose from its mooring, miraculously managing to miss the other boats in the Bay as the wind pushed it towards the rocky shore. A securite’ call was broadcast on the radio to warn everyone in the bay that the boat was adrift. Mark and one of the other yacht owners jumped in their dinghies and went over to the vessel in an attempt to prevent the cruiser hitting the rocks. Shortly after the owner, along with a member of the boat club arrived and took the vessel under tow. Mark left them to it and came back to our boat where Georgie and I were watching on. But then things started to get interesting, in the attempt to pull the vessel away from the rocks in the gale force winds, both boats were heading straight for us. Mark was able to yell out and get the attention of the skipper who was concentrating on the boat he was towing and not looking where he was going, it was just in time as they were only 20 metres away from us.
With the wind slowly abating on Tuesday afternoon we walked down to Rosedale Homestead. The Homestead has a heritage museum where you step back in time to meet the early pioneers, convicts, and the original custodians of the land, the Pardarrama Pungenna people. The homestead is also the home to an animal park and restaurant. The animals (some with babies) ranged from camels, horses, cows, kangaroos, goats, sheep, alpacas, mini donkeys, mini horses, lyrebirds, emu’s, an ostrich (which was intent on doing a mating dance at the time), parrots, doves, cockatoos and rosellas – just to name a few! After walking around in the wind and rain outside, it was nice to sit in the restaurant area in front of the wood heater with a coffee and biscuit.
In Georgie’s words “Rosedale Homestead had nailed it”. They had all the animals that she loved as well as food!
