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| The peaks of Cradle Mountain! |
Just got back from a fun-filled time in Tasmania! It was a trip planned through Arcadia, but a few of us flew out a day early. We flew into the sleepy little town of Launceston and stayed in Battman hostel on Thursday night. We were all excited to be in some cooler weather, as it had not been feeling very much like fall back in the Gold Coast. After all it was Halloween weekend! We bought some goodies at the grocery store and had a big family dinner at the hostel. Our group had a room together to sleep in and it felt like a slumber party!
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| Cataract Gorge |
On Friday we went to Cataract Gorge. It was a big long walk up all these steps up the side of the gorge with a little garden area at the top. There were peacocks running all over and displaying their feathers. They were so beautiful! After that we walked back into town and got picked up by the Arcadia coordinators. We drove up to Cradle Mountain. We stayed in a little cozy cabin. On Saturday morning we left super early (7 a.m!) to head over to hike around Cradle Mountain. It was absolutely stunning! I felt like I was in a fairytale. That evening we had a BBQ and then went to a Tasmanian Devil show. It was really interesting learning about them. The devils being isolated on an island has lead to a lack of genetic diversity. Because of this, a type of cancer specific to the tassie devils (Facial Tumour Disease) is able to be passed from devil to devil from physical contact without eliciting an immune response.
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| The view from Cradle Mountain |
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| Petting a Tasmanian Devil |
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| Feeding Time! |
Sunday morning we hiked around the area some more. It's amazing the types of animals you see around. Just driving down the road we'd see wallabies and wombats. We even saw a few echidnas! We then drove back down to Launceston and hung out in town for a while before catching our flight back to Gold Coast.
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| Wombat mother and baby |
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| Echidna! |
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| I don't really know what this is... |
