Tasmania, Day 2: Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary

My cousin Bronwyn is a fiddler in a bluegrass band, Mile Twelve; on a recent tour of Australia and New Zealand, she and her band visited Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, and since her photos looked like so much fun, Ed and I decided to visit the sanctuary ourselves.

Bonorong is Tasmania’s largest 24/7 Wildlife Rescue Service; they provide a rescue service and accept and train volunteers for this purpose. It's not a zoo; the sanctuary promotes conservation efforts, with the aim is to get healthy animals back to the wild, and the grounds include a wildlife hospital, a seabird rehabilitation facility, and breeding programs for both eastern quolls and Tasmanian tree frogs.

We took a quick stroll around the grounds before meeting up with Robin, one of the tour guides, who talked to us about Tasmanian devils, wombats, and koalas; we got very close to the koala and wombat, and got to pet them.

Ed petting a wombat.

a close encounter with a koala 

Aside from seeing a wombat, Tasmanian Devils, and koalas, we saw a sulphur-crested cockatoo that was over 100 years old, emus, and various other birds, but the highlight of the visit was being able to feed the kangaroos. (Upon entry, we were both given a small bag of kangaroo food.) The kangaroos were very friendly and hopped right up to us, lifting up their faces and, in one case, batting at my purse in the hopes I had treats.