Day 292: Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary — Curringa Farm in Hamilton
I took a jog this morning on a bike / running path along the water here in Hobart. I joined the fam for breakfast and then met Phil for coffee. He was off to Sydney today. We checked out of the Old Woolstore Hotel and headed towards Hamilton.
On the way we stopped at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, meeting Beth, Luke and their kids for an 11:30 tour.
Bonorong highlights included:
- Ronda the orphaned wombat — her mom was hit by a car and the driver was thoughtful enough to check the mom’s pouch, found Ronda and called Bonorong.
- Randall the Three-Legged Echidna
- Luke The Tasmanian Devil
- Fred the Elderly Cockatoo — A former pet whose owner passed away. Has spent 100+ years in captivity — when we could see and hear about a dozen wild cockatoos in a giant tree just over the sanctuary fence. Kind of sad.
- “Kanga Country” — a fenced in field filled with friendly rescue kangaroos. Willa and James had bags of food and the ‘roos would eat out of their hands. They loved it.
It was 45 minutes to Curringa Farm — and we saw a dozen or more roadkill. Such a shame — especially sad after being at Bonorong. None of the ones we saw were as lucky as Ronda.
Willa did some snoozin’ and mouth breathin’ during the ride. James is usually the one who is zonked so he took advantage of being conscious for once.
We met Buster at check in.
Curringa is an award-winning, 750-acre sheep farm that’s been in the Parson Family for 6 generations. They have 3000 sheep (primarily focused on lambs for the meat) plus crops of opium poppies, cabbages and onions, harvested primarily for their seeds.
We were staying in the “Wombat’s Den,” one of about 8 little cottages they have scattered around the property, about a 3km drive from the family home where we checked in. It’s a perfect spot for us: not fancy but really nice new construction 2BR with AC / heat, dishwasher, lots of windows, beautiful views. Best part is they give you “hamper” of fresh food and then you cook for yourself. We got steaks, salad, potatoes and cake for dinner with instant ramen and pasta for the kids; eggs, bacon, cereals, fresh loaf of bread, homemade jam, coffee, etc for breakfast; crackers, cheese, hummus, wine, beer, etc for snacks.
After we got settled I took the kids outside for a little wiffleball, then we wandered down to the river to throw sticks in the water and watch some kids on wakeboards being pulled by a speedboat.
Back at the house Margaret had prepped some hummus, cheese and crackers and we had a couple local beers. I played Yahtzee with Willa while James and Margaret did some drawing.
Margaret made the instant ramen for the Willa and James — first time and they surprisingly didn’t really like it (they loved noodle soup in Asia — just not this boxed stuff).
We put the kids in the bath while we had dinner, then read Babe the Gallant Pig and put them to bed.
MISC
A few good kid-quotes:
James at breakfast: “How come kids aren’t a’posed to do cigarettes?” Made doubly adorable because of his giant poofy helmet hair, skinny leggings and tropical shirt.
James: “Do they celebrate Christmas here?” Teddy: “Yes.” James: “But how do they celebrate Christmas when none of these houses have chimneys?”
James: “Can we drink the water in the sinks here?” The fact that he even knows to ask that.
Margaret said “I don’t think there’s anything better than a really good book.” And Willa goes, “What about getting a Coca Cola after a giant temple tour?”
