Despite Canberra being called the bush capital, I didn´t have high expectations for Tidbinbilla. I was eager to get back into the bush but wasn´t overly enthused about another mountain with a lot of trees. The Australian Alps had no interest for me.

I´m a very fickle person and generally like certain types of forest. I like the wet forests of Tasmania, the Otways and the Dandenongs. Or I like the standard Eucalpyt Forest.

I actually fell in love with it here. I don´t know why. It was different. It reminded me of Mansfield in many ways.

On the bus up we were told we had two choices. We could visit hanging rock to hear an indigenous ranger speak about his heritage. Alternately, we could walk up Gibralter Peak.

I opted for the former.

I was all geared up the hike Gibralter Peak. I love bushwalking and I had read up on this walk. It was meant to be moderate and not be that steep.

On the bus we were told it was moderate to strenuous. After my puffed out efforts at Stromlo the day prior, I made the decision to hear the indigenous presentation. I felt like I would have preferred the bushwalk but I trusted Glenn to get the pictures.

It was actually a really fascinating presentation. Growing up, we are taught a lot about Aboriginal history and culture. I genuinely didn´t think I would learn anything.

We were shown how to create rope from bark. I asked what he was going to do with the rope he created and he let me take it home. I showed my four year old nephew who was so intrigued by it. ¨It´s from a tree!¨

We were shown how to bind things. We were told about how the bushfires came through and the rock wallabies hid between the rock and the earth. We were taught how we could use the environment around us to live. We also got a little pamphlet about indigenous plant use in the region.

It was so compelling that I bought a book on bushfoods so I could show my nephew what I had learnt. There was another person wanting to buy the last copy when I was there.

Gibralter Peak:

I wish that I was a lot fitter so I could have done this walk. I had read great reviews online but I was not fit enough to do this. I´m glad I missed out on it but Glenn got some amazing photos.

We were told that groups of people can rent out the homestead Nil Desperandum and use that as the home base while they explore the area. I´d love to do that. We spent such little time here. I´d like to go to the sanctuary and talk some more to the rangers.

The rangers were great

One of my favourite things about the weekend was that everyone was proud of Canberra. They took pride in their city and their work. You could tell that all the staff were really passionate about Tidbinbilla.

I was chatting to a guy who, upon learning where we lived, said he had been down here recently in search of a rare duck. I jokingly said ¨Oh – so you´d know what the orange bellied parrot is, then?´ Not only did he know of it, he had gone down to Tasmania to see it.

There was a young woman who pointed out a yellow tailed black cockatoo flying overhead. She said ¨I´ll never get sick of seeing that.¨

There is so much to learn

I learned a fair bit about the conservation efforts of the corroboree frog and southern brush tailed wallaby. I learned about the impact bushfires had on the region.

It felt like this area had a lot more history then many national parks that I have visited. It told a much larger story. I wish I could have purchased more books from there so I could learn.

I´m also keen to hike the Australian Alps, something that I hadn´t seriously considered before.

Do I recommend it?

If you´re a nature geek then I definitely recommend it. It was nice. It´s just a shame that we visited at the end of a very hectic weekend and I couldn´t enjoy it more.

I have a slight obsession with animals.

Correction.

I am the type of person that would spend thousands of dollars in travel to see certain types of rare animals. I know the scientific names for many bird species. I have books on identifying animal scat. I love learning about them.

In general, though, I hate zoos. They are often too big and have too many animals. I kinda prefer the wildlife parks that you get in regional towns, such as Jirrahlinga here in Geelong. I like the intimacy that allows you to get a closer look at the animals.

I fell in love with the zoo. I know that my visit doesn´t reflect a normal one, as we got access to the zoo before it had officially opened. We didn´t have to compete with other people to get photos or anything. But gosh, it was a highlight 🙂

It was like the best of both worlds

Most of the photos I´ve taken at zoos aren´t that great. Either the animals are at a distance or they are behind a fence. Here, there was a platform that allowed us to see the Giraffe up close to it´s feeding station. Here is a picture that Glenn took:

This was taken with a 55-200mm lens. We spent a lot of time here just snapping away, as the closeness allowed us to concentrate on the animals facial expressions. It was a real highlight.

They only had a small percentage of the animals that you would find at a normal zoo. There is a large variety of big cats, a couple of African and native species and an aquarium. You can see the full list here. I liked this, as it meant that we could properly spend time at each area and just watch the animals. It just felt so intimate, which is something that you wouldn´t expect at a place with lions and giraffes.

It was a photographers dream. I´d just showed my nephew scenes from the lion king so he was pretty excited about how close we got to Timone.

This is one of the things that I LOVED about the zoo. It reminded me a lot of the local koala and wildlife sanctuary, Jirrahlinga.

I love Jirrahlinga. It is really intimate and not overwhelming. It allows you to get up close and learn about the animals, and occasionally come across one roaming through the area.

That is what happened with this peacock. We saw it walking along the path and Glenn kneeled down to get a photo. It kept on walking up to him and he had to move back… until he just let it pass. That is the type of thing you don´t get at the ´bigger´ zoos.

It really did feel like we got the best aspects of different type of zoos. I normally wouldn´t have gone here, other then for the animal encounters. After visiting, I believe that this is the type of zoo I would prefer to go to in the future.

Up close encounters

The zoo is famous for it´s up-close encounters. The most popular option is meeting a cheetah. I actually had this experience on my bucket list, but wasn´t sure it was worth flying up to Canberra to do this.

I didn´t get to meet a cheetah. I did, however, get to pat a shark.

Now, this is what I loved about the weekend. Most of the conversation is about how people were given freebies in return for commenting about stuff. Well, I saw it as a way to start conversations. My favourite conversation was with my 4 year old nephew.

I texted home to tell him that I was getting to pet a shark. He called up just before I had the experience and wanted to know all about it. I showed him the pictures today and we talked a lot about the animals at the zoo.

The best thing

It was a fantastic experience. Sometimes, during the Human Brochure weekend, we got a level of service that most ´regular´ people wouldn´t get. The only special thing we got here was that we got to explore the zoo before it officially opened. This made it easier for us to learn about the animals and get decent photos. Anyone can do the stuff we did.

I recommend this zoo if you are in the area. The close up experiences are really great and it was awesome to learn about what they are doing for animal conservation.

I really enjoyed this tour. It involved going deep in the Huon Valley with Experience Tasmania. I quickly fell in love with the Huon Valley but felt that this tour was a bit overwhelming. I’d recommend driving and spending more time in the region, if possible.

Geevestown

This was a lovely area but, as it was winter, most of the shops were closed. Most of the time was spent in the coffee shop that was open trying to stay warm.

It was picturesque. The driver tipped us off to pick up some Huon pine as it is no longer legal to  cut down these trees.

The Airwalk

The airwalk is promoted as one of the main attractions of the day but I didn’t get that much out of it. It was beautiful but I felt like all the beauty was at the ground level. None of the views were particularly great until you got on the wobbly part that is sticking out. I got some lovely views of the Derwent river here.

We only got 3 hours to spend here. I wish we had skipped the airwalk and had opted to explore some of the other walks. I also wanted to go hang-gliding but we ran out of time.

The airwalk is a fun experience – especially if you have a mild fear of heights. The trees were just so darn tall that you were staring at trunks the entire time.

On ground level

This is the type of scenery that made me fall in love with Tasmania. I’ve bitched a bit about hating the cold while I was there, but I was so glad that we went there in winter. It was like being trapped somewhere magical and isolated. The fungi was just amazing.

Most of the trees were covered in moss. The lighting was just right and I could have gotten some really good photos if I knew what I was doing.

I live Geelong, Victoria. This means I’ve explored the otways and Dandenongs. I love both of them but something about Tasmania felt different. With the Otways, you always felt really close to civilization.  The Dandenongs is incredibly popular – for good reason – so you never felt like you were away from the city.

When I was in the Huon Valley, it was like it was from another time. I felt really upset that we had to leave after a week and that we’d spent so much time staying in Hobart.

I don’t believe that this particular tour is worth it for everyone. We loved it, but it was just a small (and expensive!) taste of the Tasmanian wilderness. It was great for a first time trip but next time I want to go to the north west. I want to see the truly wild areas and just lose myself.

This tour, with Adventure Island Tours, was definitely the highlight of our trip. We packed so much of Tasmanian history into the one day. It was a big day that left us exhausted but it´s something that we are still raving about.

Richmond

We got to spend an hour at Richmond, which we felt was just enough time. There were a few things that I would have liked to have taken a closer look at, but I was too preoccupied with finding toilets and getting an SD card from the supermarket. The buildings were really interesting. We got some great photos. The bridge in particular was great to shoot. I liked how we got there early enough in the day that we were the only ones there. It´s definitely worth visiting, whether it is with a tour or independently.

Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park

This was the main reason for picking this tour. There were two other parks closer to Hobart, but we wanted to keep our costs down and schedule in some days to explore. People on the tour had the choice to visit here, or spend more time at Port Arthur. We chose to come here rather then do a separate tour to visit the Devils. We were only there for an hour. It was a pretty small park, so this allowed us to watch the eastern quoll and Tassie devil feedings.

The guy was really knowledgeable and you could tell he was passionate about conserving this animals. I knew that the devil itself was at risk due to the facial tumours, but I didn´t know how that would impact the local ecosystem. I enjoyed watching them feed. I feel like this experience allowed me to see the other side of their personality. On TV, I always see the fighting and teeth. It´s shallow, but that causes me to dismiss the news surrounding the conservation efforts. My brain is full of information about endangered birds. Seeing them like this made me want to do more. I don´t know what that is just yet, but it´s sparked a fascination with the species.

I also enjoyed seeing the quolls. They were so active. The keeper explained that this wasn´t normal, as they are a nocturnal species. One of them was particularly acrobatic and nearly fell off the branch. Now – native animals are fascinating, but I am a birdwatcher. I was very excited to have the opportunity to see the Green Rosella, which is endemic to Tasmania. The bird feeder (located near the quolls) allowed me to get really close and get some nice photos. I also got to listen to their bird call which was slightly different to other rosellas. I ended up seeing more at Port Arthur

Port Arthur

Most Australians know about Port Arthur. For some reason, I thought it was a large prison. Instead, it turned out to be a really large historic site. I was worried that we wouldn´t be able to visit everything in the time we had available, but we managed to squeeze everything in. The grounds were beautiful. We spent our time wandering from site to site, and taking photos of the buildings. I liked how we were able to do it at our own pace and how there wasn´t people watching our every move. We got some great photos of the both of us because we were relaxed away from the crowds. Tasmania is the only place where I´ve experienced this.

Part of me wishes we did an audio tour or went with a group so we could learn more. Fortunately, the gift shop here was fantastic and had a bunch of interesting books. We got several to read when back home. I am so grateful for the opportunity to see so much about our past. There is so much that I didn´t know about our convict history. I´d like to return to Port Arthur and do the night ghost tour. I´d also skip the mini ´cruise´ and spend more time exploring the buildings.

Remarkable Caves

The Remarkable Caves was our final stop for the day. The views were amazing. The camera flash has stopped working at this time, and it was twilight. It was the shortest day of the year, so it was getting dark by the time we got there. We only had 15 minutes and I wish I could return independently to get some great photography. The water was pretty choppy. Everytime it hit a rock, or a cliff, there would be a huge splash. I haven´t seen water like that – things are pretty tame in the Geelong CBD. People are able to go down steps to see the water rush in at the Cave itself. Apparently, the water pressure can get so strong that it caused the roof to collapse. Technically, it is no longer a cave. It´s a tunnel.

I preferred it that way – it allowed us to see the water better. Our guide said that the waves can be a lot stronger and that, at times, the force can cause you to get drenched. You could hear the water echoes growing as it was pushed further into the tunnel. I began to notice patterns – every third wave would be a lot stronger then the others. I was so angry that my flash had stopped working as I could have gotten some really great photos. It was a spectacular sight to see. The walk down to the cave was pretty steep. It can be a real struggle to get back up there, especially after a busy way walking around Port Arthur.

Overall

This was a great little tour that allowed us to see a bit of everything at a very reasonable price. It was small and a lot more personable then the other tours we went on. The guide worked really hard to build a rapport with us, something that was really appreciated. He remembered all of our names. We went on two tours with a larger company and felt like a bit of a cog in a machine with those. I recommend this particular tour for those without access to a car and who have a limited amount of time. It´s a big day but is definitely worth it. The convict DVD presentation was a bit of a joke – poorly edited and written – but it didn´t affect our day. It just gave us something to mock later. We booked all of our tours at the Information Centre on Davey Street. It was incredibly easy and they helped us through the decision process.

This trip occured on Easter weekend, 2009. It was a beautiful walk, however I can’t remember the intricate details of it. I would definitely do it again if I returned.

This trip occured on Easter weekend, 2009.