Guide Falls is one of the best waterfalls I’ve seen. It’s very accessible and just an easy 20 minute drive south of Burnie, Tasmania.
The road goes to the top of the falls and a viewing platform. Here you can see that the waterfall has two tiers.
When you have finished admiring the waterfall from this vantage point, walk down the stairs to the river to get even closer to this spectacular waterfall.
You can walk right up to the base of the falls.
Guide Falls is a definite must on your visit to Tasmania!
Wings Wildlife Park is located at Gunns Plains near Ulverstone in Tasmania. The family owned park has been in the Wing family for many generations and operates solely on donations and money generated by visitors to the park. There are more than 150 different animals at the wildlife sanctuary and it is the only place in Tasmania where you can see American bison. The park also has the largest collection of Tasmanian wildlife in Australia.
You can buy feed to hand feed the kangaroos and wallabies (highly recommended!) as well as food to feed the fish (they have ponds with trout). They have wildlife presentations throughout the day as well as animal encounter experiences. You can even stay overnight at one of the cottages at the park or stay at their campsite. And their cafe has fantastic restaurant quality meals and quick and easy snack food and include gluten free, vegan and vegetarian options.
A lot of the Australian animals at the park are animals that have been brought in injured or ill and are undergoing recovery or rehabilitation and will be released back into the wild. Sadly, some animals have conditions that will not enable them to survive in the wild and so will spend the rest of their days at the wildlife park.
Here are some of the non Australian animals we saw at the park.
First up were the couple of ostriches, including two albino ones!
One ostrich was happy one moment –
And angry the next!
Some other exotic animals included bison, buffalo, camels and Scottish Highland cattle, but they were happy lazing around at the far end of the paddock.
Now onto the Aussie animals. There were so many animals, I have only decided to include a small number here.
Tasmanian devils are critically endangered because of a deadly facial cancer tumour disease.
There were several quolls there too.
Spotted quoll
Eastern quoll (dark morph)
There were a number of emus there, including this one who seemed to like having his picture taken.
In the nocturnal house we saw sugar gliders, and I filmed this funny little incident between two sugar gliders. I’m sure you’ll get a laugh out of the ending. 😄
We also saw three albino magpies, and after enquiring with one of the keepers there, discovered that albino magpies can’t survive in the wild because they get picked on by the other magpies and end up with injuries and also become malnourished. These birds were brought in to the sanctuary individually in a bad way but now have a better and healthier life. So unfortunately for these three guys, they are permanent residents at the wildlife park.
Below is Edward who liked a scratch on the head.
And these two magpies seemed to be in unison!
There was also a swamp harrier who was interesting to see up so close. I would see these birds fly overhead looking for prey when I used to go walking at the Tamar Island Wetlands.
Make sure when you visit the park to buy some feed for the kangaroos, it was such a fun experience hand feeding them and being able to pat them. They have the grey forester kangaroos as well as wallabies and even some albino ones.
And lastly, they had a number of very cute long nosed potoroos!
Hope you enjoyed my photos of the animals and be sure to visit Wings Wildlife Park if you’re in north west Tassie, you’ll have the best time!
On a day off work which turned out to be a lovely sunny spring day, we decided to explore the small town of Lulworth.
Lulworth is a small residential locality north of Launceston in Tasmania and has a population of 165. There are no facilities here with the nearest shops at George Town about half an hour’s drive away.
The town is best known as a quiet place to get away from it all and many of the houses there are holiday shacks. It is also reported to be a great spot for fishing for flathead and gummy sharks. Surfing is also popular here but the beaches are unpatrolled.
We followed a trail alongside the beach for some of the way, veering inland for awhile and emerging at the beach further along.
There were a number of small detours along the way to get onto the beach
We stopped for lunch at the western end of the beach near an old boat ramp where it was a lot calmer and sheltered from the coastal winds.
Behind this little rest area were some sandy tracks heading inland so we decided to follow one and see where it led.
After a short while we ended up at an army firing range.
So we turned back and headed to the beach, and along the way we saw some spring native flowers.
When we reached our starting point, we decided to walk in the opposite direction and this time we were able to walk along the beach the entire way.
Looking back the way we came
Looking to the eastern end of the beach
This is the view from the end of the beach.
This was a lovely quiet spot to visit and had amazing views overlooking the beautiful Tam O’Shanter Bay.
On a morning walk at Tamar Island Wetlands, I managed to watch a number of Royal spoonbills feeding on the tidal flats.
Royal spoonbills are not normally found in Tasmania, however, there is a small flock that has made the Wetlands their home all year round.
“Eat with your mouth closed!”
Shy young royal spoonbill
Inquisitive young royal spoonbill
The young and the old
Usually I will catch sight of these birds in the distance, but on this occasion, they were close to the boardwalk and were mesmerising to watch as they scoured the mud for little crustaceans.
Spring has arrived and it’s nice to see more sunshine and less rain. Out on a walk at the local wetlands, I spied some cute fluffy spring babies!
I saw 4 different black swan families, ranging from 6 babies to only 2, and all at different stages. This swan family was close to the boardwalk and allowed me to get some nice shots of the littlies before mum and dad decided to head off.
And then further along there was another family swimming near the boardwalk, but it was so windy, the little ones kept hiding behind one of their parents, probably to keep out of the wind.
My Wild Australia 