Tasmania mammalia

My husband Andrei and I lived in Hobart, Tasmania from early 2014 until mid-2016. We came back to live in Perth as I was pregnant with our first child. On one of our camping trips we drove out to the Edgar Dam Campground, which is at the southern end of Lake Pedder about 160km from Hobart.

At dusk, we watched spotted quolls flitting around the campsite. When we woke up, their footprints were stamped in grease on the cover of our stove.

Large quolls, apparently, compete directly with Tasmanian Devils for food. I never saw a Devil while living in Tasmania, but I do remember their screech from a visit to Adelaide Zoo. 

Similarly, I never saw a wild platypus either. I was told they lingered just a few blocks from our apartment on Molle Street, in the Hobart Rivulet. But despite several walks alongside the rivulet spent squinting into the water, there were no platypi (platypodes, actually) to be found.

I’ve just started stocking The Aurora Fae’s cute enamel pins. And now you know some of the reasons why.