Finding wild animals in Southern Tasmania
Welcome to our simple English blog about the Huon Valley. We write this blog for backpackers on a working holiday and for other travellers like you.
Come find Tasmania’s wild animals
Tasmania has many special wild animals. Backpackers and working-holiday makers come to Tasmania hoping to see them. Some of them are very easy to find, some of them are hard to find.
Here are some ideas for good places to see the wildlife in Southern Tasmania.
Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary
If you want to get really close to wildlife, you should visit Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary. At Bonorong you can feed kangaroos and wallabies by hand, and you can watch Tasmanian devils being fed.
You have to pay to visit Bonorong, but it is not a zoo. Most of the animals at Bonorong were injured and will be released into the wild again. The staff are volunteers who care about Tasmanian animals. So you can feel good that your money will support these special animals.
Bonorong is about an hour from by car from the Huon Valley. For tickets and details, visit the Bonorong website here: https://www.bonorong.com.au
The Platypus
One animal that some travellers want to see is the platypus. The platypus is very shy and doesn’t like crowds. If you want to see a platypus you will have to be very quiet. Many people go looking for platypuses and do not see them.
Visitors to our hostel, Pilgrim Hill, have sometimes seen platypuses on this walk in Geeveston. There is good parking here and it is an easy walk: https://maps.apple.com/place?address=4862%20Huon%20Highway%2C%20Geeveston%20TAS%207116%2C%20Australia&auid=15479339848903764525&ll=-43.166363%2C146.92584&q=Platypus%20Walk
White Wallabies
Another animal you can only see in the wild is the white wallaby. White wallabies aren’t albinos, they are just white.
The white wallaby is only found on Bruny Island, and the best time to see them is in the evening, when the sun sets. If you have a car, you can catch a ferry to Bruny Island every day.
Pademelons
Another cute animal is the pademelon, a small hopping marsupial related to kangaroos and wallabies, about the size of a large cat.
A very good place to watch pademelons is at our hostel, Pilgrim Hill. We have 26 acres of native forest in the Huon Valley and you can watch lots of wildlife from our fire-pit, where our travellers relax in the evening. People have also seen wedge-tailed eagles (the world’s largest eagle!) and echidnas (a spiky relative of the platypus) on Pilgrim Hill.
If you’d like to stay with us at Pilgrim Hill, beds are $28 a night or $175 a week, and you can book here:
https://www.pilgrimhill.com.au
Happy Wildlife Finding
I hope this gives you some ideas for seeing wildlife in Southern Tasmania. All of them are within 35 minutes of our hostel. You are welcome to come stay with us while you enjoy Tasmania’s special wildlife.
Till next time, safe travels!
