Links to Other Segments and to Related Galleries

Expedition to Tasmania (Segment 1)

Expedition to South Australia (Segment 2)

Expedition to Queensland (Segment 3)

Expedition to Northern Territory (Segment 4)

Expedition to Western Australia (Segment 5)

Bird Species List and Bird Gallery Links for the Entire Expedition to Australia

Landscapes & Scenery of Tasmania

Logistics for the Great Pouched Critter Safari of 2025

Master Species List for the Entire Expedition

Bruny Island

July 3-5

July 3

After sleeping in the international terminal of the Brisbane airport, I made it for an early morning flight (Jetstar JQ757) departed Brisbane at 07:10 AM and landed in Hobart around 10:00 AM. After picking up the rental car, I made a quick stop at Waterworks Reserve to scout the area for a future night walk—this location is known for Tasmanian Bettongs, Common Ringtail Possums and Eastern Barred Bandicoots, Echidnas and more.

By late afternoon, I crossed to Bruny Island via the ferry (return fare: $53). The timing worked out well, allowing myself to get the lay of the island from north to south and prepare for spotlighting.  I made to the southern most tip at Lighthouse Point where I saw Tasmanian Pademelons and Bennett’s Walabies in good numbers. The island really reminded me of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State USA.

What an amazing night of spotlighting it was! After it became dark, I started north from the Bruny Island Neck and started to see one Eastern Quoll after another almost immediately.  Sadly I was not very lucky capturing them with my camera as they were very skittish and bolted fairly quickly upon seeing my car slow down.  Being a solo driver/spotter/photographer is a tough gig.  Stopping the car after spotting a target and quickly getting a camera focused on a target was nearly impossible if the animal only gave a few seconds before bolting.  I believe I missed as many shots as I got throughout my trip because of this.  I’m not complaining as solo wildlife watching is absolutely awesome for many reasons that I won’t get into too much due to my wanting to keep the peace with my partner and family… 😉 (Actually see the Logistics Page for details about solo wildlife traveling)

In one amazing night of spotlighting, I ended up with 58 Eastern Quolls, dozens of Tasmanian subspecies of Common Brushtail Possums (including a spectacular golden form) and even a Tasmanian Short-beaked Echidna, which I was actually thinking I may not see at all during my trip as they are generally in torpor during the winter and sightings according to iNaturalist dip to near zero for July.  I felt very lucky with that one although I did speak to some birders the next day who had seen two themselves so the Echidnas are definitely out and about.  Perhaps the lack of sightings online is more an artifact of far fewer people visiting the areas in the winter. 

July 4 – Bruny Island Exploration

The day was spent exploring both the north and south ends of Bruny Island. The southern end offered more sightings of Red-necked Wallabies and Tasmanian Pademelons.  I spent several hours at Inala Jurassic Gardens hoping to see Tasmanian Bettong but failed.  A couple just ten meters ahead of me spotted one that did not stick around for me.  I do get the impression though that they are generally pretty easy there, especially at night, so I think it is still a good place to try for them.  The owners lock up the entry road at night so it may not be possible for a night visit unless you are actually staying there.

At night I got more Eastern Quolls, Possums and several Long-nosed Potoroos in the north section of the island.  Just before dusk, I saw loads of Bennett’s Wallabies which were very common in open paddocks.  I did manage a very distant albino Bennett’s Wallaby near Pines Campsite on South Bruny.  I managed many albino forms in the village of Adventure Bay – they were all of the main road of the village and were reluctant to allow me to pass!  I got the distinct impression that they were nearly blind actually.  The village had loads of European Rabbits and Common Brushtail Possums as well. 

A couple great days in Bruny Island made for a good start to the Tasmania Segment of this expedition. A relatively early start on my last day allowed time for another stop at some of the hotspots of the island, an easy ferry ride and a good grocery stop in Hobart before heading north. The below gallery has images of the fauna and landscapes of Bruny Island.

Mount Field National Park

July 5–7– Bruny to Mt Field National Park

Departed Bruny in the morning  and headed to Mt Field Campground traveling through some of the most spectacular rural countryside I’ve seen in a long time.  The rolling hills with sheep and green meadows and forest patches were nice to travel through.  I arrived at Mt Field National Park in mid afternoon with time to snag a campsite and explore the area well.   I drove the Lake Dobson road all the way to Lake Dobson on a scouting trip.  While I did not expect to see any mammals on this drive, I was looking for areas for spotlighting during the night. 

The Lake Dobson road drive is spectacular.  While I did see a distant Platypus at Lake Dobson, the drive is mainly a botanical experience.  From massively Tall Trees to spectacular tree ferns and an outstanding highland scrub mosaic community with labelled placards, I had a great time learning about the region’s vegetation and plant communities with Eucalyptus coccifera as a dominant tree species.  I planned on returning at night with a torch. 

Well the night drive up the Dobson Road produced nothing of interest sadly.  The near zero degrees Celsius temps had something to do with that. The grasslands at the base of Mt Field did give good views of many Common Brush-tailed Possums, Tasmanian Pademelons and some mystery eye shines in the distance.  Although many trip reports list Eastern Quolls, the occasional Devil, Common Ringtail Possums, Barred Bandicoots and more, the winter weather kept my list short.  Still the flora of the area was spectacular and well worth the time and effort going to the area.

The experience at Mt Field was more of a botanical extravaganza. The well marked botanical nature trails there were a great lesson in the flora of the wet rainforests of Tasmania as well as the high elevation forests and scrubland mosaic. If you want a bit more detail on the flora of this area, follow this link and scroll down to Mt Field. I’ve attempted to ID some of the plants encountered in the region. (LINK to Tasmania Scenery & Landscapes)

The gallery below has images of the Mt Field region:

Cradle Mountain & Loongana Road

July 7-10 Mt Field to Cradle Mountain via Leven Canyon

The drive north continued my journey through the magnificent Tasmanian countryside with my first destination being Deloraine, with hopes of seeing my very first Platypus.  The Meander River that courses through the middle of Deloraine is known for numerous Platypus, although a local said that they often disappear during the winter.  Well soon after I heard that, I found my very first Platypus!  

I spent the next two hours with this individual, who spent time exhibiting all sorts of Platypus behavior in the crystal clear waters of the Meander River.  My first sight of the animal was of it out of the water scratching itself for several minutes.  In fact, I observed the critter scratching itself nearly half of the time!  Not sure if they have parasites, lice, fleas, or what but they are very itchy for sure. 

Watching the underwater activity of the Platypus was quite easy due to the clear waters of the river.  The left and right head shift sifting through the organic debris was interesting.  Surely finding invertebrates was efficiently accomplished with this behavior.  This individual worked a stretch of the river of about 50 meters for nearly two hours.  Luckily it was working on my side of the river giving me outstanding views the entire time.  I was very happy to see how many people were fascinated by the animal too.  Locals and visitors alike were excited to see such a cool critter.  A local man informed me that this was the first sighting of the season.  He walks his dog every day along the stream and had not seen one in nearly two months.  Lucky me!  Although I was far from finished with Platypus sightings  - more later.

From Deloraine, I made my way to Cradle Mountain National Park by way of Loongana Road, both places being my hopeful Devil spots.  I had time to go to the end of Loongana road to find a suitable camping spot at Leven Canyon Campsite.  More about Loongana in a minute.  I also had time to explore Cradle Mountain to see the incredible scenery and scope out the region for my night’s spotlighting activities. 

Now getting in to the core area of the park involves busses again.  I am not good with bus trips in to parks so I was happy to find out that the area is open to self-driving visitors at 4PM.  Now in the winter this does not give you much time before sunset but I did have a couple hours to view the area, which is absolutely stunning.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.  While I whiled the daylight away in the interior, I slowly headed out of the core area at dusk and dark.  It did not take long for me to spot my first, second, third and more, Tasmanian Wombats.  They were very easy to see grazing on the short winter grasses on both sides of the road.  I did not see any other mammal species on this stretch of road however.

About mid evening I left the park intending to come back the next day for more explorations and a visit to Devil’s Cradle, a well run conservation center for three species of Australian carnivorous marsupials – Tasmanian Devils, Eastern and Spotted-tailed Quolls.  More about this place later.  I spotlighted the entire length of Loongana Road with hopes of Quolls of both species as well as Tasmanian Devils.  I did get a Devil near the closed-for-winter Mountain Valley Wilderness Holidays Lodge, which is famous for producing sightings of all three species.  The land around the lodge is spectacularly filled with moss and lichen covered trees and vegetation.  Perfect Devil habitat!  So much so that I was very lucky to see one bolting into the forest just beside me while I was slowly driving by….  Too fast for a picture but good enough for the species list!  Got the Devil but never got the Spotted-tailed or Eastern Quolls.  After my luck with the Eastern Quolls on Bruny Island, I was not too disappointed but I was never graced with a Spotted-tailed Quoll during my two weeks in Tasmania.  I was tempted to buy some chicken and place it in a strategic location but decided not to do this….

Loongana Road is absolute spectacular – a mixture of natural woodlands and cattle/sheep ranches.  I took out my thermal monoculars and found out just how many Tasmanian Pademelons are out in the grasslands of Tasmania.  Of course their little corpses dot every road in the state.  In the picture below you can see at least 12 dead Pademelons in a matter of a few dozen meters!  When I scanned the grasslands along Loongana Road, I was absolutely blown away to see literally thousands in the fields!  The thermal images looked more like city lights than animals in a grassy field!

Lewen Canyon Campsite is newly renovated and is quite lovely.  I slept one night there with local Brush-tailed Possums as roommates.  The next night I slept at Taylors Flats Reserve & Camp Ground, just around the corner from Mountain Valley Wilderness Lodge.  Nothing much seen there and the temps reached an ungodly MINUS 9C!  Luckily my sleeping bag is rated for minus 20C so I still had a good night’s sleep. 

My second day at Cradle Mountain was spent mainly visiting Devil’s Cradle Conservation Center where I had an awesome introduction to the three carnivorous marsupials led by local experts.  Watching the feeding behavior of numerous Devils with fresh-killed Pademelons and Wallabies (killed by local farmers who have permits to “kill pests”!).  And I finally got a good look at the Spotted-tailed Quolls which were far bigger than I expected.  The sounds of the Devils were awesome – easy to see why early Europeans called them “devils”.  And when you see the blood-filled bright red ears that look like horns, the name fits even more.

My time at Cradle Mountain was well spent even with dipping on the Spotted-tailed Quolls and the lack of wild images of the Devil.  Now it was time to move on to the northern Tasmanian Coast to get a look at Australian Little Penguins.  I headed straight to the town of Penguin, thinking it surely had a resident rookery, but aside from a giant Penguin statue, no penguins were there at all!  After I referred to my own notes, I realized that I had to head west about 45 minutes to the Little Penguin Observation Centre in Parkland/Burnie.  Now you are not allowed to use white light on the birds as they emerge right after dark, so my images are in black & white below.   Seeing the penguins emerge for the night swim is quite spectacular and is well worth the effort to see.

The images below are of flora, fauna and landscapes of the Cradle Mountain/Loongana Road area of Tasmania

Little Penguin Observation Center, Parkland

(Link to Main Gallery for Little Penguins)

Bakers Beach in Narawntapu National Park

July 8-9 Parkland Penguins to Narawntapu National Park

After another night in a hotel in Ulverstone, I started my journey to Bakers Beach in Narawntapu National Park to search for more Tasmanian or Bare-nosed Wombats and Forester Kangaroos, which are the Tasmanian subspecies of the Eastern Grey Kangaroo. Along the way, I made a quick stop at the Tasmanian Arboretum on Old Tramway Road to try for another sighting of a Platypus.  Well, that place is Platypus central!  I easily counted over 20 individuals in the ponds and streams of the gardens which are well worth getting too.

The wetlands of Narawntapu gave me excellent views of the Musk Duck, perhaps the strangest duck on earth being like an inverted Knob-billed Duck (see image below). I did get great views of the Forester Kangaroos. Sadly though wombats, which used to be common there, were nearly extirpated by a mange that worked its way through the population in the region.  Now it is difficult to even find scat.  Not much was seen at night so I decided to park my car all the way over at Bakers Point Campground a very nice secluded spot over 4kms away from humanity.

Normaly I wouldn’t think much of the 4 kms distance from humanity but I was awoken in the middle of the night by the alarm of a dead battery in my car!  I’m not sure exactly what caused my battery to die but I was stranded and had to walk the 4kms in the freezing cold back to the main visitors center area to request help.  Luckily a very helpful ranger came and gave me a jump.  The stroll did give me some very nice birding opportunities, especially of the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos that were rearing a subadult in an old snag on the side of the road.

Tamar Wetlands & Road to Triabunna

July 10 Baker Beach to Triabunna

From Narawntapu, it was time to head south to Triabunna for my adventure in Maria Island.  Along the way I made a stop at Tamar Island Wetlands Reserve for some leisurely birdwatching.  I was a bit disappointed in the birding there but I guess most of the fauna had headed north for the winter.  Black Swans and Australian Shelducks were about all I saw.  The boardwalk trail is quite nice though.  Driving along the east coast of Tasmania is absolutely spectacular so I took it slow and easy, stopping often to smell the roses.  I made it to Triabunna Cabin and Caravan Park for a restful night before catching the morning ferry to Maria Island

Road to Triabunna - July 10

From Narawntapu, it was time to head south to Triabunna for my adventure in Maria Island.  Driving along the east coast of Tasmania is absolutely spectacular so I took it slow and easy, stopping often to smell the roses.  I made it to Triabunna Cabin and Caravan Park for a restful night before catching the morning ferry to Maria Island

Maria Island National Park

July 11–12 – Maria Island

The 10AM ferry was packed with Chinese tourists.  Clearly the Chinese travelers have ditched Thailand in favor of Australia this year.  The hour long journey to Maria Island was uneventful with the exception of a few Bottlenosed Dolphins along side the boat for a bit.  The view of Maria Island was spectacular, especially considering about a hundred years ago, those who had this view were going to prison.  In fact my accommodations for the three nights at Maria were a bunk cell in the old penitentiary.  Now the bunk house is retrofitted for basic tourism and if you are lucky enough to book 60 days in advance and secure a room, you have wonderful accommodations for your stay.  Camping is an option too but I got in early enough for a room.

My main targets for Maria Island were the Flinders Wombats (an island subspecies of the Tasmanian or Bare-nosed Wombats) and a last chance for wild images of the Tasmanian Devils, which had been introduced to the island many years earlier.  Now the Wombats were everywhere and were awesome to see so close and exhibiting so much Wombat behavior.  The Devils on the other hand were elusive.  While years ago sightings were common and nearly guaranteed, nowadays even the rangers who work there can go entire seasons with no sightings at all.  With that in mind, I really cannot recommend Maria Island for those interested Devil watching – Loongana Road would be a much better option in my opinion.

With that said, I very much enjoyed my days on Maria Island.  The winds were insanely strong so my rented bike was parked for most of the time.  The temps were near freezing but I was able to spend a lot of time with the animals of the island.  The Southern Brown Bandicoots were numerous and easy to see at night when they were snooping around the rooms in search of morsels left by the tourists.  They were also common around the kitchen area of the campsite, as were Tasmanian Common Brush-tailed Possums.  Common Ringtail Possums were supposed to be easy there too but I did not manage any.  Tasmanian or Rufous-bellied Pademelons were common in the grassy areas of the island at night.

The scenery of Maria is in itself worth the voyage.  Assuming the weather cooperates one night on the island is enough to lock in target species assuming Devils are not one of them.  Birding is quite good on the island too as the images below will attest.

Port Arthur Marine Mammal Watching & Historical Site

July 13 – Triabunna to Port Arthur

Back to the mainland and now on the way south to Port Arthur for my scheduled whale watching trip.  Along the way, more spectacular east coast scenery to be seen.  Stops at Tessellated Pavement State Reserve, Eaglehawk Neck, Blow Hole and Fossil Bay Reserve were awesome.  I returned to these spots at night for some spotlighting and did see my first series of Eastern Barred Bandicoots along the road by Tessellated Pavement Reserve.   More Brush-tailed Possums and Tasmanian Pademelons as well. 

I did make a visit to the Historical Site of Port Arthur but after seeing the exorbitant price of admission, I opted to simply see it from the road.  I did rewatch the documentary of the mass shooting that occurred there years ago.  What a tragedy.  While doing my night drive I did see a pinniped of some sort in the Nubeena Harbor.  The drive from Nubeena to Eaglehawk Neck was filled with the normal suspects as well as countless European Rabbits in virtually every grassy field along the way.  I never did manage to see European Hare on the trip interestingly.

My next morning was the whale-watching trip that departed from Pirates Bay located near Blow Hole and Fossil Island.  The trip lasted a bit over two hours and travelled the southeastern coast all the way to Tasman Island passing so much spectacular geology – columnar basalt formations as well as interesting incipient sedimentary/metamorphic areas.  The main goal for me on the trip was to see Australian and New Zealand (Long-nosed) Fur Seals.  While the numbers were not massive I did get great views of both species!  Had the winds been lighter I was told we could have seen hundreds.  I was happy enough though.  The highpoint of the tour was a playful Southern Right Whale that gave us quite a show, spy-hopping and surfacing for several minutes.

Hobart

After the cetacean and pinniped show, it was time to return to Hobart for a couple nights.  Now it was time for 3rd and 4th nights in proper lodging.  Hotels in Australia are generally very overpriced.  Not unlike the USA actually but when you are used to paying $20 or less for decent digs in Thailand, it’s hard to fork over $150 to $300 ($500++ if near the airport!) for a comparable room in western countries.  But when stationed in metropolitan areas rooms are the safest option.  Anyway my place was near Waterworks Park on the west end of Hobart where saw several Tasmanian Common Brush-tailed Possums, Tasmanian Echidna, Tasmanian Pademelons and Eastern Barred Bandicoots and a couple Southern Brown Bandicoots.  I did hear at least one Common Ringtail Possum. The park allows a reasonable amount of time for spotlighting but the gates do close at 9PM if I am not mistaken.

July 15

I also visited the area near north of Hobart for some semi-urban some birding.  The area is rural enough to attract many birds and even some mammals. I did manage some awesome views of some spectacular birds seen below. 

My days in Tasmania were phenomenal.  The scenery spectacular and was at times very eerie with the fog, lichens and moss, and low light and isolation in so many areas.  And other times it was overwhelmingly spectacular with natural formations that were as massive as they were beautiful.  I can see why so many Australians are leaving the mainland and moving down to Tasmania.  Considering I almost missed Tasmania when I was planning this expedition a year before going, opting for another region of Australia instead, I can say without doubt that Tasmania was my favorite of all regions visited during the Great Pouched Critter Safari of 2025!

The images in the below gallery are mainly from various locationsd in and around Hobart:

Great Pouched Critter Safari of 2025 Tasmania Species List

(Follow the Links Below for Main Image Galleries for Each Species)

Marsupialia

Macropodidae

1. Bennett's Wallaby  (Notamacropus rufogriseus rufogriseus) TAS

2. Forester Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus tasmaniensis) TAS

3. Tasmanian Pademelon (Thylogale billardierii) TAS

Peramelemorphia (Bandicoots, Bilbies)

4. Eastern Barred Bandicoot (Perameles gunnii) TAS

5. Southern Brown Bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus affinis) TAS

Diprotodontia

Vombatidae

6. Tasmanian Wombat (Vombatus ursinus tasmaniensis) TAS

7. Flinders or Bass Strait Wombat (Vombatus ursinus ursinus) TAS

Phalangeridae (Possums)

8. Tasmanian Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula fuliginosus) TAS

Potoroidae (Bettongs and Potoroo)

9. Long-nosed Potoroo (Potorous tridactylus) TAS

Dasyuromorphia (Marsupial carnivores)

Dasyuridae

10. Eastern Quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) TAS

11. Spotted-tailed Quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) Captive TAS

12. Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) TAS

Monotremata (Monotremes)

13. Tasmanian Short-beaked Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus setosus) TAS

14. Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) QLD, TAS

Pinnipedia

Otariidae

15. Australian Fur Seal (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus) TAS

16. Long-nosed or New Zealand Fur Seal (Arctocephalus forsteri) TAS

Cetacea

17. Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) TAS

18. Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) TAS, WA

Lagomorpha

19. European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) TAS, QLD

Felidae

20. Feral Cat (Felis catus) TAS