Stephanie's Words: NOSTALGIC NEW NORFOLK (1)

Reflections of Autum - New Norfolk on the Derwent

(Bountiful Bonorong & Barney the Runaway Wombat)

Hello! Well you have had a bit of a break from my ramblings, now you have to pay! Firstly, thank you so much for the encouragement and acknowledgements I received following my last somewhat pathetic request for a response. It was childish of me but I was extremely gratified by all the wonderful emails I received. I shall not ask again – well not soon anyway.

Now, on to more important things – what have we been up to since my last blog? Perhaps the reason I haven’t blogged is that we haven’t really been on the move, even though we have been quite busy. We moved from the beautiful Mt Field National Park to the picturesque and historical town of New Norfolk – that was a couple of weeks ago and guess what, we are still in New Norfolk!

Perhaps we were just ready for a bit of a break, or perhaps it is the sheer comfort of this Caravan Park, whatever the reason, we are more than happy to stay here for a little bit. We have not been idle during our stay here however, and have visited a few spots readily accessible from here.

Cloud Reflections

The first of these was Bonorong Wildlife Park – this was actually quite by accident. Our map showed a Wildlife Reserve at Bagdad and that was what we set out to find, find it we did but from our perspective at least, it was a total non event. We found a gate – the gate had a collection box which asked for a $2 coin – we duly inserted coin and drove in, closing the gate behind us, and found................absolutely nothing! Well, there was a bit of a shelter and some seats and a map giving directions – I suppose we should have looked at the map.....but..............there are some days when the navigator doesn’t dare make those sort of suggestions to a somewhat disgruntled driver...............that was one of those days! We simply sat in our 4 wheeled armchair and watched through the windows in bemused silence as the seemingly virgin bush looked back in at us. Hmmm, I believe this was just what it said it was, a wildlife RESERVE!!!! Not a wildlife park. The idea was to get out and walk through the virgin bush and get up close and personal with the real thing. Yep, well that didn’t happen. We simply drove through the available road space and back thru’ the gate, shutting it firmly behind us. Why the place was specially noted on the map is beyond us, but hey, it was a really pretty drive and the day was beautiful with soft blue skies scattered liberally with fluffy mauve clouds echoed by deep purple cloud shadows across the gilded hills and limpid waterways.

We took a side-street to drive through the pretty little town of Kempton – a small farming town doing a good impersonation of my idea of a tiny English village. Along the way we stopped and had some fairly typical road-side fare (truckie style) at a servo which advertised ‘Mood Food’ – the name appealed, but the food was not really all that wonderful – adequate, but really the epitome of all servo food the country over, albeit plentiful. Sitting outside the servo eating our deep fried fare was quite surreal however, overlooking sculptured golden hills dotted with bleating sheep.

Beautiful Old Church at Kempton

Our Luncheon Companions

On the way home we stumbled over a great wildlife park near Brighton. The park is called Bonorong. As we had set out to see a wildlife park we decided to drop in. We were still hunting the elusive Barney at that stage. What? I haven’t told you about Barney? How very remiss of me. Sorry! Right, well we have a mate living down here in Tassie and she (Lee) had been guiding us from afar, recommending various venues and sights to see. Mt Field was one of the areas she had recommended. Now, I had only met Lee once, and that had been at Trent’s wedding (Trent is DD’s son) and as that had been for me a somewhat frenetic and nervous time, I didn’t have very clear memories of Lee. I did remember a vivacious and happy individual, but it hadn’t really registered that she (Lee) was actually at least moderately insane.

Sorry, but this story does require a little explanation. Now I was a little nervous of she (Lee) as she had been and still is a good friend of DD’s ex, and I was not quite sure of my welcome etc,. Having since met she (Lee) I can now tell you that she is quite mad, and absolutely wonderful –a great gal who I hope I can now consider a friend. So this is all background stuff. Anyway, she (Lee) had recommended not only Mt Field but also a wildlife park there called ‘Something Wild’. The main attraction there, being a young wombat called Barney. What I hadn’t understood about Lee was her compulsion for ‘finding out’. We looked and looked for ‘Something Wild’ all to no avail – finally discovering it had, like so many businesses in Tassie, closed its doors. Well – disaster! What happened to Barney? Lee had told us in her emails about Barney the Wombat – Barney was brought up at the park and had failed the freedom test. It seems they had tried to repatriate Barney to the bush, but he refused to go, resorting even to swimming the swiftly flowing river to come back home to the park. Lee was devastated as she had been a huge fan of Barneys’. She was understandably worried about the little fella.

Could This Be Barney?

There ensued from here a manic game of ‘Where’s Barney’ – we were firmly told in no uncertain terms that we had to find the delinquent wombat. Ever tried to find a needle in a haystack? Same thing! She (Lee) was so insistent we dare not fail in our endeavours. We had been told by a lady in the know that all the animals from the shelter had been passed on to other wildlife institutions – we thought Bagdad would have been a likely spot and that was the main reason for our journey there.

Needless to say, our search at Bagdad was fruitless. We walked thru’ the entrance to Bonorong however, and asked the nice young man at the counter about the animals from ‘Something Wild’ and he advised us that they had all been repatriated to the bush. When we told him about the aberrant Wombat and his refusal to ‘go native’ he recognised the story and was able to tell us, finally, that Barney is alive and well and living the life of Reilly with a bloke who loves him. Thank Goodness For That – finally a happy ending to the Barney saga.

So...Bonorong is a very good and well run Wildlife Park and I would strongly recommend it for those of you who wish to see our native animals in a semi natural environment. They had a good number of Tassie Devils there along with some white wallabies, large roos and various birds. I was horrified to see two magpies in a cage – they did have a bit of a sad story having been hand reared and then handed in as their carer had no license to keep them. Not knowing the full story I suppose I should keep my criticisms in check, but really! Maggies in cages – horrid thought I think. I am really missing my maggies – we see so few here. In fact, we really see very few native birds here full stop. Certainly though, there are numerous blackbirds and sparrows. We do see the odd Currawong, Kookaburra, Wren and parrot. There are copious numbers of the Tasmanian Forrest Raven and abundant Banded Lapwings, but sadly very few magpies. I really am pathetic, as I become very animated and excited when I glimpse the odd magpie along the way. Perhaps the east coast will be different. One of the favourite residents at the park was an Old Man Kangaroo – much like one we had at Bullsbrook. This old bloke had taken up residence in the middle of the lawn and was not about to move for anyone. One of the rangers there told us he seemed to get more food than anyone else as he always managed to get the sympathy vote. We were told he had been there from a young Joey.

Life is Tough Sometimes

A Rare White Wallaby

It would seem that I have a bit too much to tell you in one go, so I’ll be kind and split this into a couple of issues. I will tell you though, before I go, that this is a great little Caravan Park. We are right on the banks of the Derwent River, the bays are huge and generally drive through, the amenities are not new, but very sound and clean, the whole area is well grassed and the place is pet friendly. The rates here are also very good, particularly if you are staying for a week or more. The park is council owned and has had the same very obliging and amenable manager for some 6 years. The park is pretty well protected from strong winds as it sits down behind rocky walls. The town of New Norfolk is historic and has many, many historical and somewhat quaint buildings. The European influence here is very strong and with advent of cooler weather the autumnal colours of the trees along the river bank are getting to be quite exceptional. The town is not huge but does boast a Woolies for grocery shopping and an absolute abundance of antique shops – none of which we have been into. I figure it is best not to be tempted! After all, we ARE in a caravan.