Took a tour to Mt. Field because there is no other good way of getting there. The driver proudly pointed out attractions on the way there: a zinc smelter, a paper mill, and most importantly, a Cadbury chocolate factory. The first stop in the Mt. Field National Park was Russell Falls, a large waterfall at the end of a nature trail through dense rain forest. We saw several pademelons, which are small furry animals that look like stubby pocket-sized kangaroos with dark fur.

They have a private wildlife sanctuary there where injured and orphaned animals are raised and later released into the wild. This is my chance to see all the weird fauna Australia is famous for because they can’t hide from my camera here. The menu included:

• Kangaroos watch idly from a distance. Can’t have a wildlife sanctuary without kangaroos.
• Wallabies are like kangaroos but smaller.
• Tasmanian devils are cute black furry creatures that don’t move a whole lot.
• Quolls look like black cats with white spots.
• Platypuses look like beavers with flippers and a soft gray duck bill, but it took a long time to see it. They are mammals that lay eggs.
• Possums are beautiful golden creatures that look like a cross between a cat and a rabbit.
• Koalas are the same impractical slow-moving teddy bears with big noses that I have seen the day before.
• Wombats (picture) are a sleeker variant of teddy bear with long claws, but the baby wombat we saw was just cuddly.
• Corellas look like parakeets and could impeccably enunciate “hello”.

And no, I didn’t make any of these up. We concluded the day on Mt. Wellington, with a fantastic view of a few slices of Hobart through gaps in the clouds.