Thursday 22 January 2015
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| Pregnant MALE |
We started the day with Seahorse World at Beauty
Point. This is associated with a
seahorse farm that exports live seahorses around the world. Apparently, female seahorses drop their eggs
directly into the male’s stomach pouch.
These are fertilized on entry and then the male is pregnant, with his
stomach pouch swelling. The pregnancy lasts between 2 and 4 weeks depending on
the breed, the male then goes into labour and gives live birth to around two
hundred babies. There were tanks with
babies of varying ages for viewing.
https://seahorseworld.com.au/
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| Seahorses |
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| Seahorse Nursery Tank |
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| Seadragon |
Next was Platypus House and Echidna Garden. We were able to see several platypi feeding
and then observe a breeding pair in a larger environment. To date, Tasmanian platypus have not yet been
successfully bred in captivity – however if it is up to “Jupiter” (and “Dawn”)
and persistence pays off it may happen.
We were also able to observe three Tasmanian Echidnas at close
quarters. Due to the colder climate
these look less spiky than mainland echidnas as they have a thick furry coat to
keep them warm. Platypus and Echidna may
seem like an odd combination, but they are both “monotremes”, egg laying
mammals.
https://www.platypushouse.com.au/
Lunch was enjoyed at “The River Café” in Beauty
Point and all our meals were delicious and they were happy to cater to Hayden’s
dietary needs. I had a beautiful pizza,
Drew had a crumbed calamari salad and Hayden had grilled chicken strips and
chips.
On the way back to Launceston we drove through
Grindelwald. I was disappointed in this as it was really just a shopping centre
and resort accommodation with a mild Swiss theme rather than a Swiss village.
This afternoon we did a Boag’s brewery tour. I found this quite interesting as I had never
been inside a brewery before. Drew did
the brewery tour at Cascade and said he preferred it as he felt he got a lot
more detail in it. The beers we tasted were Boag’s Premium, Boag’s XXX Ale and
Wizard Smith – which in my opinion went from nice to awful (these are also in
order of increasing hops levels, so apparently it is the hops flavour I don’t
like).
We walked across to the Launceston Show Grounds –
it is undergoing redevelopment and doesn’t really look like the place we met.
Back to our accommodation for a swim before bed.
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