Day 10 – Tasmania

Fly: New Zealand to Melbourne, then Melbourne to Devonport, Tas. Drive: Devonport to Cradle Mountain National Park. Another World Heritage site, full of all the bizarre Australian animals you learned about in school: kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, echidnas, and platypuses. Only platypuses haven’t been sighted yet. I’m obsessed with seeing a platypus.

After getting settled in, we took an ill-advised hike on an un-maintained path and nearly ended up spending the night in the woods.

It's a baby wombat!
Mom and baby wombat (baby is sorta hard to see, though).
We didn't take this sign nearly seriously enough...

It's possible this guy saved our lives (or at least saved us from spending the night in the freezing wilderness). He sat in the same spot, right near the place where we lost track of the trail, so when we spotted him (or her) the second time, we finally got back onto the trail.
But the views were worth it...