Intermission

Watching a nature documentary the other night about Tasmanian Devils. Their mating ritual goes something like:

Two males fight
Female comes out to check out the winner
They fight
If she likes him, she lets him win, otherwise she runs him off
He grabs her behind the neck and drags her back to her den
There he keeps her prisoner for a few days while she tries to escape and find another mate.

They ran a trial in a wildlife park where the female had access to two different males. She choose the older one who was able to beat her in a fight and drag her off. Apparently this is their way of picking mates that produce sufficiently strong offspring.

Then she'll give birth to about 40 offspring the size of wheat grains, who have to crawl through the fur to reach the pouch where there are 4 teats, so the only first 4 survive. Another way to make sure the off-spring are tough.

Who needs to invent weird creatures?

On the water

Two noticable things about Strahan, firstly how tourist orientated it is. Down on the Esplanade, you'll find cafes, restaurants, accommodation cottages, the Visitor's centres and souvenir shops. All aimed at tourists. All right, that's not all there is. There are also the harbour cruise ships, the helicopters & light planes offering to give you aerial views and the yachts to charter.


( Rest after the cut )