Coastal Convictions

Day 8: Today I started a six day tour of the beautiful island of Tasmania, joining an array of people from places ranging from good old England to Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Slovenia and Mexico. First up, we were off to the Tasman Peninsula, a cluster of bays and hills joined to the mainland by a small narrow of land called Eaglehawk Neck. Given its isolation and difficult access, it was a site for a bit of an experiment in prison management back in the convict era at Port Arthur.

We first stopped at a bakery to pick up some lunch (these bakery stops would become customary and very tempting each day…)

Nearby was a unique series of rock formations called Tessellated Pavement, which appeared as though they were manmade square bricks but were formed naturally through a combination of processes I can’t remember even though our guide, Brian, would definitely have told us.

Further along the road was Port Arthur itself, a really interesting place full of preserved buildings from the establishment of a penal colony here back in the 1830s. You could wander round here at your leisure and really get a sense of what life was like back then.

A boat took us briefly around the harbour area, pointing out some sites of interest, such as the island where people were buried and the area where a juvenile prison was established. We were also taken on a walking tour for a bit, where lots of interesting stories and further information about the running of the colony were provided.

Port Arthur is a big tourist attraction these days, but there seemed to be plenty of space to nosey around yourself and very little was off limits. However, the Tasman Peninsula is more than Port Arthur and is a very beautiful area in itself, with some stunning coastal features and dense bushland rising from the seas.

We visited Remarkable Cave, remarkable in that it was pretty unremarkable. However, there were a number of arches including Patersons Arch and Tasman Arch which were pretty impressive and some fine walking to be had along the coastline.At Pirates Bay, there was a blowhole that didn’t blow, but to compensate there was a great ice cream van serving strawberries, blackberries, ice cream and cream and a pretty little bay in which to eat.

It was a really great way to start the trip and we drove back stopping a couple more times, once at a lake for a short walk and then briefly at the ‘historic’ town of Richmond before returning to North Hobart. A few of us made it out for some pizza but it was a relatively early night after a day crammed full of highlights and activities. If today had set the tone for the trip, it was gonna be a good one.