Tasmania Travels

Just back from my latest adventure. I did my 6th state of Australia for a five day break. Only got one more to do before completing the set!

The first full day we had there we drove over to Port Arthur in the South East of the island. It was the site of the penal colony on the island and was chosen because it is a peninsula attached to the mainland by a narrow 100m wide causeway called Eaglehawk neck. They used to have guard dogs strung along the neck to prevent the convicts escaping. We spent about five hours on the site exploring.

There was several prison buildings including a silent prison for nasty offenders where (obviously) no-one was allowed to talk - not even the guards. They even put reeds down on the floor to muffle the sound of footsteps.



There was also a chapel in the silent prison where all the convicts had to stand in separate boxes so that they couldn't see each other and they were tiered so they couldn't see in front of each other either. We didn't have time to do many of the other buildings (they even had an accountants house!) although we did get to see an archaeological dig where they were exposing the commandants house and showing us some of the articles that they were uncovering. We also did a ferry cruise round the harbour and stopped at the Isle of the Dead which was where the cemetery was located. Both convicts and free people were buried here but the convicts didn't have headstones and were buried on the lower part of the island. A few of the later convicts were given headstones, but only if there was someone who could pay for it.

In the evening we went back to the site for a Ghost Tour. There was about 15 of us in the group and somehow I managed to get given a lamp and was backmarker and had to make sure no-one wandered off. And we all know that its the ones at the back who get got first in horror films!! The first stop was the church which wasn't particularly scary as it didn't have a roof although it was lit up to make it look a little spooky. Next stop was the pastor's cottage which was very scary. There was an irishman who was quite loud and he got sent in first with one of the lamps and then we all filed in afterwards. Apparantly there were 6 ghosts haunting this place including one of the pastors who died of pneumonia in the building. The room we were in had quite an oppressive atmosphere, and when we came to leave people were getting jammed in the doorway trying to get out. Next stop was the morgue where we had to go down into a cellar where they disected up bodies. Apparently the religious belief of the time was that you could be autopsied (i.e. to find out why you had died) but if you were disected then your soul couldn't join up with your body on judgement day. Medical science wanted to find out more about the human body but couldn't so rules were made so that executed criminals could be disected. This gave rise to bodysnatchers (such as Burke and Hare for those of you who have heard of them) who would dig up graves and sell the bodies to doctors. Eventually it was decreed that if any body wasn't claimed in 48 hours could be disected up. In Port Arthur, very few bodies were claimed so the chief surgeon got to do a lot of disecting. The room where all this occurred was also pretty freaky place as the stone table was still there. It was leaving this building that my lamp decided to go out which was a bit annoying! Thankfully we only had one more building to go - the Silent Prison. There was no electric lights in any of the buildings so it was a lot dimmer with only two lamps instead of three. We were told the story of one of the Ghost tour guides who was locking up the Silent Prison at the end of the night and heard footsteps behind her. She shined her torch where she heard the footsteps and couldn't see anything. She could still hear the footsteps as she shone her torch so, scared, ran out of the building. The footsteps ran behind her and when she got to the door she managed to get out and shut it but could hear the footsteps behind the door pacing up and down. It was a grille door as well so she could see in but could still not see anything. There was a little twist on the way out as Jacqui, the Irish guy and I were walking some way behind the group comparing digital camera shots when Jacqui suddenly screamed and grabbed my arm. It turned out that she thought she heard a deep voice whisper in her ear. She spent the rest of the holiday denying it was anything paranormal but managed to make the Irish guy scared which was a bonus.

The next day we drove up the Tasman peninsula and eventually to Bicheno about half way up the east coast. We did an hour walk along some spectacular cliff top scenery where there were several arches formed, a couple of sea caves and a blow hole. We managed to see a Pademelon (a type of Wallaby for all the non-Australians) and also an Echidna (kind of like a porcupine). The drive took us back almost to Hobart and then up north through a fairly mountainous area before we met the coast again and meandered through various fishing villages and seaside towns. Bicheno was a very small little town but is famous for having a penguin rookery where the penguins (Fairy Penguins) nest. The town has taken to protecing the area from unnnatual predators such as foxes and feral cats and dogs. The tour started about half nine and as we got to the coast we could see the penguins all strung out from the rocks where they come out of the sea and all they way up the beach to their nest sites. We could get really close to them (apparently because they were knackered and needed to rest every 5 metres up the beach). They even built a few nest boxes with flip top lids so we could see the penguins inside nesting. While we were looking in one and disturbing a very bemused male penguin, there was a commotion in the group as another penguin meandered through peoples legs (we were taking up the whole path to be fair) and continued on to its nest.

The next day we got up early and headed down to Freycinet National Park which is about 20 miles south of Bicheno. It is one of Tasmania's famous parks and the picture attached is of Wineglass bay taken from the look out. There are no roads in to the park - you have to park on the edge and make your way into the park on foot. The first half hour is all uphill through a small range called the Hazards. Very entertaining to see people struggling up in jeans and flip-flops/thongs* (*delete depending on nationality). At the top of the pass between two of the peaks is the lookout where the photo was taken. There we had another example of tame wildlife when a padmelon bounced through the very busy lookout area. We continued down to the beach which was absolutely fantastic. White sand and beautiful sea although it was a bit cold. After a swim and lunch we walked across the peninsula to the other side and walked round the coast back to the car park. We did managed to see a red-bellied black snake on the way. Mainly because it had about five birds round it screaming their heads off.



We then drove up to St. Helens in the north-east of Tasmania where we turned up to find their regatta in full swing complete with a fair and a pretty good fireworks display.

Out final full day was the worst weather wise as it was very overcast. We drove a little further north to the Bay of Fires (so-called because the local aborigines used to light a lot of fires) and walked along the coast there before driving back down to Hobart through the main highway down the centre of the island. Still only had one lane though. We had a stop at a historic village called Ross which looks like it is still in the 1800s. It is famous for its square which has a pub on one corner representing Temptation, a church on another corner representing Salvation, a Gaol on one corner (now converted into a house) representing Redemption and the Town Hall on the last corner representing Recreation. It was also the site of one of only two female convict prisons in Tasmania (the other being in Hobart) although that was fairly run down.
We had a morning in Hobart before our flight out back to Brisbane and so we did the Cascade brewery tour. Much of the old brewery is still there and used (it is Australia's oldest brewery) and was a fascinating tour. Unfortunately we couldn't have too many tasters as we needed to catch our flight.

It was a very enjoyable few days and if anyone is planning to come to Australia then they should REALLY think about including Tasmania in their trip!

See you all soon!