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Day 22
Freycinet Nat Pk <Map>
Today: 42 Total 3345
We had a night-time visitor last night. The first indication was a noise like intermittent light rain on the roof of the van. As the stars were all visible, this seemed to be a bit odd. The fact that the 'rain' kept moving on the roof was also odd, so a quick expedition outside led to the exposure of the villain.
Not-so-stealthy visitor - a Brushtail Possum
We had been warned that leaving anything remotely edible outside was risky, so our visitor left disappointed.
More exploration down 4WD tracks today. This time to Friendly Beaches South. Once again the track was in rather rough shape.
4WD (or hire car) Only!
The going was so slow that I ended up selecting low range (yes, I know I'm a wimp) and just idling over the obstacles. I don't think we ever got over about 25kph. We saw no one at all along the trail but came across a lovely lagoon with Black Swans.
Black Swans at Freshwater Lagoon
End of the road - Car Park at Friendly Beaches South
The walking track lead us to...
Friendly Beaches South
Not a soul around!
We decided to treat ourselves to lunch at the Freycinet Lodge - a rather upmarket eco-lodge on the shores of Coles Bay in the National Park. The Bistro had a smallish menu but we decided to go for the local seafood and cured meats plates with a glass of Tasmanian white. To top off our indulgence, we had dessert of 'Death by Chocolate' (with 2 spoons). Just perfect!
Freycinet Lodge Balcony
The weather here is very changeable; cloudy with showers and wind one minute - bright sunshine the next. I guess you need to prepare for all contingencies! By the time we had gone around the bay to pick up some essential supplies at Coles Bay, the wind had died down and the scudding clouds had completely gone!
Coles Bay with Freycinet Lodge in the distance at the base of The Hazards
On our arrival back at the van, guess who was waiting? No, not the male. He'd sent one of his wives!
A final look at Freycinet Peninsula across Great Oyster Bay - The Hazards on the left, Mt Freycinet in the middle and Schouten Island on the right
Further south today along the east coast to the site of one of Australia's oldest penal establishments. Fortunately, we didn't have to stay in a cell, but in a nice spacious caravan park about 1km from the Port Arthur Heritage Site.
Day 24
Port Arthur <Map>
Today: 5 Total 3587
Off to Port Arthur today to look at one of Australia's earliest penal colonies. If you had been transported to New South Wales as a convict and you then further upset the authorities, you would be sent to somewhere even worse - normally either Norfolk Island or Moreton Bay (now Brisbane) or Port Arthur.
First, plan your day
There is a great model of the whole site in the new Visitors' Centre. This Centre was built as part of the upgrade after the horrific massacre that occurred here in 1996 when 35 people died and 23 were injured at the hands of a demented gunman. There is now a memorial garden at the Broad Arrow Cafe where most of the killing took place.
Port Arthur opened in 1830 as a timber camp using convict labour. In 1833 it turned into a punishment camp for repeat offenders from other Australian colonies. By 1840 there were over 2000 soldiers, civilians and convicts here. With the end of transportation to Van Dieman's Land (now Tasmania) in 1853, Port Arthur became an institution for the aged, and physically and mentally disabled convicts. It finally closed in 1877, and the area was subsequently left to decay or be the victim of bushfires. By the 1920s, some buildings had become hotels or museums telling the story of the old convict days.
The site is huge at over 100 hectares (250 acres), so a bit of planning was going to be involved. One of the convenient attractions of visiting here is that the entry ticket is good for two days, so we felt we didn't have to rush anything. Even so, we didn't think we'd cover the whole place. The staff were very good at explaining the 'extras' that happened at specific times, such as the harbour cruise to the Isle of the Dead. We also opted for the iPod tour, which gave each of us an iPod jammed with information and audio clips for most places on the site.
As you leave the Visitors' Centre and walk down into the grounds, the first thing that comes into view is the Penitentiary.
Port Arthur Penitentiary
The same building in its heyday circa 1870
When this building was built in 1837, it was originally a flour mill with a water wheel installed where the 6th column of windows (from the left) now exist but in 1854 it was converted to prisoner accommodation and had the far right section added. In 1897 (after the prison had closed down), a massive bushfire left only the shell of the building standing, after which it fell into disrepair. Restoration and stabilisation of the building started in 1967 and continues to the present.
We strolled down to the dock to catch our boat to the Isle of the Dead in the middle of the harbour.
The Isle of the Dead
This small islet in the middle of the harbour holds the remains of over 1100 officers, soldiers, their families and prisoners who died at Port Arthur. As was the custom at the prison, one's position in life was mirrored in death with the officers and officials were buried at the highest point of the island and the prisoners at the lowest point. We disembarked and had a very informative 40 minute guided tour around the island.
Officers' headstones
Of the 1100+ souls buried here, only about 70 headstones remain. This is due to a number of factors. The majority of prisoners didn't get a headstone (too expensive, no one cared, etc), the officers' and family members' headstones have been carved out of low quality local stone that degrades and weathers quite quickly, and a few decades ago some bright spark though that cutting down all the trees on the island would be a good idea thereby causing massive earth movement, erosion and more damage to the existing delicate memorials.
Main causes of death for the prisoners were 'industrial accidents' (drowning, accidents felling trees, etc); for the soldiers it was disease, and for the women it was either disease or childbirth.
Returning to the dock, we walked to the Dockyard to look at a huge metal sculpture that portrays the size of vessels that the prisoners were making.
Dockyard sculpture
The convicts built vessels ranging from dinghies and whaleboats up to brigs and barques for both government and private use. The shipyard at Port Arthur was active from 1834 to 1848 and was one of only three shipyards in the British Empire where convicts built both the shipyard and the ships. It also seems to have been the most efficient as ship builders in Hobart started complaining that the Port Arthur Dockyard was undercutting them on price.
We then moved on to the Separate Prison. This was a new idea to reform prisoners by isolation and contemplation rather than flogging as had previously been the case. Prisoners who had transgressed in one form or another (trying to escape, not obeying orders, etc) were locked in isolation for 23 hours per day, the remaining hour being alone in an exercise yard.
The Asylum (now a museum and cafe, on left) and the Separate Prison (on right with cupola)
On Sundays, they attended religious services, still in individual cubicles, while wearing hoods to keep them from seeing other prisoners.
The prisoner in Cubicle D1 looks like she's enjoying herself far too much
We finally gave up at about 4pm with information overload and tired feet.
Day 25
Port Arthur -> Coal Mines -> Eaglehawk Neck -> Port Arthur <Map>
Today: 89 Total 3676
Back into the fray today to see the rest of the places we'd missed yesterday. First port of call was a closer examination of the Penitentiary.
The remains of the Penitentiary
1897 fire damage
You can still see the damage done by the bushfire in 1897.
On to more pleasant surrounding, we then made our way up to the Junior Medical Officer's Quarters.
Junior Medical Officer's Quarters
After the prison closed, this house was turned into a hotel, and was used during the filming of the Marcus Clarke novel, "For the Term of his Natural Life" in 1927. The film was a huge hit in Australia - the most expensive film silent film ever made - but it wasn't such a hit overseas as it was released just as 'talkies' arrived on the scene. The house has now been restored to its original condition with appropriate furniture and fittings.
The Church and Government Cottage
Both of these buildings were also the victims of bushfires. The convict-built church was never consecrated partly due to its use by prisoners of different denominations and partly due to disputes between various church authorities. It originally had a wooden steeple that blew down in a gale in 1876, and it was finally destroyed in 1884 by sparks from a fire used to clean up around the parsonage.
All very English...
Just down the hill from the church are the Government Gardens, originally established in the 1830s. These offered the soldiers and their families "...a quiet and beautiful space, free from the unwanted presence of convicts".
Rose buds everywhere.
The formal garden path
The gardens will look fantastic in a few weeks as it's all in bud just waiting for the warmer weather. Most of the gardens are planted according to what would have been there in the late 1840s.
This ended our tour of Port Arthur, but not our interest in the penal trail around the Tasman Peninsula. We then moved on to the Coal Mines, about 35kms north-west of Port Arthur.
This was a punishment station for those who came under the heading of incorrigible. It opened in 1833, 3 years after Port Arthur. By the late 1830s, they were producing most of the coal used in Van Diemen's Land, but it wasn't popular as it tended to send out showers of sparks when first lit, setting fire to carpets, etc.
There are nothing like the number of surviving buildings at this site, but in common with Port Arthur it was a place of cruelty and hardship in a beautiful setting.
Coal Mines Settlement overlooking Norfolk Bay
At least some of the bird life like the place.
Green or Tasmanian Rosella on the grass (left); Striated Pardalote on an old sandstone prison wall (right). There was also a Superb Fairy-wren but you know what they look like by now, right?
The last stop on today's convict trail was Eaglehawk Neck. Eaglehawk Neck is a narrow isthmus of land and beach that connects the Tasman Peninsula (and Port Arthur) to the rest of Tasmania. At its narrowest point it's only 30m wide, so the authorities placed guards here along with dogs to deter prisoners from using it as an escape route from Port Arthur. The 'Dog Line' was placed across the isthmus so that a person couldn't pass between them. According to records, these were the ugliest and meanest canines they could find.
"Every four-footed black-fanged individual among them would have taken first prize in his own class for ugliness and ferocity in any show."
Quote from a visiting official.
The statue above is to mark where the Dog Line was across Eaglehawk Neck. The old Guard House is now a museum.
Just down the road from Eaglehawk Neck are a couple of natural attractions - Tasman Arch and The Devil's Kitchen, and the Tessellated Pavement.
Tessellated Pavement
The Devil's Kitchen - not much cooking due to calm seas
Tasman Arch
Both the Devil's Kitchen and Tasman Arch have been formed through erosion by wind and water through the surrounding siltstone. Eventually the arch will turn into another Devil's Kitchen.
We figured that was enough for today because tomorrow was going to be A BIG DAY!
Day 25
Port Arthur -> Eaglehawk Neck -> Tasman Island -> Port Arthur <Map>
Today: Car:5 / Bus:45 / Boat:50 Total 3681
On the advice of a number of friends, we decided to splash out on a boat trip (sorry, bad pun). Not just any boat trip, but a trip down the rugged east coast of the Tasman Peninsula. This is an area renowned for high sea cliffs and caves, sea stacks (tall chimneys of rock) and marine and sea bird colonies. The boats used for this are RHIBs (Rigid Hull, Inflatable Boats) that seat about 40 and are very manoeuvrable as well as powerful with 3 x 300hp supercharged outboards. We subsequently found that they were also remarkably dry given the conditions. As there were a lot of people booked for today, they ran two boats. From a photographic perspective this was quite good as in some shots it will give the viewer a sense of scale.
Our accompanying sister vessel
The captains looks at the weather on a day-by-day basis and select the route for the day given the conditions. We were very lucky, having looked at the BoM web site a few days ahead and figured our best day for calm conditions. Keep in mind that we would be venturing out (albeit not too far) into the Southern Ocean - a body of water not known for its mill-pond-like conditions!
We had been advised to bring extra warm clothing as the temperatures in the boat would be up to ten degrees colder than on shore. The boat supplied the waterproof poncho.
Ready to go!
The first stop was just outside Pirate's Bay for a view of some birdlife in the area.
White-bellied Sea Eagle - This is one of a pair that are nesting in the area.
They can measure up to 90 cm (36") long with a wingspan of up to 2.2 m (7'), and weigh 4.5 kg (10 lb). We then moved along the coast to see the Tasman Arch (that we saw yesterday) from the other side.
Tasman Arch from sea level - most impressive.
There were more arches and then some caves as we slowly motored south.
Sea Caves - our sister boat is just entering
From the inside!
As you can see from the photos, the sea was just about flat calm. We were told that this is not the usual state of affairs, and with a big swell running they don't go into these confined spaces.
Dog Rock - Can you find the Bloodhound?
On Dog Rock were a flock of Black-faced Cormorants.
We next set off at about 30kts (60kph) towards the Candlestick and the Totem Pole, two sea stacks at the northern end of Fortescue Bay. However before we got there, the other boat radioed that they'd seen two humpbacks close to the headland, so we reduced speed and tried to get closer without spooking them.
Very close to shore
Mother and calf
And then...
Not a brilliant shot, not in focus, not centred, and I DON'T CARE! :-)
What a magic moment to see two giants (I missed the other one) breach! It made the rest of the day a bit of an anticlimax.
We finally got to see the sea stacks we had been aiming for before the whales arrived.
Sea Stacks: The Totem Pole (left) and The Candlestick (immediately in front of the boat) - both are free-standing
We then set off for Tasman Island. This is the most southerly point of the Tasman Peninsula and turning point for yachts in the Sydney to Hobart annual race. Tasman island's lighthouse is now automated, having been there since 1906. Access to the island is difficult due to cliffs of dolerite surrounding the island giving no place to get ashore. The only way to gain access to the island was via a line from a gantry to an adjacent rock, from which another line was dropped onto a boat, and then winching it up to a landing platform about 30m/100' above the waves.
Having got people and equipment ashore, it was then dragged up the tramway to the top by a horse called Whisper
All a bit precarious, and Whisper only worked when it suited him.
As well as being home to hosts of sea birds, Tasman Island is also home to Australian Fur Seals who haul out on the rocks around the landing stage.
Australian Fur Seals
Another Australian Fur Seal
The coast adjacent to the island has the tallest sea cliffs in the Southern Hemisphere, rising 300m/1000' straight out of the ocean.
Dolerite columns facing Tasman Island
Once we rounded Tasman Island, we started to feel the force of the Southern Ocean. The swells started to get up to about 2m, which is not much for this part of the world, but it certainly felt exciting when hit at around 30kts (60kph). Due to the time we'd spent looking at the whales (this was not advertised as a whale-watching tour), we were running a bit late, so the skipper put his foot down a bit. Not much photography happened as it's difficult to hold a camera when you're bouncing over waves! More fun than an E-ticket ride at Disneyland, though!!
(Yes, I know that we really haven't finished Week 4, but this page is getting too big to load given the marginal internet connections we've been having in the deep South.)
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