On our way to the Tasman Peninsula
Late departure towards the Tasman Peninsula. Due to an event in the area that attracted a lot of people, there was a traffic jam of 45 minute. After that, the road was again fully ours.
We made several stops to enjoy the beautiful views. At the lookout point of Pirates Bay we found an espresso food truck that had set up a lucrative business. Coffee with a view… Perfect !
We did the short walk to the Tessellated Pavement, it was still very nice but at this time of the day not as spectacular as at sunrise or sunset. Luckily it was low tide so we could walk over the pavement.
Visit of Port Arthur
We then drove to Massons Cottages, our home for the next 2 days. We dropped off our luggage and went straight to the historical Port Arthur site, listed as UNESCO World Heritage. It is a very well preserved convict site from the 19th century, now converted in an open-air museum. It is also the place where in 1996 a mass shooting occurred leaving 35 people killed.
Convicts from the British Empire were taken here, after recurrent offences to carry out tasks like felling of trees, cutting stones while chained. They would only get the minimum of food necessary to survive unless they behaved well. Corporal punishments like whipping were often used, but this shifted over time to more psychological measures resulting in mental illnesses. When we say whippings, we mean 50 to 100 strokes (at Sarah Island it were often 200 to 500 since the nerves in the backs of the prisoners were already affected by the many strokes they got in other penal settlements).
Boys as of a very young age (9 years old) were kept at an island near Port Arthur, where they were supposed to cut stones. Later on they could learn one of the 22 crafts that were performed on the peninsula. Young or old, it was no fun to be locked up in the super tiny cells!
During our visits we saw that many tourists from the Queen Elizabeth II cruise came ashore for a visit of the Port Arthur site.
The Tasman Cruise and the rest of the peninsula
The next morning, we had booked the Tasman cruise with Pennicott Wilderness Journeys. The activity was superb, we could see the cliffs and the wildlife from the water. We received warm red coats to protect ourselves against water and wind.
We were also very lucky because we could circle the Tasman Island which is not often the case due to the wind. The cliffs were spectacular and at the bottom we sometimes found seals. During our boat trip we saw hundreds of albatross and in the same spots, seals and dolphins appeared as well. Taking pictures was not so easy, video’s were more effective. Oh this was such a fantastic excursion…
After lunch we set off to visit the other side of the peninsula. We went to see the blowhole (less spectacular compared to the one in Bicheno), the Tasman Arch and Devil’s Kitchen.
We also stopped at some lookouts and drove through Doo-town where houses have doo-names like e.g. ’doo-nix’. We ate a super nice berry ice cream at the food truck ‘Doo-lishus’ that also served seafood.
Very satisfied with our visit of the Tasman Peninsula, we packed our bags for the last leg of our trip ‘Hobart’.
