We’re in a little early and manage to get off the ship a little after 7:00. The car rental place isn’t a very far walk and we’re standing outside the door around 7:20 – well before their 8:00 opening time. But, we’d rather be first in line and wait 40 minutes on the street than get behind a bunch of other cruise passengers waiting for their cars. As it is, we get lucky and the Thrifty agent is there early, spies us at the front and takes us in through the back door to get us on our way early. How nice is that?
So we end up on our way at 7:45 (a full 45 minutes before we figured we’d be on the road) in an obscenely large Mitsubishi SUV. Great car, just not for this country or these roads! It’s hard enough driving on the left in a little car – but in this thing – while not a huge beast – it’s big enough to make the drive more challenging. And then we get lost! Oy vey! So – Alicetta (GPS) is great – and she’s telling us where to go – but not soon enough. And she keeps saying “stay right” on A3. Well, “stay right” means literally right lane – because even in the darn roundabouts if you are in the wrong lane – you are doomed!
And doomed we are! First error – we didn’t stay “right” enough and end up taking the long way to the Tasman Highway bridge. Ok – it was just a big circle, so we only lost a couple minutes – no biggie. But then we didn’t stay “right” enough when the highway split off and we’re now driving through some neighborhood to get back to the highway. Once at the highway at the roundabout where the only lane to go to the highway is the left lane, you have to again “stay right” – oh – and get in the far left lane 3 lanes away – to get on the highway. Ha! Not happening – so we go around again – same neighborhood, same drive – at least now we know how to get on the damn highway! Sheesh.
So – we lose about 20 minutes – and add a lot a gray hairs – but finally get on the darn Tasman highway and head out to Port Arthur – our destination of the morning. It’s only 90KM but it will take at least 1 1/2 hours – obviously there are some “hearty” roads in our future!
We follow the “highway” (loosely termed as usual) through little suburb towns, over a couple of great causeways and past the airport, then we are out in the countryside. And the site of the bush fires that roiled through here a few weeks ago. It is a horror. Miles and miles and miles of nothing but burned trees. See the picture below…
…rolling hills, fall foliage….well, no. It seems like, oh, just pretty leaf peeping – look at the fall colors, but all the orange colors are the burnt trees. And who knows why the green ones in the middle were spared. As we drive through miles of decimated forests, you see little patches of green and just have to wonder how/why/what made the fires jump. The fires came right up to the road…
…and even right up to the water and beach…
…so frightening. We drove though scenes like this for the better part of an hour. Slowing occasionally for the workers who were cutting down trees and grinding out stumps on the side of the road. It was really quite a sight to see. And we’re lucky we are even seeing it, because the last time the ship was in port the road was closed and they couldn’t go to Port Arthur. Looking at the trees – we can see why!
We finally make it to Port Arthur a little after 9:00. We’re still ahead of all the tours, even after our little directional mishaps. We waltz right in and are just in time for the 9:30 walking tour. Cool! So off we go through the Port Arthur penal settlement – a prison modeled on the English reform penitentiary that was designed to be “a machine for grinding rogues into honest men”. This place would either break you or rehabilitate you.
Australia, of course, was settled by convicts, but the Port Arthur prison was for the worst of the worst. The men and women went here were repeat offenders with long harsh sentences. As the years progressed, the prison itself actually became a complete community, housing prisoners, and the military guards of course, but also free settlers who worked the surrounding fields. They also created a facility for convicts who physically or mentally ill, were released but couldn’t find work or didn’t have the funds to leave Port Arthur.
The prison operated from 1840 through 1877 when it was closed and many of its buildings dismantled or destroyed by bush fires. 30 buildings still remain, in various stages of perfection and ruin. There is the main Penitentiary where the convicts were housed according to behavior: Bad on the bottom two levels, better behaved on the 3rd floor (and no, we really don’t know why there is a 4th level!)..
…then it was onto the “separate prison” where the really, really bad boys went. Here they were held in solitary confinement and had to be completely silent. Breaking the rules meant cruel punishment…
…there was also a chapel where the convicts were allowed to go for services, but even here they were isolated in single little “cell” like pews where they could only see straight ahead…
…to the preacher….fire and brimstone…and all that!
Next its on to the Welfare Area where we get some great shots of the ruins there – and the surrounding officers’ houses, etc. The prison was built on an “elevation” system – the commandant and the higher up guards accommodations were built high up on the hill, to watch over the convicts, then the convict areas were set up below. Pretty interesting.
It’s beautiful up here now, but during the prison days, you can only imagine how harsh the conditions were and how little the prisoners actually had. There are some awesome stories though – all of which are too long (and probably boring) to go into here – suffice it to say, interesting folks were put here, interesting escape plans hatched - not too many of which were successful due to the location (water everywhere, dogs and guards on the narrow land peninsula leading back into town) and the total intimidation of the prisoners.
After the walking tour, we have a 20 minute boat ride around the harbor, with narration pointing out the Puer Boys’ Prison island (one of the first juvenile segregated prisons) and the Isle of the Dead Cemetery where prisoners and civilians living at the facility were buried. It’s a nice tour and terribly fascinating.
Plus, as a bonus, they give you prisoner cards and at the end of the tour you can find out who you are and what crime(s) you committed by walking through a display/museum area that depicts your convict's live. Really nice way to tie it all together. These are our two scallywags!
Back out on the road we debate between stopping at the Tasmanian Devil rehabilitation center or heading straight to Richmond, an old historic town about 25 minutes out of Hobart. We opt for Richmond, since that means we’ll be closer to town and it is a relatively short port call today.
An hour of driving back through the windy little torched out road, we are rewarded occasionally with some beautiful unblemished scenery….
Then onto Richmond we go – surprisingly easily (we’re getting the hang of “keep right”!). We make it to the main parking lot and get out to explore. Unfortunately, for us, at least, the promo of “Tasmania’s most important historic town” didn’t really live up to it’s hype. There is the oldest “Gaol” in the country – $8AU to get in – ok, well we were just at Port Arthur – and don’t think it will top that. The world’s oldest bridge – a pretty little thing we drove over…next. Beautiful historic buildings. Ok, sort of.
Well you can see – we were underwhelmed. We did stop in the grocery though, and buy a package of local cheese to snack on while sitting on a park bench by the car. That was nice.
We left after less than 1/2 hour and headed back into town. Just gives us more time to find an internet café and afternoon beverages in Hobart! And probably a good thing we did – the traffic was horrendous. Today was the first day of a 3 day wooden boat festival, and Tasmanians were showing up in droves. Took us probably 1/2 hour to go 1/2 mile and make it through 3 traffic lights to get to the rental agency. Phew. Glad that’s done!
We wandered a bit – found a café with wi-fi, spent entirely too much on afternoon beverages, but did manage to upload a couple blog entries. Notice the lighter version of the blog here? Only VERY select pix – it just takes way too long to publish.
We wandered back through the festival snapping a few pix..
…then headed for our balcony to watch the sailaway – and learn that the next 24 hours would be rough sailing! Joy –I’m already taking my pills….The Drake has taught me my lesson!
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