Thursday, 5^th April                 Scamander to Port Arthur

Robyn writes:  Oh, the history! Of all of the places in Australia to make you feel that perhaps you’re back in the UK, Port Arthur comes closest by a country mile. It’s been forty years since I was here (1978 on a school trip) and it is so good to come back and see it all properly.

We were up bright and early in our little unit in Scamander – another glorious morning – cool but bright and sunny and it soon warmed up again. However, today’s weather feature had clouds rolling over occasionally, so we alternated between bright sunshine and dazzlingly blue/green seas and grey and just a bit gloomy. Fortunately, the rain held off right up to the exact moment our day was finished, and we were heading for the car!

We bade our hostess farewell and were heading south again by 8.30 towards Bicheno where we’d seen the blowhole yesterday.  After that, it was all new territory and we enjoyed seeing the changing landscapes and the beautiful coastal views as the road hugged the ocean for a good deal of the way. Of course, we had several stops to smell the sea air and admire the views.

Our first stop of the day was the Freycinet National Park near the little town of Coles Bay, with the aim of doing a short walk or two (the aim being to be at Port Arthur by mid-afternoon.) However, we rapidly lost enthusiasm when we discovered that a 24-hour car parking pass (nice, but we only wanted 2!) was going to cost us $24. And hiking permits were going to cost us $12 each! As this was turning into the prospect of a very expensive stroll in the bush, we decided to pass on that on head back into Coles Bay. There only appeared to be one, tiny café with no parking so we checked out the possibility of a cruise (that day’s had just left – we saw it heading out into the bay) so we just walked out the jetty in the FREEZING wind, admired the scenery then headed south again.

We had an early lunch in Swansea at half past eleven at a nice little restaurant called Saltshaker, overlooking the bay. By this stage the day had morphed again into sunny blue skies and was gloriously warm, so it was lovely to look at. Lex really enjoyed his scallop pie (he’s been eyeing them off since we arrived in Tassie.) I was less enthusiastic about my Thai Beef Salad which was so salty it was almost unbearable (and I quite like salt!) Anyway, the view was lovely.

Then it was back in the car and south towards Port Arthur. We stopped en route to have a look at yet another convict-built bridge - this one is called the 'Spiky Bridge' for obvious reasons! And no, they have no idea what the spikes were for....We arrived at our accommodation, a B&B right beside the front entrance, at about 3 and were welcomed by Steve, our host.  Turned out we were the only ones booked in for the night, so it was good to have the place to ourselves. Once we’d checked in and got our keys, we headed for the historical site itself. Tickets there are for two days admission and give you a short harbour cruise and walking tour as an inclusion, so are excellent value. We grabbed a cuppa and biscuit each then went straight down to the harbour to catch the 3.30 cruise, which we did comfortably. It gives you a great orientation as to the layout of the harbour. The weather was cool and cloudy but thankfully the rain held off.

 

Spiky bridge!

 Island of the Dead

 

 

After the cruise, we proceeded to walk our legs off around the site, up hill and down dale to see all of the historic buildings, most built by convicts starting from 1830 when the settlement began. My favourite is the ruin of the church – reminded us of several sites we’d seen in England. Port Arthur, of course, has a long and bloody history both old and modern, but is a wonderful place to visit. We were allowed to stay until it was nearly dark, which we did! It began raining just as we walked out the front door, practically the last to leave the grounds.

Then we went back to our B&B, had showers and returned to the site for the Ghost Tour which we’d booked previously. We had a lovely meal in their restaurant, ‘1830’ – highly recommended but we were very lucky to get in without a booking! Our tour began at 8.30 and was really good, if somewhat damp (the gentle rain kept it up for a good while) – young Jett, our guide, was a good storyteller and took us to some of the most haunted places at the settlement. He’s not up to the standard of Jack Sims, the Brisbane Ghost Hunter yet, but give him a decade or two and he might be! Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint) our tour wasn’t one of the ones to see a ghostly visitation. I must say I was a bit relieved about this! It’s a really atmospheric and eerie place at night and I’m quite willing to believe that spooky things do happen there.

 

No ghosts....that we could see, anyway!

The tour ended about 10.15 and we were so relieved to return to our lovely warm room and sleep very soundly at the end of a long, wonderful day!