DrivingTasmania2023

Day 11 – Port Arthur

Another later start and then breakfast at the cafe that we went to after the Tasman Cruise.

Watch those bees. I got Al to smell these flowers in case we didn’t make it to the Lavender Farm.

We then went to Port Arthur and toured the grounds at our leisure. We enjoyed a short boat cruise as a part of our ticket.

The Penitentiary in the background (1837)
Government Gardens (1846) – Great photo, Karen.
The Church (1837)
Law Courts (1846) – First, Al’s the judge…
And then, he’s a convict.
Post Office
Hospital (1840s)
Nine-year-old convict in The Separate Prison (1849)
View from the Commandment’s House (1833 – 1856)

I didn’t take any photos in the Memorial garden for the 35 people who lost their lives on Sunday April 28, 1996. It was solemn and sad but a beautiful tribute.

Donna, Mark, Wayne and I left a little earlier than the others and went to view the Remarkable Caves.

View from the top of the caves
Those binoculars came in handy!
Remarkable Caves
A few steps – training for Wineglass Bay

Our group stopped in at the Lavender Farm and had lunch. We sent the others our evidence with Wayne admitting that Pale Ale beer wasn’t that bad. His initial reaction to me getting this was not complementary!

Evidence sent to other travellers.
Another hospital visit, Wayne? We know what happens when you have mud cake!
Donna had the vegetable stack- her best meal on tour thus far.
My Tasmanian scallops, bacon and chorizo skewers on fried polenta were delicious.

The others stopped in at the Chocolate Factory and sent us their evidence.

Robyn and Al enjoying some incredible looking ice creams.

We enjoyed drinks and snacks on the balcony and had sausages and bread for dinner. The boys outdid themselves – cooked and cleaned up.

Boys at work
Ladies’ night!

The boys headed to the bar and we couldn’t help ourselves. We started ringing Wayne to ask where he was – front of the bar? Back of the bar? The same as what he did when we were shopping. The only thing is… I couldn’t stop laughing. I passed the phone to Donna who also couldn’t stop laughing. She passed it to Karen who also couldn’t stop laughing. Finally, the phone got to Robyn who assumed command. She turned her back to us, spoke to Wayne asking all the questions until finally Wayne realised what we were doing and hung up. Amused us!

Robyn, Karen and I did a little bit of late night devil spotting but alas no luck. We heard lots of rustling in the bushes. While Robyn and I clung to each other in fear, Karen was straight into the bush with her torch light burning. A young wallaby jumped out but apart from that, we heard rustles but didn’t see anything. A car did seem to stalk us when we were down one of the roads so that hurried us home.

PLAYS OF THE DAY

#1 – Michael parking in the double overflow car park when the first car park was still empty. It meant hiking for an age to get to the entrance.

#2 – Wayne moving the car to the First car park so we didn’t have as far to walk.

#3 – Karen for her courage on our night walk (even if meant having to pull hundreds of prickles from her shoes the next day).

asuth2

Leave a comment