Friday 17 November - Bullets 85 – Wildcats 90
Hobart – Port Arthur
I was awake early knowing we needed to be up and organised, problem was it was too early, so I returned to bed and thankfully sleep for another couple of hours. 8am and Paul was up organising a cuppa, breakfast and a shower. I followed, then went down stairs to get a new internet code.
I ate breakfast while loading things online. In between, I organised what I needed for the day and at 9am we were ready to make our way to the Tessellated Pavement, where we would meet the others.
The drive was about an hour, taking us through the town of Sorrel and past some beautiful countryside.unfortunately some of it was difficult to see, as a fine fog was holding tight to the higher ground, it did however make the busy and trees quite glittery. Just after 10am, we parked in the carpark and 2min later, the others arrived.
We followed the path down towards the water and the interesting flat stone structure. We were able to walk along the rocks and take in the misty view across the water. Despite the weather being a bit drizzly, the seas were quite calm.
We made the most of our time and then returned to the carpark and continued our drive on to Port Arthur. We passed a few other spots of interest that we would return to later. At 11, we found a space to park in the crowded car park and joined the line at the ticket office.
After paying our $39 entrance, we made our way into the large gardens and orientated ourselves, opting to check out the penitentiary building first up. We made our way through the outer shell, shaking our heads at the size of the cells. It certainly would have been a miserable existence.
We walked up the hill to check out the hospital ruins before returning to the jetty, so that we could board the 1220pm boat for a short tour around the islands that housed the boys and also the graveyard. The view out through the heads and the harbour was quite impressive.
Once back on land, we made our way in search of food. I was in charge of reading the map, not always a smart move, but we eventually found the small prison building that was housing the café. We ordered food and sat in the courtyard enjoying the sun. We ate our meals and the made plans to split up with the boys tacking onto a walking tour, while Katie and I made out way to the old church. We passed some interesting wooden cottages along the way with pretty gardens and interesting stories. We continued to follow the path towards the church, taking in the beauty of the structure, now just a limestone brick shell.
We completed a lap around the outside and then entered inside the four walls, imagining how different it would have been with its roof and stained glass windows. It would have been a magnificent structure and a focal point for the colony.
We continued our wander through the gardens and back to Damon. I joined Paul and Chell for a quick look through the Commandants residence. The beautiful home, which became a hotel sometime after the colony was disbanded and before Port Arthur was opened as a National Trust tourist destination.
As you can imagine, the home was well appointed with wonderful views over the bay and the old town. Certainly was how the other half live. We completed our look through the rooms of the old home. This was the most crowded spot we had checked out and I was happy to be heading on.
We returned to Damon and Katie and back to the car, heading to the Lavender farm where we thought there was a distillery, but the boys were sadly disappointed to find it wasn’t so. Instead, we drove on to check out some natural wonders of the coast, the Tasman Arch, Devils Kitchen and Blowhole.
The first two features were wow spots, with all of us reaching the fence line and stretching over to look down into the water. The rock structures were very impressive and it was quite a substantial drop to the rocky ground below. Unfortunately the weather had an impact on our views, with a serious sea fog passing through. Coming in by a rickety wooden boat 200 odd years ago would have been a precarious proposition.
The blowhole wasn’t as spectacular, as the tide was low and the sea were calm, but we could imagine it would be impressive in the right conditions.
Our final stop was a statue to acknowledge the dog line used to deter convicts from making a run for freedom. The dog that had been immortalised certainly appeared menacing and you would have to be very desperate and they were.
We made our hour journey home with the sun beaming, warming the car up substantially. It was again a pretty drive with us making it back to the apartment for 5pm. We left the car in the undercover parking, dropped our things off and grabbed what we needed, before walking up to hang out with the others.
Damon and Katie left for the shop, leaving me with Paul and Chell. I went through the blog and photos for the day while the rugby played in the background. When they returned, we made the decision to head to Hotel Soho for dinner and so we could watch the Wildcats take on the Bullets. Our meals were delicious and huge, but it didn’t stop us ordering dessert.
The later the night got, the harder we found it to keep our eyes open. I was glad when the game ended in regulation, not only for the cats win, but mainly because it meant we could head home. After dropping the others at their apartment, we made our way to ours. I collapsed on the bed, but spent sometime getting frustrated trying to go through my photos on the iPad. I think it will be a long 4 weeks. In the end I turned it off before I threw it across the room and turned out the lights.
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