Another poor sleep ????

Out and pop up the road to Port Arthur Lavender Cafe for some needed noms

Very cute that the sweet things they offer are infused with or incorporate lavender into them, such as Daisy’s pancakes

We wonder round the grounds as they have many areas of the varieties of lavender they grow which are complimented by the views of Long Bay (connected to Stingaree Bay which we could see yesterday)

Avoiding all the flying wildlife, we get to see all the lakes they have too – no Platypus, for now

In the car, we go to Port Arthur Historic Site

The weather’s changed so we lather up with suncream and stick our hats on before going in

The entrance is kind of expensive but worth it as you get to go in two consecutive days, it includes an activity inside and there’s lots of history to be uncovered

Going in, we first go to the Dockyards which has information about convicts changing their ways and becoming helpful to society with their carpentry and shipbuilding skills

Stewarts Bay Walking Track is on the edge of the site, we go down it a little before coming back realising the time

We head back towards the centre and to the Cruise Harbour as we have a little 30 minute cruise included in the cost

The boat ride shares information about the place’s history: a notorious prison and secondary punishment/confinement centre where the prisoners created things from broomsticks to boats in the 19th century

Long boats or whale boats were most common as this was a common occupation of the time and these creations were often sold at equal that to the cost of them – pretty insulting to builders in the area of Port Arthur

Point Puer was the first sanctioned juvenile prison, which you could be sent to from the age of 9, under British control (around 1840s); this made sense, at the time, as the British age of responsibility was 7…

Isle of the Dead is an island opposite Point Puer which is a cemetery for 1,100 convicts which are unmarked because it was agreed that these men, who died in prison causing them disgrace, didn’t deserve honour upon death

Being a port, lots of activities for these people were around water and it was a time where swimming wasn’t a common skill so drownings were frequent

As well as this, they had a good ol’ fashioned ball and chain meaning if anything went wrong with felling trees or things falling generally because of the weather, they were more often squashed to death than not

70% convicts suffered from scurvy until a vegetable patch was planted in front of the church and 10,000 cabbages later, the scurvy was essentially gone

1895 and 1897 brought tragic bushfires here each lasting two days; the first ravaged the main site and left only the outer walls standing and the second damaged the Separate Prison

We get off the boat where we initially got on and set off round the rest of the grounds: The Penitentiary main building

You can see lots of the barracks the prisoners had and we see the destruction of the bushfire, in 1897, that brought most of it down… though there are adorable Swifts inhabiting it’s holes too

Other buildings that were well preserved, though clearly still not in their former glory, were the Law Courts, Guard Tower, Commandants House, the Hospital and the Police Station

This leads us to the, rather prestigious looking, Town Hall – it was once where they held patients, considered “lunatics”, as a asylum and treated them in with kind and care as a forward-thinking care method

During the bushfire, the asylum was burnt down and they replaced it with the Town Hall that stands today

This leads on to a restored building: the Separate Prison

This is an instillation showing a very well preserved and overall recreation of what it was like back in the day; we’re guided that it was a place of silence as the prisoners were only allowed to talk once spoken to, even the guards weren’t allowed to talk to each other

This had 3 wings, A, B and C, for prisoners’ cells, several areas where there was private punishment and solitary confinement as well as the court where prisoners could attend

After, we find the two churches – one is the outer walls of a grand, stone building and the other is a smaller, wooden construction that is still used today for locals

Going through the gardens to find the entrance and get back to the car

Next stop is only a little drive to a place called Penguin Rocks

Remarkable Cave is here and takes a little walk to get down to – very similar to Tasman Arch but just a lot lower

Nice views out to the most Southern point of SW Tasmania!

We head NW on the Tasman Peninsula and reach Coal Mine Historic Site, another convict penitentiary

Literally as we arrive, we see a little Pademelon gawking back at us!

We park up and hunt for more information about the place, as it’s far less monitored than Port Arthur, and wildlife

Wondering the area, you can see how non-maintained the area is as there are just piles of bricks with descriptions of what they once were

There’s a little path down to the sea so we take it and find some adits (a form of quarrying to find coal) as well as a beach filled with little parts of coal

Unfortunately, the main path that had been constructed to take us to the kiln had fallen but we found it still

We walk to the end of the beach and back up the path to the main area where we find the main prisoner barracks as well as some solitary confinement chambers that were underground and you could walk through yourself!

The bunnies are enjoying the human-less peace and quiet as they’re going crazy out here and we spot either a Potoroo or another Pademelon – neither of us are sure

Back to the car as the main shaft of the prison is a little drive away

There’s a little trek we take around here before giving up for the day

Time for some food – we look around and it seems there’s only one viable place open

The Cannery is in Dunalley and sorts us two beer battered fish and chips ????

After scoffing dinner, Dave stumbles upon a monument about the bay we’re near – seems this is where Van Diemens and Abel Tasman, with their crew, on the Tasman Espedition of 24 November 1642 first sighted the West coast of Tasmania (then Van Diemens Land)!

Realising we’ve still got a way to get to our hotel for this evening, we make a move quickly

We get going for a while until Google directs us to a road it states is only recommended for 4 wheel drive (4WD) – not our little thing…

There’s an alternate route so we take it but it makes the journey a lot longer meaning we also have to drive in the dark – really not recommended for Tasmania!

2 hours later… we’ve spotted a rat, lots of Pademelons, some potential Tassie Devils (more likely Pademelon but we like to think we got lucky), Wallabies and even a Possum!

… all amazing ???? but we’ve also made it in one piece to a bed

Note: important to hire a 4WD when possible around Australia as we don’t recommend getting stuck in our predicament getting home due to the incredibly common, severe unsealed roads ????