June 23rd (Tuesday) - Day 114 - Port Arthur
Our day started with the drive from Hobart to Port Arthur via the Cadbury's factory. We had heard they gave away lots of free chocolate so we had to visit! It was not very easy to find and my navigator got me lost once or twice. Eventually we did find it and were very disappointed to find out that they no longer run tours due to contamination issues. However they were running a discovery tour which was nothing more than a 10 minute DVD of the history of Cadbury's. We did get some free chocolate but it was not enough so we had to visit the shop. They had tons of 'reject' chocolate which is not quite 100% in weight but close enough to sell, so we bought some of that! Once we had finished we then had a 2 hour drive to Port Arthur.
We didn't see much along the way as it was really foggy. It was lifting as we drove but not enough. As soon as we arrived we were told a walking tour was leaving so we rushed to get on that instead of waiting an hour. For those who don't know Port Arthur was a penal colony back in the day. The area has been turned into a visitor centre so we can see what went on. The first thing you notice is how green and lovely the area looks now, but we were soon told how horrible it must have been. The other thing that clearly stands out are the remains of the prison. It is a large roofless building right in the centre. The area had a lot more buildings but due to fires and time many no long exist. The lady showing us around was really passionate about the area and we learnt a lot about the past in the short hour we had with her. Next we had tickets for a harbour tour. The key to the area was the port. There never used to be any roads in or out and the sea was the only means of transportation. This gave us an impression of what it must have been like to live in the area for the free and for the prisoners. They then went on to show us the other land marks, such as the boys prison and the area where the deceased were laid to rest. Once back on dry land we were free to explore the rest of the area. A number of key things still exist such as the church, the gardens and the officers housing. A few hours later we set off. We wanted to view the surrounding area before it got dark and we had to push on to our hostel 200km away. First we went to the lookout. This gave us a feeling of the size of the area. Next we went to see a remarkable sea cave, funnily enough called 'remarkable cave'. This was a sea tunnel over 100 metres long through the rock. You could climb behind it and see the waves pushing through. Finally we went to see a sea blow hole. This is a tiny little cave where the water is pushed through at high pressure which in turn makes a huge splash once it comes out the other end. After our 3 hour drive to Bicheno we arrived at our hostel. We quickly found out that they had a huge tour group staying. They were already quite drunk and we thought we were going to have a rough night. Sarah headed off to bed as she was not felling to well and I was left with the group. They turned out to be really nice people and I joined in helping them with there mulled wine. This of course turned into some very late night drinking games hehe.