My next stop in Tasmania wasn’t very far away at all. It turns out Tasmania isn’t really that big. So, after the animal sanctuary up near Hobart, I also had time for a short hike to see the Tessellated Pavement. I didn’t fully understand it all, but silt flows from the rivers and collects and hardens near the ocean and over time, it dries and salt dissolves at varying rates and you get these bread loaf looking formations. I thought it was interesting anyway.

After that little excursion, I checked into the Port Arthur Holiday Park. It’s not a hotel or a hostel really, it’s everything. Mostly it’s a campsite, but there are also cabins and backpacker dorms, where I’m staying. It’s actually pretty nice, and you can’t beat twenty dollars a night. It also happens to be just a couple of miles from the main attraction in these parts, the ruins of the Port Arthur Penitentiary.

The main building was built as a flour mill in 1845. They made convicts grind flour by walking on a giant treadmill. It was work for the worst of the worst. However, this didn’t work very well and so it was converted into a penitentiary in the 1850’s. My ticket to the sight included and started with a twenty minute harbor cruise out to and around the Island of the Dead, where the prison laid the departed to rest. Approximately 1100 people are buried on that tiny little island. It’s crowded out there!

The day started out super windy, rainy, and really cold. I actually busted out the winter gear last night at camp it was so cold. The wind has been especially relentless. Thankfully, the wind died down by early afternoon though. Finally!

After the pleasant but cold cruise around the harbor it was time to start exploring on foot. I started at the penitentiary. It really wasn’t in operation for very long. It was converted from the mill into a prison in the 1850’s and the site was closed down in 1877. Everything was later mostly destroyed during the dual brush fires in 1895 and 1897.

Right next to the penitentiary is the guard tower and behind it are some housing units where the guards and their families lived.

Behind all of that and up the hill are the remnants of the hospital. Apparently there was only one doctor assigned to the site and he was responsible for the health of all the convicts, all the guards, military personnel, free workers, and their families. The doctors busiest year he recorded 13,000 cases. Yowza! From the hospital he had a nice view of the harbor though, assuming he had a spare minute to look at it.

The asylum, seen below, was also destroyed in the bush fire of 1897, but was rebuilt later. Now it’s a small museum and a cafe where I grabbed a sandwich. In addition to all the criminals, Port Arthur also had its share of mentally ill.

The separate prison was built for the new arrivals and the trouble makers. This place was solitary confinement at its worst. The convicts were in their cells 23 hours a day, had one hour of exercise in a small private yard, they were not allowed to speak or make noise of any kind, ever, and they had to wear masks when moving throughout the prison. Not even the guards were allowed to talk in there!

Once out of the separate prison, convicts were put to work in a variety of occupations, but the most common were logging and ship building. Also, Port Arthur is on a peninsula with a very narrow neck in between it and the mainland. That neck, called the Dog Line, was cordoned off and filled with vicious dogs. So to escape, they either had to face the rough freezing water or the vicious dogs. Not much of a choice. Here’s the small monument to the Dog Line. I stopped and saw it on the way in. I’ve never seen a dog THAT scary!

The church was built around the same time and destroyed in the same bush fires as everything else. It’s probably the most photogenic ruin at the site. Right next to it is Government House. It was reserved for visiting dignitaries, no one ever actually lived in it for any length of time, but it’s probably the nicest place there with the huge garden and view of the harbor.

Life at Port Arthur, at least for the convicts, was reported as hell on earth. It was also where they sent the trouble makers and the incorrigible from other prisons. It was feared and dreaded. All of this is extremely hard for me to imagine though because the place is absolutely beautiful! Why would you build a huge prison complex in such a paradise? If the British had really been smart, they would have all moved here to Australia and left the convicts back in England.

The Port Arthur Historic Site is about all there is here. There aren’t really even any cities, just a few small villages. There is an awful lot of raw beautiful coastline to hike and explore though. So off we go! I started with some of the easier short hikes, like the Waterfall Bay Track. It starts at the Blow Hole. It only blows during high tide and only when the seas are very rough so I didn’t get to experience it today, but apparently it puts on quite a show.

The trail meanders along the coastline next past the Tasman Arch and the Devil’s Kitchen, which was probably an arch a long long time ago.

I also spotted some more of that interesting tessellated pavement along the way too.

A bit further on was Patterson Arch. This is just the first hike I’m doing here, but so far I’m loving this coastline and the sea air, especially now since the wind and rain has stopped and the weather has warmed up a bit.

I’m not sure what the actual borders are, but most of this peninsula is considered Tasman National Park. Off in the distance I frequently get views of Cape Huay, seen below, where I’m planning to hike next. Those two islands are called the Lanterns and the sharp one between them and the mainland is the Candlestick.

Finally, I made it to Waterfall Bay. I was expecting a waterfall here given the name, but apparently it’s just a name. It is a stunning place to stop and gaze though.

The Waterfall Bay hike was my morning hike. I planned to hike to those amazing rocks on Cape Huay for my afternoon hike, but after driving the long gravel road to the trailhead at Fortescue Bay, I saw the closure signs. Nooooo! So instead of hiking out to Cape Huay, I went the other direction towards Bivouac Bay.

It was a really beautiful hike around Fortescue Bay, Canoe Bay, and then to Bivouac Bay. It was a much longer hike, though, and I started late enough in the day that I wasn’t able to finish it. I made it to the cliffs above Bivouac Bay without actually being able to see it and then turned around. Otherwise, I would’ve been walking back in the dark.

In Canoe Bay there was a ship that had been intentionally sunk to be a breakwater in the 1940’s. The cormorants seemed to love it. Eventually, I made it back to Fortescue Bay just a few minutes after sunset. I couldn’t have timed it better.

The next morning I set off for what was going to be the longest hike of this stop, and the highlight of this stop too, Cape Raoul. At the start of the hike I ran into a few pademelons. The Australian macropods break down like this; kangaroos are the biggest, the next size down are the wallabies, then the pademelons, and the smallest variety are the potoroos. I haven’t seen any potoroos yet though. There’s a ton of pademelons wandering all over my camp after dark every night.

Back to the hike. The trail climbs slowly and steadily up to this lookout with just eye-popping views of Cape Raoul. I’m headed all the way out to the very end of that beauty. And looking the other direction out over the bay is Shipstern Bluff.

Occasional lookouts aside, the trail spends most of the time winding through incredible eucalyptus forests. I really really liked this hike!

Almost to the edge of the cape you walk along the cliffs and get great views of the organ pipe rocks that make up the cape. The eucalyptus forest is gone and it’s all shrubs now.

Before going out to the edge I took the side trail to Seal Rock Lookout. No seals today, but it was cool to see Cape Raoul from both sides. If you zoom in you can see some people out on the edge, that’s my next stop.

Ironically, the views from the actual edge of Cape Raoul were the least interesting, but that doesn’t mean much because all of the views along this hike are incredible! That’s a long way down too. From here and off in the distance to the left was Cape Pillar and Tasman Island.

On the way back I took another detour the other direction to the Shipstern Bluff Lookout for a closer look at that one. This has been a fantastic day! Time to say goodnight to the pademelons at the trailhead and get some fish ‘n chips.

My last hike in Port Arthur started from one of the more famous sites in the area, Remarkable Cave. I don’t know why this spot in particular is so hyped up, but it is remarkable. My remarks about it, “Yup… that’s a cave alright.”

Time to start hiking. The trail starts right next to the Remarkable Cave in Maingon Bay and heads out to Mt Brown. Mt Brown is right between Cape Raoul and Tasman Island. I was worried that the view would just be kind of a repeat of yesterday, but it turned out to be well worth the effort. In the pic below, Cape Raoul is the one furthest in the distance.

I got to stare at Mt Brown the whole walk out. It’s actually a lot farther than it looks from here.

Eventually, I made it all the way to the summit and the views were awesome. To the right I could see Cape Raoul, where I was yesterday, and to the left a closer view of Cape Pillar and Tasman Island. The panorama shot puts it all in perspective.

And on the way down I got some fantastic views of Crescent Bay Beach.

Back at my Port Arthur camp I took a quick stroll down to the beach at Stewarts Bay right before dark and got an interesting surprise. The whole beach was covered with big crabs. I didn’t really understand what I was witnessing though. A few of the crabs had clearly been eaten by birds. The majority of them, however, were alive and moving, but they were very sluggish, almost catatonic. A few were upside down, but weren’t even making an effort to right themselves. Some were partially buried in the sand, but made no effort to pull themselves out. It was weird.

I spent my last night in Port Arthur and on my way out the next morning I stopped at the local Tasmanian Devil Unzoo. They call it an unzoo because they let most of the animals run free… ish. The Tasmanian devils are in enclosures because they are just downright ferocious by nature. They’re cute though. The day started with a little tour and some feeding. First the male enclosure.

There were two males in this enclosure and WOW they were feisty! They yelled at each other when they got too close and were jumping up trying to bite my hands or whatever they could get ahold of. I was warned to not hold my camera in front of me at the level of the wall, but to raise it up high and aim down. As I was listening to the guide talk at one point, one of them jumped up and nearly got my finger. Yikes! These guys have a higher bite pressure than a lion and proportional to their size, they have the highest bite pressure of any animal on Earth.

Walking through the park I spotted some more pademelons, but one of them had a baby in the pouch. Now THAT was a cool sight!

Next I got to hand feed some of their resident forester kangaroos. When you approach, if they’re hungry they lift their nose up in the air and look right at you, “Yes, you have something for me?” They also really love to have their chest scratched. As soon as you touch them they lean in and move their bodies to make sure you get the right spot, or occasionally they just reach over with their arm and move your hand to the right spot if you’re not quite there. Don’t touch their head or their tail, though. Head means you’re picking a fight, tail means you want sexy time. Ha! Got it!

I got to feed a bunch of green rosellas too. They used to be in cages years ago, but they let them out to roam free. Subsequent generations have taught their young to just stay here for the free food.

Finally, I visited the female Tasmanian devils. These two are sisters and supposedly get along better than the two males, but they still yelled at each other quite a bit. They also seemed more curious instead of aggressive, but I’m still not sticking my hand down there. All the devils here are elderly and retired. They were part of all the breeding and reintroduction programs aimed at preventing their extinction. They were completely wiped out on mainland Australia. Tasmania is the only place in the world where they exist in the wild.

After the tour and feedings I spent some time wandering around and enjoying the animals on my own. But now it’s time to go see another part of this very unique island, so stay tuned…