Week 538 · Tasman Peninsula · Cape Hauy · Port Arthur
Port Arthur &
When we planned to go to Tasmania, we focused on four aspects: Port Arthur, MONA, a hike along the eastern coast, and hopefully the Aurora Australis. The area was called the Tasman Peninsula to honour the western explorer Abel Tasman — when the country was still called Van Diemen's Land. Eventually the whole country was named after him.
Supposedly the best hike in all of Australia is The Three Capes hike on the Tasman Peninsula. In investigating the YouTube videos, they said it's either three to four days depending on your fitness level — so clearly that was not on tap for us. I then found a hike to one of the capes and it was a six-hour return, and based on our prior hikes we were usually about 25% longer — plus there was a 4,000 foot elevation change. As I was getting depressed the guy on the YouTube video added that they took a boat ride the next day and saw two of the three capes in a 2-hour boat ride. That was the home run for us. A foggy morning turned into a spectacular day on the boat ride. With a bonus that the boat ride drop-off point was right next to Port Arthur.
Port Arthur was the largest convict port in Australia and was developed after the mainland of Australia got tired of hosting convicts in the mid-1850s. It is estimated that over 70% of the Tasmanian population is descended from the convicts — compared to 20% for the whole country. We continued to have a gorgeous day and wandered the grounds, took a few tours, and also did the night ghost tour. We didn't see any ghosts but it is a spooky place to walk around. Supposedly a couple of months earlier they had a sighting and our guide had a picture of a light area — but nothing on our visit.
"Between stopping to look for the Aurora and kamikaze wallabies running in front of the car — it was a late night driving back to Hobart."
With a clear night the big thing we were looking forward to was another night of Aurora Australis as the Kp index was still relatively high. We did see some faint lights in the distance using the camera, but in general it was just really dark — though it would have been a great location as we had a clear shot to Antarctica. In our second stop looking over a bay, we did get some pictures of the Milky Way. We then took our time driving back to Hobart — between stopping to look for the Aurora and kamikaze wallabies running in front of the car, it was a late night.