Tasmania-Under Down Under

Last week was the study week between classes and exams, so while everyone else was cramming for finals, I took the chance to travel around Tasmania. To be honest, I wasn't very excited to go. I had planned to go with my friend Alex, but we couldn't book the trip on the same day, and by the time she went to sign up for the trip just a day after me, they told her the trip was booked. I was pretty disappointed I had to go alone, but the trip wasn't refundable so I couldn't do anything about it. I sure am glad I went. I don't care what my mom says, I'm going to move to Tasmania, I loved it that much!
I flew into Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, Saturday afternoon around 1. I dropped my bags off at the hostel and headed to the Salamanca markets. I had heard that these were a can't miss in Hobart, and only run from 8:30 to 3 on Saturdays, so I wanted to get there before they closed. It was a really cute market right next to the harbor. I walked around the stalls selling crafts, fruit, veggies, and baked goods and bought a jam donut and apples for lunch. After the market I went to the visitor's center to sign up for a day tour of Hobart on Sunday since my main tour didn't start until Monday. Once everything was scheduled, I went to Mass and then a dumpling restaurant for dinner. I must really be becoming Asian since I now go out of my way to find Asian restaurants even without my Asian friends. They would be proud of me too, I ordered all by myself (they didn't even have pictures!) and knew exactly what I would be getting. And you guys thought I wasn't learning anything in Australia.

Salamanca Markets

On Sunday morning I went back to the visitor's center to catch my bus for the tour of Hobart. The bus pulled up on time, but I was the only one to get on, no one else had booked the trip, so they cancelled. I was standing outside the visitor's center wondering what I was going to do the rest of the day when another bus pulled up so I just decided to take that tour instead. There were 3 other adults and 2 kids on this bus, so this tour actually went. Hobart is a beautiful city. It reminded me of an Irish port city (you'll notice a common theme of me comparing Tasmania to Ireland). We went through a bunch of cute neighborhoods each with their own bakery and pub and full of charm. After the tour I stopped by one of the floating fish and chip take aways on the harbor for lunch. Other than the seagulls trying to eat my food, it was very good. Now that I was sufficiently stuffed, I walked to the old Penitentiary. I didn't know it when I got there, but I guess it was where the convicts from England and Ireland were sent when they were sent to Australia. Port Arthur, the more famous prison, was only where the really serious criminals or people who committed crimes while already in Australia were sent. Unfortunately, most of the jail was torn down in 1960 when Tasmania was trying to get rid of its convict past. Only the church and courthouse remain. I had asked the guide about ghost tours, but I chickened out since I didn't want to walk home by myself in the dark afterwards. To make up for it, he asked me if I wanted to walk back through the underground portion of the jail after the tour with him as he locked up (the 2 older ladies on my tour were too scared and just walked back outside). When we were walking back through, he told me some of the ghost stories. They scared me enough, so I was glad I didn't do the one at night alone. I was pretty spooked out by this point, so I decided to go to the Tasmania museum and art gallery, a much safer bet. I got a free guided tour and saw the whole museum in 1 hour. Now that's my way of seeing a museum!

Stairs to the haunted underground tunnels and jail cells

I spent the rest of the day exploring the quaint neighborhoods I saw on the bus tour. I stopped by two bakeries for scones. They were amazing! Right when it was turning dark, I realized I had no idea where I was. Luckily, my mom had always insisted I read the map on vacations, so I was able to eventually find my way home.

One of the bakeries I stopped at

I had the morning free on Monday before I had to catch my tour at 2, so I decided to get breakfast at another bakery and then take a tour of Australia's oldest brewery. The brewery itself was closed because they were putting in a new bottling machine, so I took a heritage tour of the gardens and grounds instead. The tour explained the story of the brewery and people behind it, and still came with a free tasting anyway. I actually liked this better because I have seen the brewing process many times before, and there's really not much to see and I still got to taste the beer after. Cascade's Blonde and Draught beer were okay, but nothing special. Their stout was delicious though. It wasn't quite Guinness, but close enough! They even had stout ice cream. I love stout and ice cream, so I just couldn't resist them together, I was in heaven!

Cascade Brewery and the double decker bus I rode around Hobart in

After the brewery I headed back to town to join the tour. I waited at the bus stop, and a van pulled up. They knew my name, so I figured it was safe to hop in. I was the only one in the van, and they drove me to the main bus stop. Turns out, day 1 of the 5 day tour is taking the public bus from Hobart to Launceston where they told me I would meet the rest of the tour. Seemed kinda weird to me, but I didn't really have a choice, so I got on the bus to Launceston. The drive was beautiful. The whole ride was rolling green hills, sheep, and cows. All I could think was this is exactly like Ireland. It was dark by the time I got to Launceston, so I checked into the hostel, walked over to the supermarket and made pasta for dinner.

Two of these pictures are from Tasmania, and the other one from Ireland. Can you guess which one is which?

Tuesday morning I was really excited because I was finally joining the rest of the tour. At least that's what I thought. Again, when I was waiting for the bus to come a van pulled up. This one was marked with the company name, and they again knew my name so I hopped in. I was the only one in this van as well, and the guy told me he was driving me 2 and a half hours to Cradle Mountain where the I would meet the rest of the tour. It worked for me, since I had my own personal tour guide! As we were driving he told me how lucky I was since their wasn't a cloud in the sky when normally at this time of year Cradle Mountain is covered in clouds. He jinxed it though, because by the time we got to Cradle Mountain you couldn't even see it because of all the clouds. When we got to the visitor's center I finally joined the tour. There were only 7 of us on the tour, so it was very nice. We made the short drive to Dove Lake where we took a 2 hour hike around the lake. It was absolutely gorgeous! The clouds were moving out, and a rainbow appeared over the lake. It was one of the most beautiful walks I have ever been on. Most of the walk was through temperate rainforests with the lake and mountain in the background.

The peak of Cradle Mountain is right behind the clouds and rainbow

One of the many beautiful views on the walk

When we got back from the walk, a bunch of Asian tourists asked me to take their picture. I took the camera and realized they were students from Monash I had met the first week! Next we went on another walk near all the wombat holes. It was too early for the wombats to be out, but we still saw one wombat! Add wombat to the Australian animals I've seen in the wild! After stopping for lunch, I went with 2 others on the tour on one last 30 minutes walk while the others finished their lunches. This walk was through the rainforest along a creek, and it lived up to its name, "Enchanted Walk." A wallaby even hopped right in front of me!

"Enchanted" Walk

On the way back to Launceton, we stopped in Shieffield, a town that painted murals on all of its buildings to encourage people to visit during the recession. Our final stop of the day was a cheese factory. There were about 15 cow statues out front, and all I could think was if only I was playing "My Cows," I would've dominated! When we got back to Launceton, I made myself another pasta dinner.

One of the cow statues

We started Wednesday by being dropped off at Cataract Gorge. The tour guide told us he had to go home, but another tour guide would meet us at 9:30 when we got back from our walk. This tour sure was strange. Unmarked vans pulling up to pick me up, random guys driving me to the mountains, and tour guides dropping you off at a gorge promising another tour guide will pick you up. I probably should've been more concerned, but as the Aussies say, "no worries." The Gorge itself was beautiful with all the trees changing colors, and sure enough a new tour guide was there to meet us at 9:30 as promised.

Cataract Gorge

We spent the rest of the day traveling down the east coast of Tasmania. We stopped in a small town for lunch where I got a meat pie made of wallaby, rabbit, and venison. It was very good. I can see how it won the Sydney pie contest! Next it was off to St. Columbo Falls, a beautiful 90 meter waterfall.

St. Columbo Falls

The final stop of the day was the Bay of Fires and its beaches. The beaches are rated the 2nd best in the world, behind only some beaches in the Caribbean, but no way I was going to go swimming. It was only 50-60 degrees all week! Though too cold to swim, they were still very pretty to walk along.

Bay of Fires

We got into Bicheno, our stop for the night a little after 5. Most of the tour went on a tour to see the little penguins, but I had seen the penguins at Phillip Island, and didn't want to spend $25 to see them again. I was glad that I didn't, since they said they only saw 8 penguins when they got back. I had seen hundreds at Phillip Island. 
Thursday was probably my favorite day on the tour. All morning I did a 4 hour hike with 2 other people on the tour around Wineglass bay and Hazards beach. It was a magnificent hike with everything from walking through rainforests, climbing over rocks up the mountain, and walking along the beach. The views were amazing, but we didn't have time to stop for pictures since the rest of the tour was waiting for us to finish. The only bad part was I wasn't wearing the best shoes, so I got a few blisters. It was a small price to pay for the views though.

Wineglass Bay

Wineglass Bay beach. The couple from Hong Kong on the tour were always taking jump pictures, so I asked them to teach me. This is the best it got.

After the walk we stopped for lunch at the beach. Next we continued down the coast to the Ross and its "famous" bakery. I guess some Japanese cartoon artist was inspired by the bakery to make a cartoon about a witch who lives at Ross Bakery and uses the oven as some sort of magic portal. I really had no idea what the tour guide was talking about, but the Japanese on the tour were super excited. I was just excited to get some really good vanilla slice, a custard cake, and see Ross. It is a really cute old town that reminded me of the small towns in Ireland.

The famous Ross Bakery

The last stop of the day was at a wild life sanctuary where we got to see Tasmania Devils getting fed little chicks, cuddle koalas, and feed kangaroos. It was really interesting to here the keepers talk about the Tassie Devils. 80% of the devils have died in the last 6 years because of a facial tumor that has spread through the population. If the tumor isn't stopped, they think the devils will be extinct in as little as 5 years. Hopefully that doesn't happen, but I'm glad I got to see them in case it does.

Tasmanian Devil eating a chick

I'm going to miss petting my koalas and kangaroos

We got back to Hobart around 6:30, and I went with the 2 people I did the hike with on my tour to another take away fish boat where I got some of the best scallops and shrimp I have ever had!
Friday we did what I came to Tasmania for, visit Port Arthur. First we stopped by Richmond, the home of Australia's oldest jail, bridge, and Catholic Church. It was a very cute town.

Australia's oldest bridge with its oldest Catholic Church in the background

We stopped by some of the beautiful beaches after Richmond, but I just wanted to get to the jail. I was surprised to see it mostly in ruins, but they are starting to slowly restore it all. Port Arthur is known as one of the most haunted places, and the whole time I was there, I was completely on edge. Every little movement or sound freaked me out. They have finished restoring the solitary prison, which is where Port Arthur got its reputation as one of Australia's worst prisons. 23 hours a day the prisoners had to be completely silent in their cells. Guards used sign language to communicate, and everyone wore felt slippers so they wouldn't make any sound. 1 hour a day (always at a different time so the prisoners wouldn't be able to know what time of day it was or get into any sort of routine) the prisoners were allowed to exercise. They were led to a small exercise yard where they had to where hoods so as to not recognize each other and constantly walk in a circle. If they stopped they were punished. Punishment meant they were sent to another cell where the floor was slanted and the walls didn't fit together right so as to completely throw off the prisoners senses. On Sundays they got to got to church, but each person had their own basically vertical coffin they had to stand in where they could only see the preacher, not each other. As you can imagine, this made the prisoners literally go insane. They had to build a mental hospital next door, but claimed only 1 person went clinically insane. I couldn't even walk around the prison it was so eerie. They left the punishment cell completely dark and I tried walking in but I literally couldn't.

The cell the prisoners spent 23 hours a day in

The "excise yard" the prisoners got to spend 1 hour a day walking around

I've never been so spooked in my life. It was like Alcatraz times 10, and this was during the day and I went to Alcatraz at night. Besides the fact that I was spooked out the whole time, Port Arthur actually would've been a nice place to live. Before the solitary prison, prisoners were sent to Port Arthur for manual, and if they followed the rules, they actually had a pretty good life. The harbor it was on was absolutely beautiful, and they weren't treated too bad. Most actually had a better life in Port Arthur than they had on the streets of England or Ireland. It wasn't until the solitary prison that Port Arthur got its bad rap. Two other things make Port Arthur spooky. First is the fact that on an island off Port Arthur is a boys prison where boys as young as 9 were sent. The youngest boy sent there was 9 and was sent there for stealing toys. It may sound harsh, but it was his 19th crime he was convicted of. He was sent to Australia for 7 years, but because he refused to follow the prison rules, he wasn't released until he was 43. The second thing that makes Port Arthur spooky is the 1996 murders. A gunman started shooting innocent people in the cafe and by the time he was stopped, he killed 35 people. The effects of that crime are still being felt. All of these things put together make Port Arthur the spookiest place I've every been to. I can only imagine what the night ghost tours are like. Someday I would like to go back for one, but I would never go alone.





View of Port Arthur from the warden's house. It shows that Port Arthur was actually a beautiful place, and until the solitary prison, it wouldn't have been a bad place to be.

Port Arthur

After Port Arthur we visited some more beaches before heading back to Hobart and the end of the tour. Saturday I just walked around Hobart in the morning before flying back to Melbourne.