After eating our way through some of our provisions last night, we settled in for the night. There was an increasing rain steeling in and the wind was whistling through the trees in the NRMA Holiday Park and more loudly could be heard in the bushland surrounding the park. We were glad to be inside with the aircon gently seeping through the room. Its not set very high, but is definitely warmer than outside.
We had decided that we would head into the Port Arthur Historic Site as soon as they opened at 8am and have breakfast there - sitting at one of the benches that sit around the restaurant border, looking out over the historic site, in relative warm. It truly is a beautiful site around the curve of Mason Cove. I marvel at the knowledge and skill of early explorers, who, from the water, can look at the uncleared lands they encounter and decide where a suitable land for settlement might be found. Whilst the land is steep in past (as Gen's legs will later attest), overall the site is gently undulating with (now) space between the buildings of the settlement. During the tour of the site later, we discover that what we see today is only a small percentage of the buildings that once covered most of the cleared lands here. Photographs in the Visitor Centre certainly show a bustling community not unlike the photos of the early settlement of our home town, Maryborough in Queensland.
In preparing for dinner last night, we had discovered that I had made some serious mistakes when I was doing the bookings back in February. For instance, the restaurant is closed on Sunday and Mondays which we realised when we arrived at the locked boom gates. It was at that point that Gen and I remembered our conversation last month (can February really be only one month past? It feels like a lifetime) about eating dinner out on the second night of our visit. At the same time, I had also booked our three tours and only last night realised that when I did the booking, I had not changed the booking dates, and so therefore, we were booked for tours in February. When we arrived at the Park this morning, we went to collect our entry tickets and confirm our dinner booking, and despite all the references to no refunds, the staff were very obliging and helpful, putting forward our case for a refund. Thanks so much to the management who have agreed to refund or un-used bookings. Very much appreciated. The advice was that all but one of the tours we had booked were unsuitable for the wheelchair, or even my crutches, so we cancelled them, sadly. The staff had booked us on the 10:30am Introductory Tour which leaves us just on an hour for breakfast once we had sorted out tour bookings.
So into the restaurant we move to enjoy our breakfast. Gen was hungry after her light dinner last night, whereas I am not so hungry. She ordered the Chef's Special - otherwise known as the 'BIG breakfast' that consisted of sausage, bacon, poached eggs, grilled tomatoes, sauteed mushrooms and home=cooked baked beans on sourdough bread. It looked huge, but she did it justice- even polishing off the sausage (Gen doesn't normally eat sausages but said that this one was very good). On a lighter note, I settled for the child's serve of pancakes, maple syrup with icecream. Pikelet size, they were perfect and just the right size for me. Chai's kept us warm as we looked out over a crisp clear morning.
Turns out we had plenty of time.
Our tour group met outside in the chill wind. we moved down the ramp and waited for the group departure as they filed down the steps. What we thought was a large group was parted into two groups at the first path junction we came to and Toby suggested that as his tour kept more to the paths, that we might like to stay with him. Unconcerned with the size of the group, he commented that in the peak of summer, groups for each guide can be up to 100 people. Ours consisted of a mere 24!
Begun as a timber workstation, Port Arthur was a penal settlement for a relatively short. time in the history of Australia, being established in 1833, housing only 2,000 of the 120,000 men, women and children who were sentenced to transportation to Van Dieman's Land. Went you first get your tickets your are given a playing card with a characture on one side - and you are then sent into The Port Arthur Gallery to learn your fate! If you arrive in a party of two, you get one convict card and one free/military settler card. We got the Ace of Diamonds = John Longwort, a constable who turned to a life of crime once at Port Arthur, and the nine of clubs - Vincent Buccheri - a Sicilian originally from Malta who was transported for desertion. I looked in the wall of drawers into the characters of a lot more of the tranportees and was saddened to read of one, a boy of 12, transported after being charged, but te crime unknown. How many of these unfortunate people ended up here, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Our walking tour began on the grassy knolls in front of The Penitentiary, learning of the early intended use of the first building on the site as a granary and flour mill, with a huge (and now missing) waterwheel at one end of the buidling. However, the continual lack of a good water supply saw this purpose being abandoned with the conversion to a mush less friendly use as the settlement's Penitentiary. The size of the 'cells' certainly allowed for no joy. Hammocks hung from brass hooks in the walls and each cell had two corner shelves for belongings such as clothes (a set issued each 6 months) and blankets, which would be sorely needed in these climes! A fire burned through the building for two days in January 1895 rendering it useless.
Our guide, Josh, went to great lengths to explain in detail the life of the penal colony in Port Arthur through the stories of those transported there and the free-settlers that serviced the needs of this community - the constabulary, the military, the clergy, the free settlers. It spoke volumes that the philosophy of discipline and punishment, religious and moral instruction, classification and seperation, and training and education. Given the inhospitable location and the forced 'religious instruction' in a church that was never consecrated due to the varied 'faiths' it needed to accommodate - with the shackled convicts separated from the free-folk by calico curtains, there were only 12 escapees were not recaptured.
Following the closure of the penal settlement in 1877 the first tourists came to te site the next year. In 1916 the site was aofficially recognised as a 'place of historic interest' and by 1920, there were a number of museums and accommodation houses on the site. Gradually, te State Government acquired the remaining buildings from their private ownership and a major conservation project took place from te 1980s. In April 1996, a gunman took the lives of 35 people and wounded a further 19. This act led to a change in the gun laws of our country that are the envy of many others in the world. In July 2010, Port Arthur and 10 other sites across Australia were inscribed on the World Heritage List as te Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Site. If you look at the map, you can see where we spent 5 1/2 hours exploring, up and down the steep, sandy paths with me in the wheelchair and poor Gen giving her legs and arms yet another big workout! There was not a single part of the site we didn't visit. What a day. Te difference in the living standards of the transported convicts and the free settlers was literally as different as chalk and cheese.
Included in the entry ticket was a harbour cruise, that gave us respite from the wind for about 40 minutes. Out in the harbour on the calm waters, it was easy to see why the site might have been chose, especially when there were stands of dense, straight timbered trees with a height of up to 20 feet to the first branch! But, 15 minutes into the cruise, we are crossing the edge of the waters to the Southern Ocean where the next land is thousands of nautical miles south in Antartica! There was a brief stop en-route to te dock to allow visitors to te 'Isle of the Dead' to disembark - this was one of the tours we had booked, but the guides this morning were very right when they advised us that it was not suitable for anyone with mobility issues - there was not one level spot to be seen! This was the cemetery for the colony.
So we stayed on the boat, nursing a hot coffee in an effort to warm up - well, at least I was! The wind had not abated and we were glad that Lincoln, (a transport driver who kept an eye on us throughout our day at Port Arthur and rescued us when the going got tough going up the hills, transporting us from one area to another twice) met us at te boat. The wind was now blowing a gale, and back up at the church, there is a light spitting of rain to add to te bleak atmosphere of this place. When you can find a sheltered corner with a sliver of autumn sun, it is warm. As te spitting becomes a light rain, we move down through the Governors Gardens to the lower site. The Dahlia's are huge, lots of thistles (no doubt a reminder of Scotland) play host to loudly buzzing huge bumble bees, hurrying to collect the last of the pollen before the coldness of cold winter months put the natural world into hibernation. You could hear the bees long before you could see them. By now my face is red - whether it be from the wind or te sun, I don't know, and at that point, do I care. Its getting later, the sun is drooping lower in the afternoon sky, and with it its warming rays. The temperature has dropped considerably and its time to head indoors.
Back at the Visitor Centre, a very timely toilet stop brings immense relief (lol). The building is warm and there is no more wind. We venture into the gift shop, hoping to buy a set of the playing cards used to depict the characters. Not only do we find them, plus a book explaining all the personalities, but lots of other goodies! We are fast gathering the contents of the first box to be sent home!!
Back to the cabin for a rest and a change before we return for dinner tonight.
The 1830 restaurant was lovely for breakfast, and dinner is shaping up to be just as good. The menu is limited but with at least one option for all tastes. I am struggling with all the food and finding I get uncomfortable quickly! O, woe is me.
We both chose the Pumpkin and Orange Soup with charred bread for entree. Complete with a fair dose of pepper, it was very tasty. Pair with aProsecco for Gen and a Merlot for me, it was rich and warming. Looking across all the options for mains, they all looked too big, so I opted to have the Chicken Terrine with pickled cherries from the entree menu and Gen had the Special of the Day - Braised Beef Short Ribs with celeriac puree and a rich jus. The meat fell off the bone, and disappeared very quickly. Gen said the flavours were well balanced. We waited a little while before ordering desserts. Gen had the Ice Cream Sandwich with Poached Spiced Apple and salted caramel sauce. Mine was the Lemon Brulee with Lime Infused Sorbet and Candied Orange quarters. Oh my gosh, that was a citrus explosion worth repeating, and often! We both finished wit a coffee and a half-nip each of the local Mcenry's Single Malt Whiskey. A very nice tipple, but I'm not sure it is worth more that twice the cost of other single-malts. And for about the fourth time today we were left with the salutation "You are more than very welcome". Tasmania does service and does it well. This saying was used by every staff member we encountered here today as well as the VIC staff two days ago,
The lights are now on across the site, giving the area a warm glow, belying the chilling winds outside, As we walk out of the building, I am secretly glad that we are not setting off in this wind to do the Ghost Tour, again, not suitable for mobility restricted persons.
So its back to the Cabin, driving very slowly once we turn onto the access road - there is heaps of wildlife here and warning signs up everywhere - and we don't want to add to the roadkill that is so evident along the higway. It is after 10pm and tomorrow we will stop at the UnZoo to see the Tasmanian Devils and the Port Arthur Lavender Farm on the way to Bruny Island. Better text me if you want lavender products early tomorrow! Ciao, I'm off to a warm bed - turned the electric blanket when we came back. Sleep well world, and spare a thought for the poor people of Ukraine. Gen rema4ked how scary it is becoming and how she thought she would not see war on this scale in her lifetime. I'll check-in with the Hotel where I booked rooms for refugees tomorrow.
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