Port Arthur, Australia

As I mentioned before, we booked a tour in Port Arthur from Hobart yesterday. I'd seen it online but never booked it. We weren't sure how far it was to the tour office but knew it was outside the Port Arthur Historical Site, so could be quite a walk. We were on the first tender to go ashore shortly after 8.

 

Port Arthur was a penal colony in the mid 1800's. They didn't restore the buildings, but did restore the gardens and cleaned up the ruins to make them safe for visitors. We were tendered directly into the site, just like the prisoners would have been over 100 years ago. We walked up the hill to the very large visitors center. We went outside and asked a bus driver how to get to the main road. We hiked up the hill and down the main road to the office in about 20 minutes. We were there by 8:45. The bus wasn't going to leave until 9:30. We arrived out of breath for nothing, could have been a leisurely stroll! A bus pulled up about the same time that we arrived full of a tour group for seniors. There were some pretty old people in the bunch, kind of like the passengers on our ship! There were other tourists there ready for the boat ride also. There was no one from our ship.

The bus ride from the tour office was about 20 minutes. We then boarded 2 different boats. They were open with rows of seats from the bow to stern. They were about 50' long and held approx 30 people. We chose to sit in the front 2 seats. They said the first 4 rows were required to wear seat belts and that anyone with back issues should sit toward the rear. I just hoped I'd be OK and sat up front. We were each given a long, red jacket like thing to wear. It had a hood, so covered us from head to foot. There was a small compartment under the narrow bow. We asked if it would get wet in there and were told no, so we stowed our bags in there. Off we went.
Cruising thru 1 to 2 meter swells in a large ship is entirely different from doing so in a small boat. It wasn't an E Ticket, it was an F! We were tossed around a lot. I even screamed a couple of times and grabbed Mel's leg. It was quite exhilarating!!! The boat had excellent maneuverability, so they went up to the base of the shear cliffs along the shore as well as into caves. We went up close to a lot of seals. We also saw some in the water. There were a lot of albatross and petrels as well as cormorants. We didn't see any dolphins or whale. I was surprised that there was no sea spray at all, I was expecting to get wet. I didn't say anything so I wouldn't jinx it.

Mel had to make the comment..... we slowed down for someone to be sick over the side. Just as we did, we went up over a big swell, then down into the valley between them, then the next wave went up and over the bow, running directly into the opening where we'd put our bags to keep them dry and making puddles in our laps. I didn't get wet at all, those red jackets really did what they were supposed to do. Mel's socks got wet as his didn't go a far down as mine did. Our bags were drenched. Oh well, it was a great experience.

 

We were dropped at a jetty near Port Arthur. We walked back up to the tour office then went next door to the small grocery store. They had some freshly made food so we each got a large piece of fried fish and ate it on a table outside. It was delicious! We also had some wedding cake. The couple who worked at the store had gotten married over the weekend. They had leftover cake, so put it out for the customers. Funny to be served wedding cake at a small store like that.

 

We walked back to the Port Arthur Historical Site and went thru the exhibits in the information center. Then we went out onto the grounds to look around. The gardens were beautiful. The church was only walls, but very beautiful also. Some of the houses were intact and we could go inside to look around. The Commandants house was quite large and interesting. The prison building was only walls. We could see where the actual cells used to be. They were VERY small. We just walked around then went back to the tender pier. We were back onboard by 4.