Choose a diary entry31/03/2004 - Retrenched! 02/04/2004 - Farewell Lunch 03/04/2004 - Preparation 1 04/04/2004 - Preparation 2 05/04/2004 - Packing 06/04/2004 - Sydney to Hobart to Mt. Field NP 07/04/2004 - Tarn Shelf, then into the Southwest 08/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 1 - Up Alpha Moraine 09/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 2 - Lake Cygnus 10/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 3 - Lake Oberon & Square Lake 11/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 4 - Lake Oberon to Lake Cygnus 12/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 5 - Lake Cygnus to Junction Creek 13/04/2004 - Western Arthurs Hike - Day 6 - out to Mt Field NP 14/04/2004 - Back to Hobart for resupply and on to Southport 15/04/2004 - Southport, Hastings springs, Cockle Creek 16/04/2004 - South Coast Track - Day 1 - Cockle Creek to South Cape Rivulet 17/04/2004 - South Coast Track - Day 2 - South Cape Rivulet 18/04/2004 - South Coast Track - Day 3 - back to Cockle Creek, then Hobart 19/04/2004 - Hobart to Lake St. Clair 20/04/2004 - Frenchmans Cap Hike - Day 1 - to Vera Hut 21/04/2004 - Frenchmans Cap Hike - Day 2 - Tahune Hut and the Summit 22/04/2004 - Frenchmans Cap Hike - Day 3 - Tahune Hut to Vera Hut 23/04/2004 - Frenchmans Cap Hike - Day 4 - out to Derwent Bridge 24/04/2004 - Derwent Bridge / Lake St. Clair to Hobart 25/04/2004 - R&R in Hobart 26/04/2004 - Hobart, buying a new Camera 27/04/2004 - Hobart to Port Arthur 28/04/2004 - Port Arthur Historic site, then to Fortescue Bay 29/04/2004 - Tasman Trail Hike - Fortescue Bay to Eaglehawk Neck 30/04/2004 - Eaglehawk Neck to Hobart, Targa 01/05/2004 - Hobart R&R, Salamanca Markets 02/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 1 - to Wombat Flat 03/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 2 - to Mt. Ramsay 04/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 3 - Mt. Ramsay to Huskisson River 05/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 4 - Camped at Huskisson River 06/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 5 - Across the Huskisson 07/05/2004 - Tiger Trails Tarkine Hike - Day 6 - Out, then to Strahan 08/05/2004 - R&R in Strahan 09/05/2004 - Dissapointing Gordon River Cruise 10/05/2004 - Strahan, R&R, Preparation for Overland Track 11/05/2004 - Strahan to Lake St. Clair 12/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 1 - Lake St. Clair to Pine Valley Hut 13/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 2 - the Labyrinth and Acropolis 14/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 3 - Pine Valley Hut to Kia-Ora Hut 15/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 4 - Kia-Ora Hut to Mt. Ossa to Pelion Hut 16/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 5 - Pelion Hut to Windermere Hut 17/05/2004 - Overland Track - Day 6 - Windamere Hut to Cradle Mountain Village 18/05/2004 - Sick!, Cradle Mountain to Launceston 19/05/2004 - Recovery 1 20/05/2004 - Recovery 2 - Doctor, and Cataract Gorge 21/05/2004 - Recovery 3 22/05/2004 - Recovery 4 23/05/2004 - Recovery 5 24/05/2004 - Launceston to Bicheno 25/05/2004 - Freycinet Hike - Day 1 - the Hazards to Cooks Beach 26/05/2004 - Freycinet Hike - Day 2 - back to Bicheno 27/05/2004 - Exploring Bicheno 28/05/2004 - Bicheno to Launceston 29/05/2004 - Exploring Further in Launcestion 30/05/2004 - Cataract Gorge 2 31/05/2004 - Launceston to Liffey Falls to Deloraine 01/06/2004 - Trowunna, Devils Gullet, Walls of Jerusalem National Park 02/06/2004 - Walls of Jerusalem Hike - Day 1 03/06/2004 - Walls of Jerusalem - Day 2 - Out, then to Hobart 04/06/2004 - Mt. Field NP, Styx Valley & on to Triabunna 05/06/2004 - Maria Island - Day 1 06/06/2004 - Maria Island - Day 2 07/06/2004 - R&R in Launceston 08/06/2004 - Flying Back Home

Tasmania Diary

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Wednesday, April 28, 2004

Port Arthur Historic site, then to Fortescue Bay

I packed early, intending to store my pack at the hostel while I visited the Port Arthur Historic Site. Unfortunately, the hostel operator was nowhere to be found. I waited till about 9:20am and decided to walk to the historic site and stash by pack there.
It was only a short walk around to the main entrance, where fortunately the visitors centre had some lockers big enough for my pack.

The entrance fee was pretty steep at $24. I skipped their displays about the life of a convict as a heap of other people had just gone in there, making it crowded. I wandered around the grounds for a while, checking out the church and the Broad Arrow Café memorial, before I was due for the guided tour. This is when it starte feeling like a weird theme park. the tour was about half an hour and briefly covered the main buildings. The whole area is quite strange, being very peaceful and quiet with big grassy expanses between buildings, so it is actually very different far from the original functioning Port Arthur, since only the stone and brick buildings remain, and not even all of those. This is because most of the buildings were burned in the 1890's in a bushfire, as 90% of them were wood.

At 11:45 it was time for the included cruise around the port. More theme park again. The views were nice though, they were asking $12 to visit the Isle of the Dead, and another $12 to visit the boys prison – I didn't bother. By this time I was starting to feel that better historic buildings could be seen for free just by walking around Hobart, and that Port Arthur was mostly just tourist trade hype.
The "model prison" which was modelled on quaker methods of not using corpral punishment (flogging), but using solitary confinement, was actually quite good. It had a roof and a recreated chapel, and hence was much easier to imagine what it was like for convicts. The cells were very small, just 1.3m x 2.2m with a hammock, stool, a bucket for water, another for waste, and a small high barred window. There was a punishment cell (as if solitary wasn't enough) which was completely dark – even with the door open it was virtually impossible to see anything. It would have sent anyone crazy. There were about 6 separate exercise yards, and prisoners got 1 hour a day on their own in one. The chapel was weirdest though – it had person sized 'boxes' so that prisoners stood in a box and could only see the minister, not any of the other prisoners in the room.
Some of the steps in untouched areas were interesting, worn down almost to a ramp in the middle.

I had some lunch at the restaurant, late, and managed to set out walking toward Fortescue Bay.
There wasn't anywhere very good for hitching, and I wanted to try to walk if it was still light. The road wasn't good for walking however, with narrow edges. My pack was [i]very /i] heavy – probably at least 25kg, it was the first time I'd carried all my stuff for a one way hike, and I was carrying a few things I probably didn’t need to. After about an hour, I came to Fortescue Bay Road, which is a dirt road, and confirmed with a man I met that this was the turn I wanted. After about half an hour of walking down this road, a 4WD stopped without me signalling, and the man inside offered a lift. I figured I might as well, as by that time it was obvious that it would be dark when I arrived (not that it would have been a problem, walking on a road).

The guy turned out to be the camp ground keeper, and talked about the fire that had gone through the area in summer. Last night I saw some photos of Cape Pillar, Cape Hauy, and the Totem Pole, and thought that it would have been nice to be able to go there, but the tracks were closed due to the bushfire. He told me that a lot of duckboard was burned out, and there were lots of dangerous trees on the tracks.

I paid for the campsite, and set up my tent. I discovered that I could have chosen a better site - The Bush Mill section on the south side, where I set up, had several fishermen who were car camping noisily. At least they went to bed early, but it was because they were getting up early.
The sunset was quite pretty, as it was through a pall of smoke, probably from more logging operations.

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