When we landed into Hobart International airport, we got the redline airporter bus into Hobart and to our hostel the Pickled Frog on Liverpool St. It was a quirky type of hostel, with the first thing you see, is the open fire just inside by reception. We got our keys to our 3 bed room, and luckily for us, it was only the two of us in the room for the 2 nights. We decided to go to the Shamrock for dinner which has ten dollar meals and the plates were quite full and yummy.
It was a 8 am pick up and start for our Port Arthur tour, the following morning. The first port of call was the historic village of Richmond, famed for the Richmond bridge, Australia oldest bridge still in use, constructed in 1823. Afterwards, heading down south to the Tasman Peninsula and visiting the Tasman National Park and a Waterfall Bay coastal walk with views of the rugged coastline. After here, we arrived at the Port Arthur Historic site. Our tour guide David, gave everyone on the tour, a playing card, and each card was different and corresponded to a convict. The goal was to investigate the fate of your convict, if ye made it out or not. Also included in the price was a guided introductory tour and a harbour cruise around the bay. The tour detailed the origins of Port Arthur, and its successive history and the lives of its inhabitants. After this tour, we had some free time before the cruise, to explore the grounds.
We walked from officers avenue up towards the separate prison, which entailed each prisoner been in isolation for their duration before been transferred to the Penitentiary (3-4 months on arrival or as a punishment). From here, we entered the building next door, which was the lunatic asylum, which was the only building not constructed fully using convict labour due to the aged population at the time. After exploring this building, we went on our way towards the ferry terminal for the cruise. The cruise brought us near the isle of the dead and Point Puer boys prison and to other surrounding areas. On returning from the cruise, we finished wondering through the grounds before lunch including the commandant's house, hospital, Smith O'Brien cottage an Irish political prisoner and of course the Penitentiary itself.
Once everyone boarded the bus again, we made the short trip to a local chocolate factory called Federation chocolate which was yummy. After this yummy trip, we went to visit the Tasman Arch and Devils Kitchen. The arch from the right view, was quite impressive. From here it was a short journey through a small town called Doo where all the houses had something to do with Doo in the title. The funniest had to be was Doo F@*k all which was more ironic as we passed, there were 3 men sitting on a porch drinking. The whole bus were in stitches as we passed. Before heading back to Hobart, we stopped off at Pirates Bay Lookout at the coastal views and the Blowhole. We returned to Hobart about 6 pm.
After a slight lie in, we checked out and made our way to Salamanca Markets at about 10 am. The markets seems to just go on forever, we bought some delicious organic woodfired pizza and home made pumpkin soup. As it started to rain, we went in for coffee in a place called Doctor coffee, Liam said it was ironic that he had to come to Hobart for a cup of decent coffee. Once the rain ceased, we continued exploring the markets before hopping on the hopper bus, a free shuttle that runs on a loop around the city on Saturday.
At 6 pm, we got the redline shuttle back to the airport, it was a tad disappointing that the last 2 jam packed weeks were coming to an end as we boarded the Jetstar plane back to Melbourne. As we were about to land, Liam put it perfectly, that we need a holiday to get over this trip lol.
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