Tasmania 5 – Tasman Peninsula

The Tasman Peninsula is rather big. We spent two days exploring but you could easy fill a 3^rd and 4^th day especially if you’d like to do the Three Capes Hike (48km) or a boat cruise, etc.

We headed straight to Port Arthur Historical Site since that was the main reason to drive down that way. I reckon it is a great place to learn about the history of the convicts in Tasmania, and Australia in general. There are several options of entry – self guided tour, different guided tours, or the whole package. We picked the 90min guided tour which didn’t cover the whole area and still left some places for self-guided exploring. We regretted not booking The Isle of the Dead boat tour – an additional 30min guided tour through the cemetery island – it would have been very interesting no doubt.

The entry pass is valid for two consecutive days while the guided tour is at a set time.

Port Arthur was more than just a prison; it was a little town. Convicts, military, and civilian officers with their families lived there in stark contrast next to each other. All that remains today are 30 historic buildings and extensive ruins.

The Port Arthur Penal Station was established in 1830 – a punishment station for repeat offenders from all the Australian colonies. By 1840 over 2000 people lived in Port Arthur which became a major industrial settlement producing bricks, furniture, clothing, and boats.

In 1853 convict transportation ceased and Port Arthur turned into an institution for aging and physically and mentally ill convicts until its closure in 1877.

Many buildings were destroyed by bushfires before Port Arthur was officially recognised as a place of ‘historical interest’ in 1916 and some remaining buildings were turned into museums.

1971 National Parks and Wildlife Services took over the management and the State Government bought back the buildings. Today the site is managed by the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority.

2010 Port Arthur was inscribed on the World Heritage List as the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage property.

The Penitentiary (1857) – originally a flour mill (1845) powered by water or by convicts walking on a treadmill (one of the harshest punishments at Port Arthur). It was soon converted into the Penitentiary with the lower floors housing convicts in 136 separate cells. The main dormitory was located on the uppermost floor, accommodating 348 men. There was also a library, mess room and chapel.

The Church (1837) – over 1100 people attended compulsory services each Sunday.

The Separate Prison (1849) – it was designed to deliver a new method of punishment and reform through isolation: Convicts were locked in single cells for 23 hours each day with only one hour allowed for exercise alone in a high-walled yard.

Boat Cruise and the Guard Tower

Port Arthur Historical Site is also known for the Port Arthur massacre from April 28^th 1996 – a mass shooting in the café on site. 35 people died, 23 more were wounded. There is a remembrance spot near the old café.

Lime Bay Camp lies in a beautiful, sheltered bay, at the end of the road on the peninsula. It is out of the wind which makes it a great spot for a swim. We scored a spot with view over the water. But even if you don’t, it’s not far to the clifftop lookout or the beach from any of the camp spots.

Back from the beach we watched a wasp dragging a Huntsman spider to her nest. She dragged the spider up a tree and then fell out of a branch – or so we thought. Instead of trying again she dragged the spider into the bush away from the tree. Not sure if the wasp was confused, wanted to confuse potential predators, or didn’t have a nest yet – anyhow, it was very entertaining to watch!

After dinner we got other visitors: possums. They went right into our food scraps in the bin bag and ate everything, including the paper we used to pre-clean our plates and the BBQ.

The next morning, we wandered around the World Heritage Historic site of the Coal Mines – only 10min drive from Lime Bay. Some of the convicts worked and lived there around the 1840ies. At its peak there were nearly 600 convicts and 27 military personnel stationed here. The convicts either worked in the mine underground or above ground quarrying stone, cutting timber, or hauling coal wagons. Either way, it was strenuous work.

In 1848 the mine and settlement were closed on “moral and financial grounds” – there were moral concerns about the homosexuality which was common; and the production was inefficient due to poor management and poor quality of the coal.

Private operations kept the mine going for another 20 years.

From the old coal mine we ventured on to Stormlea to walk to Cape Raoul, but the hike was longer than we expected, and the weather was turning, and we didn’t want to risk it. Instead, we went to the Maingon Blowhole. It’s a decent hole and the 1^st one I’ve seen you can stand on top of! They’ve built sort of a bridge over the hole, and you can feel the sea spray even though it wasn’t going at the time we were there. If it were, we would have been soaking wet, haha. The same track continues to Mount Brown.

From the same car park, you can climb down to the Remarkable Cave. At the bottom of the stairs, it tells you not to climb off the walkway and into the cave. Under normal circumstances we would have exactly done that (and the footprints on the beach below the walkway told us most do) but two rangers were hanging out in the car park, and it would just be our luck to be caught haha.

You can see through the opening from where you are standing on the platform (on a tiny beach surrounded by cliffs) that the cave has two openings to the ocean. I wonder if the tiny beach is a former blowhole that caved in.

Our next stop was the Tasmanian Devil Unzoo. Their philosophy is fantastic. Unzoo means the opposite of zoo: the animals are in their natural environment, while the human visitor is caged or has to go through gates to encounter the animals “in the wild”. This is true for birds, kangaroos, etc; they come and leave on their own accord. The Tasmanian Devil on the other hand can’t leave as its one of the cancer free sanctuaries. They do have big enclosures and the possibility to hide but most chill out in plain sight for the visitor to see.

From the Unzoo we went to Eaglehawk Neck and then the Tasman Arch and Devils Kitchen Lookout.

On the way back to Hobart we stopped at Marion Bay – had to, because of the name… It’s a beautiful conservation area.

We enjoyed a nice dinner at the Kingston Hotel and checked in at Snug Beach Caravan Park quite late. We drove all that way to be close to the Bruny Island Ferry the next morning.

And yes, the next post will be about Bruny Island.

March 2025