Tasmania Part 2

Tasmania, what a great place!! The next time we visit this part of the world, we will spend at least two weeks on this small island. There is so much history here, the scenery is wonderful and the people that we met were so friendly and helpful.

Here are some remnants of the first penal colony
on Sarah Island up the Gordon River. For a great read, try the book
"For the Term of His Natural Life" by Marcus Clarke.
The book chronicles the life of a prisoner sent to this area.

Sunset on the Gordon River.

You can take a little train trip on this steam train to Queenstown.

We climbed a viewpoint in Strahan for a view of the Harbour.

We also did a Rain forest walk in Strahan and came upon this waterfall.

This is the twisting, switchback road out of Queenstown heading towards Hobart.

We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast in Hobart. this is the view from
their deck.

Triathlon Australia were putting on a triathlon
which started and finished in Hobart harbour.

We went to the large Market in the Harbour area. Many, many things for sale here.

We found some walking tours in some brochures. This one
took us to old Hobart town to view some of the original
homes in the area.

We seemed to always be going to viewpoints. This is atop Mount Wellington.
The drive was quite interesting; more hairpin turns and no shoulders--oh, well,
I was feeling more confident in my driving.
Doesn't this telecommunications tower look like a missile?

When we got to the top, the clouds rolled in, but then
disappeared almost as quickly. Here is the view of Hobart.
Our B&B is on the small peninsula, near the centre of the photo.

Then we were off to Port Arthur for the day. This town was set up for those convicts who tried to escape from the other prisons in Australia.

This is a depiction of what the settlement looked like in its prime.
The government of Tasmania was not very proud of this
part of their history and tried to let the past disappear. But the
people of the area started to promote the area as a tourist site
and soon, the government realized that it was an important part of
their heritage. Port Arthur could take up one whole day visit. Very
interesting place.

Above is one of the isolation cells which were used
for prisoners who caused trouble.

This is the prison block with the normal cells.

This tourist destination also has fishing in the area. This young girl
is posing beside her tuna that she caught off the boat. -18.5 kilos

That is a lot of sushi.

A view of the Tasman Bridge linking the two parts of Hobart. We
travelled over the bridge a few times, although, the first time, Greg's
GPS had us swimming in the water. The bridge actually did collapse during
it's construction.

On our last day in Tasmania, we visited the Botanical Gardens. It
was a wonderful stop and we left Tasmania with some very good pictures
combined with relaxation.