Port Arthur

Port Arthur was one of my favorite places we visited while in Tasmania. In 1830 the Port Arthur penal station was established as a camp for convicts to produce sawn logs. It later grew in to a punishment station for repeat offenders from all the Australian colonies. Eventually, it became a major industrial settlement with military and free men and their families living in the community, as well.

This is the Penitentiary, which is the largest building at the settlement.

Bushfires destroyed many of the buildings after the convict settlement was closed in 1877. The Penitentiary no longer has a roof and a lot of other damage due to these bushfires.

The Guard Tower

I thought the eeriest building was the Separate Prison. Here, the convicts were reformed through isolation. They were locked in single cells for 23 hours a day and never uttered a word unless they were spoken to by a guard.

This is one of the cells in the Separate Prison. The prisoners had to work all day, making things like brooms.
Even in the chapel, the prisoners were kept apart in these closet-like barriers. They had to stand up throughout the entire service.

Charlotte in one of the chapel spots.

This is the Church in which people were required to attend services each Sunday.

Port Arthur is a beautiful place, but its history is full of horrible events. In 1996 a gunman killed 35 people and wounded 19 others. Their names are on the cross below. For me, this was one of the most disturbing things I saw at the settlement.

A Memorial Garden was created as a place of remembrance for those who died that day. The building in the background of this picture is the shell of the Broad Arrow Cafe, which is where 20 people were killed.

A ferry ride away from the mainland is a small island called the Isle of the Dead. Members of the military, their wives and children, and convicts were buried here between 1833 and 1877. We didn't get to go to the island, but you can see a glimpse of it here. Beyond the island is a place called Pointe Puer Boys' Prison. Most of the boys were between 14 and 17 years old, but there was at least one as young as 9.

After spending the afternoon in Port Arthur, we drove to Hobart for our second night. Those pics will be added soon!

Freycinet

Australians celebrated Anzac Day this weekend to honor current and past members of the country's armed services. Monday was a public holiday in Victoria, so there was no school. Charlotte and I took advantage of this and went to Tasmania. We arrived in Launceston, where we were greeted by a torrential downpour and Verdi, the owner of a camper van rental company. Despite Charlotte's repeated requests for the only automatic camper van the company owns, there was a mix up and only manual camper vans were available. We were already nervous enough about driving on the left side of the road, let alone the fact that neither of us can drive a stick. Luckily, Verdi made some calls and we were able to meet up with our automatic camper van on our way to Freycinet National Park.

We got to Coles Bay around 6:00 PM and the entire town was shut down. Literally. Before going to Tassi we were told that it is really beautiful, but can also be kind of boring. With nothing else to do, we found our campsite and spent our first night in Tasmania.


In front of our "Little Devil" camper van

Since it was raining so much, we decided to make tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner in our camper van.

While it tasted good, it definitely was not our smartest decision in terms of dishes. Pumping water is NOT fun.

Charlotte in our tiny bed

The next morning we woke up and went on a hike.

The mountains here were unlike any I'd ever seen before. Throughout the hike we saw huge pink granite rocks that make up the mountains. The color was really pretty, especially when the sun was shining (which didn't happen very much while we were there).

The hike to Wineglass Bay is supposed to take 1-1.5 hours, but we were a little rushed and did it in 40 minutes. I still managed to take entirely too many pictures of rocks.

More rocks

Unfortunately, it was kind of cloudy when we got to the overlook, so we got an overcast view of Wineglass Bay.

By the time we made it back down the mountain and had coffee, the sun was shining. Here's a view of the bay from the beach.

More pinkish rocks

We left Freycinet and drove south to Port Arthur. Some of the roads were kind of sketchy but Nugent Road beat them all. There were times I seriously doubted we would be able to get the van up all of the hills. We drove for 15-20 minutes before we even saw another car. Both of us were glad to see a completely paved road again.

Nugent Road

We got to Port Arthur that afternoon and visited Tasman Arch before going to the historic convict settlement.

Tasman Arch

Pics of the convict settlement are coming soon!

Palm Cove

Our last day in Queensland was supposed to be pretty, but it ended up raining off and on all day. In the morning we tried to go to Trinity Beach, which is a small beach close to where we were staying. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes after we got there it started to rain and we had to leave.

Trinity Beach

From October through May, people have to share the coastal waters with deadly jellyfish. Nets like these are set up on most of the beaches so people can get in the water during these months without worrying about the stingers.


Stinger net at Palm Cove

On Thursday afternoon we went to Palm Cove. This is an upscale beach town about 5 minutes north of Clifton Beach. Several different spa places are the main attraction to this area. There are a few shops and restaurants, but I felt it was very overrated.

Shops at Palm Cove

Thick fog hung over the mountains all week long. This is a view of Palm Cove from the pier.

One more shot of the ocean

I will (hopefully) be going to Tasmania this weekend. Of course, I would get sick three days before I'm supposed to go... Charlotte and I will be driving a camper van around the island, so pray we can keep it on the left side of the road. I'm sure there will be lots of interesting things to share when I get back!

Frankland Islands (Great Barrier Reef)

On Wednesday, we went to the Great Barrier Reef. We took a riverboat cruise to the Frankland Islands, which is a group of uninhabited islands near the reef. The only visitors to these islands are people who take cruises with the company we went with. The weather was supposed to rainy again, but we got really lucky and had a beautiful day.

Here I am with my dad on the boat.

To get to the Frankland Islands, we took a boat down Mulgrave River which opens to the sea. We continued on until we got the the islands. Below is the Mulgrave River and the mountains of the rainforest in the background.

Here is the boat we took. It holds 100 passengers, but there were only 30 the day we went, so we were able to talk to the crew about the reef and islands.

I had never snorkeled before going to the Great Barrier Reef, but now I love it! It was amazing to see the size and colors of the corals and to reach out and touch them. I got to swim with all kinds of tropical fish, turtles, and octopuses.

My best look EVER.

My parents didn't want to snorkel, so we also went on a glass bottom boat so they could see the corals.

Mom and her noodle.

Dad and his infamous hat.

The mountains are still visible from the Frankland Islands, which creates a beautiful view.

This is one of my favorite pics from our trip. I love how the rocks look.

The island had plenty of sand, but it was also covered in corals like these. (You can see them on the bottom of the picture with the mountains and ocean.)

We saw this crocodile on the riverbank when we were cruising back in to shore.

On our drive back to Clifton Beach, I got this shot of sugar cane in front of the mountains. There were lots of sugar cane fields in this area.

This was definitely one of my favorite days in Australia thus far. More beach pics coming soon!

Port Douglas

After spending Monday in the rainforest, we decided to go to Port Douglas for the day. Unfortunately, it was a very rainy day. Port Douglas was a cute beach town and had lots of great shops and restaurants. For lunch, we found a great cafe and my parents are now fans of fish 'n' chips.

This is a lookout point on the way to Port Douglas.

This is one of the most popular lookouts in Port Douglas. Too bad it was so rainy :(

Instead of staying in Cairns, we stayed in a villa on Clifton Beach. This is a tiny beach town, about 20 minutes north of Cairns. During the week we saw some beautiful views from our patio (when it wasn't raining!) Here are a few of my favorites.

This was a sign on Clifton Beach. I definitely wasn't getting in the water!

I will post pics of the Great Barrier Reef next!

Kuranda and Tjapukai Community

Welcome to the rain forest! On Easter Sunday I met my parents in Cairns, Australia. This city is in the northeastern part of Australia and is right next to the Great Barrier Reef.

The first place we visited in this area was Kuranda, which is a mountain village. We had planned to get to Kuranda by taking the Kuranda Railway there and the skyrail back. Unfortunately, about a week before our trip, there was a landslide and the train derailed. Needless to say, the train was still out of order, so we used the skyrail both ways.

Barron River

It rained on and off throughout our day in Kuranda and there was a lot of fog.

Mom and Dad on the skyrail

The plants were really interesting here. There were a lot of ferns, and many of them grew way up inside the trees.


View of Barron Gorge


This is Barron Falls. The water level at Barron River was really high when we visited. Even though it's a rain forest, the area had received more rain than average, so the water was very muddy.


Another shot of Barron Falls



The actual village of Kuranda was filled with all kinds of shops. Most of them were souvenir shops with boomerangs and didgeridoos in addition to the regular t-shirts. I found this in one of the shops and couldn't believe you can actually buy one.


After seeing Kuranda, we went to the Tjupukai (don't ask me how to pronounce it--I still can't) Aboriginal Cultural Park. They danced and showed us how to play the didgeridoo, throw spears and boomerangs, and talked about bush foods their people ate from the rain forest.


The Tjupukai dancers


They picked three people from the audience to come up and dance with them on stage.
Lucky me.

I will post more pics of my time in Queensland soon!