Gary's Big Tasmanian Adventure (warning-lotsa pics)

[VitaminG]

Just got back from a couple of weeks on the Apple Isle, and some folks had asked for holiday pics, so here's a brief look at some of the stops on our trip.

We flew direct from Brisbane to Hobart on 1 April. Stayed with my folks at Geeveston, a short drive from Hobart into the picturesque Huon Valley. Didn't really take too many shots of interest the first couple of days as we pottered around the township, visited Hobart, and spent time with my folks.

We also drove up to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory for a tour and to eat disgusting amounts of chocolate, but they were unfortunately closed for maintenance and we were advised that tours would be recommencing after 7 April.

On Saturday we travelled back into Hobart for the Salamanca Markets.





The next day we got touristy and drove a couple of hours up to Port Arthur. Port Arthur was established in the 1830s as a prison for serious repeat offenders from all the Australian colonies. It also became an industrial centre as many of the inmates were put to work in various trades, producing clothing, furniture, worked stone. Even the 8 bells in the prison church were founded by one of the inmates.

Here's our first view as we arrived.




After an introductory tour and a brief look around, we took off on a boat cruise of the bay and around the Isle of the Dead, where around 1,100 of Port Arthur's deceased were buried. Freemen were given a proper headstone (carved by the stonemasons amongst the inmates, of course), while prisoners' graves were unmarked.

On our way back, we were afforded a view of the settlement from the water.


One place I wanted to make sure to visit was the Broad Arrow Cafe:



It was the site of the Port Arthur Massacre on 28 April 1996, and while it is no longer in use, the bare bones of the building still stand as part of a memorial garden, as a tribute to the victims of that day.

[VitaminG]

From there, we continued around the Commandant's house to see his spectacular view of the bay, and how the family of the man who ran the settlement lived. And then on to the Guard Tower.




The view from the Guard Tower towards the Penitentiary:



And the Penitentiary itself:





Note the triangle in the exercise yard where prisoners would be tied hand and foot and then lashed with the cat-o'-nine-tails.



What's left of the Mess Hall. Note the blackening at the top of the walls. Around 1897, a bushfire swept through the site and completely destroyed 200 buildings, and irreparably damaged many of the stone buildings



The Hospital

[VitaminG]

Smith O'Brien's Cottage. In 1848, a number of Irishmen were arrested and transported for life to Australia as members of a revolutionary group who were fighting for Ireland's independence from Britain. All but one were allowed tickets of leave by promising not to escape, and most eventually left Australia, either returning to Ireland or to the US & Canada. William Smith O'Brien refused to make that promise and after an escape attempt was shipped to Port Arthur. He was not allowed visitors, but as a special case, lived in relative comfort in this cottage for 6 years.



The Separate Prison was built as a bold new move away from corporal punishment for repeat offenders, which was considered to harden a man rather than rehabilitate, to a system of solitary confinement. Each new arrival spent up to a year in the Separate Prison before being assigned to work outside in the settlement. They were allocated a number and their name was no longer to be used. Guards could sneak around in slippers on the matted floors to check on prisoners at anytime without being heard.



They spent 23 hours in their cells each day, eating, sleeping and working at their trades. When outside their cell (for chapel, cleaning duty or exercise), they were masked so as to not make contact with other prisoners.



the Prison Church:




Not that the day was all doom & gloom and old collapsing buildings. I haven't shared a lot of pics of the smaller wooden structures, like the magistrate's or medical officer's houses. They don't look much different to the sort of 150 year old weatherboard houses you might see in older suburbs of a town. And the whole site is just a beautiful location. The walks around the grounds were pleasant enough, even without the historical information & significance to make it a pretty full day out.

[Endrik]

very cool

[VitaminG]

The next day was on to the historical village of Richmond.

First stop was the Richmond Bridge, built in 1823.



Loads of quaint old architecture in Richmond.












while in Richmond, we visited a miniature village of Old Hobart Town



Check out those crazy convicts in their yellow and black outfits. Crazy!

[VitaminG]

a couple of days later and we visited Hastings Caves.





I kept half-expecting to see a body trapped in the snotty recesses of the cave roof

[VitaminG]

the walk from (and to) Hastings Caves is through an old rainforest. The guide explained that it had previously been logged and you can still find traces of the old railway tracks out of there. But the forest is now reclaiming the land.

I didn't get a chance to take pics on the way in, but here's our trip back out.

Here's my boy on his 9th b'day

[VitaminG]

Now here's a day I was really looking forward to. The Tahune Forest AirWalk.

The AirWalk allows you to take a walk amongst the treetops & experience the forest from its canopy.

We leave the kiosk entry and start a 15 minute walk across the river & up a dirt track to the AirWalk.








looks a fair way up from down here:



the beginning of the walk. Not too bad so far....









This one's for you, JCFers




Now we're getting up there.



nice view, though






and here's where we're headed. Note how after the last pylon, the walk just extends out to nothing

[horns666]

Fucking amazing , we do not have shit like that here..I LOVE THAT shit! I see great places to take cool band photos, places of old. We were thinking of doing a photo shoot at White Castle..they've been open since 1921 Y'know!!!

I would have a great time there..places of antiquity. The states are so sterile for that kind of stuff, so cookie cutter and ghey. No matter where you go it looks the fuggin' same. Nothing cool like that!!

Hey, did you bring me back a Taz, they're cute!. We have the same kinda personality..are they Marsupials..?

Thanks for the pics G, they look nice..beautiful place!!

I need to visit somewhere..anywhere.

Cool!

BTW..you're a good lookin' fella..

[VitaminG]

the beginning of the end





I don't know the old guy, but I wanted a shot of the end of the platform



And then we head back down



the AirWalk isn't the only thing to see out here. We have a 30 minute walk ahead of us through the forest to the 2 swing bridges.










for some perspective, here's the walkway from beneath





And finally the swing bridges.



Horns up!! My sister and I found you could get a real swing going on these things. Great fun! The wife & kids didn't think so though. When we finally stopped bouncing on the bridge, the thing had such a swing up that the continue waving motion of the bridge actually threw my 220lb ass a couple of inches into the air.



view from the bridge

[VitaminG]

very cool

Fucking amazing , we do not have shit like that here..I LOVE THAT shit! I see great places to take cool band photos, places of old. We were thinking of doing a photo shoot at White Castle..they've been open since 1921 Y'know!!!

I would have a great time there..places of antiquity. The states are so sterile for that kind of stuff, so cookie cutter and ghey. No matter where you go it looks the fuggin' same. Nothing cool like that!!

Hey, did you bring me back a Taz, they're cute!. We have the same kinda personality..are they Marsupials..?

Thanks for the pics G, they look nice..beautiful place!!

I need to visit somewhere..anywhere.

Cool!

BTW..you're a good lookin' fella..

Thanks Endo & Bill. Glad you guys liked them. I took about 800 photos on the trip, but didn't want to bore everyone with all of them so tried to pic out some choice examples that would give you a bit of a glimpse of our trip. What was sad was that just about everywhere we went, I was thinking "I should take photos for the guys on the JCF"

We didn't get to see any Tassie Devils. That was on the schedule for the day we went to Port Arthur, but by the time we'd looked at everything, it was late afternoon and we still had the 2 hour drive back to dad's place for dinner. So it was decided to skip the wildlife park.

[horns666]

I'm afraid of swing bridges..ever since I saw King Kong, and the South Park Scientology episode!

In fact I never been on a swing bridge in my life..I would go on one tho, if I wasn't high..that would freak me out.

I gotta go nighty night!

[El_Kabong]

Thanks for the pics, Gary. Australia and NZ has some of the most beautiful scenery on this giant Petri dish. If there are more than 800 pics and not one of a guitar shop, you sir are a brave, brave man to stray so far away and still look happy.

[jackson1]

Great guided tour, Gary. Very cool to see something different. Old and ancient places, eh? Dude, my last house was built in the year 1800! We sold that piece of shit though, before it collapsed on our heads

I tried Google Earth'ing Port Arthur, but it's just a blurry mesh, wtf... again, thanks for the tour.

[Endrik]

I'll definetly make a long trip to Oceania some day... a lot to see