Face To Face With The Devil

I woke up early on Wednesday in Swansea with really only a vague idea of an itinerary. Having slept on it the night before, I decided against Mr DIY Motorbike's suggested itinerary of Lake Leake (I'm sure its very pretty) in favour of pressing on towards the goal - Port Arthur. But en route, I wanted to stop off at Triabunna and find out whether there was any chance I could get a ferry to Maria Island in the next few days, as I had read about the walks there and the convict history of the place. I thought that would be a nice introduction to Port Arthur. Of course, before I even left Swansea though I had to do a bit of a walk about town - and was glad I did, as it was very picturesque. My favourite bit was when I reached a sign called Loontitetermairrelehoiner - an ancient Aboriginal walking track around the Headland - of course I had to do that!

Alas, upon my arrival in Triabunna, the Visitor's Information Centre really didn't know much more than I had been able to glean at the free internet I'd happened upon at Swansea. I know, there was a sign indicating that the internet cost $3.00 for 15 minutes or something, but seriously people, if you're going to leave a open-ended LAN wire around, you got to expect someone to plug it in to their laptop... plus Mr DIY Motorbike had even told me to do it. He reckoned he was mates with the manager and that it wouldn't be a problem. Well, I'm not one to look a gifthorse in the mouth now, am I? Especially as my USB dongle thing wasn't picking up a signal in Swansea.

Anyway, at Triabunna the VIC told me that the ferry would be running on Friday. Ok, so I quickly hunted down the backpackers in Triabunna to see if they had vacancies for tonight (Thursday night). Then common sense struck - what was there to do all day in Triabunna - wouldn't I just be better to head on to Port Arthur and re-evaluate my position from there, having confirmed the ferry sailings with the ferry company (as the VIC had advised me to do)? So I pressed on, past the lovely Orford (sooo pretty, especially the bridge crossing the Prosser River in the heart of the town), and then suddenly realised, yet again, that time was fast getting away from me, as by now it was getting on to 1230, and I was still some distance from Port Arthur, and obviously you need quite a bit of time at Port Arthur to really see everything...

I arrived at Port Arthur at about 1.40pm, and immediately it became apparent that this was way too late. As part of the "Bronze" tour pass, you get a free introductory walking tour and a free harbour cruise - but for me to be able to do both, I would have to do the last ones of the day - 3pm harbour cruise and 3.30pm walking tour... interestingly if I had been but 10 minutes earlier I could have made the 1.30pm walking tour which would have been much better. Alas, its no good crying over spilt milk, in this case, that which you cannot change, so I took a deep breath, rocked on my heels a bit, and bang! off I went to try and see everything I possibly could.

Of course, I couldn't see everything in that ridiculous time frame, but I gave it my best shot. I have to say though, the whole time, whilst I was looking at some very beautiful buildings - they are quite attractive - I felt a strange, oppressive feeling - just like I was face to face with the Devil. And in reality, when you think about all the atrosities that took place there - and I don't just mean the convict era, but also the whole Martin Bryant thing - its not surprising, is it? What acts of evil took place there! What horrors has that area seen? I felt strangely cold, and oppressed.

The harbour cruise and the walking tours were very informative, and the buildings were very interesting - and sad - especially the separate prison with the lunatic asylum attached - and even the church was quite oppressive. I did as much as I could in the daylight hours allotted, but still I hadn't scratched the surface. And of course, having literally flown down the peninsula - there were still many more sights to see... and I had, for the first time this trip, pre-booked my accommodation in Hobart...

The only thing for it, was to see if I could get accommodation on the peninsula, and then cancel Hobart. Which I did. I found a cheap bed at the Port Arthur Caravan Park - in their "bunkhouse" - for $28 or something, phoned Hobart and sorted it all out.

The bunkhouse, though, literally was a prison. Imagine a cold, dark, lino floored room, with 3 sets of triple bunk beds, and one poxy little heater. No common room - the closest thing was the camp kitchen area a short walk away - which had a TV that only operated one channel, and a fire place which didn't emit much heat. Suffice to say I cooked up my dinner, had a steaming hot shower, and jumped fair into bed.

At which point my mind started to carry away with me. Here I was in Port Arthur, the epitome of evil - what awful things could happen to me? I assure you, I did a lot of praying that night!

It was sooo cold there too, in that bunkhouse - the doonah barely doing anything to ward off the cold - so I didn't get a really good night's sleep.

The next morning I got up early and was at Port Arthur right at opening time - 8.30am - and I whipped around and finished seeing all I needed to see. I was glad that I had stayed.

After this I made my way towards Hobart, stopping off at lots of very interesting places en route - including a town where all the properties have the word "Doo" in their title - so you get "Doo Little", "Doo Drop Inn", "Doo Write" - and my favourite - "Doo F@#! All". I saw a very interesting blowhole near there, the Maingon Blowhole, as well as the Tasman Arch and the Devils' Kitchen. It was really spectacular.

And then I went to Taranna - where I came face to face with... the Devil. For real.

Yes, I saw my first Tasmanian Devil. In fact, I saw quite a few of them - at the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park. They actually are quite cute - until you see them eat! They are capable of chewing clear through, and digesting, bone. It was quite gross...

Whilst I enjoyed my time on the Tasman Peninsula, having come face to face with the Devil on a few fronts, I can safely say that I have no desire to meet him again...