What a beautiful island Tasmania is.  It was discovered in 1628 (maybe) by a Dutchman named Tasman.  That is all he did.  Just named it and kept on sailing.

Okay, Jeff, I know I spelled Arthur wrong.  But that’s the way it goes sometimes!  Today we drove about two hours to Port Arthur, location of the “Supermax” prison of the 1700’s.  Before we got there we saw Pirate’s Cove (next stop, Antarctica), the Tesselated Pavement (mysteriously cracked and symmetrical rocks), and Tasman’s Arch.

When we arrived in Port Arthur we were all astounded by the prison.  Built in the early 1700’s by convict labor, the buildings are massive.  Basically, the prisoners were treated as slaves who worked off their sentences by doing hard manual labor, training up for jobs when they were released, and trying to stay out of trouble so that their sentences were not extended.

The main prisoners quarters and  the church are being curated but not rebuilt.  The outer walls are still standing, but in insides are hollow.  The cell sizes are marked out on the floor inside and are tiny.  This type of tiny living was not good.  There are lots of other buildings still there and include houses of the staff, a post office, a whole bank of solitary cells, and an insane asylum.  Some of the more trusted inmates were allowed to make boats. And those who didn’t make it were buried in the Island of the Dead.  Spooky!

Tomorrow we head to Cradle Mountain where we will arrive after an all day drive.  We will go for a spotlighting tour at night looking for nocturnal animals, and we will enjoy a day and night without WiFi!  See you in a couple days,