Tasman Peninsula - Tasmania

Van Diemen's Land was the original name Europeans had for Tasmania. Named in honor of the Dutch Governor General, Anthony Van Dieman sent Able Tasman on the voyage that lead to his landing in 1642. Van Diemen's Land was an apt name for another reason. Home of Australia's largest penal colony, Tasmania was truly a hellish place.  Over 67,000 convicts were shipped to Tasmania and forced into to hard labor.

Once a brutal penal colony, the Historic Port Arthur is now one of the most visited tourist destinations in Tasmania. The entrance ticket includes a multi day pass into the grounds, a guided walking tour, and a boat cruise. The tour guides are historians and have interesting stories of people who have touched them. The entire place is now a series of museums. One section takes you through a "day in a life" of one of the convict by name.
Another building has a computer where you can look up your family name to see if you have a convict family ancestry. The scariest place is the isolation area including the half meter concrete walls and the place where the convicts had church in individual, isolated, standing sections. Not to anyone's surprise, the insane asylum was adjacent to the isolation building.

The grounds are beautiful; almost pretty enough to forget about the miserable history.


My favorite building is the church. It is beautiful but surreal place. It had a fire that burnt out the roof. Now, it is an open structure. The boat ride was also a highlight. It sails past the boy's prison island and the graveyard island.

We went on a ghost tour (for an added charge). The highlight was seeing a living wild Tassie devil, of course since it was dark, it was just a glimpse.

Only a few kilometers from Port Author is The Remarkable Cave. The site was recommended by the managers of our accommodation.  It was a great recommendation!  Because it was not the easiest to find, it was fairly deserted.

The path was short and lead along a stunning cliff that soared above the tumultuous ocean below.  The water was memorizing with the waves that churning in and out. The cave outlines the shape of Tasmania...apparently that is why it is called remarkable :)

The cliff face leading into the Remarkable Cave had an interesting section of rock where Dolerite met sandstone as the Earth's surface was being forced up. The texture and color was beautiful.  It is a stunning place.

We also visited some of the more popular cliff tourist spots on the Tasman Peninsula...the Tasman Arch, the Blowhole, and the Devils Kitchen.

A stroll for an hour or two will bring you to the edge of sheer drops, overlooking massive chasms, surging ocean, off-shore islands, white-sand beaches, and waterfalls that tumble into the sea.  It is a beautiful coastline.  

One fun side trips is a drive through Doo Town.  The houses in this little stretch of road name themselves using "Doo" in their name.  My favorites are "Thistle Doo Me" and "Wattle-I-Doo".  Don't blink or you might miss it.  The "town" is really just a group of houses and shacks.

It is important to note that you wan to not wait too long to eat.  They close things down after about 7 and very little (if anything) will be open.

The Tasman Peninsula is only 75 miles southeast of Hobart on the far south eastern part of the island of Tasmania.  It is full of history and rugged coast lines with its own quirky since of humor. I love it!