Tasmania

Part of the reason Brad and I decided to come to Australia was the result of a common disease we share, travelitis.  Its symptoms can be alleviated, though not permanently cured, through travel, and sufferers can spend copious amounts of time reading travel guidebooks.  Brad and I had been spending too much time reading about Tasmania when we came across this claim. “Tasmania is a fantastic, world class wine-producing region.  The problem is that most of the world does not know this because Tasmanians drink almost all of their wine, leaving little to export.”  Tassies were starting to sound like fun people.

Additionally, since arriving in Australia, Brad and I have mined the brains of Australians to learn local insight on Australia’s varied regions and locales.  We had heard numerous times that Tasmania was a beautiful state and Tasmanians are a unique, rough breed of Australian.  Many attribute this to Tasmania’s past.   In the 1700s when the English ran out of prisons for criminals in the mother country, their “overflow” solution was to ship them to Australia.   The English had already been mooring old naval ships offshore of England to serve as prisons, and when these reached capacity, they began to send these ships to Tasmania.  Prisoners off all sorts were sent: young children, the elderly, murderers, and those who had merely stolen a loaf of bread. 

To those unfamiliar, Tasmania is a large island off the southeastern coast of Australia and is also an Australian state.  Tasmania, and particularly the secluded Tasman peninsula off the southern coast connected by a narrow neck of land, provided the perfect locale for a secure prisoner settlement.  Many of the prisoners that came simply worked off their sentences then gained their freedom, working in the mines, felling trees, in the mills or through other means.  Those who re-offended ended up in the prison.  Australians take pride in the claim that it was “built on the back of convicts,” and that is especially true of Tasmania.  Tasmanians have a reputation as being quite rough around the edges and prone to “marching to the beat of their own drum”.  Though we didn’t have nearly as much time in Tasmania as we would have liked, we thoroughly enjoyed the people that we met and started to get a glimpse of the Tassie mentality.  We also briefly enjoyed the beautiful scenery and varied food and produce industries that Tasmania is known for.

We initially took an early morning flight out of Sydney, and upon arriving in Hobart, the southern capital of Tasmania, we headed to Mt. Wellington.  Atop Mt. Wellington one can see all of Hobart and beautiful vistas of the southern coast.  The rest of the evening was then spent visiting a local winery and exploring Hobart, a city packed with historic buildings and a marina built around its fishing industry. 

View of Hobart from Mt. Wellington

 

The next day we headed to the Tasman peninsula, the location of the famed convict trail.  Upon entering the peninsula through the narrow neck, there is a stature of a guard dog to represent the “dog line” that was stationed at the neck on both land and floating platforms in the water to prevent prisoners from escaping.  You can then visit a variety of ruins of the convict era in a rough loop around the peninsula.  The biggest location on the trail is the Port Arthur site, the location of the main prison community.  Exploring and learning about the site itself was fascinating, and definitely excited the history nerd in me.  We heard fascinating stories about failed escape attempts, the various philosophies of prisoner treatment and restoration which were tried, and colorful stories of the churches, directors, and supporting community members which inhabited the place.  Entrance into the site also came with a cruise around the harbor, where we enjoyed seeing the prisoners’ shipbuilding site, the cemetery island, and the boys’ prison island.

Port Arthur site

The old, burnt out non-denominational church convicts were forced to attend daily

 

Later in the afternoon, we decided to explore some of the beautiful coastline Tasmania is known for.  In a drive along the coast we were able to see the famed Tasman’s Arch and Devil’s Kitchen formation, among other features.  On the way back to Hobart that night, we stopped in the historic town of Richmond and enjoyed briefly perusing the town.  The next morning, we then drove north through the center of Tasmania to Launceston, where we flew out later in the day.

Tasman's Arch

Part of Devil's Kitchen

Beautiful historic church in Richmond

We would have loved to spend more time in Tasmania to take advantage of the mountains and more of its natural beauty, but we thoroughly enjoyed the time we spent there.  Tasmania lived up to all we had heard about it and we’re glad we could explore it.  Next for us is a planned trip to Melbourne over Easter to explore the city, check out Philip Island if there’s time, and drive the Great Ocean Road!  We can’t wait to enjoy more of the beauty of the coast while celebrating the beauty of our Savior’s victory over death.