Back to Jail Again! What's the deal?

After a very relaxing weekend in Hobart we pack up our gear again and revert back to the moveable hotel that is the camper van. Our hi-ace did us a treat in Australia, but we're starting to get fussy now. It's not about having a huge van with plasma tv's, spa baths and the like, it's about finding the one that makes the best use of limited space. And I think this is the one.

I don't care how nerdy it is but I'm beginning to really enjoy this RV business, and here she is, basically a hi-lux but with a winnebago conversion. Toilet, shower, lcd tv, kitchen etc. but, best of all the bed is permanently erected in the space above the cab., so no faffin about at night.

So suitably chuffed at our luck we head from Hobart to Port Arthur.

Now there were obviously a few penal colonies in Australia in the early days, and most weren't exactly aspirational but, apparently, Port Arthur was a place where even the most hardened crims were reluctant to go.


To be honest though it's pretty difficult to get a sense of that now with it's picture perfect setting, beautifully coiffured lawns and perfectly preserved buildings. Even the dead have their own little island. One thing that does strike you though is the scale of the place, it is vast.

As you enter you are given a playing card with a name and a 'profession' on it, then you follow different paths round the exhibition depending on what hand you were dealt.




After the exhibition we wander round the colony, take a quick sail round the harbour and then head back to the camp site before returning for the Ghost Tour. Even for cynics like me the ghost tour is excellent. The placid nature of the place turns quite eery at night, and we are led into various creaky old buildings, the morgue and the nuthouse. And for my cynicism I am made to go at the end of the string of tourists with only an oil lamp to keep me from the dispondent hordes clawing frantically at the darkness outwith its feeble glow. Unlike me, our guide really plays the part without hammin' it up.


Despite all its history and the recent tragedy as well, (google it if you want to find out more as I don't want my ignorance of the facts to convey disrespect), Port Arthur is a strangely serene place, and well worth a visit.