Tasmania - June 25, 2012

And finally we have arrived at our last full day in Tasmania!

After delicious smoked salmon and cheese omelettes for breakfast, we packed up and went to the info centre to check out and get some hot drinks.  The weather looked ominous, and then all of a sudden a full-on blizzard started!  I know I said we were excited for the first few snow squalls, but this one was amazing.  Turns out that they had been closing the road behind us while we drove through the bad weather the night before, so we were lucky to even have arrived.  We stayed and watched the snow accumulate while we drank our coffees, then we brushed off the car, and drove off playing Christmas music.

We soon left the snow, and settled in for a few hours until we drove through Hobart and onto Port Arthur.

Port Arthur is the most famous convict site in Tasmania, and probably all of Australia.  I would tell you more, except I hardly read any of the info signs.  Despite being a history-major in school, I still don't like reading the plaques in museums.  The internet can tell you all you want to know, I'm sure.  Oh, one thing I do remember is that the convicts made all of the bricks for all of these buildings themselves.

The day was pouring rain and really cold, so supposedly it was a good indication of what the convicts had to endure.  Also lots of people say that the site is creepy and ominous, but I think all four of us found it quite beautiful.  The sun did come out ever so briefly for some of these pictures.

Our tickets included at 20-minute cruise in the harbour where we got to see the boys camp and the Isle of the Dead (where they dumped the dead people), but the most exciting part was the picture below.  In this picture, there is nothing between us and Antarctica.

When we were thoroughly drenched with rain, we decided to call it quits for the day.  We drove back to Hobart and checked in at the Somerset Salamanca (same as the first night).  We had a celebratory dinner at Rockwall (a restaurant with great food but random floor to ceiling displays with rocks and ponds behind them), and then an early night in preparation for our 4:30am departure back home to Adelaide the next morning.