Pt 2 - Day 40 - Port Arthur

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GLEN!!!

Today it is Glen's birthday.  The kids bound into our bed with their gifts and much excitement.  We have a nice relaxing breaky before heading off to have a look at Port Arthur which is about 70km away.  Van Demon's land was founded in 1803 and not long after this, Port Arthur became the first penal (sp?) colony in Australia.  We first looked at a gallery where we were each given a prisoner to follow their story. Tori's, for example, was a 13 year old boy, who had been sent to Australia for seven years for stealing a hankerchief.  We followed his story from his conviction to where he worked in the prison and so on.  Essentially, all the men, women and children who got convicted and sent to Australia, ended up there for life, as they couldn't afford the 28pounds that it cost to catch a boat back.

What a beautiful spot it is at Port Arthur.  If you didn't know it's history you wouldn't realise it was once a prison as there are no fences to keep the prisoners in.  Being almost completely surrounded by water, no one could ever escape, as the small part of land that joined it to Tasmania was constantly manned by soldiers. We did a walking tour around some of the 100 acre property then went on the boat tour where they showed us the boys island, as they were kept seperate from the adults and further educated.

It was also a very eiry feeling being in a place where the masacre of 35 people occurred, now almost 16 years ago.  They have a lovely memorial to remember the people where the cafe once stood.  Very sad.

We had no idea that there was going to be such extensive tours at Port Arthur and the visitor'ss centre such so comprehensive , so our nice lunch that we had planned to have for Glen's birthday, was replaced with fish and chips in "Doo - town" as that was about all we could find serving lunch by 3pm.  Oh well, you just never know what to expect when you plan to do the tourist thing sometimes

Anyway, we came home for drinks overlooking the bay and finished off the last of our food before catching the plane tomorrow.  We had an ice-cream cake and sang happy birthday, including 43 claps and one for luck etc etc then we all watched a movie together.  A very late night as the sun doesn't go down until 8:30pm, but we have a late start in the morning so it was all good.