Introduction Feel The Power of The Sea and The Passage of Time Walk Along The Cliff Tops Festivals and Felonies
Feel The Power of The Sea and The Passage of Time
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hundred metres wide and the only escape route for convicts from notorious
Port Arthur, the isthmus of Eaglehawk Neck was once guarded by tethered
mastiff dogs. Discover the history of the dog line in the restored
Officers’ Quarters, the oldest remaining wooden military building in Australia,
opposite the beach. Walk along the unique Tessellated Pavements,
watch the explosion of water through the Blowhole, and the magnificent
Tasman Arch and Devils Kitchen. Take a dive tour from Pirates Bay
to explore beneath the surface to sea caves, kelp forests and the wreck
of the SS Nord, off Tasman Island. Take advantage of some of the
state’s best game fishing and charter a boat in search of the bluefin tuna.
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Walk Along The Cliff Tops
Spend a few hours or a few days walking along and above some of the
most breathtaking coastline in Tasmania. From the Devils Kitchen
at Pirates Bay to spectacular Cape Hauy, the Tasman Trail offers fantastic
year-round walking. Take your boat and tent and fish and swim in
beautiful Fortescue Bay, one of the peninsula’s most popular attractions.
Ride Australia’s steepest railway at the recreated pioneer bush mill and
learn about Tasmania’s early timber industry or visit the devil park.
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Festivals and Felonies
Journey through Tasmania’s convict past at Port Arthur, Australia’s
most famous penal settlement. Join in the seasonal festivals or just
spend the day wandering around the ruins of this once solitary out-station
of human deprivation, from 1830 to 1877. Take a guided tour to the
Isle of the Dead - the final resting place of nearly 2 000 detainees buried
in communal graves, and a cruise around the harbour. Hold a hurricane
lamp by night and wander through the ruins with the spirits of the dead,
on a ghost tour. Watch the historic 1926 silent version of the film
‘For The Term of His Natural Life’. Stand in the asylum and model
prison to sense the deprivation; visit the Commandant’s House and smaller
cottages occupied by officials and the ruins of the penitentiary and church,
Port Arthur’s most famous landmarks. Drive on to Nubeena and swim
or surf at the superb White and Roaring Beaches. Explore beyond the
boundaries to other historic sites - the eerie, solitary cells of convict
salt-pans, the Safety Cove Boys’ Establishment and the Coal Mines Historic
Site at Saltwater River. Top
